Posted in: Comics | Tagged: big wow, comic convention, comic fest, Comics, frank cho, steve niles

Talking To Frank Cho About Big Wow And Big Women

Published Mon, 07 May 2012 19:58:33 -0500

Last updated Mon, 07 May 2012 20:03:24 -0500

Frank Cho is not only attending the Big Wow Comic Fest in San Jose, California. He's part of it. We asked him what was up.

Geoff Johns buys into a comic shop. Erik Larsen buys into a comic shop. James Hodgkins has a slice of the Birmingham comic conventions. Mark Millar puts on Kapow. Now you have a chunk of change in the Big Wow Comic Fest. What is it with comic creators getting a slice of retail operations of late?

For me it was a natural transition to become part owner/investor of San Jose's Big Wow Comic Fest. Steve Morger is the main owner and operator of Big Wow Comic Fest. Steve is, also, my art dealer and when he invited me to join him in the creation of comic book convention that centers around creating comic art and collecting original comic art I jumped at the chance.

The wonderful thing about Big Wow Comic Fest is that it focuses heavily on the art of drawing and painting comic books. There will be various free workshops at the convention for the fans. We have top professionals who will draw and paint right in front of you, including me. The fans can just watch or draw along with the artists. It's a very different and highly interactive comic book convention.

Your work is represented by Big Wow Art, who have a stake in the renaming of Super Con to Big Wow Con. Is everyone just in everyone else's pockets around your way?

Man, you make it sound so gay. No, Steve Morger was helping with the Super Con but when everyone else started copying the "Super-Con" name, Morger decided to restart and rebrand the convention with a unique name, and also to increase the focus of the show more and more to comic creators..

Adam Hughes has talked about stopping doing convention commissions after finding his work flipped on eBay within 24 hours by someone who begged and pleaded for a personal piece. What similar experiences have you had – and why do you keep sketching?

I think you have that backward. I hadn't done convention sketches for YEARS before Adam Hughes stopped. I don't sketch at conventions, nor do I do commissions for that very reason of eBay flippers. Only recently, I've done few convention sketches, mainly because I was bored and the art collectors were offering me large amounts of money. Those crystal-meth and booze cost money, you know. ;-)

A common criticism of comic conventions is that they pay an inordinate amount of attention to film, TV and games, leaving comics pushed out to the side. Is this something that concerns you at all, and how does Bob Wow strike a balance?

To be honest, having movies, TV and games in comic conventions doesn't bother me since many comic books become just those things down the line. It only bothers me when the "Comic Book" conventions focus exclusively on movies and TV, and neglect the comic book professionals and publishers. At that point, the convention should call it something else.

Again Big Wow Comic Art Fest is different that we are focusing on comic book art and painting – Think of Big Wow as an annual comic art workshop/art school taught by current working professionals. While we will have some media people in attendance, the focus is and will be on the COMIC BOOK creators first and foremost.

Also, we'll have a costume making workshop for cos-players.

Yes… you're famed for your love and portrayal of the female form, often showing as much skin as is legally possible. What are the greatest triumphs and faux pas you've seen from cosplayers in that area?

Oh, you noticed? Yes, I love the ladies. I have many restraining orders to prove it. Personally, I think the cos-play women should dress less and the cos-play dudes dress more. All joking aside, the cos-players should be mindful of where they are, whether or not there are children around, and dress accordingly.

I think one of the greatest costumes I saw recently was a dude dressed in a Transformer outfit that could transform into an actual car. Very clever. The worst was a naked dude in a silver short-shorts who spray-painted himself silver walking around with an ironing board. I never knew that a man can have a "camel toe". It was so wrong.

And with that image, we leave Frank in mid-memory. The Big Wow Comic Fest takes place in San Jose, California on the weekend of the 19th to the 20th of May.