Convention Report: NYCC 2018

October 16th, 2018 | by Trevor
Posted In: conventions

New York Comic Con (NYCC) is the largest comic convention in the country, this year having estimated attendance of 250,000 people! I really enjoy this convention every year, getting to see friends, celebrities, and a city I rarely get to see these days. But this year was something on a whole new level of special. This year was something truly amazing!

THURSDAY:
I flew in Thursday morning, after having spent the night holding my eldest daughter for most of the night (since she got sick, and wasn’t able to sleep). I hopped into a cab and headed to my buddy in Queens to drop off my stuff (since I was staying with him, to save on some dough – and to hang out, because he’s awesome!), and then jumped on the 7 train to downtown to set up. I arrived a little after the show had opened, and set up the table as quick as I could. I had packed light, since 1) this is an away-show for me, so I try to be conservative with my displays and inventory, and 2) this was the first time I was in artist alley in a long while, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. But man oh man, did I under-estimate just how incredible this show would be for sales.


Opening hall banners…the Javits is MASSIVE


So great to see Booker again, reunited after hanging out for a bit in Wizard World Chicago artist alley a few months earlier


K Lynn Smith is always conversation, energetic, and gushing with artistic talent and wit!


My pal (and yours), Justin Jordan!

I was on my own for the bulk of the day, since volunteers didn’t arrive until Friday. Despite that, artist alley performance way above my projections from past year’s NYCC shows. Usually I’m in a booth in small press, a 10×10 space up stairs and away from indie publishers like myself. It’s a fine location, and I do very well there, but this year was a game changer in artist alley. It completely blew those projections out of the water. I sold through half of my inventory for the weekend in a single day, and it was “preview day.”

After the show ended, I closed up shop and walked with my buddy Josh Elder (Scribblenauts, The Batman Strikes) to the Lion Forge after party. It was great to see folks at this party and get to reconnect, some of whom I haven’t spoken to in years, and others I see at all the shows but haven’t had time to really have a good conversation with in a long time. I stayed at the party much later than I expected to, and eventually made my way back to the train to Queens so I could crash. A much later first night than I expected, but an incredible night all around.

FRIDAY:
I headed to the convention center from my buddy’s place in Queens, grabbing the 7 train and headed all the way to the Javits. Unfortunately the train announced this would be the last day I would be able to do this, since the train line would be under construction during the weekend and the closest I could get would be 42nd Times Square exit (which was about 8 blocks from the convention center, so not terribly far).

I got to the show and met my volunteer for the day, a very energetic guy named Mike. His wife was going to wonder the city during the day while he and I worked the booth. I gave Mike the download on the table and offerings, and told him we could pace ourselves today since I had sold so well the previous day. It made for a more relaxing feel, and how I prefer to be with my volunteers. Pressure is no fun.


Come buy comics from this guy – a heroic return to artist alley


Ashley Riot is AWESOME!


Hanging with Kat!


The illustrious Dirk Manning, also running Kickstarters during cons

The day flew past in a flash, with Mike and I selling through all of the books before the end of the day. I had to figure out how to pivot, and decided to offer pre-orders (since we still had a preview copy of the books on the tables). We also promoted the organization and handed out bookmarks and freebies to the interested people who stopped by. The newsletter, too, was a popular sign up.

After the con closed for the day, I packed up and headed off back to Queens. I had been invited to a few after parties, but wanted to take my friends to dinner as a thank you for putting me up for the weekend. They were leaving for Japan the next morning, so this was going to be my last night to hang out with them. We went to their favorite local restaurant, a Himalayan place that has really good food. After dinner, we headed back to their place to relax on the couch, watch some funny cartoons, and get an early night.

SATURDAY:
I got up in the morning and headed to the train, transferring to the N to get a little closer to the convention than where the 7 would have dropped me off. I met up with my buddy, Eric Palicki (No Angel, Fake Empire), to grab some breakfast and catch up. He had just finished his second successful anthology Kickstarter, and since I had one live at the moment I wanted to pick his brain a bit. Eric is always full of great ideas, and I always enjoy hanging out with him (which isn’t often enough). With fuel in our bodies for the day, we hiked to the convention center and parted ways to set up our tables.


My day started having breakfast with the esteemed Eric Palicki


Sold out, but not done trying to sell more


Serena was also knocking out sales and commissions left and right!


Reunited with Albert the Alien artist Gabo!

My next volunteer arrived at the show, Aliza, who had helped me out at C2E2 several years ago. That weekend had been a fun time, so I knew this weekend was going to be great as well – and I was not mistaken. Aliza knows her stuff, and fully throws herself into what she’s supporting. She was a machine when it came to talking about the books, the organization, and any of our initiatives. With her help, we were able to get a whole bunch of pre-orders for the books we had sold out of, and also had some fun conversation in booth to boot.

Aliza killed it, and the day flew past in record time. After the show ended, I closed up shop and headed to my airbnb to drop off my stuff, and then met up with my friend from high school for dinner and drinks. Her birthday had been a few days earlier, so I wanted to treat her and catch up. She also has two little ones under foot, both a little older than mine, so it was nice to get a bit of a glance into what the future holds for me in the Mueller house hold.


Had a fun dinner out with my old friend Sarah, catching up

SUNDAY:
The final day of the con, and all the pressure had been removed days ago (since we surpassed our sales goals for the weekend). I jumped into a cab with Josh Elder and headed to the city, grabbed breakfast on the walk from the drop off point to the convention center, and met up with Aliza to set up the table for the day.

I had a short window to sell on this final day of the show, since I had a flight to catch (took an earlier flight to try to see my girls that night). And since we had already sold through everything, I also had the chance to walk around artist alley a bit and say hi to other creators, and snap a few photos.


With the always friendly, and very talented, Laura Braga


I couldn’t have done it without the help of our volunteers, including Aliza!


Sold out days ago, but now it’s official…thanks for everything, NYCC!

After a few hours, I closed up the table and said my goodbyes, and headed to the airport for the long flight home. I want to thank the staff, volunteers, and attendees who made NYCC 2018 such an awesome and incredible show, and who helped us to sell out in record time. Next year, I’m going to have to plan for this kind of surge and have more books on hand for artist alley!

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Convention Report: Baltimore Comic Con 2018

October 12th, 2018 | by Trevor
Posted In: conventions

Two years ago I attended Baltimore Comic Con, which was the second year in a row we received our Harvey Award nomination for Albert the Alien. It wasn’t that I hadn’t wanted to go the first year, or any previous years – it’s that the show has always conflicted with an annual family camping trip, and it’s been difficult to get out of the trip to attend the con. But I’m so glad I did this year, because Baltimore is a special kind of event. A rare jewel in a sea of conventions that feels less like a show, and more like a family reunion.

THURSDAY:
I arrived at the conventions Thursday night, signed in and dropped off my stuff at the hotel and the convention center. I was staying with my buddy Paul Storrie (Viking Queen, Robyn of Sherwood), who I don’t get to see enough throughout the year. I had dinner plans with Howard Chaykin (American Flag, Star Wars), Dean Haspiel (The Red Hook, The Fox), Clinton Hobart (Disney), and a handful of others, and invited Paul to join us. We headed to a local sea food spot that Dean enjoys every time he attends the con, and – despite the rainy weather – we walked over and were seated very quickly.

We had a great conversation, and even though my comic credits were less than most at the table, what I love about this group is their inclusiveness. They wanted to hear my thoughts and opinions on things, even if and when I disagreed. These are the kinds of conversations I have with my family, and even when we don’t agree with respect each other enough to let it stand and move on in the conversation. And we do disagree, coming from different backgrounds and having different interests.


Lobster dinner the first night (it was on special, so I paid less)


Hanging out at the hotel bar, like ya do

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel bar to hang out and see who else had arrived. I didn’t stay too late, though, since I needed to pace myself for the weekend. I went to bed early to keep my energy up, and because I wanted to work out the next day…and I haven’t worked out in like 4 months, since my baby was born.

FRIDAY:
I woke up early and headed to the gym, and low and behold I ran into Howard again. Howard and I had a great conversation about comics and our careers, but also about family and how life has changed us both. His career has been an interesting one, and he’s got a strong opinion about the industry and how the landscape has changed – and isn’t afraid to share it – but that kind of bluntness is something I’ve always respected, especially when it comes from years of experience.

As I expected, I got gassed pretty quickly for the first time working out in 4 months, and headed back to the room to shower and have breakfast with Paul downstairs. We took our time catching up and people watching as fans and pros alike came in for coffee and breakfast. After a while, we headed over to the convention center to set up our respective tables.


The table is all set up and ready for selling

When I attended Baltimore Comic Con two years ago, I did pretty well. It was a solid sales show, with some incredible networking and hanging out afterwards. So this year, when projecting my sales numbers, I used those numbers from two years ago. However, I grossly under-estimated how well I would do during the weekend. As soon as the show opened, the floor was flooded with people buying books left and right. Sales were something that rival a strong Saturday at a con. And in the first day of the con, I sold through half of the books I had brought for the entire weekend.


Come buy comics from this man!

After the floor closed, I headed back to the room to freshen up, and then met my good friend Katie Cook and went for dinner. She was kind enough to give me a preview of things to come with my girls, since hers are older than mine, previewed her Ringo Awards speech – which we both knew was going to be polarizing. Katie had recently gotten back into webcomics with the launch of her WebToon series Nothing Special. But her book IS something special, and her speech reflected as much.

After catching up with Katie, I did a quick stop off at the hotel bar (for more socializing), but again it was an early night for me.

SATURDAY:
A strange thing occurred to me on the second day of the show: I sold out of all my inventory by noon! What was supposed to last me an entire weekend barely lasted a full day, and so I was left with a very good question: what should I do with the rest of my weekend? I decided to continue to focus on sales, and promoting the Kickstarter. We had quite a few people pre-order copies of the books I was now sold out of, and several others backed the Kickstarter to get the full series.

After the con ended for the day, I went to dinner in Little Italy with some friends I met on forums and have known for ages. Even though it was the first time I was meeting many of them for the first time in person, it was like we had been hanging out for our entire lives. It felt like family.

After dinner, we walked back across the bay to the hotel and waited at the hotel bar for the Ringo Awards to let out. Around 11pm, the bar flooded with well-dressed folks from the comic world that were all over the spectrum in terms of their time in the industry, and reactions to Katie’s keynote speech had been universally positive. We stayed up late into the night, talking and celebrating and having a merry time – everyone mirroring the feeling I had been expressing the entire weekend. That this was less of a show, and more of a gathering of family.


Hanging out with Katie Cook after her keynote speech at the Ringo Awards


Late night shenanigans with Dean Haspiel, Laura Lee Gulledge, and myself

SUNDAY:
Morning came far too early, but Paul and I headed downstairs for our final convention breakfast for the weekend. We sat with Amy Chu (Red Sonja, Poison Ivy) and her son, and talked about being on panels, good (and bad) questions from fans and moderators, and so much more. I have known Amy for a while now, but this was the first time we had met in person. She knew who I was, despite not having met before this breakfast, and again – it felt like a family breakfast conversation.

After the breakfast, we headed to the show floor for the final hours of sales. After a few hours on the floor, I closed down the table to lead a How to Draw Creepy (and Cute) Monsters workshop for kids, co-lead by Emily Drouin. Emily and I had coordinated months ago about doing a workshop, and this was such a fun experience for us and for the kids – and the kids draw some excellent monsters!


Had such a fun time co-leading a kids workshop with Emily Drouin

Not too long after, I went to a Kickstarter panel with other people who had done successful campaigns in the past. It was a fun opportunity to talk about my current Kickstarter campaign, impart some experience of what and how campaigns change over time, and learn from other pros on how they made their campaigns as successful as they have.

After the panel, I packed up and headed to the airport to catch a flight back home. I had another convention the following weekend, and needed to conserve as much of my energy (and my voice) as I possibly could.

But despite pacing myself all weekend, Baltimore Comic Con was a complete blast! Such a fun time filled with industry pros who made me feel like one of them. Inclusive, diversive, and accepting – the entire weekend was one for the ages, and solidified Baltimore as more than an occasional show. It’s a mandatory show for me now.

Thank you to all the staff, volunteers, fellow creators, and also the fans who made this weekend such an incredible experience. Thank you, thank you, thank you!


Airport meal, my after-con celebration!

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