Archive for ‘conventions’
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So the odyssey of conventions continues, with back-to-back shows with NYCC last week and Mid-Ohio Con this weekend. And boy oh boy, did I find myself exhausted. In a good way. A different show always means different fans, exhibitors, and experiences. And Mid-Ohio has etched itself into my heart for some very specific reasons. But I’ll get into those in the daily breakout.
FRIDAY
Early in the morning I waited for my ride, Alan (Rival Angels) and his wife, who were driving down from Wisconsin. Since I’m on the way (and because they’re both awesome people), they picked me up and we began our 6+ hour drive to Columbus.
I only get to see Alan a few times a year, and his wife even less. Over the years we’ve become good friends, and it was nice to have time to catch up with them on life and projects during our car ride to the convention center.
We made excellent time, hitting no traffic along the way, and arrived with enough time to drop off our stuff at our tables before meeting up with Lora (The Dreamer) and her husband for dinner.
Lora was busy making an apple pie when we arrived (what she and her husband continued to refer to as “the greatest apple pie of all time,” which had a lot of hype around it…I was anxious to try it out), so we were a little late meeting up our friends at Lora’s favorite local pizza place.
We met up with several comic creator friends: Thom Zhaler (Love and Capes), Paul Storrie (The Green Hornet, The Muse), and Sean McKeever (Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt, Onslaught Unleashed). It was another opportunity to hang out with old friends and catch up.
Writer Paul D. Storie and I at the pizza place.
While at the pizza place, I found out they had ingredients for my new favorite drink: root beer liquor, whipped cream vodka, and coke (I’ve heard it called “The Widow Maker”). The bartender made the drink and later came up to the table to say she made one for herself, and it’s going to become her new signature drink!
After dinner we went back to Lora’s to sample this famous pie. And let me tell you, the hype was justified. It was a buttermilk cream apple pie – and it was amazing!
By that time it was late and we all had an early morning (and a full day) ahead of us.
SATURDAY
After a quick breakfast, the group piled into cars and headed over to The Greater Columbus Convention Center, where the show was being held. This was the first year Wizard had taken over the show, but it was nice to see the Henry brothers were still involved – as they greeted us upon our arrival.
The show was in a different hall this year, which featured a large glass wall that let in natural light throughout the day. The ceiling, too, had lights that were multi-colored and very cool to look at. Additionally, the show played music instead of doing announcements – but the music was at a level that wasn’t distracting or too loud, but was instead enough to enjoy when you could and ignore when you needed to.
Mid-Ohio has always been a very strong family show, and this year was no exception. There were a lot of families, parents with kids, or younger fans running around the show floor. This has historically lead to high sales for me, with the bulk of my books being all-ages. I did see a lot of Saturday only badges, however, which made me a little nervous for Sunday’s traffic – but I’m getting ahead of myself.
Saturday was a strong day filled with good sales, and great fans both new and old. I had people who read the comic (or my twitter or facebook) coming up to the table all day to say hi and support the work, and also had new fans who hadn’t heard of the projects before but loved the ideas and purchased from me for the first time. It was a good solid day of socializing with friends new and old, and selling high quality books.
After show hours, the group headed off for a local Asian fusion place called Lemongrass. The food was tasty, the sushi was great, and the sake was just what we needed after a day on the floor.
After dinner, it was off to a quick taste of Jeni’s ice cream. Jeni’s is usually a post-convention tradition for our group, but this night we just had a craving for it before going back to the hotel for the after-party.
So many options, so little time….
At the after-party I split off from the group briefly to chat with David Mack (Kabuki) and actor Doug Jones (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy). David wanted to get his dance on, and Doug was trying to re-enact scenes from The Matrix with him. It was an entertaining night, to be sure.
After a while I went back over by my friends and chatted them up some more, before we all retired for the evening back to Lora’s.
SUNDAY
Traditionally “kid’s day” at a convention, I honestly think I saw more kids attending the previous day. I did get to meet with some great Reading with Pictures supporters, sold a few copies of my books, and ultimately finished the show as strong as we could.
As we thought, traffic on Sunday was a lot lower than the previous day – as most of those people had single-day passes. This meant that sales on Sunday were lower than expected, but books still went flying off the table.
After the show ended, the group packed up and loaded up cars – then met at Jeni’s again for our post-con tradition.
The gang hanging out at Jeni’s Ice Cream, a post-convention tradition.
The final outing with the group was too brief, because we had to get on the road to get back to Illinois at a decent hour. We all said goodbye and parted ways. All in all, Mid-Ohio was another successful show. Not just because sales continued to be strong, but also for those reasons I eluded to earlier in this post: because of good friends.
I’ll miss my friends, as I probably won’t see them again until next year, but we all continue to stay in touch online. And a special thanks to everyone who stopped by the booth – either for the first time or for the 30th time – as your continued support fills me with joy and creativity.
I have the best friends and fans a guy could ask for.
I’m at MOC this weekend, table #1033 in artist alley. Going to be a fun time, so be sure to swing by and say hi!
So NYCC was last weekend, which was a total blast. But what else can you expect from the second largest comic convention in the country. This year, again, the Javits Center was completely filled with the show. And the layout felt a lot better than the previous year, where attendees had a lot more access to creators and artists in small press – where previously the artist alley was blocked by construction AND a giant Intel booth. This year, the construction is still there – but navigating through it is much easier and there’s more signage to navigate you through.
THURSDAY
Thursday was preview day, so I had to be at the show early enough to set up. 3:30am I got up to hop a cab and get to O’Hare. At the airport, the baggage check people didn’t show up until almost 5am, which was a little obnoxious. Especially since they told me I didn’t need to check my luggage, as it would fit into a closet on the plane.
After an uneventful plane ride I arrived in NYC, and a buddy came to pick me up so we could go buy a table and chair for the booth. Small Press booths don’t come with tables or chairs (you can order them separately from the show, but they’re expensive), and also got some snack food for the weekend. Since I rarely leave the table during a show, it’s important to have something to munch on and drink during the day. Water fits the bill for beverages, and a boat-load of granola bars and Pringles fit the snack bill.
After food and table / chair were acquired, we picked up my table buddy and good friend Steve Wallace, and we headed off for the show.
Driving through NYC wasn’t so bad (mostly because I wasn’t driving), and unloading the car went quick. Steve and I set up fast and were just in time for the onslaught of professionals that attended the show for preview night.
Teachers, Librarians, press, comic pros, and many other filled the isles and attended panels geared towards them, and the booth saw some strong traffic. Steve and I were officially representing Reading with Pictures, but unfortunately many of these people who were interested in supporting the cause were less interested in purchasing copies of the book.
At the end of the show, we all piled into Phil’s car and headed to Jersey to stay with our good friend Joe Dunn. Joe and Phil run a website called The Digital Pimp, which features such great internet comics as Matriculated, Joe Loves Crappy Movies, and Turtle vs Bunny. We ordered food, relaxed and chatted the night away, and eventually we all passed out, gearing up for our first full day of the show open to the general public.
FRIDAY
A shipping error had Phil running around to UPS stores in the morning, so Joe, Steve, and myself all hopped on a train and headed into the city. Set up was quick, as we arrived just as the doors were opening to the general public. The show was INSANE. Sold out. And people were EVERYWHERE.
I had a panel on the website scheduled for 12:15 at the Hasbro stage (located in the north hall, where all of the kids programming and autograph signing was taking place), but upon scoping out the location of the stage I saw the sign read the panel was Saturday. This was very strange, but I figured I had remembered wrong and went back to the table to sell.
Throughout the day people kept approaching the table, asking if we were supposed to have the 12:15 panel. They had saved the panel in their online schedule, but when they got to the stage there was another act on. Very strange, but hopefully the panel was still on for tomorrow.
A solid day of sales and lots of foot traffic made me feel pretty confident about the performance of the show, especially compared to last year.
At the end of the day we all took off back to Jersey to relax a bit. Tomorrow would be the big day, another sold out attendance, and would hopefully be our biggest sales day of the weekend.
SATURDAY
We got up early and drove to the convention center, since Phil was dropping his car off at his cousins. Getting in early finally gave us a chance to walk the floor a little while vendors were still setting up. I snapped a photo of the Marvel booth, which was very impressive.
Marvel booth at NYCC, looking a lot like the set of The Avengers movie.
The DC booth was adorned with new posters, promoting the new DCnU 52 characters. The artwork looked good – but with Jim Lee designing the characters, that shouldn’t be a shock to anyone.
As soon as the show opened we were bombarded with menus from local Chinese food places. Some of the delivery guys had a look like they could give two shits about doing their jobs, others were way too excited to be handing out menus. We didn’t order from them, but we heard from neighbors that they delivered straight to your booth – which is pretty awesome. Between our neighbors (MOCCA) and us, we received over 30 menus in total!
So many Chinese food menus! At least they deliver straight to your booth.
At 12:15pm on Saturday, I grabbed Eisner winner Gabriel Bautista (Comic Book Tattoo, Elephant Man), and we headed over to the Hasbro stage for our panel. The place was packed, but not just with kids – lots of adults showed up. We didn’t have much in the way of programming, and I didn’t want to bore the audience to death, so we did a volunteer system to have people come up on stage and do a read-along with us. Volunteers entered into a drawing to win a hard cover copy of the book signed by all of the contributors at NYCC.
We read through some of my favorite stories in the book: Albert the Alien (which Gabe and I did), Mail Order Ninja (written by Josh Elder), and G-Man (written and illustrated by Chris Giarrusso). The audience loved the stories, and we had some stellar volunteers come up to help out.
After the reading, Gabe gave out free sketches and we both signed copies of the books to people who wanted to purchase – and also gave out the free copy of the hard cover. People loved it, and we had people follow us back to the table for additional sales.
After that panel, the hard covers started selling like mad. I had only brought a few of them, and while they did last until the end of the show on Sunday (I sold out of everything I brought by end of show), it was a pleasant surprise to see them move after the panel ended.
A steady day of traffic with good sales made for a satisfying Saturday at the show. Steve and I even got some time away from the table to walk the floor and see some people. I visited my friends at Image and Aspen comics, and also walked around artist alley a bit to say hi to friends and fellow comic pros.
After the show ended, we all headed to get some Korean BBQ. This has become a tradition for our group for NYCC, and it’s a fun one at that. Joining us were Phil’s cousin, Vicki, and RWP founder Josh Elder. After dinner, we tried to find an indie after-party, but they were charging cover at the door and I have a strict policy against paying cover anywhere I go. Instead, we went to a local pub and grabbed a few drinks.
That night Steve and I crashed with Josh in his posh hotel room, falling asleep while laughing our asses off watching hilarious youtube videos.
SUNDAY
The final day of the show started off with arriving a little late to the show. We were all pretty exhausted from the 4-day weekend, but still energetic by the possibility of selling out of our stock.
Steve and I manned the booth, and sold until we ran out of books. Which was about 20 minutes before we had to pack up to make our flights out. I did some quick shopping before the end of the show, and then we hiked for several blocks before finding a cab that would take us to the airport (cabs in NYC hate to drive to the airports…and also hate to pick up people with luggage, apparently).
I arrived back home late that night, exhausted and starting to lose my voice. Waffles (my cat) was happy to see me, and I was happy to see my bed again.
Net net, it was a great weekend filled with amazing friends, fantastic fans, and good times. Thanks to everyone for making this NYCC the best one yet, and I’m really looking forward to next year.
Only two more conventions on my schedule this year:
-Mid Ohio Con: Oct 22-23
-Kollision Con: Nov 18-20
And now, it’s time to sleep…..
It’s official! Reading with Pictures takes the Big Apple in October at the New York Comic Con (NYCC).
Fellow contributor Steve Wallace and myself will be manning the RWP booth in small press, located at booth #2629 (below is a handy dandy little map; RWP is the orange square).
The book has been nominated for two Harvey Awards this year (Best Children’s Story, Best Anthology), so stop by and see what everyone in the industry is talking about. And meet some of the contributors to this amazing all-ages book!
“It’s hard to find quality kid-friendly titles that are as delightful to read as this one is.”
- Jeff Marsick, Newsarama
“an excellent classroom accessory.”
- Greg Baldino, BleedingCool
Looking forward to seeing you there!
It’s official! Reading with Pictures takes the Big Apple in October at the New York Comic Con (NYCC).
Fellow contributor Steve Wallace and myself will be manning the RWP booth in small press, located at booth #2629 (below is a handy dandy little map; RWP is the orange square).
We’ll also have some events at the show, including:
RWP 2.0 – The Future of Comics in the Classroom
Date: Thursday, October 13
12:15 pm – 1:15 pm
Location: 1A02
Speakers: Charlie LaGreca, Dr. Michael Bitz, Jessica Abel, Josh Elder, Matt Madden
Description:
Find out how YOU can help get comics into schools and get schools into comics in this informational seminar hosted by some of the biggest names in the world of comics and education. Join Josh Elder of Reading With Pictures, Dr. Michael Bitz of the Comic Book Project, Charlie LaGreca of Comic Book Classroom and Jessica Abel and Matt Madden of Drawing Words and Writing Pictures as they unveil their plans for 2012 and beyond.
Be sure to stop by the booth and see how you can help get comics into classrooms around the country! And also check out our first anthology, nominated for two Harvey Awards, featuring award-winning talent such as Jill Thompson, Raina Telgemeier, Josh Elder, Fred Van Lente, and many more!
Additionally, we’ll be doing signings with many of our creators throughout the weekend! The schedule will be announced before the show, but the table will be loaded with awesome comics that are both appropriate for all ages and educational in nature.
Looking forward to seeing you there!
Wow, so I’m finally starting to catch up on my blogging (only two weeks later, right?). Specifically as it relates to Wizard World Chicago this year.
Let me just put some historical context here before breaking it down by the day’s events. Years ago, Wizard World Chicago was the first large convention I ever attended (and by large, I mean over 10,000 attendees). And it was the first convention where I shifted by focus from being an attendee to being an exhibitor. And I did this slowly – by meeting creators and chatting them up and learning about the industry from the business perspective. What I really liked about the show was the networking – and the fact that, after the show ends, just about everyone hangs out at the Hyatt bar. So the networking never really stops. This is really the show that launched by professional comics career – and I met most of my comic friends at this show, so it holds a special place for me.
That said, let’s get into the events of the show….
THURSDAY
I left work as soon as I could to make it in time for preview night, and made it there only an hour after it started. Unfortunately it sounds like the bulk of the business happened within that first hour. But I got set up and got to see some familiar faces all the same. WWC put most of the Reading with Pictures in a single row, so I got to hang out with many of my friends over the weekend. With us in the group were Russell Lissau (Shrek, Strawberry Shortcake), Steve Horton (DC Holiday Annual, Superman Annual), John Bivens (Comic Book Tattoo, Popgun), Steve Wallace (Binary Love, Omega Comics Presents), and Gabrielle Bautisa (The Spirit, Elephant Man). With us as well was my good friend Alan Evans (Rival Angels).
And visiting from Ann Arbor was my good buddy Scott, who was helping us all out throughout the weekend. Without Scott, I don’t know how we would’ve made it through this weekend.
After the floor closed, we all went back to the hotel room for some much needed pizza (and whiskey). It was a great start to what would be an amazing weekend.
FRIDAY
The group awoke pretty early in the morning and went to the Hyatt restaurant for breakfast. Upon walking in we passed Nicholas Brenden (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), and we all took our turns at the buffet. While eating, Felicia Day walked in and sat in a booth by us. Celebrities started filtering in throughout as we took off to get ready for the show. I set up the booth a little differently from how I’ve done it in the past, and I think it worked out for the best.
The feature of the show was Reading with Pictures, which has been nominated for two Harvey Awards – one for best anthology, and another for best kid’s book. I had two editions: the softcover trade, and the limited edition hard cover. Next to it I always placed Junkyard Chase, which I consider a companion since it includes a script and kind of works as a template for young creators. After that was Hope: The Hero Initiative – another strong book that supports a great cause. In the middle were my sketch cards and free bookmarks. And bringing up the end were the few copies of @$$hole! I brought to the show.
Around 1pm I had to step away from the table for an hour to present some research I had done for work, so I retired to the hotel room (which was quiet). About an hour later, I came back out to the floor to keep selling and sell hard. Beth was at the table with me by this time, having a half-day at the office, and together we had an extremely strong Friday.
Scott only tried to steal my table once.
After the floor closed we all headed to The Ram for burgers. It’s one of our favorite places to unwind after the show – especially since they can take a party as large as ours. After dinner we all went back to the hotel for some pre-party in the hotel room, followed by heading down to the Hyatt bar to mingle. Upon getting down there we were met by fellow webcomic creators Tom Brazelton (Theater Hopper) and Gordon McAplin (Multiplex).
The treat of the evening for me was getting to hang out with Talent Caldwell (Fathom: Killian’s Tide, Superman: Godfall). Talent and I have hung out a bit at past shows, but tonight there were less people to distract us from good conversation. He caught me up on some projects he’s working on, and I did the same.
All in all the night ended later than I intended, but it was an amazing evening.
SATURDAY
To save a little money we decided to have breakfast at the restaurant attached to the convention center. Since this was the big day of the weekend, we all decided to sport our RWP t-shirts. This may have helped to bolster sales, because Saturday was the highest sales day I’ve ever had before. In fact, I sold better on Saturday alone than I’ve sold at my last two shows combined – and I did extremely well at those two shows. Beth was helping at the table the entire day, and despite a small fit of allergy attack (in the middle of the pitch to a customer, no less), the day went incredibly smoothly. I even sold out of @$$hole! about half way through the day, despite bringing triple the amount of books that I sold through last year.
There weren’t a lot of cosplayers at this show, but the costumes that were in the audience were pretty awesome.
Saturday was a very long but extremely profitable and fun day. And as a reward, the group went to McCormick and Schmicks to celebrate. After dinner, the group went to pre-party in the hotel room, and then back down to the Hyatt bar for some fun and networking. I ran into familiar faces, met some of the actors from the Boondock Saints, and hung out with Jill Thompson (Scary Godmother, Beasts of Burden). After a few drinks, the group retired for the night for the final day of the show.
SUNDAY
The final day of the show and the entire group was feeling pretty good about the weekend. But as always, you want to finish strong, so we didn’t slow down the sales. And sales did not slow down. In fact, I finished stronger on Sunday than I’ve done during an entire weekend at some shows.
As the floor closed we all said our goodbyes and packed up. We were too exhausted to get together for a final meal of the weekend, but I think it was an accomplished tired. Beth and I went home, ordered some food, watched a flick and passed out. Overall, Wizard World Chicago set a new benchmark for sales at conventions – one that will be hard to meet or beat. Until next year, at least. 
###
Remaining 2011 Convention Schedule:
New York Comic Con – October 13-16 – New York City, NY
Mid-Ohio Comic Con – October 22-23 – Columbus, OH
KollisionCon – November 18-20 – St Charles, IL
Last weekend I was a guest at Anime-Zing in Davenport, IA. It was my first thing in Iowa, and it was a second year show and Russell and I had a fun time.
FRIDAY
Russ and I headed out from the burbs on our 3 hour drive across the Mississippi to Davenport. The drive was uneventful and quick, and the weather was perfect for a cross-state trip. The hotel was right next to the Mississippi River and thankfully the weather wasn’t too muggy – although there were a lot of bugs flying about. We arrived at the convention and checked in, then went to the hall to set up.
The guests were all situated against the wall over by the entrance to the dealers room. It was great to see Robert Axelrod (Power Rangers) again, and it was my first time meeting Sonny Strait (Dragon Ball Z) and Johnny Young Bosch (Power Rangers). Eventually all of the guests were invited on the main stage during opening ceremonies, and were officially introduced to the attendees.
Eventually Russ and I left to do our Breaking into Comics panel. The crowd was respectable, and asked great engaging questions. After the panel we went back to the floor and continued to sell our merchandise until the floor closed. After the show ended for the day, we took off to a local pub by the river and had some dinner. After that, Russ took off for the casino and I headed back to the convention for my Evening with Trevor Mueller panel.
The room was full and the audience lively and energetic. Everyone loved the convention stories, the inspirations for the @$$hole! comic, and the various silly things that have happened to me in the professional comic world over the last several years. It was the perfect way to end the first day of the show.
SATURDAY
The morning hit and Russ and I took in breakfast at the hotel buffet. The show floor opened at the usual time, but for some reasons the attendees seemed lighter. Perhaps they had seen the floor the day before, perhaps they were attending panels (the day was full of them), or perhaps they were sleeping in later than the usual convention. It necessitated a breather to clear our heads and take in a little of the local flavor. Russ and I closed down the tables around 1pm and headed over to a local sandwich shop called Mojos. The place is part of the River Center Experience Museum and there was a live recital with girls playing piano and singing. The sandwiches were all named after famous singers, and it was exactly what we needed to get the energy level back up.
The rest of the day went by without incident, but was a lot of fun for sure. Russ had a Batman panel in the afternoon, and I eventually left to do my Making Webcomics panel which was well attended. The panel had some great questions and some familiar faces from the previous panels of the weekend – and people who seemed very engaged with the material.
After the panel, Russ and I did a Reading with Pictures panel. Surprisingly the panel was very full. This is surprising because the attendees of the convention felt much younger than some of the other conventions we went to, and there weren’t a lot of teachers or librarians – our primary target audience. However, people were very engaged with the subject and really liked the idea of comics in the classroom. And why wouldn’t they – they were all comic readers, after all.
After the panel Russ and I caught some dinner at the bar and hung out with some of the dealers grabbing drinks and chatting late into the night.
SUNDAY
The morning brought hunger and hunger brought the need for food. Wanting to venture out, Russ and I walked around the city only to discover that just about everything is closed on a Sunday. This lead us straight back to the hotel restaurant for breakfast, followed by checking out of the hotel and heading over to the floor for the last day in sales.
Sales were paced much more regular than the previous days, and the attendees seemed interested in anything and everything. Eventually Russ and I packed up and took off, since I had a train to catch and he wanted to see his family. It was father’s day, after all.
All in all, Anime-Zing is a fun young show that was enjoyable to attend and had some great people in attendance. It was an honor to be a guest at the show and I hope to be invited back again next year. As always, it’s the fans that make a show great – and this show certainly has some awesome fans.
