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Wizard World Chicago was my first “big” comic convention. I met many of my friends there. Most of my comic friends, in fact. It’s a show that holds a special place in my heart.
Last year, many of the publishers in the comic industry pulled out of the show and many of us were wondering if the show would continue on without them. Many of us wondered if we would ever again make the trek from the Hyatt Bar back to our hotels, exhausted and satisfied (and maybe a little tipsy). There were only two ways that the next year’s show could go: the show would thrive without the publishers, or the show would disappear.
When I agreed to get a table at WCC this year, I figured even if the show sucked at least I’d have fun with my comic friends. The fear from the previous year still prevailed, however, and I wasn’t sure what would happen. The unknown invigorated me, and the adrenaline was high on Thursday when I left the office and headed out to the show once more. Suffice it to say, our fears were unjustified. The show was AMAZING.
Alan Evans – creator of Rival Angels
Thursday night and everyone there had already made a ton of sales – and the show didn’t even start until the next day, officially. We celebrated the weekend by going to the Ram (one of Russ’s favorite places) and downing a few stiff adult beverages. The next day would start our weekend of selling comics. Including our new book, Reading with Pictures!
Trevor (hey, that’s me) models the Reading with Pictures anthology
Of course, other books were on sale as well. Russell was selling copies of The Batman Strikes, Hope: New Orleans, and his self-published work The 29.
John Bivens was selling copies of Comic Book Tattoo, PopGun, and his other anthologies. Steve Wallace was selling copies of Sequential Suicide, Binary Love, and his Sandman prints. And of course, I was on hand with RWP, as well as a little book we all know and love called “@$$hole!”
I love this book a little too much, sometimes
Russell and myself were interviewed a few times by several news outlets, including Bleedingcool.com and appear in their write up of the show.
The table display…yeah, it’s important
Sales were high all weekend, and I even got to meet a few of the celebrity guests including Paul McGillion (Stargate: Atlantis), Walter Koenig (Star Trek, Babylon 5), and John Schneider (Dukes of Hazard, Smallville). Paul and I chatted at the bar after hours about the show (since he admitted to being a little new to the comic scene). But most of the time was spent with my good comic friends…and losing my voice selling.
Many fans and friends came to visit me at the table, and it was awesome to see them all. And many new friends were made. And a personal victory for me was that I completely sold out of the first box of Reading with Pictures. The book was a huge success, and people loved it.
The show was tons of fun yet again, and while I’m going to be really busy at shows coming up, I totally plan to attend the show again next year. And that last sentence totally doesn’t make any sense….
Expect to see this image in a coming @$$hole! comic
Remember that big news I’ve been teasing about for the past several months? Been asking yourself why the website hasn’t been updating lately? Well, it’s because my lifelong dream has taken a major step forward to becoming a reality. I’ve been published.
Reading with Pictures came out several weeks ago, and the premiere event was at Challengers Comics in Chicago. Several of the creators were on hand, including Josh Elder, Russell Lissau, Jeff Brown, and Jill Thompson. And the book sold gangbusters!
Lots of people came into the store that day, and many of the creators were on hand to sign books and mingle with fans of the book, the project, or our individual works. The store bought boxes of the books (and I’m told, have bought and sold boxes more), and we signed them all.
There was a charity BBQ as well, with the coolest guy making some great food.
The book was available for order in the June Diamond catalog. Diamond ordered about a thousand copies of the book, and we’ve been selling them individually at conventions as well.
I have a bunch of events that have been keeping me away from the regular updates, and I apologize for that. My schedule looks like the following:
August 17-22: Wizard World Chicago (con report to follow)
September 9-12: CECE (guest of honor)
September 11 (yup, same weekend): Library workshop in Lincoln Square for kids on how to make comics
October 4: FallCon
October 8-10: New York Comic Con
November 6-7: Mid-Ohio Comic Con
Littered throughout the year I have weddings to attend and whatnot as well. It’s a very ambitious convention schedule, and unfortunately it’s cutting into my creation time. On top of all this, I’m also working on another children’s story AND a regular series pitch based on my Reading with Pictures short story.
Lots of great work on the horizon, and I hope to see some of you at a convention soon. Thanks for sticking with me, and no worries – comics will start up again soon.
Sorry for the lack of blog posts lately. Planning season has lasted a lot longer than I anticipated, and I’ve been pulling mad hours at the office (12+ hour days several times throughout a week). When I get home, I’m typically too drained to write a review or do anything beyond eat dinner and pass out. But enough of the negative, let’s focus on the positive: UTADA HIKARU – IN THE FLESH!
“But wait, who is Utada Hikaru,” some of you may be asking. No worries, I got this a lot at work when I told them that I was skipping the premiere of LOST to go see this woman in concert at the House of Blues – one of several of her nationwide sold-out shows.
I first became familiar with Utada Hikaru back in college when my Malaysian friends introduced me to a song called “First Love.” Having listened to several mixes (her regular version, a solo piano version, and a dance remix version) I decided to try to find more of her music. I ended up downloading several albums worth of her Japanese songs, and a few years later she came out with an American release album, having gained some traction in the states with her theme song to the popular video game Kingdom Hearts.
I’m personally a fan of the Japanese version of her Kingdom Hearts themes (“Simple and Clean” for the first game, and “Passion” and “Sanctuary” for the sequel). Her songs have also appeared in a lot of animes, including the critically acclaimed “Evangelion :01″ that I reviewed a few months ago.
So suffice it to say, she’s a bi-lingual singer known mostly for her pop music, but she has an amazing ability to transfer great emotion into her voice for her songs.
And her concert was SOLD OUT.
So the ticket said that doors opened at 7pm and it was a warmer (28 degree) evening than we have been experiencing, so my goal was to run from the office to the doors of the House of Blues, which is only a block away. Boy, did that not work in my favor. The line extended from the entrance to the bridge over the river (approximately a block and a half). I stood out in the cold without my coat (why pay for coat check when the office is only a block away, right?), chatting and making friends with much warmer / smarter people in line who were bundled up.
We eventually made it inside the building, a very unique-looking structure with a three-tiered balcony system and bars on all the walls. I was on the ground floor up against a bar, crammed in by people (who eventually became obnoxious) but with easy access to the adult nectar.
We found out that Utada wasn’t supposed to take the stage until 9pm, so there was an hour of a guy from New York spinning the same 7 songs over and over again. It was certainly better than silence, but the crowd was not as forgiving as I was. They wanted Utada. I made friends with a group of people by the bar, and we joked that her delayed stage presence was probably related to the Tivo in the hotel not working so she could record the premiere of LOST.
Whatever the reason, Utada took the stage to a thunderous applause promptly at 9pm – and she was GORGEOUS. After two songs, she took a moment to address the audience, exclaiming that the space was so small (which I took to mean that we were all really close to the stage). My fear had been that she was only going to sing her American songs, since her second American album had just been released, but thankfully like any good performer, she knew her audience wanted more. She did a pretty even split between her American and Japanese songs, as well as her old and new stuff.
After every few songs she would take a moment to talk to the audience about her tour, her music, or her life. She explained that she was having a low self-esteem day, that she felt like she had dressed like a witch (in her black see-through shall and white top, and poofy 80s dress with her hair full of mouse and spray. She then started talking about how this was her first time in Chicago and how during her day off the previous day she had gone to the Art Museum to see the Picasso paintings. At this point, the less mature audience members stopped caring and started shouting out song requests (thus reaffirming my hatred for attending events in public). But her words made me think: how much does one tend to have in common with a celebrity like her? If I had been at the museum at the same time, would I have noticed her in a crowd? Had we struck up a conversation, would we have become friends?
Utada performed for a full hour and forty minutes before exiting the stage very abruptly. The crowd, however, continued to cheer for an encore. After about 10 minutes of cheering at an empty stage, Utada and the band reappeared and performed for another 40 minutes.
Utada was the first concert experience that I’ve had at the House of Blues, and certainly the first from an international performer. And I was not disappointed. Her performance was insightful, moving, and tons of fun. She makes singing seem effortless, and her voice is like a welcome summer breeze on a hot day. I’d skip LOST any day of the week to see her perform again.
No blog for today. I’m too busy getting older. 
