Update

So I have just completed a long string of comic book conventions over the past 3 months.  I did 4 in March, and 6 in 5 weeks during the last of April through mid-May.  I have driven to Lexington, Asheville, Winston Salem, Charlotte, Greenville NC, Raleigh, Virginia Beach, and even a free comic book day at home in Wilson.   I've got a few weeks off until Heroescon in Charlotte and get to spend time with my wife.

The Cartoon Cosplay art I've been taking to shows has been very popular, that feels great.  So far I have done over 200 of them, and none of them have prints (yet). 

Here is an image of a recent one.

Heroescon 2016- the Post Show Post

Charlotte.  Heroescon.  Big.  Tired.  Good.

That just about covers it.

But really, always a good show to go and see and marvel at it all.  I had a good show, one of the best Heroescon's I've had.  And when the room is that big, and there is so much to see, it is hard to get noticed.  I am very appreciative to those who noticed me, and decided to buy a print or comic.

Heroescon is here!

Ok, it is not here yet, but it is this weekend (so if you're reading this and it is Friday June 17th, Saturday June 18th, or Sunday June 19th, then HEROESCON IS HERE!)

I have lots of new stuff.  Issue 13 of Intermezzo, and my new comic Quirkyworks #1.  I have several new prints, sketches and for the first time (for me at least) sketch cover comics.

Walk up to my table and say the secret phrase and win a prize.

That phrase is "Some people call me a Space Cowboy."

Heroescon

I will be at Heroescon in Charlotte, NC this weekend.  I will be set up at tables 2017 and 2018.  Big Fun!


Wendy will be there with me, she is much more interesting to talk to.

Mixed

I have finally sent issue 12 to the printer (Ka-Blam, a great company that I have had great experiences with)!  I have been working at this for a long while.  I should definitely have it for Heroescon in Charlotte on June 19th.  I was looking forward to this for so long that I should be dancing.


But our dog passed away this morning.  We recently found out she had cancer, and things went bad quickly.  We had 2 weeks of relative normalcy with her after that, but today was the end.  She was 13 years old, and the smartest dog I have ever known.  So to be very honest, I have spent most of today with tears filling my eyes and rolling down my cheeks.


After all of that, I sent off issue 12.  Mixed.

Charlotte Pop Swap

Saturday Oct 25th I will be set up at Heroes Aren't Hard to Find's store for their Pop Swap event.  As many times as I have been to Heroescon since the late 80s, I have never been inside their store.  Kinda weird.  As always looking forward to having a fun day.  Hope to see lots of people. 


Anyone who says the secret phrase "The Funk of Forty Thousand Years" will get a prize.

Shows, Shakespeare and stuff

I went to Winston Salem for Jay and Eddie's Comic Book Show on Saturday.  Had a nice time, saw a lot of people I knew, that is getting to be a real favorite thing of mine.  I try to socialize more with the people I meet at shows (instead of just jumping back on the road for the long ride home), and I am getting better about that.  Comics (or at least making mine) has always been such a solitary and private thing, I think I overlooked the social aspect of it all.  Just keeping in touch with people you see at shows makes it a lot different.  I made a point of that in Heroescon last month and then again in Winston Salem on Saturday.  Glad I did.


Now I have a production to finish here.  The Complete Works of William Shakespeare is a play I am directing here in Wilson, NC.  That has been a lot of fun and hard work getting together.  But I have a great group of people working on it and it is going to be an amazing show.  A different creative vibe flowing.


The next shows I have are Winston Salem and Greenville, NC.  More details to follow.

Ok... Heroescon

Long, exhausting, possibly even will get me sick, and a REALLY AWESOME WEEKEND!


I visited more people, sold a fair amount, actually made table cost and then some (Which is a first for me at Heroescon).  Did not buy as much as I would have liked, but that is probably for the best.


I had a good location, displayed some new stuff.  Overall it was very energizing.




Way back in the day I was 16 or 17, my first comic book convention was Hereoescon.  It was in a hotel.  It seemed huge to me then, but it was tiny compared to what it is now.


Ahhh.  The next show will be July 19th, Jay and Eddie's comic book show in Winston Salem, NC.

Wendy (of course)

Issue #11 is officially ordered.  Wendy loaded the files at the library.  She always comes up with solutions.  So it is going to be here (hopefully) in time for Heroescon (I say hopefully because I am a pessimist, Ka-Blam has always made their deadlines with me).


I am sure Wendy did that because she loved me, but there is a part of me who just thinks she couldn't put up with me freaking out about it anymore.  6 of one...




So soon Issue #11 will be available.  And I will stress over issue #12.

The nicest rejection or the harshest praise

So I went with Wendy to the VA Comicon yesterday.  First the location on Facebook, when you clicked on it gave you directions to a location that they use for other shows, but not this one.  So we were late getting there and setting up, and I hate that (Well, the doors had just opened when we started getting things on the table, later than I like).  So I was grumpy to start with, but being at a comic book show will always help that.


  But the show itself had some of the most complimentary people I have ever seen.  They talked a lot about how they liked this, or how funny that is, etc.  Then they would walk away.  Not buy anything, but tell you how great they think it is.  So on one hand, it is very nice to hear these things, but it is very perplexing and discouraging for so few people to actually give something a try.


So, it wasn't a good day for me.  Big deal, I have had that before, I have had worse before.  I probably will have again, that's just what I have learned.


Wendy pointed out that most of the people walking around weren't carrying a lot of stuff.  So maybe it was a little off for everyone.


But, I got to have a road trip with Wendy, and that is always good.


So next up will be a break for the month of May, because there have been a lot of shows lately.  And I will take the time to really get ready for Heroescon in Charlotte.  What will I do with that time?  I have no idea.  Let's find out.

Issue 11 is extremely close to completion!

I have finished inking the last page of Issue 11 of iNTERMEZZO!  There is still some computer work, the inside covers, and the outside cover to finish, but it is very near!  It will not be nearly the time it took Issue 10 (But The Journey of Brave Ulysses came in the middle, and slowed that one down a lot).  I plan to have it by Heroescon, June 20th.

Charlotte "Mini" Con

Ok first of all, let me just get this straight... The people in charge of this show (Shelton Drum of Heroes Are Hard to Find and his staff) are lying to you and me.  They called this a MINI Con, and that is a bold face lie. This was huge, it was a big, full space of dealers that covered a gym floor, and stretched out into the hallways and completely filled the upstairs as well.


I show up thinking it was a MiniCon and we get wall to wall people all day long and a place so big that is stuffed full of people and dealers that I didn't have the time to look around at all.


I had a great show, talked with a lot of people (some I knew, and some I didn't), sold some prints and some comics. I came out of there just completely exhausted.  This, plus the last few other shows I have done in Charlotte have really made me a fan of that town.  People I recognize from other shows, and people who recognize me is a regular happening. 


I love getting the time to go to a comic book show and this one, really charged me up for the next one, wherever that may be (more to come on that).

Charlotte Minicon Jan 25th

This Friday I will attend the Charlotte Minicon, a one day show in (of course) Charlotte.  I haven't done this one before, but the guest list is looking very impressive (its run by the same people who put on Heroescon).  And Charlotte is always a good place to go, and I meet people from other shows in the area who will actually remember me (which is cool).


Hopefully I will post more on this before the show, if not I will put a post show update.

Me, at a table.

Here is a picture from Heroescon 2011.  Since then I have added 4 more issues of iNTERMEZZO, another issue of Dyslexic Cosmic, and The Journey of Brave Ulysses.  Also a lot of art prints, sketches, and I have expanded my line of Homeless Heroes sketches.

Comic book show

And here are the details for the Winston Salem show.  The day I got to visit the comic shops in Winston really made me think that the area must have a great fan base. 3 shops in the same general area, a lot of times you are lucky to fins 1.  I saw Burke St Comics, Ssalefish, and the third (which was closed) is by the guys who are putting on this show, so I am looking forward to meeting them.  It must be nice to be a fan in that area, I grew up just south of there and when our comic shop closed I would go to the Heroes Aren't Hard to Find when they had a store in Winston.  Good Times.

Posers

I heard it in reference to the whole fangirl/ poser debate. So let me get this straight, more women are showing interest in geek culture, reading comics, watching geek culture movies, and dressing in sexy outfits at cons, and what does the geek (troll) community do?  Criticize them for not liking it enough.  Chastise them for only showing a passing interest and discourage them from developing a real appreciation for it by making "real fans" look like tools.

Old man time, let me tell you how things were in my day.  I remember my first comic book convention, Heroescon sometime in the late 80s.  It was A LOT smaller than it is now, but at the time I felt overwhelmed.  Buying everything I could (which wasn't nearly everything I wanted) and just generally soaking in what was to be the culture of my life, my people, my passion, and cementing the goal of where I wanted to be and what I wanted to be doing. 
But there was something I noticed, that I didn't care for.  I was the youngest person in the room (or at least it felt like it).  A room full of older white guys; who all loved comics like I loved comics, but there was no diversity.  Hell, they probably thought I was a poser.  It didn't discourage my love for comics, but it made it feel a little more isolating to be a comic geek.
In the years since then, comic culture has exploded in all directions.  Go to Heroescon now (or a large show in your area) and what you will see is nothing like my first show.  There are younger people, tiny kids, all races, women of all ages in much greater numbers.  And that is on both sides of the table, artists and fans. 

It makes me feel like that community that I became a part of is sharing its passion on such a scale that the people in that room (I think it was 1987) couldn't imagine. 
I hope they feel like I do, that this is great.  That all of these different people with different tastes, and different levels of enthusiasm would be part of this subculture.  More people are getting interested because they are seeing what we saw all along, that this is cool stuff.  And we can agree on stuff we like, and disagree about stuff we just don't like(yeah, I'm looking at you Manga) and its all good.  We don't all have to be the same kind of Geek to be a part.

So to all those who feel the need to separate the real fans from the posers, I think you are missing an opportunity.

And if it ever comes to pass that someone walks up to me at a convention, wearing a costume of one of my characters, but you tell me that "well, I just like the costume" or "I haven't read it. " I will  still be thrilled that you took the time to do it and picked my character; and you will get SO MUCH free stuff.

Pics from my weekend at Heroescon

Another Heroescon video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITHppqnjIVI

Fun from Heroescon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q26WxoPFqBI

Post Heroescon

I am tired.

Heroescon was long and exhausting but at the same time, it went by too fast and I didn't have enough time.
I had a pretty good weekend, much better than my last Heroescon experience (not as good as I would have liked, but still good).  I sold quite a few art prints and some original stuff, but not a lot of comics.  That is disappointing more than anything else, but I think it was still a positive experience.

I saw Joseph and Matthew, contributors to Dyslexic Cosmic 2, I gave them complimentary copies and got to talk to them a while.  And a lot of faces I have gotten to know over the past several years doing these shows.

It is very inspiring, intimidating, encouraging, discouraging, and energizing.

I didn't get to buy as much as I would have liked (but that would take winning the lottery).

The next show is a one day convention in Winston Salem on July 20th.  It will be my first time there, so that will be a new experience.