NYCC 2007 Con Report

New York Comic Con 2007 Con Report

My first convention of 2007, the New York Comic Convention, was a tremendous success.

I sold almost everything I brought to sell and met a truckload of nice people.

All in all, it was a fantastic way to spend the weekend!

As you can see by the row of photos, I was supported by a great number of good-looking people.

Incidentally, I should mention that the people pictured don’t have anything to do with the text they’re placed next to unless that text states otherwise.

To make matters better, the promoters, in a very welcomed move to shivering fans, are moving the con back to April for 2008.

Brrrr-rilliant!

Friday was a little bit of a hard start for me.

I didn’t get there as early as I had intended to, so I wasn’t able to go around to the retailers and promote the fact that Evil Inc Annual Report Volume One is now being carried by Diamond Comics Distributors.

By the time I got my table set up, the time designated for trade-only activity had stopped and the fans had begun to trickle in.

Artist Alley was on a second floor — displaced from the rest of the convention this year.

Originally, I was a little more than miffed about this, but Saturday’s traffic proved that I didn’t miss a thing by not being on the main convention floor.

Another lemons-to-lemonade scenario played out when I realized that my 6-foot table was wedged — diagonally — into a 4-foot space.

Again, on the surface, I felt somewhat cheated, but then I realized that it actually enabled me to but my vertical banner on top of the table — since I wouldn’t be blocking my neighbor’s frontage.

As a result, it was very easy to find the Evil Inc banner as soon as one entered the Artist Alley area.

Actually, it was a little bit too easy. I spent quite a bit of time explaining to several women that I was not Claudio.

Claudio, who is also a lead singer in a band called Coheed and Cambria, is the writer of Evil Ink, a comic which was exhibiting one aisle over.

Claudio, also, seems to be something of a chick magnet, as evidenced by the relief on the women’s faces when I admitted that I was not him.

Claudio. The name exudes sex. I just can’t compete with that.

Anyway, I was soon cheered by fellow BLCer Paul Southworth, who was less disappointed to see me. But he was soon beset by fans and I went back to disappointing women.

William West, my representative from Diamond Comics Distributing also stopped by to introduce himself.

He’s a really nice guy and has been extremely helpful in guiding me through Diamond’s system.

I also got a chance to see my friend Tony Shenton, who distributes my books directly to comic stores.

Tony has been a supporter since my early Greystone days, and he has been responsible for getting my books into a lot of stores. Poor guy was hoarse from convention talk and it was only Saturday. It’s always good to see him.

Luckily, things picked up for me considerably Saturday. By noon, I had a full docket of convention sketches, and the books were selling like hotcakes. The entire day flew by.

I can’t thank you guys enough. Doing a comic strip can be awfully lonely work. Hearing you say how much you like the strip and hearing your laughter really helps.

By six o’clock, my vision cleared and I realized that I was very close to selling out all of my stock.

Of all the con sketches I did, I think my Wonder Woman sketch was the stand-out. It was a full foreground/background sketch and, since I charge more for those, I really try to put everything I’ve got into them.

I think I succeeded. Click on the link for full-sized cheesecakey goodness.

Of course, this Lightning Lady sketch comes in a very close second.

One of the real highlights of Saturday was watching John Gallagher walk up and pick up a copy of Evil Inc Annual Report Volume One.

John does Buzzboy. Turns out he’s a Penn State grad, so he and his friend, Tim, and I all traded Philly stories for a while.

I’m in awe of John’s work and having him compliment my strip was a true high point for me. To my continuing chagrin, I was so pleased when John liked my stuff enough to buy a book that I forgot to get a photo of him.

Another John — well, “Jon” — and another highlight. I got a chance to chat with Jonathon Rosenberg. He’s going to have a wonderful year this year personally and professionally.

We see each other at two or three cons a year, but he’s such a down-to-earth, gregarious guy that I always feel as if I’m continuing a conversation with him from five minute ago — even when the last time I saw him was in 2006.

Again, I was so busy running my mouth I forgot about my camera. Sorry, ladies.

I also had the pleasure of recording an interview with the talented Daku of the Digital Strips Podcast.

Daku is a prince among men and, with the help of the mighty Phil Kahn and cameraman “Blue’s Clues” Sean, he’s going to have some excellent coverage of the convention.

Sunday slowed right down — as Sundays often do. But it was worth being there is only to see Pete Abrams walk up to my table.

My respect for Pete’s work can’t be overstated. It was good to hear all the great news from the land of the Sluggites.

Later Sunday afternoon, my wife, who had been doing sight-seeing with the kids and her parents, was getting word of a snow storm coming through Philly, so I decided to pack up at 3:30 and catch an early train home.

I’m glad I did. The drive home from the train station was a white-knuckler and we were all happy to get into the warm house and unwind from a whirlwind weekend.