Spring con wrap up!

Just finished 3 cons in about 5 weeks!

First up was Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle, which was another banner show, with the con improving yet again, at about 15k attendance, and my sales from 2 days being a near best ever. I keep telling everyone I know, again and again... do this con! Don't travel to Charlotte, or Chicago, or anywhere else, if you don't have this show on your list already, go there... it's that good.
Great show, great (spending) crowd, great location. 'Nuff said!

One of the best things about this show, was I got to meet an artist friend from DeviantArt, that I've been working on a little top secret something with... Yassir Rasan (aka seeso2d).
Yassir's an amazing artist, and as it turns out, very very nice guy. He's only been in the US and Seattle for just under a year (he's from Iraq), and this was his first ever comic convention (I think he was overwhelmed, naturally)!


Next up was Wondercon in San Francisco. I really like this show, and it's growing, and great, but, it's run by Comic-con International, just like San Diego, and that means big crowds for sure, but tons of mainstream attendees, not necessarily buying comics etc... but damn sure looking at big booths and panels.
It's a great location and a good show though, and I have many friends at it, plus the amazing Isotope comic lounge is nearby and hosts great con parties, and this year was no different. I just wish the sales were a bit better here, especially for as large as the show is (I think they do like 25 to 30k).



I had a great time with my friend Jack Stepp (creator of the self pubbed comic, The Elysian) who I'd met at local shows and known for years, and his neighbor, Jeff (the living embodiment of "the Dude") Prechtel (historical\fine artist), who I met en route to the show, road tripping from Portland and Eugene down 1-5 south...
We even stumbled into an epic roadside diner on the way home, north of Sacramento, Bill and Cathy's diner... like a time capsule from the early 70's, massive, and serving high quality breakfast (I recommend the chicken fried steak... it's fresh made)!


Then we get to Wizard Anaheim... the brand new show in the LA area from Wizard, part of their new pop culture con relaunch...
sigh.

I knew it was going to most likely be a scary proposition (the Wizard LA con was a downward spiral, and Reed's (promoters of the fabo NYCC) C2E2 was the same weekend), but being that C2E2 was sold out, and I had friends around LA (that I could crash and hang with), I went ahead and tried my luck.


As with most shows, the Friday and Sunday were down attendance wise, but Saturday was pretty busy. That said, sales were terrible, and the "crowds" that were there, were most likely there for the new freak show aspect of Wizard.
Now sure, they promote it as a big pop culture event, like a travelling Comic Con San Diego, accept, you know, without the ability to put on a similar type show. Instead you're left with literally half the floor of the con as an autograph area with such celebs as Kato Kalin, Peter Brady, and various wrestlers. Then the remainder of the floor is vendors that range from hooka pipes, to custom leather jackets, with some petrified bats here, and a smattering of comics there. No, really.
Oh, and of course, the large stage for hoochie mamas dressed in Star Wars/geek gear, performing routines live, for good wholesome family entertainment!

I'd guess the attendance to be around 7 to 10k (I'm sure, like always, Wizard will inflate the number with multi day sales and such to make it look much better, it's not), and the crowd, like with San Diego and Wondercon SF, mostly mainstream folks not buying comic stuff, but checking out the whole comic con thing, and even more so in this case.

My friends and I took to calling the new Wizard shows a traveling train wreck, or cluster f*#k across America.
So, if they're close to your town or region, consider them, but whatever you do, don't go out of your way to plan to attend or exhibit one!
Your mileage may vary of course, but I suspect not much.

But I did get to see Lavar Burton in the bathroom (now added to my celeb con bathroom encounter list with Adam West) and sell a print to Julie Numar(Catwoman)'s driver!


Thankfully Dan Mendoza, friend, collaborator, and current Zombie Tramp creator, and my good friend Javier Hernandez (and respectively family's/s-o's) made it a welcome stay and treated me to many a local attraction (Chronic Tacos, Amazing Comics, Geeks Comics, etc), or entertainment (Faster Pussycat Kill Kill, bootleg tv series, imported Japanese art books, etc) otherwise this would have been one epic fail! It was fun hangin with cool comic friends for a few days.
But, there's always many other benefits of cons, and I've already got a few new contacts and such in play too.
I gave it a shot, so no surprise there... Wizard is Wizard.



So to summarize...
ECCC = awesome!
Wondercon = good
Wizard Anaheim = WTF?!?

The next con for me is Phoenix Comicon, on Memorial day weekend, which is a new con for me, but I've heard great things! So I've got a few weeks to recharge, get my 2010 sketchbook set, and a cool new Lost fan art ready, among other things... to start it all up again this summer!!

(To see pics of some more con sketches from the shows just click the con label below or check out my DeviantArt gallery)

Wondercon this weekend!

I'm on the road early Thursday AM to head south for the bay area and San Francisco Wondercon (where they'll have this snazzy Iron Man 2 print)!

This will be my fifth year doing the show I think, and I always look forward to it, it's a great show (run by the fine folks that do San Diego Comic-Con).

Last year I carpooled with a great group of artist friends, but none of them were able to make it back to the show this year, so now I'm doing the trip with some new friends.

I'll be in artist alley (space 71), selling books (the Super Real graphic novel, SRG Presents, Pulp Girls, Zombie Tramp, and more), doing sketches, selling prints, and having a good time!

Here are some sketches I did two weeks ago at Emerald City con!










And here's a new fan art collaboration I'll have as well.


In addition to all that, I'm also bringing down a portrait my friend Javier Hernandez did of our Chihuahua, Choco, as he's doing a gallery show in San Fran the same weekend!


It should be a busy few days, and fun! :)

WONDERCON 2009

I'll be hitting the road late tonight with my friends Randy "Rantz" Kintz, Jason Metcalf, and Brian Randolph... we're trekking 10.5 hours south on I-5 for San Fran and the big Wondercon this weekend.
This will be my fourth straight year, and I'm hopeful the show will go over as well as NYCC sounded...
Either way, I'll be all set with all Super Real and SRG Presents books, prints, and a brand new sketchbook!

We're all neighbors in artist alley along with my man Dave Dwonch of Gnome fame, and Gnome cover artist Super Ugly.

Doods, drawing supplies, massive crowds, and the bay city...
should be good times!!

Come on down!

SUPER REAL NOTES - WonderWrap

Well the annual aught eight Con to the Wonder was last weekend...
High hopes dashed on the rocks an all that aside, it was a good show (last years all pro sales were back to reality this year for me, but many I talked with said the same, and indeed said those they talked with concurred, so perhaps I wasn't alone).

As ever, it was cool to see returning faces, catch up with friends and acquaintances...

It was also cool to share space with the Gnome crew, Dave Dwonch (writer/artist/creator), and John Williams, aka Super Ugly (cover artist).
Dave, center here, was of course pimping Gnome and doing some slick sketches, mostly for his many fans on the Comic Geek Speak forums. John was doing his first con, with his Super Ugly artbook (which I had to pick up, good stuff), prints, paintings, you name it, all in that inimitable "Ugly" style!

Prepping late into the night Thursday, and only catching 2 hours rest before leaving for an early AM flight, I was tapped by the shows end Friday and crashed.
Saturday the Gnome gang and friends hit some dinner and the Isotope Darwyn Cooke party. We'd done the same last year, but the 'Tope was much more user friendly at that DeMaitais party... when we showed up for tip drinks, comics, art, and networking, the place was comfortably occupied, but within an hour or so it was madness and we had to escape the crowd.
I guess we were there long enough to make the scene though (see side pic from the Newsarama article)... too funny! We were barely there (but long enough for me to put back three Isotope super strength Jack and a tiny bit o Cokes)...

I've said it before, but the Isotope is a great shop, boldly going where others have yet to tread, and worth a look when in the Bay Area!

I did manage to get out my trusty "Friends and Neighbors" sketchbook I take with me on my journeys, where I do just as the name implies, and pass it to friends and neighbors at cons for sketches of either their characters, or mine, often times with humorous mash ups of the two... This time I got it to Dave, who worked up this great Kityana of Super Real, holding "gnome".
I'll try and remember to share these here from now on...

I got a little fanboy thrill (still happens some times) when I realized I was just across an aisle from J Campbell, and had to grab one of his 07 sketchbooks (wanted to get the awesome 10th anniversary oversized Danger Girl print too, but resisted)... It was fun to see some of the sketches he did at the show.

So, another show has flown by, with very little time spent outside my table... some day. Of course, the occasional good costumes go by, including the requisite Star Wars, Spider-Man, etc, but also a great troop of Cobra Commandos... why have I not seen more of those?!? They were cool!!

Coooooooobraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next up? April and 3 shows, Portland, NYCC, Stumptown, followed by Emerald City 2 weeks later!
Is it April yet??!!

SUPER REAL NOTES - Wondercon Weekend 08

The convention season kicks off for me tomorrow, as I make my third annual journey down the coast to San Francisco Wondercon.

I'll be exhibiting in artist alley Friday thru Sunday in space AA71, alongside my friend Dave Dwonch (creator of the upcoming SRG Presents: Gnome). Stop by and say hello, and check out preview books of Gnome.

I'll also have the entire run of Super Real of course, as well as prints, art, and my brand new 2008 sketchbooks (fresh from the printer). The new book is 32 pages and includes black and white and many color pages of commission work, fan art, pinups, sketches and more! I think it's my best book yet. I'll have those available from the website upon my return.
Wondercon is a fast growing show that packs in a great crowd, and is an enjoyable scaled down version of San Diego Comic Con (by the same organizers). This year, they've got a really great lineup of media guests, including the whole crew from X-Files (promoting the new film), which is quite thrilling for me and the wife!

Very excited and looking forward to it, it should be a great weekend!