THREE big conventions took place this weekend! Down in Texas, Wizard World Texas made its appointed rounds, although Hero’s mechanical bull fund raiser contributed the expected awkward moments. David Hopkins sent us a link to his Flickr stream from which we stole this picture. Blog@ has lots of coverage as well, and some news crumbs leaked out.
MEANWHILE, in New York, the Big Apple Con excited autograph collectors with appearances by Hayden Panettiere and Kristin Bell, and VIRGIL!!! and had some Valiant news:
Saturday’s Valiant Comics panel at the Big Apple Con ended with the revelation of Valiant Entertainment’s next project: a hardcover collection of “X-O Manowar” with a new story by Bob Layton. Sean Chen will be the cover artist, while the as-yet unnamed interior artist will be inked by Layton.
NY1 has a brief report which even squeezed in some mention of comic books:
“Comic books, artists, celebrities, actors, actresses, it’s great,” said Michael Carbonaro of Big Apple Comic-Con. “There’s lots of stuff going on. Hayden Panettiere from “Heroes,” [was here.] Kristin Bell will be here all day tomorrow, as will Val Kilmer from “Batman.” “[I’m here] comic books,” said one fan. “[My friends are] here for Val Kilmer. That was the only way I could get them here.” “Today and probably tomorrow I’ll be here because I’m going to try out that costumes contest, because me looking like Wolverine, I got the costume for it,” said another.
Mike Cavallero also has a brief report. Mark Evanier has a quick but thorough write-up as well. Evanier makes mention of the bad conditions at the Hotel Pennsylvania, which is sad since it was once a real landmark. The hotel is still slated to be torn down, but, according to the scuttlebutt we heard, not for a couple of years. The sad thing is that the property really has been let go so far that tearing it down would be tons cheaper than restoring it.
Across the pond, there was a convention in Dublin, Ireland this weekend, with Jim Lee, Mark Millar, Bryan Hitch and more as guests. Millarworld has a thread but apparently everyone is still too drunk to post anything coherent about it. A Newsarama poster had some news tidbits (Marvel hopes to hire female artists!) Kieron Gillen posted but admitted he was still to drunk to post properly. And so it goes.
Send us more links to the above shows if you have more to add!
I don’t suppose it counts, but I was at an arts and crafts fair in Wolverhampton on Saturday, where I sold 83 comics to an enthusiastic, if somewhat frozen crowd.
That’s my best one-day performance yet – even compared to Day One of Brumacon, where I sold out of my zombie comic Vitale (and which had how many thousand attendees?) – and it’s taken me up to about 285-290 comics sold this year. Well, technically, since Caption, in August. But still.
People liked the stickers I had, as well. I gave those out free with the comics, and I’m wondering whether or not to have some badges made with the same slogans. People did ask about t-shirts, though. And posters. I gave one woman a Trixie Biker poster for free, and instantly wished I’d tried to get her to buy a comic. I’d rather people bought comics, of course…
Tabulating my sales figures across Saturday, the Thought Bubble fair in Leeds, and Brumacon, I’m in the position of being able to see what sells and doesn’t sell for the first time (also to whom: most of the people buying my Hondle comics were women). It’s both heartening and disheartening, in that there are books that I think are really good* that aren’t shifting, and olllllld comics that I’d love to retire that people keep buying. Not that I’m complaining, exactly, but I’d rather people saw the best of me than the beginning of me.
I’ve been invited to take part in another one-day fair by Wolverhampton Art Gallery on December 1st. So it’s back to work.
Sorry. That wasn’t entirely relevant. Um…nobody mentioned Heroes…nobody dressed up or looked like anybody…somebody did honk up just outside the building, but that was on Friday night. Sorry. Yay Comics Bought By A Non-Comics Audience, though.
//Oo/\
* – 7/10 in Comics International. Not bad.
Those folks who happened to pick Sunday for a visit to the Big Apple Con (and I do mean CON literally) did not choose wisely. Sunday was totally chaotic, with a number of comics panels canceled and/or postponed with no official notice to the folks who were lined up outside to get in. I like HEROES and liked VERONICA MARS, but I fully expected to see one or both of them to appear on stage on Sunday to talk to those folks who DIDN’T want to shell out cash for an autograph or photo.
Some people actually have the nerve to believe that paying their entrance fee entitles them to do more than just get the right to spend more money!
I spoke to one of the “organizers” of the show in the lobby, who apologized for all the problems but, of course, didn’t offer to refund my $18. Needless to say, I’ll be staying away from this particular event in the future!
Congrats Matthew!
I think you’re on to something there- with setting up a booth at a arts & crafts show. I’m thinking perhaps that would be a good strategy to undergo for next year’s Sawdust Festival over at Laguna Beach.
~
Coat
Thanks!
Some of it was novelty, I’m sure. And some of it was my amiable hard-selling technique (more oddness: I sold more standing up than sitting down). Some of it was probably the price (everything was between 50p and £1.50). And some, I hope, was the content.
But, you know, People Love Comics. Even if they’ve forgotten it, or don’t know it, yet.
Stealth Artform GO.
//Oo/\
Nicholas: I could have told you that the Big Apple Con is a Big Apple “CON”. The atmosphere stinks, the staff is clueless, it’s like a big flea market that exploded all over the place. The only good it showed was last year when Val Kilmer ran into a Smurf and couldn’t make heads or tails of what was going on. Even if I attended that con and addressed him on the subject, I’ll bet you he would not even remember.
XO manowar hardcover? that is fantastic news!!
Oh Heidi…