Posts Tagged ‘San Diego Comic Con’
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I hope all of you self-respecting geeks get the reference in Panel Three. If you don’t, shame on you. And Google it!
I hate using the word “google” as a verb, by the way! 
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Stan wrote a Comic-Con report in comic format that’s great fun. View it here!
Okay, I know that people don’t really line up like Olympic sprinters waiting for the doors to open, but there are scores and scores of people who go to San Diego for the purpose of only buying convention exclusives, whether they be toys, comics, or what have you. Many of them try to flip those exclusives on eBay. Hell, I was seeing listings for San Diego exclusives several days before the convention even started, naturally at highly-inflated prices. And there’s no guarantee they are going to be able to get these things in the first place.
With the summer convention season in full swing, Stan and I thought that a nice, extended convention visit was in order for some of the crew. I wanted to mix the characters up a little bit from the last time we were at Super-Con, so no Kim and no Noel. Instead, we get Miyoko, Skip, and Babs (in addition to Arthur and Jason) for your viewing enjoyment. I hope they stumble into situations that you can sympathize with.
Speaking of, Stan and I are both off to San Diego Comic Con on Wednesday (tomorrow). Stan is going to be located at booth K-14 in the Small Press area, while I will be shifting back and forth between booths 2104 and 1703, based on my signing schedule. We’ll have books, t-shirts, and a few other doo-dads for sale, and I will be pimping Shrek #1 (which has a story I wrote in it) so I hope you come by, say hello, and even spend a nickel or two. We really appreciate everyone’s support, and it makes us happy when folks tell us that they are reading (and preferably enjoying) the strip.
San Diego has come and gone this year, and my tired feet and eyes tell me that I worked hard and walked a lot. However, this year was more enjoyable than when I went for the first time two years ago, because I knew what to expect, and better yet, what to avoid.
Things started off poorly, as I brought my laptop but forgot both my battery and my power cord, so it ended up being pretty much a grandiose paperweight for the entire weekend. The Ape Entertainment booth also was in a pretty wretched spot in the Exhibit Hall, which really cut down on both our traffic and our sales, although we still ended up doing okay. Here’s a shot with Co-Publishers Brent Erwin (L), David Hedgecock (R), and Des Taylor, creator of The Trouble with Katie Rogers (center).
On Wednesday I went to see the Padres play the Marlins at PETCO Field. I am a big baseball fan, and this was a stadium that I had yet to visit. I got cherry seats, fourth row close to the visiting dugout, but the sun was blazing, and I am a pasty white guy. I put a towel over my head and covered myself in sunscreen, but it was just too damn hot so around the fifth inning I moves back about 30 rows or so under the awning and in the shade. Much cooler, much more enjoyable, at least on that day.
Just for the record, the Padres are a BAD team. And I mean BAD. They lost 5-0 and made Ricky Nolasco, a mediocre pitcher, look like Nolan Ryan. And attendance was pretty poor, although some of that can be attributed to it being a day game on a weekday.
I made sure to visit the creators I REALLY wanted to see before the show opened on Wednesday. And that included Stan Sakai, Bruce Timm, and Mike Mignola, whose sketchbooks I wanted to pick up. Let me tell you, having an Exhibitor’s badge makes a HUGE difference at SDCC. It allows me to get into the show early, and I have a booth to hide behind when my feet get tired. I’m not sure if I would go to SDCC with a regular attendee badge–It might kill me.
Here are a couple of shots of most of the haul I picked up for the show:
One of the main things that Stan and I wanted to do was to give out stuff to all of the bigger webcomic creators that were at the show, and we did that on Sunday. We are ready to increase our hits significantly, which would mean higher advertising revenue, which means that we can publish more than twice per week. So we gave out TPBs and mini-comics of the strips to the creators of:
Looking For Group
Least I can Do
Something Positive
The Devil’s Panties
Piled Higher and Deeper
Cyanide & Happiness
PvP
Penny Arcade
Questionable Content
and a couple of more that are escaping me currently.
Here’s hoping that said creators like what they see and perhaps offer us a plug, a quote, or the best-case scenario, a link.
You can help too–vote for us every day, or at least every day you come here, using the links to the left. Talk about the strip to friends or acquaintances. Order some things from our online store. Heck, even posting here is a good thing. We appreciate what every one of you do for us!
Stan and I will give a full SDCC report later, once we’ve recovered. Suffice it to say for now that we’re both beat, but had an excellent time at the show–thanks to all the SubCulture fans who made the trip to say hello!
Table assignments were released today, and we wanted to share where both Stan and I will be located:
I will be at the Ape Entertainment booth, Booth 2203. Map:
Stan is in the Small Press Venue at the Squid Works booth, Booth K-14. Map:
You’ll be able to get SubCulture goodies at either table. But stop by both!
Comic Con is creeping up on us, and Stan and I are getting a few things ready for the show. Our particular highlight is that, for the first time, we will be selling the full collection of webstrips via mini-comic. We have done enough strips for FOUR mini-comics so far. The first three contain 48 strips each and sell for $3.00:
- Volume 1 contains strips 1-48
- Volume 2 contains strips 49-96
- Volume 3 containts strips 97-132 and 153-164
In addition, we will be selling a Comic Con Exclusive mini comic of the twenty guest strips (Strips 133-152), which will be in FULL COLOR and sells for $5.00 or FREE with the purchase of a SubCulture TPB. Don’t fret, however, if you can’t make it to the show. If we have any left, we will make them available exclusively here on the website.
Of course, we will have a few other goodies available at the show. I still have a few T-shirts ($15.00–size XL only) and button sets left ($5.00), I have a three-print set of our color Sunday Strips, and a stack of SubCulture trades, both Signed and Numbered ($20.00) and unsigned ($15.00). I will also have a few SubCulture SUPER PACKS available, which includes all four mini-comics, a S&N TPB, a button set, a sticker, and a print set available for only $35.00 (a $45 value), which will include a FREE sketch from Stan to boot. And if you want a T-shirt on top of that, I’ll throw one in for an extra $10.00 (regularly $15.00). So there will be goodies aplenty!
I will be at the Ape Entertainment booth, and Stan will be set up at the Squid Works booth in the Small Press area, although he will be set up on occasion with us at the Ape booth as well. We will give specific table numbers once we get them.
See you at the show!
I met Skipper Martin a couple of years ago as he was developing Bizarre New World for Ape Entertainment. We met at San Diego Comic Con in 2007, and made an instant connection. We share a similar sense of humor and a similar worldview, which made it easy for me to ask him to write a guest strip for SubCulture. Not only did he give me one funny strip, he gave me TWO (the other will post tomorrow).
Skipper is incredibly quick of mind and sharp of wit, and if you’ve read Bizarre New World in any of its incarnations, you’ll quickly see what I mean. He’s a natural storyteller, and if you get a couple of beers into him, be prepared to laugh and laugh–not at him, of course, but with him. Just don’t drink too much, or you might pee yourself
He’s written a three-issue Bizarre New World mini-series, followed by the Population Explosion one-shot, and he’s written a couple of short stories for White Picket Fences, among other things.
Thanks, Skipper!
