Big Wow! ComicFest 2014
What up, people? Is it Friday again already? Well, then it must be time for a new blog. I can’t break my word on the very first follow up!
First thing, we got a review from Webcomic Beacon Network for I’m Famous! Volume 1. As always, it’s a fairly bad review. Shockingly it had some positive things to say, and most of the criticism is of the constructive variety (or at least accurate criticism).
Maybe I’m just used to bad reviews and I generally expect reviews to be negative now, or maybe I’m building up a thicker skin, but this one really didn’t bother me. I do dread his upcoming review of Black Snow: The Complete Original Comic Book Series… I anticipate that one to be fairly harsh.
The fact that this review even happened was a shock. I submitted these books well over a year ago, so it was quite a shock that it happened at all. I had forgotten about the submission, and I wasn’t notified when the review came out.
Hopefully some day we’ll get a positive review, until then I won’t be holding my breath.
Besides that I’ve been very preoccupied with the upcoming Big Wow! Comic Fest. I’m both very excited and nervous. Let’s start with why I’m nervous.
First, I still need to finish the book. It’s slow going and I just need to crank it out. I’m thinking we may just back off a lot of the bonus content ideas and let the story speak for itself, because time-wise that is just more stress that I do not need. Maybe we could add stuff for a 2nd edition down the road. So getting the book finished and printed is my number one priority.
Good thing I didn’t shoot for finishing by WonderCon!
Second, it will be my first convention running a table by myself. I’m no experienced con veteran, I’ve only appeared at two Alternative Press Expos and one Big Wow! ComicFest in the past, so it can be a little intimidating. It was nice to have a partner by my side going into it before.
Plenty of people run tables by themselves, so I’m sure I’ll be fine. It just makes me worry a little. I probably won’t be breaking out the Black Snow beer this year. Sitting and drinking with your friend seems fun, sitting and drinking alone seems kind of pathetic. Maybe just one or two to loosen me up.
Concentrating on finishing the book isn’t really giving me any time to come up with other cool stuff for the table. I’d love to do a mini-comic based on the con, like we did for APE in the past, or come up with some other cool merch, but first I’ve gotta nail down that book.
I’ll have time to come up with some cool stuff for future shows, I just like going into a situation feeling fully prepared. Once I fulfill my Kickstarter rewards I’ll have some more good stuff to sell. I’d also like to come up with some prints to sell. From my experience all people really want to buy at cons is prints. So I feel a need to get into the print game if I ever hope to make a profit at one of these cons.
What am I excited for? First and foremost I’m excited to have the book finished and to get people’s reactions. It will be really cool to have a product I’m totally proud of to sell, and I’m hoping this will be the one that people react positively to.
Also, I really want to meet this guy:
Hellboy is by far my favorite comic book, and I love Mike Mignola’s work. He is one of my artistic heroes, and one of the few comic book celebrities that I will feel truly flustered to speak to. I’ve had a couple email conversations with his wife (who runs his website) and that was enough to bring out the fanboy in me.
At my first Big Wow! ComicFest (btw, that’s a dumb name) Jim Lee was the headliner. I honestly didn’t care too much, and the line was incredibly long to meet him. Last year it was Stan Lee, but I didn’t attend that one. As much as I dislike Stan Lee it still would be pretty cool to see him in person. I did get to see him once when I worked at Google, but he was just onscreen from the Santa Monica office (I was in the Mountain View headquarters).
This is where the 1 man table thing is going to suck. If I want to meet Mike Mignola there is a damn good chance I’ll have to deal with a line, which would leave my table unmanned. Same thing for just browsing the show and mingling with the other vendors. I usually like to look around and buy something. Also, there are some other cool guests and exhibits I’d like to see.
Luckily I don’t think I need to worry about people stealing stuff from the table when I walk away. It hasn’t been a problem in the past, usually you can ask your table neighbor to keep an eye on things for you. Plus, the attendees seem pretty trust worthy.
So that’s what’s going on with me. Hopefully I can keep it together!