RobCon 2013 Bristol, TN USA

Back in the long ago way backy time of July 27, 2013 I went to RobCon in Bristol, TN.  RobCon is a small but growing comics show consisting mostly of mainstream comics dealers and fans.  The show used to take place in a mall but moved to Viking Hall last year and the floor has been packed with comics and nerd culture enthusiasts both years.  Viking Hall is just up the road from Bristol Motor Speedway for those of you that are not me and don't know everything that is in my brains.  I live in the south western tip of Virginia so RobCon is about an hour drive from my house.  It is the closest show to me and the Robert that makes up the "Rob" part of RobCon is the shop owner of the very first comics shop I ever went to.   I asked Robert if I could set up at the show about a week before the show and he was nice enough to squeeze me in.  I did not end up setting up on the main floor of the show.  I ended up near the exit door.  I had a lot of foot traffic but not a lot of sales.  Most of the attendees were their for mainstream comics, cosplay or they are just there out of curiosity so they probably didn't have a lot of experience dealing with something like... this.  

Next year I'll get my act together earlier and get down on the main sales floor.  

I did have a lot of fun though.  I mean, I was in a civic center filled with comics.  Hard not to have fun in that kind of situation.

But enough about me.  Let's talk about the pictures I took.

It was rainy the morning of the show but there was still a line outside waiting to get in.  The enthusiasm for this show is a big deal for the area.  The area has never had a big comic show.  RobCon had been in the mall for years but the move to a civic center seems to have brought a lot more interest.

There were kitty cats inside.  I wonder how many copies of their minicomic they sold.

Here are the first attendees coming through the door.  The fellow on the left in the blue shirt is Robert "RobCon" Pilk himself.

Here are some people setting up.  I probably should have put this pic before the pic of the people coming in.  Well, you get what you pay for blog readers.

Here is a picture of a Viking that is hanging in Viking Hall.  In Viking Hall there are only Vikings.  If you go there, you are a Viking.  This is true.  Also, the wikipeida entry for Viking Hall is super lame.  It says that people protested White Zombie.  That is totally wrong.  It was Megadeth.  I was there.  The protesters were mad at Megadeth for worshiping Satan or whatever but the protesters were super dumb because Dave Mustaine is a total Jesus freak and told the audience that "there is power in the blood of Jesus Christ".  I remember that very clearly.  I mean, how could you forget a guy like Dave Mustaine saying a thing like that?  Stone Temple Pilots were the opener.  Stone Temple Pilots were awful.  Gah.  Blech.  This was early in STP's run and the bass player was standing on the drum riser facing the drummer yelling the parts at the drummer who apparently did not know the songs.  And "Weiland" was yelling through a megaphone.  Awful. 

(Stone Temple Pilots got better later.  That album they made where Buffy was in the video, that was pretty good.)

Here is a dude with a big sword.  Cosplay everybody!

The power went out but it was all good because everyone has a cell pad pod phone now.   When the world ends, we will all be able to keep shopping for a good 30 minutes or more.

Here is another pic from early in the day.  I think people are still setting up in this one.  I did not really get a good pic of the crowd.  Maybe I'm not that great at blogging.  Maybe I should consider crochet.

Here are some cute kids being cute.

Here is the greatest cosplay person that has ever cosplayed.

My kids were vampires.  Draculaura and Marceline.

They had so many people in the costume contest that they had to break them up by ages and genres.  My eleven year old was grouped in with the 12 and under group.  She a was a good head taller than all the other kids her age.  She is tall.

Here is a picture of people watching the costume contest.

If you have an event on the eastern side of North America and said event contains a face painting booth then my daughter will find you and give you my money.

My eldest has become an expert comics shopper.  She has a perfect memory of the issues she is missing and hunts for good deals on them.  At this show she was looking for New Teen Titans and Who's Who in the DC Universe.  She found a bunch.

I also made her pose with a copy of the Quack Fu issue of Howard the Duck.  We did not buy it because it was expensive but I took the picture so that one day she could show her kids the time she was in the presence of one of the greatest works of American art.

My youngest bought a Monster High doll and a minicomic from some jerk.

I drew paintings.

And I painted drawings.

I drank Mtn Dew.

I bought this Worlds Finest comic.  I'm positive it contains everything that we will see in that upcoming Batman Superman movie.

I also bought some Atari Force comics.  I picked up a random Atari Force comic at some point in the past year.  Probably at RobCon.  I recently got around to reading it and the Jose Luis Garcia Lopez art blew my mind.  My main goal for this year's RobCon was to get a bunch of Atari Force comics.  I got these for 50 cents each.  I won.

Here is a rad Catwoman toy and some comics that my daughter bought.  She's really good at spending money.

We all had a great time.  I got to see some cool comics folk like Mathew Smith and Rico Renzi.  Even my mom was there and she had fun too.  I look forward to next year.  Maybe you should go.  Just let me know if you want to sleep in my carport.  I'll let you buy me breakfast.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s. Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.
p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook.
p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.
p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.
p.p.p.p.p.s.  Yeah, I do Instagram too now.  I guess it's a law or something.

The fuo 2011 SPX report.

 (Image stolen from the fine folks at Exile on Plain Street.)

Sweet mammity hambone.  Did I ever tell you about that time I went to SPX (Small Press Expo Sept. 10-11 Bethesda, MD USA Earth) during the way backie time of early September 2011?  Well strap it on bro cuz here we go!

I've never been to SPX before so I was super excited.  It was really down to a game-time decision on whether I would get to go or not but coach put me in.  See, a great many horrible things have occurred to and/or around me in 2011 all of which had me thinking I would not make it to SPX.  Again.  I've been trying to go for years and when I totaled my car back in August I was ready to throw in the Ben Towle and try again next year.  But, thanks to a miracle (my parents) I was able to get a sweet new (used) car and the game was back on.  Don Heck yeah!

I did not get on the road until pretty late the Friday evening before the show.  Sometime after 5 PM.  I had to work and I had some errands to run.  But eventually I got on the road in my rad new (used) car.  My new (used) car is such a joy to drive.  My old (totaled) car was twelve years old and void of joy.  The new car has a ride as smooth as the Silver Surfer's buttocks.

It was a nice and uneventful drive from the western end of VA (Very Appalachian) to the south eastern end of MD (Medical Doctor).  My standard co-pilots, two cans of Red Bull and their cousin 5-Hour Energy handled most of the navigation.  I got to my aunt's house early in the AM (Absolute Madness).  My aunt has a very nice house on the water on Somomons' Island.  The house had a very comfortable bed in the guest room so I got a few hours sleep.  Saturday morning my aunt made me breakfast and gave me directions to Bethesda.  We thought it would take me a couple of hours to get there because of the recent flooding but I made good time.

It was an interesting drive.  There was a noticeable police presence and the highway signs had notices about looking out for suspicious activity because the terrorists hate our freedoms.  I got to the free parking garage near the Marriott at around 10:30 AM  (Almost Midday).

Gosh golly gee willikers the weather was fantastic.  What a lovely late summer day.  I only saw a small part of Bethesda in the daylight but it seemed nice.  My walk to the hotel was very cheerful.  Mr blue bird was sitting on my shoulder and all that jazz. 

When I got near the entrance to the Marriott a nice fellow pointed me in the direction of the comics show as if he could tell by the huge box of comics I was carrying that it was the place I needed to be.  I walked in to the sight of cartoonists everywhere.  Many I'd met in person but a great many faces I know mostly from teh intronets.  I felt right at home right away.  The staff had me registered and headed for my table in seconds flat.  (The second may have been round.  I was not paying attention.)

I set up at the end of one of the center aisles facing the back wall.  There was a table with a complimentary water cooler and bowl of candy up against the back wall.  At first I thought it had to be the worst spot in the room but I warmed up to the spot when I latter realized that it was one of the few places where people could actually stop and shop without backing into the people at the tables behind them.

I sat near my pal Jeremy Massie.  He lives about an hour drive away from me and as far as I know he is geographically the closest cartoonist to me.  It was good to get to hang with him.  We came up with multiple plans to save comics and a backup plan to destroy them.  Good times.

As soon as I set up I was selling comics.  Actually, before I was really set up.  As soon as comics hit the table I was making sales.  I was surprised.  Having never been before I expected to feel like a freshman showing up at a new school half way through the semester.  But right away I was seeing people I knew through teh intronets.  And they were buying comics.  This is how it is supposed to be.

The room got crowded very fast on Saturday.  By about 2 PM you really could not walk through the aisles without having to ask people to please excuse you as you climbed over them.  It was insanely crowded.

Jeremy and/or his pal Jason Rainey pointed out a back exit from the hall which I could use to make it to the restroom.  I went that route only to find a line backed down the length of the hall.  The line was for Kate Beaton.  Now, I'm prone to exaggeration and I'm also near sighted but that line looked to be at least 100 people deep.  At least.  It was crazy.  And I think almost everyone in line had her new book in hand.  I can only think of a few occasions where I've seen creators have bigger lines at conventions and those were much bigger conventions with much higher attendance and those creators were much older than Kate Beaton.  The point is, that Kate Beaton sure is popular.  Apparently them intronets are a good way to build an audience.

The day flew by and it was soon time to figure out what to do for dinner.  I ended up eating at a little Mediterranean sandwich shop a short walk from the hotel with Rob Ullman, his pal Bill Burg and pals Adam and Shawn Daughetee.  It was good times.  I had a gyro twice as big as anyone should ever try to eat in one sitting.  I almost finished it.

After dinner we went back to the hotel and found the lobby/makeshift bar area outside of the auditorium where the Ignatz awards would be held.  It was packed.  You could hardly move and it was getting hot.  I made it through the Ignatz (more on that below) but by the time that was over I was ready to drive back to my aunt's house and go to sleep.

I was back to Bethesda Sunday for another lovely morning.  Sunday was much the same as Saturday.  I was selling right from the start.  Super pal Josh Latta showed up with his girlfriend Erin and set up shop selling some Rashy Rabbit books.  I got to talk to Ed Choy Moorman and Jeff Zwireck for a bit.  I've known them through comics for a while now but had never met in person.  I had a lot of people swing by that knew me through file under other.  Some to say they liked the site, some to drop off books for review and some to thank me for previous reviews.  That was swell.

It was a laid back day.  I think most folks were pretty tired from heavy Saturday night drinking.  I would not know anything about that though since I was in sleepy land.

The whole two days went by in a blur but it was a pleasant blur. I'm sure glad I went and I hope to make it again.  The SPX staff do a great job and they all did it with smiles on their faces.  Thanks SPX, hope to see you next year.

And now for some random thoughts because putting it all together in essay form (like real writers and journalists used to do) is for losers (and hard):

Sales:  Despite being a first time exhibitor, I probably sold more comics than I have at any show I've been to before.  That is not to say that it was the most money I've ever made.  At a show like HeroesCon I sell sketches and original art for prices much higher than my minicomics and it adds up a lot faster.  But still, it was a good weekend for sales.  I seemed to sell more in the early part of the day both on Saturday and Sunday.  In the first part of the day people would stop at my table, look through the books and usually buy something.  As the room got more and more crowded in the afternoon, people were just hurrying by in a huge mob and not taking as much time to look at the table.  I guess you could say it was almost too busy.

Demographics:  I don't have any hard numbers.  This is just an estimate.  My guess is that 70% of my paying customers were attendees.  20% were SPX staff and 10% were exhibitors.  I did not see a lot of exhibitors at my table but I was in the back of the room and, again, it was very crowded.  I myself did not find any time to really shop the exhibitor's tables either.  The only tables I looked at were the ones on the route from my table to the restroom and the tables belonging to specific friends of mine that I sought out.  Of the attendees that bought comics I estimate 80% or even 90% were girls/ladies/women.  I don't know why but if a girl stopped at my table they almost always bought something.  My comic Brush and Pen does have kissing on the cover.  Yeah, I have no idea but there it is.

The secret of my success:  Price points.  Multiple price points.  I think one of the reasons I sold well was multiple price points.  Years of retail experience have taught me that there are two types of customers.  Shoppers and buyers.  Shoppers are just there for the experience.  They might buy something.  Buyers are there to buy and the only thing standing in the way of them giving you their money is you.  You have to have something that fits into their idea of what they want to buy.  They may have exactly $3 they do not need and for you to get it you need to have a $3 product.  At SPX I had items that cost twenty five cents, one dollar, three dollars and eight dollars.  I wish I had five dollar and ten dollar items at the show because I think they would have done well.  Some buyers look at the $8 book and really want it but don't want to spend $8.  Well, hey, look at this nice $3 book.  Some buyers can't make up their minds or they want to check out the whole show before they spend their money.  Well, hey, look at these little twenty five cent comics.  How hard is it to pull the trigger on a twenty five cent comic?

And about my twenty five cent comics.  I've seen a lot of comics folk dismiss them and roll their eyes at them over the years but, here's the thing, most people buy four or them.  So keep rolling your eyes jerks, I just made a dollar. I'll say it again.  Price points.

Chester Brown:  Chester Brown is one of my favorite cartoonists.  Louis Riel is my favorite graphic novel.  I think he is one of the four or five best living cartoonists on this here planet Earth. I was nervous about the idea of meeting him and had pretty much talked myself into thinking that I would not.  I had this idea that he would only be at his table for a few hours each day and that there would be a huge line.  But still, I took a few books for him to sign.  Just in case.

Early Saturday morning after I set up my table I went to the restroom.  Drawn and Quarterly (Brown's publisher) had a booth right near the restroom.  When I had zipped up, washed hands and exited the restroom there was Chester Brown and his huge smile behind his table with only a couple of people in line.  I ran to my table and got my books.
By the time I got back there were about four people in line ahead of me.  I noticed the first guy in line was talking a lot.  Like, telling Brown his life story.  Like, telling him which brand of toilet paper he was using when he read I Never Liked You on the john.  That guy finally moved on but Brown spent a lot of time talking to the other guys ahead of me as well.  Dang the Chatty Cathies were gumming up the works!

I decided that out of respect for Brown and the people in the now much bigger line behind me that I would not ask questions, talk about myself or waste any time.

So, I finally got my turn.  Chester Brown is not short but he is very thin.  His body is almost non-existent.  Just a large head floating on a stick.  But that head features a very big warm smile and kind eyes.  His eyes look like those of a grandparent holding a new baby. 

I said hello, shook hands and asked if he could sign my books.  Brown instantly offered me a new copy of Louis Riel.  I have one of the early copies that had a binding problem.  I decided to keep my copy.  It's mine ya know.  I've read through it over and over.  It just did not feel right to let it go.  Brown was surprised but understood.

Brown asked me my name.  I told him but I also showed him my exhibitor badge where my name was printed.  He wrote down my name on a sheet of scratch paper.  It had names of the folks that had been ahead of me as well.  Seeing that I'm an exhibitor he started asking me questions about what I do.  Chester Brown was asking me questions.  I tried my best to be fast and short but each question inspired a new question from Brown to the point that eventually I had told him about my comics, my day job and my kids.  The guys in line were not the Chatty Cathies.  Chester Brown was the Chatty Cathy.
But all the while this was going on, Brown was drawing in my books.  (Drawing and lettering with the same pocket brush and micron pen I use.  We talked about that as well.)  In each book he drew a little cartoon with a customized message with my name included.  I think the scratch sheet with the names was a trick he used to make sure that he had the lettering right.  Each drawing was in the style of the book being signed.  Every line perfect.  Wow.
So, what seemed to me from a few people back to be people taking up all of Brown's time was actually a perfectly executed creator/fan experience totally controlled and paced by Brown to give the fan exactly what they did no know they needed.

It was easily the most pleasant and least awkward time I've ever had meeting one of my heroes.  Thank you Chester Brown.  You are the best.

I also went to Chester Brown's presentation thing at the end of day one.  Apparently it is the same routine he has been doing for a while.  He has a slide show of the first chapter or two from Paying For It and he reads the comic aloud.  Which is hilarious!  I liked Paying For It but I never realized how funny it was until I heard it read aloud.

For those of you that are not me and don't have literally every comics blog in their Google Blog Reader, Paying For It is a sort of auto-bio investigative case study treaties about Chester Brown's personal experiences with prostitution.  So, yeah, there is some nudity.  No biggie.  However... to find yourself in a room where these drawings are being projected on a large screen when suddenly the cleaning ladies come in... well it could have gone poorly.  I don't know that the cleaning ladies even noticed but I kept expecting to hear one of them gasp, "What the hell kind of comic book show is this!  Put your pants on Charlie Brown!"  If we had been a state or two to the south I could easily see things going very bad very quickly.  But, it was fine.  Better than fine it was very interesting.  After the reading Brown answered questions from the audience.  His responses seemed to be honest and well thought out.  I guess at this point he has heard about every question that can be asked about the book.  The question I wanted to ask was about the scene where he and his roommate go to the movies.  I wanted to know if they saw Chasing Amy or Austin Powers.  Unfortunately time ran out so I may never know.

Ignatz:  So, when you stroll into SPX and go to the registration table for exhibitors (If you are/were me and if you are/were and exhibitor) they give you (me) a ballot for the Ignatz awards.  I looked at the ballot.  I thought about the ballot.  I filled out the ballot.  I put the ballot in my shirt pocket.  At about 6 PM I realized that the ballot was supposed to have been turned in at 5 PM.  So, sorry Ignatz nominees, I failed to help any of you.  Or, you could say, I was really nice and did not vote against any of you.  Honestly though,  I think most of the winners were the folks I selected.  I had left a few blank because I was not familiar enough with the work.  The work I was familiar with I knew mainly through teh intronets.  So, comics types, yeah, that whole intronet thing.  Look into it.

The award show itself was pretty great.  It was very crowded.  Standing room only.  Dustin Harbin did a great job as the MC/host/announcer guy.  Harbin and most all of the presenters were very funny.  I was very impressed with Warren Bernard's brief introductory message/state of the convention update.  What a personable and swell guy.  You could almost see wavy comics love radiation lines coming from the guy.  Like invisible comics hugs.  Good job team SPX.

Kids these days, yeesh!:  I'd guess the average exhibitor age was pretty young.  I'm not good at guessing ages.  Everything from thirteen to thirty looks the same to me but I'd guess the average age was under 30.  I could be totally wrong.  I am nearsighted remember.

I notice that things are so different for younger cartoonists today.  Not that younger the cartoonists or younger people are different.  Just the times are different and comics is different.  I don't buy in to any of that "entitlement generation" BS.  Every generation seems like slackers to the previous generation.  Hell, my generation thought we invented slacking.  (Well, maybe we did.  Who can be bothered to remember?)  But it is interesting for me to see how different their perspectives are.

When I was in my early 20s I liked to draw, I made zines, I drew rock show fliers and I read comics but it never really occurred to me that cartoonist was something one could decide to be.  I thought you had to move to New York and work your way up through Marvel or DC.  As far as being a newspaper strip cartoonist I though you had to wait for Charles Schulz or Jim Davis to die and then hope to get their slot.  (I was sort of right about that one.)

But these youngsters today have their college courses, their SCAD, their CCCS, their portfolios, their minicomics, their website etc. and they all seem to believe that it's just a given that some publisher is going to put out a book for them.  And most of the publishers they are talking about did not exist 15 years ago.  Or maybe not even five years ago!  These youngsters can pretty much survey the entire industry online in an afternoon and say 'here are the publishers I'd like to work with'.

Now that does not mean it will happen.  But, at least they have some targets to aim at.  I overheard a couple of guys talking about which publishers they should show stuff to as if it were a given that one of them would want to put out their book.  And maybe they were right but it cracked me up.  They were talking about how certain publishers were just a bunch of old guys and about how other publishers were younger and cooler so they would go with those guys.  Which is also hilarious because those older guy publishers happen to have some of the best young cartoonists out there.

But it's good.  It's good.  It's great that there are enough publishers that an artist can aim for the publishers who's aesthetics most closely match their work.  That is just super.  But it sure is different.  Things have moved so quickly.  I hope it lasts.  I hope it grows.  Oh you skinny young cartoonists with your ill fitting clothes and your awful hair.  God bless you and good luck.

The gas stations of Virginia and Maryland:  Where I live, most of the gas stations also have convenience stores.  But nothing like the mind blowing over the top-ness of Sheetz and Wawa.  Holy macaroni.  Those stores are insane.  I went into a Wawa early Sunday morning and saw a sign for "2 for $3" on their biscuits and croissants.  So, of course I got one of each.  The biscuit was about the size of a baby lamb.  I ate about two thirds of the sucker and died.  I'm writing this now from Heaven.  (FYI, in Heaven we are all spiritual beings without bodies and sex and/or gender are irrelevant.  Oh, and the streets are paved with pastries.  Weird.  I know right?)
Okay, but what is up with 7-eleven.  The 7-elevens in MD (Medicinal Doughnuts) don't have gas.  What!  That's like 7-three-and-a-half.   Oh and Bethesda barely has any gas stations at all.  I spent forever Saturday night looking for a gas station.  If anyone has thousands of dollars sitting around needing to be spent, you might consider opening a gas station in Bethesda MD (Moderate Downer).

Palin/Bachmann 2012:  I blame anything about this post that does not make sense on the time when Rick Perry forcibly vaccinated me when I was a teenage girl. *

The loot:  I did not pick up a lot of stuff at the show.  As I said it was crowded and the aisles were hard to walk through.  I'll try to post reviews for everything I picked up at file under other as soon as I have time.  For now I'll say that I really enjoyed Matthew Smith and Jeremy Massie's new minicomic Bee Sting,  Rob Ullman and Jeffrey Brown's Old-Timey Hockey Tales,  Dustin Harbin's new mini about the Doug Wright Awards (amazing shiny card stock cover) and James Kochalka's Retrofit book Fungus.

Okay, okay, that's enough for now.    I need to stop adding to this post before the next SPX starts.  

Your best pal ever,
Shannon Smith

*I have never been a teenage girl.

fuo at SPX

I've been making comics (semi-seriously) for about nine years and I've been wanting to go to SPX (Small Press Expo) almost as long.  Hopefully this post won't jinx it but I should be there this weekend, Sept. 10 & 11 in Bethesda MD. (Medical Doctor.)  From what I hear, SPX is the finest small press expo in these United States of America. 

I personally love small press.  Large press is fine but it can be hard to carry around.  I prefer the small.  I'm not sure what an "Expo" is but I assume it involves a Ferris wheel and old ladies wearing large hats.  I don't know how they are going to fit all of that into a hotel but that's not my problem.

I should have copies of my latest minicomic #RockingSoHard so that you can hand me cash dollars and then have me hand you comics.  I'll also have the fantastical critically acclaimed trade paper back anthology Shiot Crock 16 which is without a doubt the greatest trade paper back comics anthology I have ever edited and published.  You will want to give me cash money for that as well.  I may and/or may not also bring  many of the other minicomics I have created over the years.  I also may and/or may not have other things for sale.  I may dance.  I might give a dramatic reading of Rick Perry's book Fed Up!  No one knows but God and Nostradamus. You will just have to be there to find out.  

You can find me at table space B8A. I will be standing behind an 8 1/2 by 11 inch sign that looks just like the image at the top of this post.  If you have never met me before, I look exactly like this....

I wish I had time to go through the list and do some sort of round up of all the things I'm looking forward to seeing at SPX but, I'm super busy.  (If anyone would like to come and take care of my job for me on Friday so that I can get a head start on my 8 hour drive, that would be super.)   Let's just say, since I've never been before that I am looking forward to all of it.  (I really want that Infinite Kung Fu book.)  But I'm mostly looking forward to you meeting me and giving me cash for my comic books. 

Oh, oh, I almost forgot.  I of course will also be there representing the file under other blog empire.  So, if you want stuff reviewed at file under other, the absolute best and fastest way to make that happen is to give me stuff at the show.

See you in Maryland!

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

HeroesCon 2011.

Before I get started on this report I'll take a second to show off the above piece of art which I got from Patrick Dean.  Amazing huh?  I got two things from Patrick Dean, that drawing and a big club soda spray pattern on my luggage.  I will cherish both of them eternally.

I'm still recovering from HeroesCon weekend.  The show in itself was very smooth and laid back but the week without sleep leading up to it will take some time to get over.  In the days leading up to HeroesCon I took on an illustration job and also decided to add a three page comic to my new comic #RockingSoHard.  (On sale now!)  So, I did not sleep a lot leading up to HeroesCon.  Nobody's fault but mine.  I printed my minicomic in the AM before the show and drove to Charlotte on about one and a half hours of sleep.  Good times.

It was a pleasant drive.  My pal Red Bull was nice enough to navigate me to yet another comics show and I was able to enjoy the perfect weather and lovely countryside between VA and NC.  I got to the show late on Friday.  I think that by the time I parked and picked up my badge it was around 2:00 when I set up on Indie Island.  I was really happy with my table location.  We were facing a back wall, which is not the best place to be, but I got to set up with my super best pals.  I was on a row with J. Chris Campbell, Brad McGinty, Josh Latta and Ashely Holt of Wide Awake Press and we were in a square of tables with fine Top Shelf folks like Robert Venditti, Duane Ballanger, Van Jensen and Andy Runton.  Across the aisle to my left was Henry Eudy.  Across the aisle to my right was Ben Towle.  And in the next section up form us was the GA gang including Patrick Dean, Robert Newsome, Joey Weiser, Drew Weing and Rich Tommaso.  So most of the folks I wanted to say hit to and hang out with were right there within shouting distance.

Set up was easy.  We had plenty of room.  Everything was smooth.  So smooth that you can almost forget what a great job the HeroesCon staff and volunteers do.  I never had to ask for anything.  Every thing was in it's right place and as it should be.  I simply strolled into the show, picked up my badge and strolled to my table.  Smiling faces greeting me at every turn.   I've had a more difficult time making it to my desk at work on many occasions.  So, great job HeroesCon staff.  I heart you so much.

There are going to be a lot of parts of the HeroesCon experience that I won't comment on in this post because I either missed them, did not care about them or was just oblivious.  I'm at HeroesCon in three capacities.  Three often conflicting capacities.  As a creator I'm there to sell comics, sell art, sell sketches and grow my readership.  As a writer-about-comics I'm there to check out what is new and exciting in alt/indie/underground/mini/art-comics.  As a fan I'm there to shop for stuff I don't see a lot since I'm not a weekly comic shop guy anymore.  Those second two capacities often conflict with the first so I'm not the best person to turn to for any kind of sales estimates.  And that first capacity keeps me stuck at my table a lot limiting my time to be of much use on the second two.  That first capacity also forces me to miss out on panels and a lot of other things any fan would enjoy.  In short, this post is not going to report to you the HeroesCon experience. It can only report my experience and I'll break that up in three main sections.

 

As a creator:

Friday was really slow.  Not much traffic on indie island.  I did okay selling sketches and sold a few of my new comic.  I took advantage of the slow time to say hi to pals and drop off a few comp copies of my new book.

Saturday was busy right off the bat.  I felt like I was sketching from open to close.  I sold a good amount of minicomics at every price point that I offer and I sold original art.  Sketches probably made up the largest share of my transactions but original art the largest part of my money.  I had several return customers ready to buy the new comic no questions asked.  That's how you want it.  A growing readership.  Good times.

Sunday had me busy with the sketches right off the bat again but I think I sold a lot less comics on Sunday.  I literally had people buy original art off me without even looking at my comics. 

All and all I did fine as a creator and I am more than glad that I made the show.  But I think things are changing and I and other creators will have to adapt.  I think HeroesCon is becoming a sketch convention.  I just don't see it as a show where people come to buy comics.  The average attendee already has a pull list and a big comics collection.  They are looking for what they can not get at their local shop.  They are looking for autographs, sketches and original art.  And that's fine.  It if it is a sketch convention then I still want to be in that game.  I just need to plan for it better and be ready with more original art next year.  I did okay.  Foot traffic may have been down but I was smart enough to bring some original art and I get paid a whole lot more for that than I do a minicomic.  Next year I'll be ready with even more. 

Oh and one more thing about the sketches.  They were a lot of fun and a great challenge.  The themed sketchbooks that folks pass around are very cool.  I get to see all this great art from other artists and I get to the challenge of drawing stuff I would never think of.  I drew stuff Pinky and the Brain, MODOK, Firestorm, a sea monster, a robot Bigfoot with Boba Fett's helmet, wrestler Jimmy Boogie Woogie Man Valiant riding a shark in outer space... etc.  It was great!

As a writer-about-comics:

As a writer-about-comics/critic/columnist/etc. I totally failed.  I barely looked at any of the tables outside of Indie Island and when I did all I managed to do was say hi to a few people and pick up a few books.  I had a list of about 20 creators that I wanted to speak to but I just totally failed.  I also failed to make any of the panels.  I really, really, wanted to make that humor panel, the webcomics panel, the Kickstarter panel and Ben Towle's panels but I was too busy sketching.  Sorry readers.

Normally I would post a pic of everything I got and write some brief reviews but my loot is still in a suitcase.  I did have a lot of folks drop off comp copies for fuo.  Thank you comp copy dropper offers!  I will get to your stuff.  I had three books that I wanted to pick up.  One was Robert Venditti's new book the Homeland Directive.  I totally failed to get home with a copy.  I'm gonna blame that on sleep deprivation.  I talked to Rob about it Friday morning and looked through it.  It looks great.  I tricked myself into thinking that I got a copy on Friday even though Friday me was really dumb and was expecting Sunday me to pick it up.  I'll either get it online when I have some funds or I'll get it at SPX.  

I had better luck getting Dustin Harbin's new book.  It's the 2nd collection of his online diary strips.  I've already read the strips online but I wanted the book in part because Dustin is very good at making minicomics.  I'll do a more formal review of it later and post some pics but I'll just say it's a fantastic looking comic.   (And I got a little sketch in it.  Thanks Dharbin!)

I was super excited to pick up Brad McGinty's new hardback collection of Wysteria.  Brad bound this sucker together by hand and it looks fantastic.  I can't wait to read it to see how it ends.  I'll post a full review of it later with pics and all that jazz.  Brad also hooked me up with a super cool ninja turtle t-shirt he made.  Thanks Brad!

Thanks to everyone that gave or traded me stuff.  I'll get through my suitcase and blab about all of it here at fuo as soon as I can.

As a fan:

I was busy enough at my table that when I did go shopping it was in a frantic running around style.  When I'm shopping with the dealers I'm really just looking for two things.  Toys for my kids and really cheap comics for myself.  Like I told one dealer, quality was the absolute last thing I'm looking for in comics.  I want them for a dollar or less.  Coffee stains and cigarette burns are not only tolerated but they are preferred.  I had a surprisingly hard time finding comics I was looking for.  I'm mainly looking for 70's Marvel and 70's Kirby at DC.  I'm sure every comic I want was at that show but I did not find many in my price range.  The #1 thing I was looking for in my cheap comic hunt was The Essential Thor #1.  I got it for $5.  Success!

As far as toys go I had a very hard time finding anything for my girls.  I was looking for just about any girl super hero toys and there was almost nothing.  The dealers all seemed to have the same stuff as last year.  Minus what they sold last year.  I was disappointed.  Josh Latta found some action figures that were Disney characters dressed as Star Wars characters.  My kids love both so I picked up Minnie Mouse as Padme and Minnie Mouse as Princess Leia.  I eventually found a nice Batgirl action figure and paid about $15 more for it than I should have but after three days of looking you do what you can.  (The Batgirl toy's arm broke off as soon as it came out of the package.  Lame.)  My four year old is into Sonic the Hedgehog so I picked her up a nice pack of Sonic toys for $10.  Not a bad deal.

I did find a few comics cheap.  I filled in some of the holes in my daughter's Batman and The Outsiders collection.  On Sunday a dealer was blowing out comics at ten cents each so I picked up a bunch of  Teen Titans and Dazzler for my daughter and some American Flag for myself.  That's what I'm talking about.  If I had time I could have come home with a whole suitcase of good stuff.

As a fan I'm also not above standing in line to meet some creators.  I did not have much luck with this.  I really could not be away from my table long enough to stand in line.  I wanted to say hi to Eric Canete and Ryan Sook.  Those are two of my current faves.  Each time I swung by Canete's table he had a crowd.  I never found Sook.  I did find David Mack.  I'm a big David Mack fan.  I've met and bought stuff off of Mack enough times over the years that I could just kind of pop in, have him give me the new stuff really quickly and get out without taking up much of his time or being away from my table too long.  David Mack is one of the nicest and most appreciative creators I've ever known in all these years of comics life.  I got some fantastic looking comics from him.  Not to turn this report into a David Mack article but I love the collage style he has been using for the past several years.  I think he's really pushing and challenging what you can do with comics.  I think he is vastly underrated. 

I did get to check out the art auction.  It was loud in there so I could only take about a half hour of it but I did look at all of the art.  There were some amazing pieces and it was mind blowing to see how much money they were raising.  It was cool to see several folks I know bring in some big bucks with their contributions. 

Random general impressions:

The show felt slower and smaller to me in almost every area.  Dealers, guest, attendees, costumes etc.  They say attendance was up and I'm sure they would not fib to us but I have a feeling that a lot of attendees were in out a lot quicker than in the past.  I think people came in, hit their points of interest and left as opposed to taking advantage of the show over a whole three days.  I don't have any evidence to back this up but a lot of the people I saw at my table told me that they were just there for one day when in the past I had seen them over the whole weekend.  I also saw people leaving the show a lot earlier than in the past.

Like I said earlier, it seemed like the dealers had a lot less and that what they did have was the same stuff as last year.  In the past the dealers have been very reflective of what is going on in the direct market.  You could expect to see lots of new toys, statues, t-shirts etc. related to the most recent event comics and summer movies.  If this year's dealers reflect what is going on in the direct market right now then what is going on is a fire sale.  Now a fire sale is great for a cheapskate like me but it does not keep the attendees walking the aisles in awe as much as the latest thing would.

And speaking of the latest thing...  I don't think we have one right now.  I heard people talk about the Thor movie a little but I never heard one word about the new X-Men movie.  The only X-Men related stuff I saw was Emma Frost fan art that I would attribute more to the Grant Morrison/Frank Quitely comics of the last decade than to the new movie.  There were big Green Lantern banners up but I did not see any new Green Lantern merch at the dealers. 

And please don't go thinking that I'm crapping on the dealers.  I love me some dealers.  I just think times are tough.  For the past several years at HeroesCon I had been thinking that if we were in a recession that it had not hit the convention floor yet.  I think this year it hit.  I found this interesting article about the economy of Charlotte that backs up a lot of my fears.  Times is tough yo.  Good luck Charlotte.  I'm rooting for ya.

I also think timing might be a factor on foot traffic.  The show was earlier this year.  I for one showed up late on Friday due in part to still having a kid in school and needing to get her there before I could leave town.

It's also really expensive.  I was a guest.  Thank God and HeroesCon that I was a guest.  But it is still expensive.  The price of gas is just devastating.  Even at the con rate The Westin is a very expensive hotel.  I'm just a simpleton from the country but usually when I stay at a hotel I get free wi-fi, free breakfast, a microwave so I can eat in room, swimming pool, hot tub, weight room and most importantly without question I get free parking.  The Westin has none of that.  Parking was a killer.  Now I love The Westin.  It is super nice and the staff is great.  But it is very expensive.  I'd much rather have given the money I spent there to artists and dealers.  The Westin is right there at the convention center and it's where everyone hangs out but going forward, I'll probably have to explore other options.  (Lack of free parking is gonna be the deal breaker.)  

But let's not end on a negative note.  I had a super time at the show.  It was great to hang out with my comics pals for three days.  My head is still full of ideas and inspiration from so many great conversations.  Thanks so much to all my pals, peers, attendees, customers, HeroesCon staff and volunteers.  I'm very lucky to be a part of such a brilliant group of comics folks even if we only see each other a few times a year.  I can't wait to start writing, drawing and making new comics to show off to them next time.  See ya next year HeroesCon!

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith 

*Convention images stolen from Exile on Plain Street.  Again.  Thanks!

The file under other World Tour 2011

Ah, can you smell the comics in the air?  That's right true believers, it's convention season again.  Shannon Smith and the File Under Other Experience are packing up the tour bus and getting ready to bring the finest in hand crafted comics to a town near you. 

The first stop will be on April 23rd in Athens GA for the Fluke Mini-Comics and Zine Festival.  This is Fluke's 10th anniversary.  A lot of my most favorite people will be there.  You should too.

The next stop on the non-denominational mystery tour will be on Indie Island at HeroesCon in Charlotte NC June 3rd, 4th and 5th. HeroesCon has it all.  Legends, current fan favorites, indie stars, mainstream stars, dealers, t-shirts, nerd/hipster paraphernalia and me.  It's the second happiest place on Earth.

The last stop scheduled on the tour (so far) is the Small Press Expo in Bethesda MD September 10 and 11.  I've been wanting to go to SPX for about eight years and this year I'm finally going to pull it off.  The tables were booked up right after they were announced but I got to work early this year and landed a spot before they were gone.  This will be a new deal for me so I'm super excited.  

 Isn't that exciting!!!!!!!

I plan on having new comics for sale at each stop.  I'm working on a lot of different things but I'm going to break some of it up into little mincomics for Fluke and Heroes and then finally release everything in  my nice thick "complete" collection at SPX.  (Maybe a sneak peak by Heroes if you say your prayers at night.)  And I'll be glad to sketch for you and all that fun stuff.  I'm there for you folks.  I'm there for you.  

And for comics creators that would like to see their stuff reviewed at file under other (and/or some other places I may be reviewing stuff) there is no better way than to get me your comics than handing them to me at a show.  I'm way super very much behind on reviews but I seem to get to the stuff in my convention round up posts faster.

So yeah, you should totally come and see me at all of those shows.  I'll update more what I'll be bringing to each show as we closer to the dates.

See ya there suckers!

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith