Hello all. Over the weekend I had a chance to attend the RI ComiCon in Providence, RI. I had a lot of fun and some really cool and unexpected experiences that motivated me to jump into my hobbies/goals more so than I already have. First off, let's talk the haul I got of books as that is why I primarily go to these. I picked up a copy of Batman - Hush - the unwrapped B&W version for like $20. I also picked up The Infinity Gauntlet TPB, and now I think I probably picked up The Infinity War they had there also. I picked up some indie publishers work from artist alley and then a slew of creator owned stuff from Image and other creator owned publishers, the book bag got pretty heavy by the end of the day. I was also able to pick up a few prints for a room in my house [we'll get to that in a minute] one of which was a Sam Keith print of The Maxx that I was able to get him to sign as he was there at the Con. I also got him to sign my Maxx #1. Now, I may be romanticizing this a bit, but he came off as a really gentle and kind man. As I got him to sign the print he began to critique his own work. I asked him how he does his coloring for his work on these images and as he explained it [mostly acrylics and colored pencils] he was pointing out what he felt he could had done better on the image. He then turned to the prints from the other guy I bought from and seemed so interested and impressed by them. All in all it was a real pleasure to meet him and shake his hand. A phenomenal artist and by my accounts, a really nice guy. While trucking around the panel halls, by what seems like a serendipitous series of events, I got to sit in a panel about indie comics creating / self publishing. It was a fun and funny panel. One of the guys was Billy Nichols from Saturday Night Comics and Ben Goldsmith from Source Point Press. Myself and another guy asked some questions about self publishing and furthering ways to get our work out there/recognized, etc. They gave some very nice/informative answers and then asked both of us to stay and speak with them. This turned into a 50 minute conversation in the hotel lobby at a cafe where he asked us [the other guy was named Jason and he is the creator of Organic Fast Foods Comic [www.organicFFcomic.com]. I took a lot away from the conversation from Mr. Nichols who gave me his phone number to follow up with him. Because of this conversation, I am breaking from my avoidance of social media and creating pages on the big three to develop more outlets for myself and my work, hopefully I can find a digital colorist for some of these projects. All is all it was totally surreal and was probably the highlight of my con experience. I did follow up with Mr. Nichols and sent him a very kind message because he really didn't need to give me that time, but he did and it was super inspiring. Finally, as I arrived home from the con, I found this and if this isn't a sign from the universe, I don't know what it. Because I am the luckiest guy in the world, I came home to find my wife had begun turning one of our bedrooms into my art/nerd/comic/man cave/studio. So, behold, the first phase of Dork Arts Comics Studio. Hey if Kevin Eastman can give his crappy apartment a fancy sounding name, I can too [not that I think I will share the same fate as Mr. Eastman or Laird]. I will update with pics as it comes along.
At first I thought your wife was fixing up the room to tell you she's having a child. Instead, she realized she's dealing with a second childhood. The most interesting thing I still have from my old convention days... This was exclusive to a Canadian convention. I got it at Chicago's ComicCon either 1979 or 1980. During that same year I bought near mint copies of... I thought it was a good investment. The next year the price tanked. Why?... A publishing warehouse was being cleared out at auction. And the seller had bought FOUR unopened cases of the books! He sold them for $20 each. (At that time, a decent price.) And they were gone in about two hours. This devaluation was even mentioned in the next years Overstreet Price Guide.
OMG! I was wondering how the RI Con went because there were several of my fav stars that I heard were going (Sebastian Stan, Robert England, Andy Serkis, William Shatner, Elijah Wood, the cast from Stranger Things, Super Troopers, Luke Cage and frickin Lou Ferrigno , not to mention the panel lineup the con had sounded sweet. Unfortunately I was unable to go due to work and then a friends destination wedding Still, had I gone, I would have rocked the Spider Gwen costume I wore for Halloween. Nonetheless, good for you Bern
Thanks, I think? Not sure what you meant by the second childhood thing, but I will go ahead and guess it was nothing insulting. Those books from places like Harvey and Archie are some classics, they were before my time, but I have a lot of respcet for those kinds of books as the paved the way for what we have today. I see cons doing a lot of exclusive stuff, not my cup of teas as I tend to just go to find indie stuff to read but I see artists doing exclusive prints and I have heard of larger cons doing exclusive busts of characters and things like that.
I saw a few Spider Gwens there. Would have been cool if we could have caught up, there is always next year. Thanks for the kind words. I took a lot away from that conversation from the guy. I took a lot away from the artist he works with [named Mike]. He, in the panel said that the most important and easist thing to do, but seems to be the hardest for people to accomplish is "Show up and finish something". He explained that it is a lot easier for people to find/get work/opprotunities when you have something finished and can show someone versus "oh, I a working on this book and should have it done in like 2-3 months". Those words have been ringing in my head since this weekened. Because of that I have had to check myself and re-assess my goals. I, and I think many others always have this idea for this epic 150-200 page graphic novel and want to jump right to their Mangum Opus. After that panel and conversation, I walked away going "Ok, Mike [me]. Just sit down and finish a 22-24 page comic and get it done. Because of that conversation, I also have the ending to that book locked and loaded. Can you say In all seriousness. I left feeling very motivated and inspired. The trick while I get my room/studio finished it to figure out how to manage and navigate the social media platforms I have started.
Yeah, some I agree with you on this. Keith, I don't. I see some who are trying to keep in the light some how, I see a lot of others who are just trying to get in the door to start to get noticed.
