Thought I’d post a brief recap on the events and happenings at the Wizard World Philadelphia show this past weekend. First up, I have to say thanks to Howard, Carly and Dylan from Platinum Studios and Drunk Duck. They’re really enthusiastic and positive about promoting Drunk Duck for up and coming creators, and let’s face the facts, it totally IS the easiest and fastest way for new creators to publish their work online and be part of a genuine community that instantly can come to their work without much linking or cross promotion. I could feel a definite vibe from the aspiring creators out there that this is exactly what they need. The only downside I can see is the name “Drunk Duck” from a branding perspective, it does make people stop and go “wha??” but it doesn’t convey exactly just how friggin cool it can be as a tool for new or seasoned creators and publishers. So thank god you have folks that can explain it better than I can, but I know I could feel that something like this, and future plans, are going to create a SUPER synergy between the webcomic realm and the comic book industry the likes of which have never been seen.

We did a webcomics panel discussion, the first one on Sunday actually, and we thought it was going to be pretty slow attendance since it was Father’s Day and also the show was kinda slow during opening, but the panel discussion was actually pretty full from where I was sitting and that made me really happy. All the advice I use to give on the “How to make money” with webcomics blog, was again being put to good use, sharing anything that has worked for me with aspiring and beginning webcomic creators. It feels really great to share like that, not everthing that has worked for me will work for other people’s projects, but I do believe it’s an adaptive recipe that others can use. I was told twice again I should write a stinking book about the whole topic, everything from time management, promotion, unique merchandising (ahem, bricks of silence!) — It’s all such a lot of fun to talk about.

HERO BY NIGHT… I mentioned after Pittsburgh Comicon in April how the vibe on HBN was great, people coming up and saying they already read it, or just about anyone who stopped interested in the idea, well take that times 10 and that was the experience of the Philly show. I got our first in person fan art drawn really big by Shawn D Wagner of Lead Slinger Studios, and along with the guys from the N3RdCast comic podcast who really love the Hero By NIght books. Tons of readers who have read issue four and were amazed by the surprise ending, and tons more who were happy to learn there would be more as we do the ongoing series later this year. I can tell for sure now that if Hero By Night were at these types of shows on a regular basis, plus the online audience, we can really have something special here that doesn’t come along very often… not very often for the comic industry and not very often in the career of a comic creator. If I were a religious type, I’d say I was blessed with all this stuff, but since I’m not I consider myself very lucky and humbled. I think one of my main goals with this besides giving the genre my own spin is also creating NEW READERS for comic books. I love it when someone stops by who says they’ve never read comics before or are there with a friend, we give them the pitch and they love it. Bam! A new comic reader.

Those stories are all starting to sound familiar now too, the people who have never read comics going into shops to pick it up or ask for it, the people who gave up on the genre who gave the first issue a chance and now have a new hope for a medium they love. The retailers who say they can’t keep the copies in stock, of course I tell them they should order more next time! A lady from NJ and her mother who owns a comic shop stopped by and told me the same story and said she’s reordered twice and had new customers come in and ask for it by name. I love positive retailers, and I think I’m going to try to somehow hook up the individual stores who come up and give me a card that support HBN. Running a comic shop i tough work, sometimes tough work to stay in business, and I think often times publishers or creators just try to sway them with gimmicks instead of giving them an honest THANK YOU in some way shape or form. A nice framed piece of art or something here and there, or something to help them individually promote their shops and encourage people to buy Hero By Night (because it’s a badass comic) or other cool books.

So, while sometimes going to the shows and the travel and all of that can be tiring and exhaustive, it’s also energizing and gives me new ideas. For a long time I was worried about the comic book business, became bitter and a bit jaded and have felt like I’m sitting on the sidelines watching it take it’s dying breaths, but now it feels like there’s new life out there in the gutters. A lot of the guys who came up from the small press gutters of the mid and late 90s are here to save the comic industry from itself! We’re just getting started.

What does this have to do with Yirmumah? Well, this is what Yirmumah was all about to begin with. Now I’m actually out there getting some of the work done. Thanks for being here.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 18th, 2007 at 1:49 pm and is filed under Hero By Night, Entertainment, yirmumah, YirNews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.