You can see some random photos from the trip on my Flickr page.

Another whirlwind of busyness at Wizard World Chicago this past weekend. It was really great hanging out with “my boys”, Jason Embury (colorist extraordinaire) and James Patrick, who I’ve collaborated with several times in the past (Crakurz, Lionxor, Soda, Hero Happy Hour and more) - I think the highlight of the show for me were the kids fighting over the comics. Seeing kids walk over, as if here’s a special magnet on our table we hit the button, they suddenly just turn and get pulled over to the table to look at the cool hero stuff. I had a set of twins, probably 8 or 9, brother and sister who were fighting over who to sign the book to, Justin or Emily… I ended up giving them an issue one AND two for them to barter with.

I’m glad I had good friends around me to witness some of the crazy things I hear at shows now. None of it is probably good for my ego at all, but one guy was nervous as crap, I guess Hero By Night is one of is favorite comics and he told me he felt like he should be bowing down….. I turned to see if my pal Brandon Carr actually just heard what I heard and we were like “Huh? hahahha” — Then people always tell me how nice I am and cool to talk with, but I think it’s just because I see all of these nameless people as actual FRIENDS if they read my books or webcomics. We brought that guy around to get a photo with the standees, and he was blown away. I kept thinking, isn’t this common though??? I’m surprised to hear that a lot of creators can be brief dicks with fans at shows. I’m just nice naturally, but I’m making a vow never to be a prick with ANYONE at my table, or if I’m in a bad mood about something else don’t take it out on a fan or a possible new fan standing there. While I thought it was odd, the guy saying he would bow down, I can honestly say there are a few creators out there I would have said the same thing to.

Hanging out in the evening with all my webcomic brothers and sisters was awesome too. Old friends like Brandon J. Carr, Zach Miller (Joe and Monkey), Joe Dunn, Phil and Irv from Digital Pimp, and the rest of the pimp crew, Tom Brazelton. Got to meet Gordin from Multiplex too…..and many more. Bottom line, these are the guys in the trenches, and soon they will be in your base, killing your dudes! heh.

Speaking of webcomics, the BUSINESS OF WEBCOMICS panel went well. Room was packed (standing room only) and I’m glad I was able to put people in the right mindset as far as how they should look at their own work, what markets or niches or even mindset to have when doing it yourself. I often call it guerrilla, or grassroots, or “in the trenches”– cease opportunities when they come your way, and see everything that comes along TOOL you can use for your comics. And make sure you learn to do things the old ways too, cutting and pasting actual paper balloons. Basically I gave brief glimpses at the things I talked about on my old Make Money blog. I’ll be writing a big book soon with some cool surprises in the future. It’s outlined I just need time to do that actual work. Several publishers have already asked to do it, but I want to get the book done first– shoot it’s not even a guarantee that it will happen, but I’m VERY encouraged by private conversations at the show with other webcomic folks.

Now it’s back to work here. We’ve started the NEW webcomic story arc over on herobynight.com - The buzz at the shows has really been amazing to hear. I guess i’m just not use to any of that. Even old pros I’ve known for years coming up to congratulate. I’ve lined up some people to do some alternate covers too, I’m REALLY excited about that. Which reminds me I should tell my EIC that. (done!) -

It really does feel like we’re slowly accomplishing my goal of creating a new iconic super hero for a new generation of readers. Again, I got to meet many retailers who all have great stories about the book’s success in shops. The stories go usually like this, the retailers ordered maybe 5 copies or so to check out the new title and try it out, or did preorders for customers and ordered a couple more for the shop,– then the copies fly off the shelf and they try to reorder through Diamond and can’t get reorders in. I’ve been telling any of these retailers if that happens, to contact me direct or Platinum Studios and we’ll be sure to get them what they need for their shop. I really love sending NEW readers into stores. One lady told me that she’s gotten 5 new customers with pull boxes thanks to Hero By Night. That makes me proud. I remember something Jack Kirby said once in an interview, about it ultimately being his job to sell comic books to readers and it makes stores happy, and I always keep that in mind when talking to retailers. I look forward to creating some grassroots, direct system for retailers to get cool incentives direct from me. If there are any reading this right now, e-mail me and we can definitely talk. I’m more than happy to send things out to shops, because in the end it helps us all– creators, publishers, readers and retailers. A big comic book circle of life.

DRAMA: There are a couple things I’m really personally annoyed by and the old me would have just went off online and ranted and raved and just TOLD THE TRUTH about But I’m holding off. It doesn’t effect me directly, but it’s caused nightmares for close friends of mind—- All I can say is that I’m annoyed by a couple other “wannabe” publishers, who don’t even have books out yet, are jealous by HBN’s success, and then constantly say nice things to my face, then ask where we get our standees or backdrops, or what printing deals we get, etc.. and I of course don’t answer them because I know the next show suddenly they’ll have the same standees or setup, and then they talk shit behind my back about how they don’t like HBN. I challenge them to actually READ it, and to let them know that word always gets back to me when they’re talking smack. I want to be the bigger man here though and not get into specifics. There are other parties involved who aren’t public about it yet…But talking about it a little gets it off my mind. Let it be a word of warning of how NOT to start an indy comic company, and not to work with creators who are too full of themselves and who are ultimately going to make you look bad when the group’s name comes up at the lobby bar and they all know you work with this one asshole creator who who’s burned every bridge behind him. Be careful the bridges you burn– they might just end up burning you back. It’s funny how cutthroat the industry can be, especially for NEW guys just jumping in. For use old timers, we understand that it’s a small small world, this little comic book pond. You can definitly drown yourself pretty damn easy by being a dickhead or weaselly type. I shouldn’t even mention this, because chances are, these “publishers” won’t be around in another year or two. That’s just how it goes usually.

Alright– I’m still not back to work officially yet– I gotta get back to the drawing board!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 14th, 2007 at 3:02 pm and is filed under 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.