San Diego 2013 debrief

SDCC

I survived San Diego Comic-Con. This makes my fifth year in a row working a small press table. Because the show is 5 days long (with preview night) at some point I forget what normal life is like and begin to just believe that this is what I will be doing everyday for the foreseeable future. Then, bang, the con is over and everything is back to normal. It's kind of startling. 

What went right

We drove down on Weds morning, got up at 4am and left around 5:30. That put us in SD (and not in LA rush hour) around 3:30. We borrowed a friends SUV which allowed us to have way more room than my car. It was an exhausting drive, but we didn't get stuck in traffic

The new table location was amazing! we got an end cap which is not unlike being on the isle seat in an airplane. Getting in and out of the booth becomes very easy. The added exposure for our banner is also very nice. Lot of people took pictures of it, and even posed in front of it. 

Sales where stronger this year on the comics, weaker on the art books. I think it has to do with to many choices. I do an art book every year and even with being out of some of the older ones thats still like 6 books. 

People seemed to like Native Drums, had several people pick up issue one and come back for the rest. The prints did really well. Having them in bags and boards and removing the prints that don't sell helped a lot. plus I had like 10 new ones. 

I got to meet Terry Moore and get a crit. He was very nice, gave me some great feedback and showed me his original pages for SiP. Really was the highlight of the show for me. 

Had several Roller Derby gals, and one guy, swing by. Learned a lot about the sport from chatting with all of them. I got an amazing team shirt from the team I did a logo for. It's pretty sweet. even has my company name/number on the back!

Sunday night at 2:00 am Steve Leialoha swung by the hotel bar and chatted with me and my friend for over an hour. He showed us his sketchbooks and talked about all the people he has met at comic-con over there years. It was the perfect way to end the con. 

Things from the other side of the table.

So some stuff you start to notice running these tables. For the most part people are amazing, but on rare occasion you'll get some behavior that is perplexing. 

-thank you guy that likes to set his food/drink down on the table, or better yet, on your artwork. extra points if you don't take it with you when you leave. 

-thank you dude that reads all 4 books, then leaves.

-thank you people that flip through the portfolio as if trying to destroy it. flipping with such distain and force that I wonder why you hate me. extra points if you leave the portfolio on a blank page or closed. 

-thank you guy that got a lot of trash/swag and decides to leave it on the table. 

Well now that I got that out of my system, wheeee, I have to say the con went really well and I had a darn good time. Thanks to all that stopped by. no really, thanks. I'm not complaining anymore! I loved seeing you all.