Here's a list of the pros and cons of attending a convention as a fan for the first time in years when you're more used to tabling:
PROS
-You can go anywhere! Want to run back to your hotel room to drop stuff off? Do it! Want to go find lunch with your girlfriend? Go for it! Want to just meander, aimless and overwhelmed by your surroundings, taking care not to accidentally step on anyone's cape? Have at it!
-If you have friends who are tabling, and are by themselves, you can help them out, watch their things, grab food for them, and make sure they haven't curled up in a ball under their table to weep.
-You actually get to spend time with your girlfriend and go to panels together, plus you can hang out with other friends, especially those who have never been to a con before and are experiencing all of this for the first time!
-You save money and you don't have to stress out over whether or not you'll be able to sell enough to make back what you spent to have a table at a convention where you're surrounded by so many other, better artists!
CONS
-Lines. So many lines. Having a table means getting down to the convention floor early. This year, we had to wait in line every morning to be let in, and it felt like an indignity after being so used to just strolling in.
-All that walking wears you out, especially when carrying a bag filled with things you've bought plus your own minicomic which you brought to the con to give to other creators.
-By day three, your senses will be dulled down to almost nothing. You will feel nothing except for your screaming back and the slow ache of your legs and feet. You will wander the con floor like a zombie, winding up in front of a booth you had no intention of approaching.
But I really needed this past weekend. Even though I'm still tired, even though I still ache all over. I could've just sat the con out altogether. I already missed ETSUcon, and ACE is no longer happening, so it wouldn't be that big of a deal, but I'm glad I went to experience that thrill of being a fan once more. I got to explore every little bit of the show floor. I got to go to panels! I got to meet Jim Steranko and hear him diss Stan Lee! There was a small arcade section set up, and they had a Judge Dredd pinball machine! JUDGE DREDD PINBALL!!
We helped out our good friend and tyrant Alejandro Bruzzese throughout the weekend, and he was gracious enough to let us leave our things at his table when they became a burden. We also traded art! I drew the two leads from his webcomic Proxy, and in return received this gorgeous weird nude drawing to go on my apartment's steadily growing wall of weird nude art:
I got a couple sketches done in my sci-fi sketchbook. My personal favorite is this super phallic Predator by Enzo Garza, who did a killer minicomic called Gutt Ghost. I really loved meeting him:
Also, I met up with my prolific and multitalented friend Joseph Tenney, who I met at ACE a couple years ago. I did a pinup for one of his minicomics of a cyborg kaiju called MechaDragon. He loved it so much that he made this FANTASTIC little diorama based off of it and gave it to me. It's the coolest thing anyone's done with my work, and the best gift I've received in some time:
Here's the most poignant moment of the whole weekend: the Milkfed Criminal Masterminds panel with Matt Fraction, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Valentine De Landro, and Gabriel Bá and Fabio Moon, had just begun. Kelly Sue stood up and mentioned that at last year's panel, they held a moment of silence for the victims of the Charlston shooting that had happened just prior to the con. This year, we were just a week from the horrible shooting at Pulse in Orlando, so instead of a moment of silence, they wanted to do a brief singalong as a small tribute to the victims. So all of us in the audience stood up, and we all sang a couple verses of Somewhere Over the Rainbow. After we all sat down, Kelly Sue grabbed her mic and said "next year, I don't want there to be ANY OF THIS SHIT."
I had been in a horrid mood all week because of that shooting and the things people were saying about it online, among other things. I'd felt like I was just counting down the days, trying to keep just a few steps ahead of a black cloud trying to envelope me. To be in a room full of people who felt the same way, including some of my favorite people making comics right now, and to share that moment was immense. I felt like I was really a part of something.
And, you know, walking around, meeting artists, looking around at all the cool work people are making and putting out into the world served as a great reminder of how amazing comics are. It was reenergizing, seeing what others are doing can be really inspiring. I definitely think I'll table again next year. I also handed out quite a lot of copies of All of This Will Crumble, and people seemed to really respond to it. I hope only a few copies wound up thrown in the trash.
Speaking of which, I submitted All of This Will Crumble to ComiXology! It was accepted and should be available soon! I've also put it up on my Big Cartel page so you can order a physical copy! I have dumb medical bills to pay and I spent too much money at the con, so maybe consider picking one up?
Next up: more work on the new comic, putting together another figure drawing meeting next weekend, and, well, other stuff!
Take care of yourselves, folks.