My wife and I just got back from SDCC 2009 Monday night and it’s taken a couple days just to get our heads screwed on straight again. We had an absolute blast, met old friends, made new ones and had our best show ever. I was a little nervous because we had given up our usual booth space for a generic exhibitor table tucked away at the far end of the hall. My fears were unfounded however. We had greater traffic than ever and weren’t surrounded by other publishers vying for the same readers. My wife, Elaine, gets total credit for suggesting the move. We’ve already applied for the same spot next year.
The Con also gets Kudos for streamlining their registration process (at least for exhibitors). We were busy setting up our space within ten minutes of our arrival at the convention center. That has never happened before. Things started off slowly enough though. Preview night really is just that, people kind of mill around scoping out the lay of the land and apart from some exclusives, no one was really making any purchases. But it’s a good time to get back in the swing of things and get into that “con” mode that would dominate our brains for the next four days.
The response to our stuff was wonderful. Our Fortune Angel poster by Paul Cartwright was a big hit followed by the new tpb version of Wall Of Angels 1-6. It’s titled The Franchise: Wall Of Angels Volume One and it’s available from Lulu.com. There’s a link on the sidebar (which sometimes migrates to the bottom of the page, so scroll down). A big Thank You to everyone that stopped by to talk, buy or just show off costumes. It was great meeting all of you, especially Jeremy and his wife (sorry, I forgot your name) who went around the con getting cool stuff for us while we were imprisoned at our table. Thanks guys, you were great and I hope we run into you again. Here’s their happy little faces:
As usual the biggest complaint from fans is that the con has just gotten too big. It’s almost impossible to navigate the floor especially on Saturday. I really don’t see how people with strollers or in wheelchairs manage it. My biggest peeves while walking the crowds was that I always seemed to end up behind some guy who is not paying attention to his surroundings, texting away on his phone. Dude! Look up! I’m trying to get by here. Needless to say, I didn’t venture out much, there was plenty going on at our own table. I’ve said it before. Exhibiting at a con is like having box seats to a freak parade. I apologize of course, you’re not all freaks but you definitely had your freak on!
Our friend Steve Sprovieri (The Baritonios) from Chicago, showed up unexpectedly at our table, after telling us he would not be there this year. I love Steve. He’s a doer and a great networker. By that evening we found ourselves at an exclusive party in the penthouse of the Hard Rock Hotel, mingling in the lobby with people like John Cho (Star Trek) and Danny DeVito (No, we didn’t talk to either of them…) Like I said, Steve’s a doer.
Every year I try to make the rounds and make sure that I at least say hello to my contacts in the industry. I hard a hard time hooking up with Dave Dorman (if your don’t know his work, google him. It’s worth it) but he ended up showing up to our table. Always a pleasure, Dave, always a pleasure. Charlie Vess (Stardust) also stopped by and got to catch up with him a little (another one worth googling if you don’t know him).
You just never know who’s gonna drop in. Seth Green stopped by our table very momentarily, but I don’t think he was too aware of his surroundings…if you know what I mean. Brief eye contact and whoosh, he was gone. Bye Scotty Evil!
Anyway, those are some brief highlights of our experience at SDCC this year. Detractors will say what they will about the show…if you don’t like it, don’t go. TwentyToSix will not give up it’s spot as long as there’s an SDCC and we’ll see you there next year!
Tony & Elaine Garcia TwentyToSix Books
Benefit For The Primavera Foundation
