Baltimore Comic Con 2008

I'm back from the Baltimore Comic Con 2008 and man, what a trip. This was by far the largest comic book convention I had ever exhibited at. You can see the full set of photos I took in my BCC 2008 photo set on Flickr.com.

I left last Friday from Dallas and flew into Baltimore with fellow cartoonist Grant Sutherland and our painter friend Scott. My brother, Ben, met us at the airport and drove us into Baltimore. After getting settled we wandered into downtown and ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. We found a nice local bar called the Ropewalk Tavern and had some drinks. We finally settled into a cigar shop down the street from the Ropewalk and smoked cigars, drank some beers and just relaxed before the big show.

Saturday morning I arrived a couple hours before the Baltimore Comic Con opened to get my table set up. We entered through the back loading dock, but I saw that a long line was already forming in the front for the show. Doors opened around 10:00am and the masses rushed in. In no time the show floor, which was massive, teemed with comic book fans. I spent the day pitching and selling my books and sketches and pins and posters. I made a fair amount of sales on my latest comic books and the sketches and pins went really well too. Over all, though, I'd say sales were a little flat. People came by looking for stuff they recognized, big names like Spiderman and Superman stuff. An underground indie like me took a lot of selling an convincing to get people to part with their cash. The other artist alley folks around me seemed to have the same issues. I did hand out a lot of Hermit Hill fliers though.

After the Show on Saturday we went over to the Orioles game since the ballpark was right next to the convention center. It had been raining all day, so attendance was low. It was blue skies and clear when the game started, but by the 7th inning it was pouring again and the game got called. We had a good time anyway.

Sunday opened and the crowds returned in full force. I did a lot more sales on sketches on Sunday. I even sold a Superman sketch to someone dressed as Superman. How cool is that? Answer: very. I got away from my table a few times and left my brother to watch things. I went over to the HalfPixel.com guys' area to say hi. I got a copy of Dave Kellett's A Blizzard of Lizzards and he signed it for me and put a sketch on the inside cover, which was very cool. I got to chat a little with Brad Guigar and Chris Straub. I picked up some bootleg Mystery Scinece Theater 3000 DVDs and a Star Wars toy for my son. The big seller for me that day were my pins. I easily sold about 60 of those things. I also sold a sketchbook and some Bramble Vine Comics #1 & #2 comic books.

All in all, it was a fun show to go to. I met with a lot of people I admire, sold some comics and got the word out about Hermit Hill the Webcomic. However, while I sold about as many books as I usually do, maybe a little more, that doesn't really scale up to the number of people passing by my table. It was a real hard sell. I think I'll be sticking the independent publishing cons from here on out. The mainstream comics crowd just didn't seem very interested in trying an indie guy like me. Next year I'll hit the Small Press Expo instead.

Hermit Hill | Vol. 1 | 09/30/08

Gnome in the Hole! Gnorm returns to torture old Walt. Good thing I had this week's comics done before I headed off to the Baltimore Comic Con. I'll have an update and some photos from the con up on the site later today.

At the Baltimore Comic Con

I've survived the first day of the Baltimore Comic Con! I'll be heading back again today to keep pushing my comic books and webcomic. It's going really well so far. The word on the floor is that there are way more people here this year than last year. It's huge and crowded and a ton of fun. I'll post some photos when I get back to Texas.

If you're in the Baltimore area and you're heading out to the con come by and say hi. I'm at table 50 on the map in the program.

Hermit Hill | Vol. 1 | 09/25/08

Storm Coverage. Here in Texas we are still reeling from a bad storm. Southern Texas was hit really hard. People's homes have been destroyed, large portions of the state are still, even more then a week afterwards, without power, and now there's talk of gas shortages. During the storm the TV coverage was really insane as all these idiots just had to trudge out into the middle of it to show the viewers how wind works. Moronic. Today's comic reflects the obliviousness we all witnessed in those empty heads of the broadcasters who think we wouldn't understand that hurricanes are dangerous unless they put themselves in harms way on camera.

On another note, it's not going to be raining on Hermit Hill very often. That rain effect I inked into today's comic cost me two micron pens as I destroyed them trying to get the hatch work just right. The little nubs were bent at right angles when I was through.

Hermit Hill | Vol. 1 | 09/23/08

My Pet Rock. Time to throw in a little conflict for Walter. Gnorm the Gnome will be a recurring character to frustrate the hell out of poor old Walt.

Hermit Hill | Vol. 1 | 09/18/08

Political Stakes. Election season for a shut-in must be annoying. The door to door canvasing, candidate junk mail and endless phone calls and polling are all in your face. It practically forces you to get engaged in the process. Poor Walter.

Marvel Digital Comics

I just read this story about Marvel Comics launching two new online only titles, an Iron Man story and a Hulk story. Each digital title continues the respective movie plots from this summer. I think that's a really interesting idea, but it costs $10 a month to access Marvel's online offerings. That's a steep price for this sort of thing, isn't it? I'm all for reading comics on the web, do it all the time myself, but $10 a month for just one company's titles seems way out there to me. I wonder how well this business model is doing for Marvel?

Hermit Hill | Vol. 1 | 09/16/08

Rising Sales. That Walter may be a real grouch, but he's creative. What's the equivalent of this for telemarketers? Whatever it is I wish I had one.

Baltimore Comic Con Appearance in Two Weeks

Just to remind everyone that the Baltimore Comic Con is coming up in just two more weeks. During the weekend of Sept. 27th & 28th I'll be at my Artists' Alley table at the convention at the Baltimore Convention Center in downtown Baltimore. The guest list to this year's show is really impressive. It's going to be a world class show. I'll have all my books on hand including my most recent 144 page book Doodlin', A Cartoonist's Sketchbook, Bramble Vine Comics #2, Gadgeteria and more. I'll have posters and pins on hand, personalized sketches and copies of the Dallas cartoonists' book the Synesthetic Anthology. It's going to be a great show and I hope folks make it out to say "hi".

Hermit Hill | Vol. 1 | 09/11/08

Snack of the Undead! Beware yanking those toothpicks out. This comic actually came out of a funny conversation I was having with fellow cartoonist Grant Sutherland, who does the excellent webcomic Greetings from Wonderland, over lunch a couple weeks ago. This little routine was his idea, so I give him full credit for the inspiration behind today's comic.

Hermit Hill | Vol. 1 | 09/09/08

Watch Ol' Bandit Run! Last week, after discovering that I had never seen the film Smokey and the Bandit, my two friends Grant and Scott insisted we sit down with some beers and cigars to watch it. Their enthusiasm for the film was infectious, this is the result.

Bramble Vine Comics Online Store Open for Business

I have collected all the links to all the items I have for sale in the various online stores I use for vendors of my merchandise into one easy page. My sketchbook, all my comic books, shirts, posters and more are all now available for purchase through my online store.

A few new products should peak the interest of my readers, first off a new book collecting pages from the last four years of my sketchbooks. It's 144 pages of doodles and sketches and it really came out great. I'm very pleased with it. I'll have this on hand for the first time at the upcoming Baltimore Comic Con, but you can buy it now over the web.

As I mentioned before, my latest comic book, Bramble Vine Comics #2, is now available for purchase through IndyPlanet.

Lastly, my most recent product, an awesome coffee mug featuring my "Cartoon Explosion" illustration is now available online. I just got the first one of these the other day and it proudly sits on my desk at work.

So, if you're interested in helping to support independent comics please check for these items and more in my new online store!

Bramble Vine Comics #2 on Shelves Now

My latest comic book, Bramble Vine Comics #2, is now available in Dallas, TX area comic book shops. You can pick up a copy yourself at these fine comics retailers:

Zeus Comics
Keith's Comics (Mockingbird Ln.)
Titan Comics

Also, the book is available to order online through IndyPlanet.com. I will also have several on hand at the Baltimore Comic Con this month.

Thanks so much to Richard, Keith and Jeremy for giving an indie guy like me some shelf space.

R.I.P. Bill Melendez

Cartoon Brew has a good write up on the passing of Bill Melendez, the amazing animator who helped to give me so many wonderful childhood memories.

Hermit Hill | Vol.1 | 09/03/08

Taking out the trash. The everyday problems of an agoraphobic can lead to some strange problems that need to be solved. The insensitivity of the average waste disposal engineer doesn't help matters.

On the drawing table tonight

Here's a photo from my drawing board tonight. I just finished inking a comic that'll be online next week. So, this is kind of a preview I guess, a peak behind the curtain. I pencil the page in non-photo blue and then ink over top of that directly. The borders and text will be added after I scan it into the computer using PhotoShop.

Hermit Hill | Vol. 1 | 09/02/08

Put that in your pipe and smoke it! This comic was updated while I was on vacation with my family. Hence my dedication to you, the loyal Hermit Hill reader. Namaste.