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.

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.

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".