E-7 And My Ever Present Past

Comic-Con 2012 is over and I’m happy it is. I’m usually excited to go to the con, but this year I was weary. It is hard enough to sell comic books, but I also lugged a bag of crocheted kittens my oldest niece (Niece-1) made. To make matters worse, the hotel I where I stayed couldn’t process my credit cards, leaving me without cash. If I was to buy anything at the show, the money would have to come by selling my latest issue, Pretty Vacant: Final Repose Part 2.

I wasn’t the only one hurting. It seemed that all my friends were limping into the show. Between cash shortages, car crashes, time constraints, illness and an unfortunate accident hovering over the con, it seemed harsh to even begin. For better or worse, preview night started early.

We had an unusual hodgepodge of stuff at E-7, the Bare Bones booth: there was my comic, Killer Robot Rob’s comics, Mike’s comics/t-shirts/stickers, Niece-1’s kittens, Angles of Redemption (yes, it is spelled wrong!). Carlos rounded out the booth and good friends Dustin and Sandra were behind us with Dustin’s latest game app, Save The Titanic and Sandra’s cool Banzai Chicks merchandise). And as usual, we had 4,000 free action figure stickmen to give away!

While I believe Dustin, Sandra and Mike (with his t-shirts) started off well, preview night was a disaster for me. Much to my chagrin, the kittens outsold my book, 5-4. This gave no end of amusement to the people sharing my booth. It wasn’t as if I needed to give my fellow booth partners any more ammo to shoot at me, but Carlos and Rob couldn’t get enough of it!

My ego did take a blow. I felt like Paul McCartney in his video for Ever Present Past: a museum piece trying desperately to be hip yet flailing around to hilarious results. Despite my background, I always feel like a comic book guy at Comic-Con, an endangered species at my own convention! I was left with a choice: attend the rest of Comic-Con as a fan with no cash, or try harder selling my book as a vendor.

Thursday was better. Even though it started slow, once I sold out of kittens I started to focus on my book. It always helps that my peers like Pretty Vacant, so I’m confident that fans would like it too. I sold 20 on Thursday and 10 on Friday. I outsold Niece-1, 34-10, but I was behind financially $100-$99 as I let a fan have two books for the price of one.

Saturday is usually the big day for sales, but I was to be handicapped for part of the time. Carlos attended the DC Comics panels, Rob walked the floor with his friends (and as the Robot) and Mike waited in line for autographs from the cast of “Babylon 5”. I had to sell the majority of my books by myself, but something magical happened…

Sales-wise, I got hot!

I touted female empowerment to ladies. I emphasized the plot (mad scientist making money) to fans of a good story. I mentioned the kinky aspects to fetishists. I raved about creative freedom to comic book lovers. And yes, I pleaded with those who were skeptical. Everyone around saw my hot-streak and helped out: my friend Steve provided a lime refresher, Sandra funneled potato chips through the curtain separating our booths and my returning booth-mates helped me sell out when they realized I was down to my last three copies!

Not only did I cover the print run, I was able to pay off my entire hotel bill for the show! I got to spend the entire last day strictly as a fan, lining up for the “Doctor Who” panel in the dreaded Hall H with my youngest niece and my friend Jessica. The line meandered to where you could see the convention center -across the bay- and we still made it inside! And Niece-3 and I didn’t even have to take the overcrowded, smelly train out of San Diego as Jessica’s father was more than happy to drive us home!

About a mile away from the convention center, which you can see across the bay.  If I had taken one step backward, I would have fallen into the Pacific Ocean! 

I first saw Comic-Con as an either/or option, but got to do a multitude of things: selling my book, hanging out with friends (David, Rodney, Ken and Steve) even texting an ill Courtney about the “Doctor Who” panel (Dinosaurs on a spaceship!). I’m grateful I can help them and they can help me!
 
And if anyone’s wondering, the final cash tally was $502-$100! Bring it on next year, Niece-1!

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