Saturday, July 29, 2017

Pretty Vacant: Tijuana Special - Daniel's Turn

Former All-American Model/Athlete Gigi Gutierrez just wants to have fun and enjoy herself at a comic convention, but fate has other plans for her! Fellow cosplayers have been kidnapped, and with her best friend and a slightly bigoted mad scientist appealing to her conscience, she joins them in a perilous mission south of the border to rescue the young women from an evil cartel. Can Gigi use her unique skill set, secret-weapon boyfriend and sarcastic wit to save them all from a fate prettier than death?

With that tagline, Pretty Vacant: Tijuana Special debuted during Comic-Con.  Once again at booth E-7, this year artist Daniel came with me.  It was part of the deal: Daniel would draw three Pretty Vacant issues at reduced rates and I would help him obtain Professional Status at the show.  He held up his end of the bargain, so now he is considered a pro!

I only took 25 copies with me for sale at San Diego this year.  I wanted to give Daniel as much face time as possible in hopes he could make some of his travel money back.  He was able to sell some of his sketches, but he also wanted to take in some of the show.  I did too.  With Daniel in the booth, I was able to go out myself, watching most of the CW DC Arrowverse presentations, a surprise Kansas concert, Peter Capaldi's Comic-Con farewell as Doctor Who and getting out to have lunch with friends! 

I didn't make a lot of cash at this year's Comic-Con.  I'm grateful for all the Kickstarter backers who funded this issue, and I hope to make more sales at the Paris show later this year.  This show was about accommodating Daniel, and in a weird way it paid off.  On the train out of San Diego, Daniel started talking about doing more Pretty Vacant stories.   The optimist in me wants to believe that he truly likes what I'm trying to do and enjoys drawing Gigi and company, but the cynic in me realizes that Daniel knows it takes three projects every three years to keep his pro status at Comic-Con!

Whatever the truth is, expect more Pretty Vacant comics in the near future!