Life for me lately has ranged from hectic, to being stuck in a rut that I keep trying to fight my way out of. The one bright spot right now have been all the comic and art related public events that I am still able to do, but not as much as I’d like. Financial problems and unfinished new comic projects made me decide to take a back seat from comic conventions, outdoor art festivals, comic shop signings, etc. That being said, if a great cheap or free opportunity for a vendor booth at an upcoming new (or new to me) local show gets on my radar, I’ll probably jump at the chance, but outside of that, it will be a break from shows until at least October. There have been some great experiences at the few shows I’ve done so far this year, along with news regarding my two comic projects in production as we speak. A script for Damn Tourists issue 7, as well as more illustration work on the 8th and final issue of Cosmic Force is progressing nicely. I even have a few thoughts on the latest and best Disney and Marvel series to come along since Wandavision.
THE MARCH-MAY CONVENTION AND ART FESTIVAL CIRCUIT:
January’s Pasadena Comic Con had great attendance and decent sales for me, while the next month’s Simi Valley Toy and Comic Fest was much lighter when it came to my book purchases. The next three shows I did to kick off the spring convention and art festival season had some bigger ups and downs with profits, but they were all fun to be around, thanks in part to some great vendor friends to chat with every now and then. March ended with my most profitable and favorite show to do: Wondercon, at the Anaheim Convention Center. While this was my 9th year as a Small Press exhibitor there, this 2024 show would be different for me because of two things: 1. It took place during a heavy Easter Weekend storm, and 2. I would not be staying near the show venue due to the lack of funds for a hotel. Thing #2 meant that I would need to commute back and forth between Thursday and Sunday from North Hollywood to Anaheim and back. The driving distance is roughly fifty miles, but that means nothing due to freeway traffic, which can keep you stuck up between sixty to ninety minutes. To avoid the constant car travel, I chose to drive for an early Thursday afternoon booth setup, and on Sunday to breakdown on the last day of the show. In between on Friday and Saturday, I chose to take a mixture of trains and buses to avoid freeway traffic, finding event parking, and parking fees. This was made to be even more challenging with the stormy weather, especially on Saturday morning. Despite downpours, freeway gridlock, long bus rides, and even low cell phone batteries, I made more customer interactions and sales at this edition of Wondercon than in any of my past appearances. Purchases were spread out more between my three book series: Damn Tourists had the most sales, with my limited Cosmic Force trades coming in second (though since I price my trades higher in the $20-$25 range, my sales increase quicker throughout the day), I even brought back my Figure-of-Speech Mongoose comic strip anthology, which got a few more sales than usual. I believe that the rain on Saturday kept more people inside the convention hall to wander the floor to areas they may not explore, instead of leaving for a lunch break or nearby hotel room for a quick rest. In addition to great sales, I participated in a “floor tour” (scavenger hunt game) with other creator friends that had customers searching our tables for prizes, and other friends stopping by my table to chat. The following shows LA Maker Faire at the LA State Historic Park, and Ana-Con at the Anaheim Central Library (both in April) were fun too, but not as memorable as Wondercon, and my latest show: Reseda Rising Artwalk back on Saturday May 18th. This was the event’s official return since 2019, which closes one block of Sherman Way in the San Fernando Valley city of Reseda to traffic for five hours (2 PM to 7 PM). Giving the event a block-party type of atmosphere with local bands, food, clothing, jewelry, art vendors and more, Reseda Rising has been a crowd-pleaser and a neighborhood draw since 2016. A free event that brings in attendees on foot from nearby homes, as well as vendors and other attendees from across the valley. For vendors, spaces are on a first-come first-serve basis, so the earlier you get there to set up (which was from 11 a.m to 2 p.m.) the better. This was always how the show operated in years past. What was different for 2024: The event providing tables and chairs, which reduces the amount of booth equipment vendors need to bring. Myself, along with two other creator friends lucked out when we arrived to set-up, as the show had alot of tables and chairs to provide. That meant many vendor spaces had not one, but two tables in them, including a space that I snagged. One creator friend did have a pop-up tent, but was given an extra one for free. All vendor spaces were $100, which I did wind up making back plus $30, mostly due to my excellent booth location (between the show’s beer garden and food trucks), and what became my most elaborate outdoor vendor space setup. With two 6-foot tables and two chairs provided by the event, I only needed my merchandise, and the pop-up tent I usually borrow from a creator friend down the street from me. I ended up doing an L-shaped table formation under the tent, with the front-facing table for my books, and the left side table to display my portfolio and a live comic illustration space. The larger area and constant foot traffic led to an experience similar to Wondercon, where folks purchased at least 1 of each book (Damn Tourists, Cosmic Force, The Figure-Of-Speech Mongoose). It was a great last show to do before my summer break from vending at conventions and festivals.
COSMIC FORCE FINALE AND DAMN TOURISTS #7 PROGRESS:
I am now pulling double-duty on my comic projects, but in different stages of the creation process. The Cosmic Force “Crossroads” Finale (Part 2) is still moving along nicely in its illustration stage, with 20 pages now fully colored, and five additional pages in pencil form. The estimated total page count is still shooting for 103 for this 8th and final issue, but much like issue 7, I could shorten or cut some scenes that would lower the page count. We shall see as the illustrations continue. In addition to this book, and because it’s my most popular series, I am also writing the script for the 7th issue of “Damn Tourists,” which will take place in South Dakota. Currently, 25 pages have been typed, as I include the number and type of panels in my scripts as well as dialogue, in order to make a quicker transition to the comic page illustration process. The estimated total page count for this next issue is 35 pages, so my goal this year is to finish both the 2nd part of the Cosmic Force Finale, and Damn Tourists #7 by the end of the year to be ready for comic conventions, art festivals, and comic shop signings in 2025. I would still like to fund Cosmic Force via Kickstarter, and may to the same for the Tourists book. I’ll think about it as I continue to work on both for the rest of the year.
MY THOUGHTS ON X-MEN ‘97:
While my own comic projects tend to keep me busy, I still find some time to enjoy existing ones in any form, or any media for that matter. Like many others in my age group, I grew up loving the 1992 X-Men animated series that ran on Saturday mornings for the FOX network for five seasons. The announcement an then debut of a Disney Plus series that would pick up where the original left off I already found interesting enough to check out, but I didn’t realize just how much I was going to enjoy it. Not only does X-Men ‘97 continue the original series tone with the same team and storyline references, it also improves on the limitations in animation, character design, and especially language and violence (when necessary). There a few of the first season’s 10 episodes that contain scenes the original could never due because of network censors, which I completely understand with the original series being on geared towards kids on a Saturday morning network lineup, as opposed to a streaming service that has much more creative freedom. As a longtime X-Men fan, I appreciate the focus on the team, balancing the focus on different members throughout a single episode seamlessly. This is something that I think the movies just did not do well. X-Men ‘97 also continues the mutant prejudice that was all over the 1992 series, and expands on the soap opera elements between the various romantic relationships in the team. It is overall, a compelling continuation series, where you don’t really know what’s going to happen to a character in each episode, which makes you tune in every week (now that season 1 is finished, I sadly can’t do that anymore). As far as standout characters go: The show does an excellent version of Magneto (who I have always found to be a great anti-hero, not a villain), still fighting for other mutants, but not being nice about it. Cyclops gets to shine again as the team leader, but he and Jean Grey think about their future more, and his optic blast mutant abilities are shown in very different ways. Even Morph is used in an interesting way sometimes: To shapeshift as other mutants and marvel heroes as unofficial cameos. Speaking of which, we get a bunch of other characters from the MCU in several episodes, and the finale raises more questions and excitement for season 2.
So that concludes the news for this month. I should be back in another month or two for a progress report on all things Carter Comics, and some things as Allen Carter. As always, stay tuned!