We're still getting back on our feet after the onslaught of intensity that was Comic-Con 2008. As always, we had a blast meeting fans, hosting a load of artist signings, and movin' units.
Take a quick video cruise through our booth on Wednesday just before the "preview night" crowd descended:
The unqualified hit of the Con for us was the brand-new Love and Rockets: New Stories #1 — we blew through a gross of them, our whole supply, by Saturday afternoon. Other hits of the show were the debuts of Jim Woodring's The Portable Frank and Deitch's Pictorama from the Deitch brothers; Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko by Blake Bell sold out too. Also making a strong debut showing were the new 2nd issue of Sergio Ponchione's Grotesque, which is turning out to be a sleeper hit of our Ignatz line; the new 4th issue of the smash-hit Tales Designed to Thrizzle from Michael Kupperman; Tim Lane's Abandoned Cars; Where Demented Wented: The Art and Comics of Rory Hayes; Krazy & Ignatz Vol. 10; our new giant Krazy & Ignatz hardcover; four more new Ignatz Series issues (Baobab #3, Delphine #3, Interiorae #3 and Sammy the Mouse #2); and Meat Cake #17 by Dame Darcy. John Pham's Sublife made a late appearance in unbound preview form, which didn't stop fans from snapping up a few copies. Holy man, that's a lotta new stuff!
Personal highlights:
– Best Costume: the guy wearing a Green Lantern jersey with a Devo energy dome.
– Best Celebrity Sighting at the Booth: Tom ("Spongebob") Kenny. I'm told that Tom Lennon and Ben Garant of Reno 911 also shopped, but I missed them.
– Best Shopping Find: Jim Woodring's Pupshaw & Pushpaw book at the Picturebox table.
– Best After-Hours Activity: there were several, but the winner is Friday night Chinese food and The X-Files movie (blast the critics, it's frickin’ great).
– Favorite Addition to the Yoda-Themed Con Sketchbook: all of them, but maybe especially Mary Woodring's (stay tuned for scans).
– Biggest Disappointment: forgetting to ask for a Yoda sketch from Natalia Hernandez (who was wearing a Yoda backpack for crying out loud). Runner-up: wasting time in a hopeless line for the Venture Bros. panel.
– Best Suggested Name for a Theoretical Off-Site "Alternative" Comic-Con: "Fuckin' C'mon-i-Con," suggested by our own Ajax Wood.
Big thanks to all of our lovely and wonderful artists who turned out (not to mention their lovely and wonderful families); bigger thanks to our hard-working, ass-kicking staff (Kim, Gary, Ajax, Kristy, Janice, Jason, and Zuniga at the Con, plus everyone back home, especially Eric, who still did all the heavy-lifting prep work); and biggest thanks to all the comics-loving fans, customers, and looky-lous who stopped by our booth. (Apologies if I’m forgetting anything or anybody — my brain overfloweth.) We're already looking forward to next year.
Here's a selected handful of photos; head here for 42 more (plus whatever we add over the next few days).
Jean Schulz:
