late PHXCON recap

oh man, it's been way too long since i last posted, not counting the post i made about the Phoenix Comicon. which went well by the way.

and speaking of Phoenix Comicon, how about some...

PHOENIX COMICON REFLECTION TIME!!!

Phoenix Comicon was a couple weekends ago over Memorial Day weekend where i shared a table with the lovely Angela Montgomery. it was our first convention where we were on the other side of the table and it was great! it was such a good learning experience and definitely gave us a lot to consider for next time: table set-up, book display apparatuses, not going overboard on handing out promo items or just plan on bringing more, banners, etc.

if you weren't there, you can hop on over to the Chu Chu Chums blog to get a closer look at how our table set-up looked.

for the convention i whipped up a new set of pins, girls eating desert, to go with my guys eating food. i also had a special pin that came free when people bought my mini or was available for individual purchase.

and here is my 8-page mini comic, Monster Movie. if you picked up a copy with a white cover, don't worry, this is the same book. i ran out and had to make more copies and thought green would appear more eye-catching whilst sitting upon our table.

plus, if you were there and you saw me, but only from behind the table, then you may have missed me wearing THESE SWEET PURPLE HI-TOPS!!

i think these will be my convention shoes from now on. yes.

there were plenty of cosplayers running around everywhere, something you'd expect from a mainstream comic con. There was a mixture of US comic book cosplayers (Black Canary, Green Arrow, Powergirl, retro Catwoman, Scarlet Witch) and an abundant crowd of anime/manga cosplayers (Inuyasha, Bleach, Naruto, Pokemon, Sailor Moon, some assumed to be from CLAMP titles). the best ones were the obscure ones i wouldn't have expected to see at a convention, like Invader Zim, Gadget from Rescue Rangers, Ponyo, or Flint and Sam from Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs.

also, good times were had with friends aplenty, new and old. many from Phoenix and Tucson that Angela and i haven't seen in a lonnnng time.
we saw our friend Toby's student film, Dorm of the Dead (which i starred in as an extra), screened as part of the con's film festival.
it was also a pleasant surprise to see former classmates stop on by, like Adam, Pat and Autumn, Jay and Natasha, and Christi and Bek. so good seeing those guys.
Ken Wright and his awesome family stopped by our booth for a bit before heading over to see his fellow Tucsonan comickers and our friends and yours, Dave Baker and Eric M. Esquivel.
we had the pleasure of being part of Tiny Army, an Phoenix-based independent artists collective, thanks to Tiny Army and Steam Crow founder Daniel M. Davis.
we also saw fellow artists in tiny arms Denny Riccelli and Eric Mengel.
across the way from us Chums were supercool artists and comickers Sam Spina, who has some pretty rad journal comics, and Jon Garza, who has some unbelievably snazzy designs.
we were lucky to have a nice table neighbor, Teel McClanahan, who also happens to be Phoenix-based, as well as write words for books and poems and things.
we also met another Phoenix-based artist, Jennifer Skarupa, who wore the wore a very cute lolita-ish dress, has some pretty cute things over at her site here.
i also had the chance to meet Javier Hernandez, the guy behind the El Muerto comics that the Wilmer Valderrama film was based upon. super nice guy. i've seen him at a few cons before, but never had the guts to go up and say hey to him, so i'm pretty glad i did this time around.
also also...i got some pretty sweet deals from Arizona based comics dealers Spazdog Comics and Atomic Comics. like..a couple trades and a full short box for $30 for myself and a bunch of X-Statix and X-Force comics for Angela. sweet. deals.
it was also nice to see former Atomic employee and comicker Jeff Pina again, as well as meet current Atomic employee and co-host of the webcast I Have Issues Thomas Healy.

sooooooo many peoplllllleee. it was only three-and-a-half days, but it felt like forever (probably cause i was sleepy). even so, i was supersad to see it end, but i am totally bitten by the convention exhibiting bug now and am excited to hit up future cons with my wares!