This is one of the seven prints:

The newest issue, LACKLUSTER WORLD #5, still has that spring fresh buzz attached to it and it’s easily my best work. For everyone keeping up with the characters/story, you’ll never guess what’s inside.

I’ll be doing sketches all weekend too, so sign up for one.

I plan to arrive Thursday afternoon and be setup in time for ‘Preview Night’ which is something I’ve always skipped in the past. On Friday night, I’ll be watching a drunk, bearded cripple named Warren Ellis talk about all manner of disgusting things and maybe even a little about writing. Saturday night, I hope to catch the BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHT screening,  And Sunday, I will probably leave the show around 2:00 since I have to drive home that night and be well-rested for work the following day.  If you want to meetup at these events or somewhere, drop me a line and we’ll try to connect.

The girlfriend, Joanna Estep, will be around all weekend too. She might be selling copies of her brand new third volume of ROADSONG and some art from a corner of my table.

Speaking of tables, I will either be at table #5804 or #3904 – hard to say which as I might be trading spots, so look for me at both. Floor plan here.

This is always one of my biggest shows, if not the biggest show, each year so I hope you can make it.  If not, I’ll be at Baltimore Comicon and Mid Ohio Con later this year.

My experience at this year’s Pittsburgh Comicon, my fourth in a row, is in the minority it seems because it was a smashing success.

Okay, maybe not smashing but I felt like using an adjective and smashing sounded… smashing.  Anyway, I made a killing. And that killing pun wasn’t intended, but I suppose my not removing means it now is.  If you don’t get it, you will if you read on.

THURSDAY

The drive to Pittsburgh from Cincinnati was boring.  It was five tremendously bad audiobook hours of the DARK TOWER IV: WIZARD AND GLASS.  I’ve been enjoying the DT books for the most part, but this one was almost unbearable.  Stephen King should never, ever right shmoopy romance stories ever again.

Not to get too off topic here… Yes I could have just stopped listening to it, but promises me the subsequent books are worth the torture of this one.  I’ve been putting off finishing it for a long time and the roadtrip seemed like the best time to get it out of the way.

Anyway, the pain of that ended in the early evening once I arrived at the hotel.  Got into the room with no fuss, set down my bags and WHOA…  Largest hotel room I’ve ever had.  Granted, I’ve seen larger, but this room was as big as the penthouse and I am certain of this because the penthouse is where I went shortly thereafter.

Not much later, Tim () showed up.  He and I were splitting the place for the weekend.

Enter the penthouse party.  The folks from Luchador Entertainment were holding a small gathering for all the exhibitors. I had some free drinks, talked with Andy Bennett and Dave Aikens for a while, said ‘Hey’ to Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyrol on BATTLESTAR GALACTICA).  He’s said ‘Hey’ back.

And then, Thursday ended. The time to pilfer comics was at hand.

FRIDAY

If you haven’t heard, there has been recent drama surrounding this show.  The co-founder of the convention, Michael George, was recently convicted of murder. Many were concerned the negative press would damage the show itself and those concerns were valid. The number of dealers was clearly  smaller than in years past – perhaps half the size.  On the floor, I was hearing that some people were protesting the convention and pressuring some creators to not go. I suppose I can understand not wanting to support a convicted murderer, but let’s be real… he won’t be seeing any of your money while he spends the rest of his life in prison.

Anyway, the show had a lot going against it and the poor turnout on Friday had myself and my fellow creators/artists repeating the phrase, “Well, it’s Friday.”

To those on the outside of this sort of thing: Fridays are notoriously slow at comic conventions.  So much so that I among others regularly consider skipping Fridays. We always say “I might start skipping Fridays.” This also applies to Sundays– perhaps even moreso.  Anyway, this Friday was an exceptionally slow Friday. It wasn’t until 5:00pm that I was commissioned for a rather large piece of art, making up for the measly 4 or 5 comics I had sold since 10:00am.

At close, Tim and I went to some brewhouse for dinner and nerded out about comics, movies, books, etc. We’re pretty good at nerding out. Oh, Tim was also my neighbor on the convention floor.  This is he:

Tim Lantz, Lord of Darkness and Photoshop:
 

And here’s Neil Fitzpatrick aka Neiljam.  He was the friendly con neighbor on my left:
 

After dinner, I mosied down to the Make-A-Wish Karaoke Event.  It was sadly, kind of empty and after 30 minutes of failing to invoke enough courage to sing, I left to check out the bar.  Peeking in, I didn’t see any familiar faces, but as I turned away to go back to the karaoke, Ryan and Lauren (if you guys are reading this, do you have sites/blogs for me to link to?) screamed my name in the tune of Bloody Murder and bought me a drink.  Good times.

I went to bed early in preparation for what I sincerely hoped would be the polar opposite of Friday…

SATURDAY

…And it was.

Oh my science, Saturday was a hell of a day to sell comics.  I would say my sales were split evenly between repeat customers and new customers and that is a little surprising to me.  Granted, I knew I would distribute a large number of LACKLUSTER WORLD #5 (the new issue), but having so many people buy the full run — issues #1 through #5 — was quite unexpected.  I think psychology was at play here…

See, ever since #5 was released, I’ve been selling the full run for a $20.  That’s only a few dollars off the price, but I believe that we as consumers see $20 and think “Hey, that’s only piece of paper.” If we see $19 or $23 we think, “Hey, that’s like… more paper.”

By the way, you can buy my comics.  Yes.  Buy.

Ryuk from DEATH NOTE:

Robo-panda guy:

And that’s about it for the show on Saturday. I sold a lot of comics. There were costumes.

At close, we went to Olive Garden with 20-30 fellow artists and after that we eventually strolled into the bar downstairs.  Ran into Adam Talley, Robert Knight, Ryan McClelland and Lauren down there. After a few drinks I closed the arc on the previous evening’s didnt-happen and sang “What a Wonderful World” in my best Louis Armstrong voice. The first time in my life I’ve sang karaoke.

The bar party soon became another penthouse party and that place was packed to the gills with people, balloons, smoking, free drinks and general noise.  Sans the smoke, it was great fun.

SUNDAY

Sunday was pretty much what one expects on Sunday. “Well, it’s Sunday.” I did moderately well, but only stuck it out until 3:00.

On the way home, I spent another five torturous hours listening to that audiobook. OUCH OUCH OUCH. Stephen, stay away from teenage romance.  Focus more on killing the teenagers.

——

In closing, I just wanted to mention my new hat. I wore for nearly the entire convention and I think it is going to be my new convention staple.  If you want to find me at a con, just look for the guy in the fedora, looking gangsta’ like so…

Cheers.

A lovely piece of LACKLUSTER WORLD art that Jo gave me for Xmas:

You may read it here:
http://www.silverbulletcomics.com/news/story.php?a=1929

Afterwards, you may also experience more of her hot smoking writing skills through her column Hey, Supergirl here:
http://silverbulletcomics.com/news/news.php?c=36

First and foremost:

My bud, Chris Arrant, will be at the mega-enormous SAN DIEGO COMIC CON this week with copies of his freshly printed anthology book FOUR STORIES. Each self-contained story within is written by Chris and illustrated by a different artist: Matt Bayne, Jessica Hickman, Joanna Estep and myself.

I’ve already told you a little about the story I’ve illustrated, entitled STUART. Here’s the first page, unlettered.

Anyway, if you know Chris, find him on the floor of the show and he will hook you up with a copy. If you don’t know him, just wait, I should be receiving my own sample copies any day now.

You can get more info about FOUR STORIES from Chris’ website.

RELATED NOTE: I will NOT be at San Diego Comic Con.

It’s called The March of Bonus Army.

In the past he’s done Tesla: Master of Lightning and Korean War Stories for which he won the 2002 Emmy for Outstanding Historical Documentary.

Somehow, my name and wisdom found it’s way into the opening text of the second installment. Joanna clearly knows what people want.

Go, read: Timing: Part 2
Go, read: Timing: Part 3