Lunasea Studios

Chicago! Land of useable mass transit, fried food, and god-sized buckets of potable water. Chicago’s just a wee bit different from our home, the car-loving-tofu-munching-drought-ridden SoCal. But that’s why I love traveling to conventions. I fall in love with every unique place I visit, and get a new appreciation for my home base at the same time.

Another reason I love conventions is because of the new people I get to meet and the old friends I get to hang with. At Wizard World Chicago, I got to see my friend Randy Yarger for the first time since last year’s Comic-Con. He’s the creator of the Strange Matter Universe and writer of Sangrael.

He can also play guitar and sing the back-up vocals (en español) on Should I Stay or Should I Go by The Clash. Oh yeah, that’s my friend. M-I-N-E. Go get your own kewl friend. With Randy’s girlfriend Ann we formed a full frontal quad geek force of extraordinary magnitude.

It was because we were going for the full house of nerds (coupled with a perverse desire to experiment) that we got a small press booth, as opposed to our usual artist alley/small press table. This was a great decision comfort wise. It was not the best business decision, unfortunately. Our booth was in a convention dead zone. There were tubleweeds tumblin’ down our row while the rest of the convention floor was wall-to-wall geeks.

This was the first convention where we haven’t been able to cover the price of our exhibit space. We didn’t expect to, but we had hoped to cover at least half of the cost. We’re so moving back to our artist alley/small press hood. But it was cool to at least check out life in a booth. It was like staying in a rich friend’s mansion for a few days instead your own cozy apartment.

But plenty of good stuff happened at WW Chicago to keep us smiling despite the economic bummerage. James and I got to see the men behind the printers at Ka-Blam They had a page from Project ElOhIm in their print sampler, which I thought was a great honor for my main artist man Zeu.

We also saw Brett from Boomtown Comics, whom we first met at WW Chicago two years ago. He inspired me to get over my fear of calling myself an artist and start selling prints. I’m hoping to get some ready for San Diego Comic-Con. But wait, am I an artist or cartoonist? Something new to fret about . . .

Another welcome and familiar face was that of The Defuser, Jarrett Crippen, the winner of the second season of the Who Wants to be a SuperHero? on the SciFi channel. We went over to his table to see if he remembered helping us haul our trunks up the stairs in Seattle, and he did! We got to meet his awesome wife Norma. Fellow geek chicks shout out, holla! Jarrett and Norma gave James and I Defuser T-Shirts, and I drew him a sketch of a Little Defuser taking down a Little Burglar, which he seemed to love. 

Randy and I both got interviewed for podcasts, which was a first. I got to promote Little Vampires by doing a video podcast with not-the-artist-of-Watchmen Dave Gibbons of Drunken Zombie. Randy pimped all our Strange Matter stuff with Kai Connolly of ComicM!x.

The greatest “you really want us to do that?” honor I think we got was signing a T-shirt for the Hero Initiative to auction off. Randy and I both signed the shirt, and I got to draw a Little Vampire right above a bat signal drawn by some guy who’s a better artist than I am that has drawn Batman at some point. Whoah.

There was awesomeness outside the convention center too. We actually got to see some of the city we were in this time around. James and I hopped a train to the Field Museum in downtown Chicago before the convention set-up. Why there? I’m a huge fan of the Dresden Files series of books by Jim Butcher. The Field Museum and Sue the T-Rex skeleton play a role in Dead Beat, one of my favorite books in the series. I had to see Sue!

We later escaped to see The Incredible Hulk with Randy and Ann at the Muvico theater near the convention center. Watching this most excellent of movies with friends in the VIP section of the theater was first class, baby! And to close the convention, Randy and Ann took us to Ed Debevics, a crazy diner downtown, for fried food and milkshakes. 

We’ve got the Bible Belt and Tornado Alley here in the U.S. We need to dub the stretch from San Francisco to Seattle the Geek Belt, with Seattle being the gray-green coffee colored crown on its head. They have a Science Fiction Museum for dork’s sake! Nirvana hailed from Nerdvana.

So James and I felt right at home, naturally, at Emerald City ComiCon. We had the worst possible table placement ever (no space behind us to set up our banner, and a great view of the wall), but we still had a great time.

The geekgasm started before we even got into our hall in the Washington State Convention Center. We could not for the life of us find an elevator to get our trunks of product upstairs. A nice looking and athletic gentleman was also looking for a way upstairs with his suitcase. We got to talking, which is what happens when strangers share a cup of buffudlement together. We finally decided that we had to take the stairs. James was doing fine hauling the trunks, but the nice looking and athletic gentleman came down to offer his help. Those muscles were not just for show, let me tell you. Woof.

He helped us up three short flights, bless his buff heart. We did introductions all around, and he said his name was Jarrett. We talked about conventions, like Staple! and found that Austin, Texas was his hometown. We mentioned our love for Austin, which, like Seattle, is a place we want to be spending more time in. All around, it was a nice random act of kindness and nice encounter with a fellow convention goer.

I was looking through the ComiCon program guide after setting up the table when I noticed a familiar face on the Media Guests page.

“Hey honey. That guy who helped us up the stairs, his name was Jarrett, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I think this is him.”

Our hero was really a hero. Jarrett of the awesome biceps was Jarrett Crippen, the winner of the second season of Who Wants to Be a Superhero? When he spins around in a phone booth or sits behind a convention table he becomes The Defuser. James and I both made time to visit his table, and I gotta tell you, he’s a truly stand-up guy, in costume or not.

Lucky for us, our neighbors were also heroic neighborly types in the cramped quarters in the back of Artist’s Alley. Freelance illustrator Chris Malidore and his peeps were on our left, and Bungie games and Elfquest artist Lorraine McLees was to our right.

Double lucky for us, Superdude Neal Bailey and Kristen (who looks amazing dressed as Power Girl or a pirate…you go girl! ) were there to show us around Seattle after the first day of the convention. We had a great sushi dinner together at Shilla Japanese Korean Cuisine, hoofed it around downtown, walked through Pike Place Market, and got drinks at Von’s Grand City Cafe.

But Neal wasn’t the only convention bud we got to see. We didn’t think we’d see Tyler Chin-Tanner on the west coast again until San Diego, but he had a booth at ECCC. And Daniel and Dawna of Steam Crow were there. They were, like us, dancing the back-of-the-hall tango. We’re doing like Tyler at next year’s Emerald City and getting us a booth.

Another highlight of ECCC was getting the love from the brave souls that made their way back to the nether regions of the hall. There are some brilliant and creative young kids in Seattle, and I had the honor of doing some Little Vampires sketches for them.

Jason Sacks, who we first met at WonderCon, wrote a review of the Project ElOhIm: Trial by Fire trade for the Comics Bulletin webzine. Oh yeah, he got a hug when he found us in the back of the hall. He’s a big fan of Zeu’s awesome artwork and my writing. Hence the huggage.

Another fan of Zeu’s, Thomas Doherty of Committed Comics, also stopped by to drop the love. And illustrator Caley Tibbitz remembered Project ElOhIm from San Diego Comic-Con, read the trade, and wanted more of the story! I was happy to sign an issue 4 for him. I can haz returning customerz? Woot!

Be sure to check out the pics of the Nerdvana goodness!

After flying to WonderCon and Staple, it was a joy to be able to drive to L.A. for Wizard World 2008.

Wait a minute, did I just say it was a joy to drive to Los Angeles?

I have to admit, even driving to someplace as traffic hostile as L.A. can be a welcome break from flying. We didn’t have to make sure the crates of books and display items were less than 50 pounds, there were no worries about liquids in Ziploc baggies, no having to take off our shoes, and no middle seats, stuck between Mr. Hums to Himself and Mr. Broadest Shoulders in the Universe.

As an extra “We Love L.A.” bonus, we got to the stay at the downtown Westin. That’s the hotel with the glass elevators on the outside that was featured in True Lies, which starred our Governator. I could have ridden those elevators ’til I uked, they were that fun. Staying there allowed us to see some unique construction action. Watching a helicopter drop straight down into an urban canyon to pick up construction materials is pretty honkin’ cool. Too bad it wasn’t for a movie.

The convention itself was, of course, very Wizard World, with some extra L.A whiz bang flash boom. Upon entering the hall at the Los Angeles Convention Center, you were assaulted by bright, loud video, corset busting booth babeage, a Rock Band tournament, and sword fighting. If you made it past that, you got to the vendors. If you managed to get past them, and were willing to cross the carpeted threshold into the land of cement flooring, then you’d find small press. The line between “the little guys” and “the big and important and Technicolor” was as distinct as the line between Dorothy’s house and Oz.

One of our fave Small Pressland buds, Neal Bailey, was there promoting his Superfan Homepage. He was also promoting his other projects, including his work on a Star Wars fan fiction radio drama for Pendant Productions. After some negotiation, Neal was able to twist my arm into drawing “covers” for each episode of his show. I keed, I keed there was no arm twisting. There was just me jumping up and down and shouting, “YES!” I gets to draw me some Jedi!

There were other benefits to being in the small press area. It gave James and I the time to have meaningful conversations with people brave enough to venture to our neck of the woods. We had the opportunity to talk with some Hollywood types (hey, you never know). I got to talk mythology with Justin Pennington, who had recently worked his way up to being a writer for DC’s Blue Beetle. Another conversation led to me being included in college anthropology papers. I don’t make this stuff up, really.

Andrew, Erin, and Laura, undergrads taking a cultural anthropology class, were using the convention to do research for a paper about a particular culture and how it was different from their own. Small press is definitely a unique culture, so they picked a good topic to explore. I question the wisdom of them interviewing me as a representative of the small press tribe, but hey, college kids, what can you do? They were a trip to talk to, and I’m part of some college papers. Sweet.

When I wasn’t being researched or sketching or trying to make some money so I can keep flying, I was ogling the tricked out cars that were parked in the back of the hall. That was another perk of being in no man’s land. I’m not a huge car nut, but these Marvel character themed cars were works of art.

Turned out the cars belonged to the L.A. Marvel Troopaz, a group that has Marvel’s blessing to use the cars to promote reading to urban kids. Kids flock to the cars, and are given a comic book featuring the character the car is based on. The Troopaz were part of the Hero’s Reading Project, which donated 300 comic books to inner city kids. As a teacher, I can really appreciate what these guys do.

Rigo, who drove my favorite vehicle of the bunch, the Venom muscle car, came over with his daughters to check out Little Vampires. We got to talking about our shared love of promoting reading to kids, which led him to bring over Aktion, the leader of the group and driver of the sweet Punisher Jeep.

As we were talking, Lori Petty came over to the check out the Troopaz cars. I love Lori Petty, so I couldn’t help but enthuse about her to Aktion. He ran over to escort Lori around the cars and promote his group, and I got back to sketching.

I look up a few minutes later and Aktion is bringing Lori Petty over to my table. She hugs me twice, checks out my books and says my stuff is “cool.” Aktion is just laughing at me, because I’m all squealing cheerleader at this point.

Did I think to ask James to take a picture? Nope. I was too squealy. But if you don’t believe that Lori Petty came to my table, I got my boyz in Marvel Troopaz to back me up.

I now love L.A.

You can haz photos!