Hobbies are funny that way. They have a way of turning around on you, and the joy you start getting out of them is replaced by how bad you feel when you let them down. I’ve had this happen with going to the gym, drawing, biking, and just about every website I’ve ever run. Consider this some comic-therapy.

Am I the only one that goes through this? Share your stories and possible solutions in the comments.

To those of you at Connecticon, THANKS SO MUCH for making me feel missed all weekend! It was great to hear all the updates on Twitter and via email. I’ll be there next year of course, and back to hosting Super Art Fight. In the meantime, I’ll be at Otakon in a few weeks, so hopefully I’ll see some of you there.

Here’s a pic of me at my VERY FIRST table for The System, which was at Connecticon 2008 3 years ago. In fact, The System marks its 3-year-old anniversary this week, and I wish I could be at the convention where I premiered the comic to celebrate with some of my oldest and dearest friends and fans. Unfortunately, two of my close friends are getting married and while conventions come and go, hopefully they are only going to get married once and I should be there for it.

While I won’t be there for it, plenty of my friends and some of my stuff will be! Of course, there’s SUPER ART FIGHT, which has its biggest show of the year at Connecticon:

To those that are going to be attending, be sure to go to this show. It is going to be amazing. Plenty of huge things are planned, including guest artists and our first ever ROYAL RUMBLE.

For those looking to buy all the shirts and prints and things that I’d normally be selling at a con, my chart cohort Caldwell is going to be there in the Dealer Room with “To The Googles” shirts, sharing charts, and “F*%k You You’re Killing the Internet” shirts. Buying from him is the same as buying from me, we split the profits. Otherwise, there’s always the website, HilariAwesome.com.

I wish I could be there to say hi to some of you guys that always come by the table, some of which I’ve been annoying from the very beginning. Unfortunately that will have to happen online and at other conventions, such as Otakon in Artist Alley. Otherwise, I’ll be there next year, and can’t wait to see you then! I hope you all have a great Connecticon without me, look forward to seeing you all soon.

You have the colon, the semicolon, why not the noncolon?

I’ll be at Katsucon in DC next weekend! Will you be there? You should, and come to my table! Also, I’ll be performing as my job as co-host of SUPER ART FIGHT, Saturday in the Main Events room at 3pm. It will be EPIC!

Carolyn “Curls Studio” Belefski was one of the amazing artists who performed one of our short, 10-minute Super Art Fights at this past weekend’s Washington, DC Counter Culture Fest 5 shows we did throughout the day. Here’s a vid!

Going to conventions is hard work and what generally happens consists of the same cycle. I spend lots of energy preparing everything and running through all the logistics, then get to the show already exhausted. After a weekend of standing, trying to look awesome, schmoozing with fellow artists, fans and random passers by I come home exhausted. At that point, I promise myself and you that I’ll post a writeup about the convention, but after a weekend of not answering email, not sleeping and not drawing more comics I generally fall behind rather horribly. So here is a gigantic mega-writeup to cover 4 of the cons I’ve been to in the last couple months. Apologies in advance for forgetting to write about people / events / details. Conventions are a blur when I look back on them so I tried to hit the highlights.

If I met you at one of these cons, this is a perfect chance to say hi in the comments!

New York Comic Con (NYCC)

Most recently, as in 2 weeks ago, I attended the biggest convention of my life. I don’t mean figuratively, I mean that completely literally. Up until NYCC the biggest convention at which I had ever exhibited was Otakon with over 20,000 attendees. NYCC hits a number in upwards of 100,000.

At this point I have to pause to say that I did three things that were essential to making the weekend a success:

1. I had gone 2 years’ before with Internet superfriends Marty, Nick and Dern and therefore knew where it was, what the crowd was like, and generally what I was in for. Otherwise the sheer size may have blown my face off.
2. I split a table with Applegeeks’ artist extraordinaire Hawk (along with his awesome friends Jess and Jean), which kept me sane, gave me a few breaks without leaving the table empty, and brought the price on a table down from “absurd” to “high”.
3. Finally, I set up a new convention favorite of mine known as the TOWER OF COMICS™. This involves putting up lots of prints of various System comics in a giant tower and at a large size for people to come by and read. This was hugely successful and constantly drew crowds over to come read comics, laugh at a few and sometimes even buy one to take home. You can see it slightly in some of the pictures below.

Outside of those events, it was a blur of a weekend. Thanks so much to all my friends and fans who stopped by the table, whether to buy something or just say hi. When doing any convention you find yourself staring at a sea of people, but seeing some friends in the crowd really helps break up all the insanity. Thanks to those of you who said they were a fan, and to those new ones out there who took the time to come by. I’m looking at you, girls from San Francisco.

Some other highlights from the con include dinner with the Least I Could Do / Blind Ferret gang which, in case you didn’t know, includes an entourage of about 10 people. I have no pictures from this event but according to witnesses we had a good time. All I can say for certain is about 20 minutes where the entire table was talking about Super Art Fight. That was a good feeling.

Saturday night was a chance to dine with a few of my old friends including Christiann from Sticky Comics, Bree from SDCC (who drew me into this comic), Ami from Glass Urchin, the gang from Digital Pimp Online and I’m throwing Caldwell in there too, because he came by and is awesome.

Attending panels? Hah. Like I had time for that.

Oh, and what’s that? You saw me at the Cyanide and Happiness table? Yeah you did. Here’s me drawing wangs with the gang:

Finally, thanks to my parents and my good friend Kimmers, who made the whole weekend possible. My parents helped with all the logistics of getting all the supplies to the con, and Kimmers gave me a place to stay. I couldn’t have done it without you guys.

Wild Pig Con

I went there! It was fun! I spent most of it staring at this TV that my table was pointed at making fun of old Spider-Man and Thor cartoons with Dern and James Hatton. Rossmom even worked the table for a while, but nobody asked her to sign anything. I was disappointed for her. Also, I saw Fat Flash. Which has been my iPhone background ever since.

Intervention

We did 2 amazing Super Art Fight shows there. Fans came by. I got a table next to my friends Kev and Blondie from Caf-Fiends, and they stayed with me for the weekend. Nobody can have better friends than these two, they are amazing people. Not to mention Kev is insane. If he and Gary Busey were ever put in the same place, that place would explode and take about 4 square miles with it.

Otakon

I shared a table with Kev and Blondie. There was a fire alarm. I really wasn’t trying that hard to sell things because I was so tired, but I DID invent the TOWER OF COMICS™. It must’ve been successful, this badass girl dressed as monster-hunting Velma came by my table and I sold a “Beards Turn Laziness Into Awesomeness” shirt to a girl with no beard. Velma, if you’re out there, I miss you.

What We’ve Learned

Since this wraps up the convention season for The System for the year, here’s some behind-the-scenes recap:

• The TOWER OF COMICS™ is a must in the future. Will be trying to perfect it further.
• Sometimes, the convention doesn’t have a lot of traffic. That doesn’t mean you aren’t good at selling things, sometimes there’s just nobody around to buy them.
• I really need to finish book 1 of comics, if only to get people to stop asking me about it.
• I hate lugging around a ton of shirts. I either need helpers (that I can’t afford) or to only bring 3 or so shirts to a con.
• There are lots of you Systemics out there, and you guys come to cons. Which is honestly always a treat, as numbers do not accurately represent the fact that people come and read this site every day. It is always a heartwarming feeling.
• The new banner is sweet as hell. Did you see it? It’s in a lot of the pictures above.
• I miss Velma.

Thanks for reading this absurdly long post, guys! If you liked it or even just if you read it, post a quick word in the comments. In fact, if you ever met me at a convention, post that too! Was I awesome? Smelly? Did I have a sweet beard? Post your convention stories about me or any of these cons and your experiences!

Unfortunately no new comic today, but I’ll see you guys at New York Comic Con this weekend! At least, I hope I will. Be sure to come by my table, even if just to say hi, and you’ll get something for free. Come by the table and say the secret word “kerning” and get a free pin or sticker just for showing up. More info on the NYCC website.

Say in the comments if you are going to be at the con, and what you’re looking forward to. My table? Another table? A panel? Share with the other Systemics!

For those curious, here’s me and Rossmom prepping all the shirts / prints last night to get ready. This was at 3:30am, I don’t know why she was awake. NOT PICTURED: Rossdad checking his email.

Greetings, People of the Internet

Since you like the comic and/or charts and/or typos, some things to keep in mind:

• I sell prints! For $10 + shipping you can have your very own poster of this or any comic on the site.
• I sell shirts! They are in the same vein as this comic. You will like them. Click here to check out Venn F%*king Diagrams or Beards Turn Laziness into Awesomeness.
• Share the comic on whatever sites you share things on. It helps.
• Subscribe to the feed. You’ll get comics Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week. For free.

I’ll be at New York Comic Con in Artist Alley This Weekend

Remember, me! Shirts! Prints! Pins! Stickers! High-fives! Hawk! NYCC Artist Alley! SEE YOU THIS WEEKEND!

Our table is Artist Alley P-10, listed under “Ross Nover” or “Rosscott”. If you come by the table and say the magic word (“kerning”) you get a free sticker or pin while supplies last. Free things, just for coming by the table and remembering a word! Can’t beat that with a stick. Unless you have a stick. In which case I guess you could.

Some notes on the comic:

So I did actually find a list of common types of typos. I have no idea how official this list is, but it looked official enough. I had no idea there were so many formal ways of doing things wrong.

UPDATE: If you like this one, this is not the first comic about typos. Check out these two “Great Moments in Typo History”. (1) (2)

Also, thanks to Systemics Marty “Fn” Day and Rachel “Design Valkyrie” Mooney for chatting online and sharing their typo-related thoughts. Also for being bad typists, it helped.

ANOTHER UPDATE: No new comic for Friday, I’m pretty busy with New York Comic Con prep. See you at the con, and see the rest of you Monday!

See you in NYC!

I’m going to be at NYCC this weekend in New York City, sharing a table with Hawk of Applegeeks! Come find me in Artist Alley, I’ll have a table and everything. WILL I SEE YOU THERE? The correct answer is “yes and I’m going to give you money.”

I’ll have some new prints, comic prints, and shirts galore from my online store, HilariAwesome.com.

I’m on ZDNet

I’ve been working with Systemic SkawtNYC to reformat and create comics to go along with his blog posts over at ZDNet’s Tech Broiler. Today is one of those days where I did that. Be sure to check out his extremely detailed and well thought out posts for more of my comics. LINK »

Are you a list-maker? What always goes on your list? And maybe never gets done?

OH, and are you going to Intervention this weekend?

Here’s where to find me!

When I’m not at my table, I’ll be on the following panels / events:

FRIDAY, 2pm (Panels Room 1): Get off my lawn!
“How do I make a webcomic?” That’s easy and covered by the other panel, but what about “How Not to Make a Webcomic?” Everyday someone decides to make a web-comic and then makes the same mistakes every other failed comic has made before. This will be an in-your-face session where panelists will describe the most common mistakes they’ve made or seen others make that delayed progress on their webcomics career and the pitfalls to avoid.

SATURDAY, 6pm (Main Events Room): Super Art Fight!
The self-described “Greatest Live Art Competition in the KNOWN UNIVERSE” makes their Intervention debut. Equal parts Pictionary and pro-wrestling, Super Art Fight is an exhausting spectacle sure to blow your mind! Shield your eyes as artists clash on the creative canvas, and have their bouts fates chosen by the WHEEL OF DEATH, a random topic generator filled to the brim with suggestions from YOU, the fans!

SATURDAY, 10pm (Main Events Room): Super Art Fight Unleashed!
You’ve seen the show. You know what they’re capable of. Now what happens when we give them a live microphone and zero plans? Join the gang behind Super Art Fight as they discuss the history of SAF, where it’s heading, and honestly, probably whatever else comes to mind. No filter, no set topics. Shield your eyes, children; it’s gonna get ugly.

SUNDAY, 10am (Panels Room 2): Hear It Here First: Who Should You Be Reading Now So You Can Brag About It Later?
Who are the up-and-coming comics out there? Who will be the next break out star? Come discuss with our panelists the comics that will be everyone’s favorites this time next year–or who should be.

If you’re going to be coming by Intervention Con this weekend (and if you’re in DC / MD / VA area you should) here’s a quick run down:

I’ll be in Artist Alley at booth 77, right between Super Art Fight‘s table (I’m not working the table but I’m a part of the show) and Caf-Fiends. Don’t know who Caf-fiends are? Here’s a pic of them that I took at our joint Otakon table last year:

They’re good people. For the full table chart check it out on InterventionCon’s site here.

If you want to catch the panels and programs I’m on, SATURDAY is your day of choice. Super Art Fight is 6pm at the con, with another R-rated “Rules? What rules!?” kind of late night show at 10pm. Both should be amazing, so be sure to come by. Full programming schedule is here.