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!

I’m posting this from the stage of The Ottobar, where my parents (Rossmom and Rossdad as they are known) just went up to MC Frontalot and asked if he read my comic. He was confused.

Sorry for the lack of any real post-substance on Tuesday (and the fact that the comic was up Tuesday and not Monday), but the weekend in NYC at New York Comic Con killed me pretty fiercely. I’m planning to write more about it in the future, but in the meantime thanks to all of you who came by the table! The fans who said hi, the new people who found the comic, and the other comic-friends who bothered to come by. The weekend was a huge success, and I’ll definitely be going back next year.

Super Art Fight 8: This Friday!

If you are anywhere in the viscinity of Baltimore or DC, you should make your way to Baltimore’s The Ottobar on Friday night for an event I help put on called SUPER ART FIGHT 8 with special musical guest, nerdcore rapper MC FRONTALOT. You can get all the info you need on why this is awesome and tickets here. The short version? It’s somewhere between Pictionary and Pro Wrestling, with all your favorite artists fighting to the death for your approval. If that doesn’t get you interested, I don’t know what will. See you there Friday!