Summer’s in full swing, swimming pools are packed, your AC is running on fumes, and you’re probably hatin’ on the sun at this point. I’ll help you laugh at it with this Summer Edition of Clipart FAIL.
Who poo'd on the sun? FAIL.
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Baltimore is becoming one of my staple conventions, and one of my favorites! I love how the atmosphere is geared towards comics, instead of Hollywood pop culture like the bigger conventions such as the monstrous San Diego. Getting back to the basics! It certainly bodes well for aspiring creators like myself, attendees are just more open to checking out new material!
Tentacle Slap!
Yet again, the twitter Gods have been kind to me, and introduced me to the wonderful Chris Otto of the comic “A Dog’s Life”. Obviously, being that we both write about dogs (okay, some of us more prominently than others), we hit it off pretty well. I even got to video chat with Chris via Google + in recent weeks! (btw, if you’re on Google+, I can be found at http://gplus.to/dawngriffin) Hangouts are awesome, and I will probably be using them to replace the UStream channel that I rarely have time for anymore.
Anyhoo, Chris kindly whipped up 2 strips featuring Z&F, mainly for the paranoid squirrel character Frohike to react to. After all, he DOES wear a tin foil hat to “keep the aliens out of his brain”. You can check them out by clicking the thumbnails below. While you’re there, swing by the cast page to get an idea of the goofy, colorful dogs, humans and other creatures that roam the universe of A Dog’s Life. There’s a clever storyarc going on right now, “Bark to the Future“, which is worth diving into! If you guys are dog fanatics, which is likely if you read Z&F, spend some time checking out Chris’s fun corner of the webcomics world!
This piece was included in the Philly Comic Con Recap Post, but I felt it deserved it’s own blog post, as I see it representing so much more.
I saw a lot of familiar faces at the Philly Con last weekend… a lot of people I had met at the same convention last year, or the smaller 1-day Comic Con near the airport, as well as a couple folks I met at Free Comic Book Day at a local comic book shop “Showcase Comics” in Bryn Mawr, PA. Overall, I getting to know the local “regulars”, and in a sea of new faces (some of them covered in masks and paint and whatnot at typical comic cons) it’s awfully nice to receive that “hey, I know you” look… or even have people search you out at local events!
The Story
One of the familiar faces I was please to see was a young fan, Joe and his father, who stopped by my table on Saturday, I believe. I met Joe at the Free Comic Book Day event in Bryn Mawr back in May. He told me how he found my bookmark (which I left at the shop prior to FCBD) and really liked the comic on the back, and he and his dad came to buy my book. The nicest part of that was that, since it was FREE Comic Book day, I was in fact giving away free samplers of Z&F, yet Joe opted for the full collection for $15. Then, a couple months later, he shows up at the Philly Comic Con, happy as ever to see me, and gives me this awesome piece of fanart! It seriously made my day, and I have to say, it’s a great representation of my characters as well! I would even presume that Joe took a lesson out of the first collection of Z&F, as the bonus material contains a “How to Draw Z&F” section. I’m very impressed, Joe, and I hope you keep drawing and growing as an artist, or whatever it is that you want to be as you “grow up”! Just keep at it, don’t let a setback set YOU back.
The Impact
So, how does a little piece of fanart represent so much more?
The fact that Joe discovered Z&F via a little bookmark at a local comic shop tells me that:
- The comic book shop isn’t a dead outlet for comics quite yet
- That some people are still open to reading new, independent, and local work.
- That a bookmark with a comic on the back CAN work wonders.
The fact that Joe (and his dad) came to Free Comic Book Day and actually PURCHASED a book, rather than skipped out with a freebie book (which would have been understandable in this economy), tells me supporting local artists isn’t a dead concept either. In fact, I recall his dad, Ben, saying he liked supporting local talent. While webcomics exist online and are often promoted online as well to reach the biggest audience as possible, do not underestimate the power of being “a local artist”.
Finally, seeing the piece of fanart brought to me by an excited and well-spoken young reader tells me Zorphbert & Fred can really touch people, particularly young readers, enough to do little things like this for the creators (whom they can ACTUALLY meet and talk to, yay webcomics!). It’s a recipe for the goodness that keeps me writing and drawing comics… and I know that’s what Joe would want me to do.
Thanks again, Joe.
Last year’s Philadelphia Wizard World Comic Con was my most successful convention thus far. Excited to say, I managed to beat my old record this year! While the crowds, especially Saturday, weren’t quite as vast, the people who were there seemed more interested in new comics and more willing to purchase something from me. I saw equal amounts of old faces and new intrigued probable readers… and the familiar faces were back to buy my new book, Zorphbert and Fred Volume 2 after buying the first collection last year! If that’s not a good sign, I don’t know what is. Here’s some feel-good stories from the 3-day con, in bullet-point-form:
- A father and young boy, Joe, whom I met at Free Comic Book Day near Philly came to see me again here, and I got a piece of fanart for Z&F from him! Joe picked up a bookmark prior to FCBD at the comic shop and LOVED the comic on the back enough to come to FCBD and buy my book. Sometimes those bookmarks (with a comic on the back) work wonders.
- On Sunday, a father came to my table and shook my hand.. said his 12-year-old daughter bought a Z&F book on Saturday and instead of watching some Tyra Banks show on TV like she does typically, she spent the entire evening reading my book! He wanted to thank me for getting her to READ, and was especially happy I was a female role model for her. Getting kids to read, at all, can make quite a mark on parents and the community.
- Wizard World conventions are now doing “kids days” on Sunday too it seems, and had a fun scavenger hunt game set up for them. On Saturday volunteers went around asking kid-friendly creators to be apart of this, and gave each of us a different colored stamp pad and stamp. The kids got blank passports, and a map with table numbers and names… and they had to collect all the stamps in order to win a prize (books). BUT, they had to wait until 4pm to pick up that prize… which meant a longer period spent at those tables browsing. I’d say half of those families that stopped by my table bought something! My kids book series does surprisingly well at comic cons, and on “Kids Days”, I do especially well… so just because it’s not a comic doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a demographic at a comic con!
- I got to meet a twitter follower (both of us are Phillies fans), Billy Wichterman, who I actually managed to talk into coming to the convention! And he really seemed to enjoy it– chatting up creators in Artist Alley, the replica cars (like form Dukes of Hazzard) on the floor, the costumes, the whole experience! He requested a commission, so I had that ready for him, but he also bought both Z&F books! Definitely a tale of twitter bringing together folk who probably would have never met without it. He obliged to do an interview for the Webcomic Alliance, so keep an eye for that to post in 2 weeks.
So, thanks to everyone who came out and stopped by to say hello! Hope you had a great time, I sure did!
That said, enjoy some pics!
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