MegaCon report

Well MegaCon has come and gone, so I figured I'd post a report on everything that went on this weekend.

First the official business, we fell a little short of the goal for BOTS sales at the Con, I had hoped to sell 50 books over the weekend and only sold 40. But that is still nearly $400 for the Autism Society of America, so anyway you slice it, it is still a great thing! The response to the bopok was very positive, most of the purchasors (is that a word???) were in the 30 and older category. I think they appreciated the artwork more and were more interested in supporting the cause. Dan Head was able to sell 17 copies at the NYC Con (thanks Dan!) so with the internet sales to date, that is just over 150 copies so far! I am continuing to receive internet orders and have some approaching signing appearances at some local stores as well as The Portland Con and Emerald City that Randy will be attending and Heroes Con this summer, probably a few other things that will pop up.

Now the rest....

My Con weekend started on Wednesday, my wife Bonnie and I decided to leave Wednesday after Ben got out of school to split the 8 hour drive up into 2 4 hour stints. We stayed at an awful hotel in south Georgia!!! Oh well, it was a bed for the night!

We got into Orlando Thursday afternoon, Bonnie and Ben enjoyed a little swim and I was off to the airport to pick up Randy. A little detour to find an ATM led me to going the wrong way and having to make a big circle before finally arriving at the airport to meet Randy only seconds before his bag made it to the baggage claim! But I was not late, technically I arrived before he got his bag! Bonnie's parents John & Ev arrived late Thursday to hang out with Bonnie and Ben while Randy and I were at the Con, so Ben was in full on Grandparent mode!!!

Friday was the first day of the Con, Randy and I arrived and set up the table then started to walk around a bit. I met BOTS artist Rob Jones (page 37) completely by accident when I borrowed some tape from him, we also me Pat Carlucci (page 56) and Joe Pekar (page 24) that morning. Later in the day Chris Lie (page 59) and the SCADS posse arrived. Also saw many of my friends from previous cons, Nigel the Pirate, Jennie Breeden from the Devil's Panties, Marty and the guys from Gravy Boy, that's my favorite part about Cons is seeing all your Con-friends and meeting new ones!!

The crowd was pretty good on Friday, we sold quite a few copies of BOTS and Randy's prints and sketchbooks were flying off the table!!! Mark Pennington, the artist who had reserved the table next to us did not show up so we kind of spread our stuff out a bit over his spot. Our friends from the Repercussion boards Eric Dotson (page 21) and Lee Jiles, arrived in Orlando late in the afternoon, so we met up with them, Bonnie, Ben and Bonnie's parents for a nice dinner at TGI Fridays. Aftre dinner, Eric & Lee returned to their hotel and Bonnie, Randy & I attended a reception at the Coliseum of Comics store. There weren't that many people there but the beer was free!!!

Saturday was a lot more crowded than Friday and Mark Pennington was there on Saturday so we had to condense our table but we had another good day of sales, Randy was rolling in the benjamins from his prints!!! San from Onixian came stopped by and took about a million pictures!! I saw Rick from Across The Pond Studios who work with Chuck Dixon on The Iron Ghost. I spent a few moments talking to my idol Chuck Dixon after I stalked him a bit! Ha Ha Ha! He was very cool and signed a couple of books for me. I also attended a writers panel with Jimmy Palmiotti, Howard Chaykin and 2 other writers whose names escape me at the moment. It was a good discussion and I got some very useful information that I will hopefully put to use in my own writing. Saturday Eric and Lee also hung out with us, Eric even autographed a few copies of BOTS!!! But as the day drew on, they had to hit the road and head home. Saturday night we hung out in the hotle bar with Rob and Andy form Perfect Storm and another artist named Corey Evan Laub. We had a great time talking about comics, movies, baseball and all kinds of stuff. Very cool hanging out with those guys!

Sunday started slowly but after lunch business started to pick up and the day finished stronger than it began. Chris Lie drew me a fantastic pic of Nightwing. We packed up a little early on Sunday so we could get Randy to his hotel and we could hit the road for the 8 hour drive back home. We finally got home around 1:30 am.

All in all it was a very good time. It was our first visit to MegaCon and I hope not the last!