On Booth Sides of the Dallas Comic Con

As most of you reading this surely must be aware at this point, the creative team behind The Unstoppable Force (Taylor, Jordan, and myself) were at the Dallas Comic Con this past weekend. This was the first time any of us had ever had a booth at a convention, the first time any of us (outside of Indy Comic Book Week) had really put our work and our reputations (also, our souls) on the line. It was nerve-wracking on Saturday morning: Where do we go? How should we set up? What are the other artists/creators doing? And, of course, What if nobody stops by or buys our comics? What then?

Leading up to the event, I was pretty zen about the whole thing. I’d done as much as I could getting The Unstoppable Force ready, so now all I really had to do was sit behind the booth and wait for the people to come. Sorta like Field of Dreams, but mostly like the final exams I took in college. Preparation breeds confidence, or at least nonchalance. I was as ready as I could be.

All in all, I think we had a great time and met some really cool people. Almost everyone who stopped by our booth seemed genuinely interested in independent comics and once they heard our schpiel, jumped at the chance to check out our stuff. Even if they only took our postcards and Robert Frost’s mini-comic, people seemed excited. Or, at least they seemed intrigued. Some weren’t, of course, but that’s one of the downsides to fanboy culture. “Who are you? Never heard of you? Moving on.” We’re all a little guilty of this. But almost everyone was pleasant and we handed out a lot of flyers for the sites. Hopefully some of you reading this now discovered us at the show (Hi! Welcome! Enjoy! Tell us what you think!).

I’ll be honest, there were moments of stress and anxiety during the show. Interacting without a base level of genial awkwardness is actually pretty difficult for me. I tend to say what I mean, don’t sugar coat things very often, and display a quizzical nature at things I don’t understand, which I fear comes off as judgmental but is really only curiosity. (For example… Imaginary You: Harry Potter sucks, the books and the movies! Me: How can you think that? Imaginary You: I have a right to my opinion! Me: No, seriously, I really just want to know why you think that, because it makes no sense to me. Imaginary You: It’s not original, the writing is subpar, and Dumbledore was only made gay after the series was over when the backlash would be lessened. Me: Okay, I may or may not get what you’re saying, but I think your interpretation is wrong, and here’s why [insert five minute rant/dissertation on exactly why I think you’re wrong].) ((Pretty tiresome, isn’t it? Well, it’s just how I communicate. Sorry.)) See, for me, putting up a front of über-friendliness and enthusiasm only gets me to about normal for the average person. I am not a shiny, happy people. I’m a crusty, neutral. So, after eleven hours of faking it, and a lack of food/sleep, I was exhausted by the end.

Naturally, other sinister thoughts crept in mind throughout the weekend, too (damn neuroses): Are we too amateurish? Are we making fools of ourselves? Will we ever work in this town again? In general, I think those answers ran along the lines of, 1) No, not too amateurish, 2) Possibly, but charmingly so, and 3) Of course we will! Who’s gonna stop us? (Nobody, ’cause we’re unstoppable. Doy.)

In the end, we learned some things for next time and I think we’ll do even better at Wizard World Texas in November. And I guarantee you we’ll be back at DCC. I could do this for a living. I think I have to.

Don’t forget, if you missed the show, you can still get the book at IndyPlanet!

-Rob of War

Oh! And the above is the first pin-up Taylor sold at the show (and some pictures of more on his Faceybook).