Zub Tales

Arrived back from San Diego last night. Woke up this morning obviously a bit groggy, but not as tired as I thought I would be.

It was six days of the “not quite familiar, but getting there” comic convention that dwarfs the rest in North America. With over 100,000 attendees this year, the show was the biggest it’s ever been. The Udon crew staked out territory in the official Capcom area amongst the video game companies, anime dealers and Artist Alley. Our location coupled with an exclusive summer comic and 2 Free Play Street Fighter arcade machines created a ground swell of business.

I have never experienced so many people praising, buying product and waiting for sketches from the artists before. The line up, which stretched down past our arcade machines, barely let up at all during the con and by the end we’d sold out of all the Summer Special issues we brought, an entire case of Street Fighter trade paperbacks, a box of posters and tons of back issues in addition to the crew doing hundreds of sketches for fans.

Venturing out onto the con floor, I saw old friends and got caught up with artists from Modern Tales as well as other people in the industry and web comic artists too. With all the pandemonium at our own booth, I didn’t see as much as I have in years past, but I didn’t mind. This wasn’t a year for shopping heavily or running wild, it was working during the day and relaxing in the evenings.

I don’t want this post to ramble off into a dozen little stories too long to type about. Suffice to say that it went pretty damn good. Meeting the enthusiastic Japanese Capcom representatives, a wild dinner with 25 artists and RPG industry people, chatting with friends, moments of weird silence after the show let out each day and a triumphant sushi dinner for Udon at the end of it all. Ask me about them in person and I’ll regale you with the Zub Tales, as always.

I woke up extra early the first day of the show, showered and then wandered the Gaslamp district of San Diego to just take in a bit more of the city and watch it slowly come alive as the sun rose. With no clouds in the sky, the intense warmth of the morning light and sound of the ocean washed over me and cleared my head.

Each year I head to the Comicon and things are so different from the year before. The things I’ve done and the many challenges ahead.

I don’t have a crystal ball to tell me where it all will go, just dreams and passions for my personal and work time.

Various pics from the con.
Click each to see them full size.