Recap: San Diego Comic-Con

I enjoyed this year’s SDCC quite a bit. I was overly busy for the three days I was there, and I barely had any time to look around for fun, but the work went well.

My Thursday train from LA to San Diego arrived an hour late, which gave me less than an hour to get to my first panel. But I made it on time, and the annual Trans & Nonbinary Creators panel went great as usual. Special thanks to Tara Madison Avery for always being a great panel moderator, friend, and publisher. Later that evening, we had a group signing with all the panelists at the Prism Comics booth.

I spent the entirety of Friday and Saturday in the exhibit hall with the National Cartoonists Society. My sales this year were excellent, roughly doubling the business I did last year. I even did some custom sketches, which isn’t my usual thing, but I liked doing them and I felt great that my customers were so happy with the results.

On Friday night, I moderated the panel Bombshells: The Art and Business of Pin-up. My panelists were two of my favorite pin-up artists, Lorenzo Sperlonga and Carla Wyzgala. I’ve been a fan of their respective works for years, so it was a real treat that I got to sit with them for 50 minutes and ask them about their art practices and how they approach earning a living from it. The panel had good attendance, too. The audience was engaged and they asked some great questions. The next day, I had several audience members come see me at the NCS booth to say how much they enjoyed it. I also heard from Carla and Lorenzo that they had new customers come to their booths because they were also at the panel. I’m very happy with how it all went!

Some trends I noticed this year:

• Lots and lots of portable motorized fans - Handheld fans, fans hanging from lanyards, and fans attached to strollers or wheelchairs were very popular this year.

• Point-and-shoot cameras - People took less photos with their smartphones and more with single-purpose cameras, of both the digital and instant (Polaroid) varieties.

• Adults carrying plushies/stuffed animals.

• Crazy Kitten dolls - Every year at SDCC there’s a “hot” item. Last year it was Labubu’s and its various knockoffs. A couple years ago it was Squishmallows and their like. This year it was these weird standing cat dolls.

• Unemployment - People kept saying things like “I was just laid off,” “I was laid off unexpectedly,” or “I was let go last Friday.”

• Desire for kindness - This was a recurring theme in conversations. People wanted other people to just be nice. A bunch of folks that came by the NCS booth talked to me about how they’re hoping that we all go back to treating one another in a kindlier fashion. Attendees also seemed noticeably quieter and more subdued than in past years.

ALSO:

I have exactly five copies left of the first printing of my latest comic, All I Want is to Kill or Love. Only the first printing has liquid chrome embellishments on the cover. I’m heading out of town again next week for the National Cartoonists Society Conference and Reuben Awards, along with the NCS Cartoonist Showcase. I don’t know if I’ll have any left once I’m home, so if you want one, now’s the time.