Tuesday started out like any other first day of a big trip for us; with Ashlie (my wife) & I staying up waaay too late packing, and then having to go to the airport way early. Once we woke up however, we realized that this day was going to be cursed. We got to the airport too late and missed our flight and had to take a later one that routed us through Phoenix with a 2-hour layover. We were supposed to get to SD early afternoon, pickup some prints that we couldn’t have shipped, pick up our badges and meet a friend for dinner at around 3:30pm. Well, we got to SD at around 2:45 and got to our Motel 6 in Chula Vista at about 3:15pm. Which put the kibosh on meeting up with anyone because we still had to do all the rest of the stuff before the show. Grr. So, we dropped our stuff at the hotel at which time, it was decided that a nap was in order. When she got up, we went downtown to get our badges (which was easy-peasy, thanks to the super-efficient SDCC staff) and then went to get our prints. After some massive fail/win with our printing company’s Chula Vista local branch, we got home at about 10:30, ate, bagged/signed prints, and went to sleep.
Wednesday is Preview Night at SDCC, and it’s also the day that Small Press and Artist Alley people can set up their spaces. No pressure. Ashlie’s friend Beth came over with her GF’s Jeep Wednesday AM to help us get our trunks to the con, and off we went. We got to the show, and quickly learned that we had nowhere to unload our stuff. We couldn’t use the parking garage, the loading docks or the front drive. We circled the building a few times, Beth let me out to find out what was going on and where we could do this. I got 4 different answers from 3 different people and none of them jived with what I saw outside. So, we decided, “Fuck it, we’ll do this ninja-style.” We pulled up to a small back driveway that some of the larger booth people were using and unloaded the truck. Beth went to park her truck, and I took the initial first trunk, my bag and a backpack around the convention center to the front and in to find our spot, leaving Ashlie to guard the remaining 2 trunks and miscellaneous other stuff. I get the trunk onto the show floor and I make it half-way across this GIGANTIC exhibition hall (you don’t really appreciate the size until you’re dragging an overfull two-wheeled traveling trunk) dodging forklifts, cherry pickers and all manner of large machinery when the comfort strap handle that I’m using to make this 100 lb. trunk somewhat negotiable breaks. Just snaps right there next to the Sideshow Collectibles booth. GAH! So, after a full half-hour to make what should have been a 10-minute trek, I get my stuff to the table, which is naturally, on almost the entire other side of the hall from where I was able to unload. I finally make it back to Ashlie and Beth who have started to move the other trunks toward the front of the building. Trying to be gallant, I take Ashlie’s trunk from her. And promptly drop it. Apparently, my arms and hands had had enough of my shenanigans and were done with it. So, with my spasming hands, I was able to carry a couple of light boxes, (resting on m forearms, not gripping), leaving the girls to lug these giant trunks back to our table. This must have looked as pathetic as it felt, because no sooner had we gotten into the show floor then a strapping young man from the con center exhibit services came up behind Beth and Ashlie and took their trunks from them and dragged them back to the table. Which was super nice of him. We got all set up with no time to spare as Mari, our other booth helper showed up and they opened the doors.
Preview Night was fairly slow, as I figured it would be, with everyone running off to get their hands on the big booth’s exclusives and freebies. We got a lot of “wow, nice work, do you have a website” and “I’ll be back tomorrow’s”, so nothing stupendous to report about that. After the show closed, we went to dinner with our friend Matt, caught up with him and picked his brain about what he thought about what we were doing. Got a LOT of great feedback and info (and a hard-sell for his upcoming show next May, lol!). When we got done with dinner, we said our goodbyes to Matt and then Ashlie, Mari and I (and Mari’s suitcase since she didn’t really have time to go back to the hotel) made our way to the trolley station. Unbeknownst to us, the trolleys don’t run after midnight. (We’d never stayed out that late after the show before) The nice cop at the station said that we could either get a cab, or there was a bus that ran down within 2 blocks of where we needed to go and it would be along in about 25 minutes. So, having already purchased our transit passes, we decide to wait for the bus. The bus comes and we get on. As the trip goes on, it becomes more and more apparent that none of us know where the hell we are, and would have no clue when to get off. So I ask the driver to tell us when we get close to where we want to go so we can get off. No problem. Well, it turns out the cop was wrong. The bus took us down to Chula Vista ok, but not along the street he said it would. We ended up about a mile or so away from our hotel instead of the ‘couple of blocks’. Now this wouldn’t have been such a big deal if it weren’t for 3 factors: 1) I have no idea where the hell we are other than on E street and a vague notion of where the I-5 freeway should be; 2) We have a heavy friggin’ suitcase that we’re lugging around the dark, unfamiliar and cockroach-infested roads of Chula Vista and; 3) At this point, it’s 1:30 in the morning. Fun. We finally get done with the trek to the hotel and I realize that I needed to order some more mini prints for pickup tomorrow. So, I do that and we finally roll into bed at around 2:30 knowing that we need to be at the show the next day by 9:00 am. Ergh.
Thursday was pretty good. We got up a little late, grabbed McD’s and got to the show just as they were opening the doors for the General Public. Just as we got to our table, Rich Johnston from BleedingCool.com was making his swing through Small Press doing impromptu interviews, and managed to catch us on video as we were unwrapping the table. LOL! After we’d gotten in and settled, Beth and Mari came in (Beth toting a cooler full of the best Tri-tip I’ve ever had that her GF made for us), and Ashlie and Beth took off to go pick up our print order. Mari and I manned the table while they were gone. When they got back, we noticed that half the order was missing! Apparently, the printer just didn’t give Ashlie part of our 5×7 prints. Luckily, we didn’t run out of those on Thursday. When they got back, I took the opportunity to wander the floor a little bit. Went around and said hi to all my artist friends (or, tried to, at any rate. Some of them must have had the same idea I did, and were out wandering (or in one’s case in an interview), so I left little “I was here” notes on the backs of my biz cards and put them on their tables. Came back and sat the table again, and met some of my fans (I have fans, ya’ll! How cool is that!), sold some books, and whatnot. General con stuff. So, the show closed, we rearranged our backdrop and Ashlie, Mari and I got a ride home from Beth’s GF, who is SUPER awesome. She drops us off, and lets us know that she’s planning to feed us for the rest of our show. After what I’d had for lunch that day (tasty, tasty Tri-Tip), I wasn’t about to argue. Mari and Ashlie decide that they are beat, and I’ve got some work to do, so we order pizza to our room and stay in watching Discovery Channel.
Friday was the first “big day” of the show, and man was it. We got up a little late (starting to sense a theme?) and got to the show just as they opened the doors. No press awaited us that day, though, so we unwrapped our table to no great fanfare and settled in. Mari gets there a little after Ashlie and I and Beth a little after that (still carrying the Cooler of Awesomeness). After a while, we realize that the table is not comfortable with 4 people behind it (4 people in a 6×3 foot space is a bit crowded), so Ashlie and Beth go off to pick up some more prints (and hopefully the ones that we missed the previous day). Customers are trickling steadily down our aisle, many lured there by my large backdrop (one of few in the Small Press area, I might add). I get a LOT of comments about the Muppet Busters prints, and a few sales. At one point, I look over at our neighbor and she has a LucasFilm (the owners of Star Wars) representative at her table. Not 5 minutes after that a pair of young ladies come over to our table, lured initially by my prints and then distracted by Ashlie’s crocheted Cthulhu dolls. One of the ladies picks up a Cthulhu, and says, “This one’s mine. His name is Seymour. How Much?” I tell her $20 and as she’s paying me, I notice her badge says “Bonnie Burton – Professional”. Not believing my eyes, I ask her, “Are you THE Bonnie Burton”? To which she says that depends on who’s asking, smirking. I introduce myself as @monkeyminion from twitter and she immediately recognizes me, and we start chatting. She asks if I’m going to Star Wars Celebration V in Orlando in a couple of weeks. I tell her no, and that I probably won’t be able to make it to a Celebration event until I figure out who I need to talk to about how to become a LF Artist. She gets a glint in her eye, scans my backdrop display and says, “Well, boy are you lucky. I’m the person you need to talk to about that.” (I knew that Bonnie was kind of a big deal at LF, but I wasn’t sure in what capacity). And she gives me her card. She tells me that there are a few ways to get oneself on the LF rolls (but I’m not going to share that or her contact info, so don’t ask). At that point, it’s pretty clear that she needs to get moving on, so she grabs Seymour and heads out of the Small Press area. I’m left a little dumbstruck that I just made a legitimate contact at LucasFilms and didn’t have to leave my booth to do it.
Mari and I make some more sales, and Ashlie and Beth come back. Ashlie and Beth come back and we tell them the story of the morning. Ashlie decides that I deserve some wandering time and takes me out to the floor. We wander for about an hour, not too long and head back.
When I get back to the booth, Mari’s face is alight and she’s grinning like the cat that ate the canary. She says, “Guess who came by and bought 2 of your prints, while you were gone” and then without missing a beat (or giving me a chance to guess), she says “WIL WHEATON!!” At this point my jaw just drops. I’m a combination so happy I could pee and mad that once again, I missed a huge celeb at my table (at Emerald City Comicon 2009, Adam Hughes, stopped by my table while I was at the bathroom). I decided to go with the happy, and I spent a good 5 minutes squeeeing. Then Mari lays the big bomb on me: Wil bought a Star Trek poster (the Explore the Galaxy print) and a MuppetBusters print, THAT HE IS GOING TO GIVE TO ADAM SAVAGE. HOW COOL IS THAT?! I almost wet ‘em, guys. Mari told me later that Wil paid with credit card and that even though she knows who he is, and that in her capacity as a staff member at Phoenix Comicon, has met him in the past, she still checked his ID. LMAO. Well, after that, everything else was gravy for Friday. So, we all meet up with our friends Daniel and Dawna Davis (of SteamCrow.com fame), and their booth helpers for dinner at an amazing Thai place (Rama Thai, if you’re ever down that way), and we chat and talk for a solid 2.5 hours until we realize that we need to get back to the con for the Spike & Mike’s twisted animation panel (“GET THAT BIRD AWAY FROM THAT HORSE!!”). After the panel we head for home. And to sleep in preparation for the craziness that Saturday promises.
Saturday morning – third verse, same as the first: We get up a little late, and get there just as the doors open. The crowd to wade thru was SO MUCH bigger than the previous days though, and it takes us a full 10 minutes to get from the front doors back to our table. Meh. We get in, unwrapped, and set up. We sent Mari from the hotel on the bus to get some more prints for us, and Beth wasn’t due in until later in the morning, so it was just Ashlie and I for a couple of hours. Up ‘til about 2:30, Saturday is just about like any other show we’ve been to: a steady trickle of people, but nothing spectacular. Most people I think were tooling around the big booths getting freebies and seeing famous people. Well, we didn’t have to go anywhere to see famous people on Saturday. Determined not to miss another chance to meet a celeb or super-geek, I rarely left my table on Saturday. Well, it paid off. At about 3:15, a small knot of people came over to our table: 3 guys and a really cute girl in a bunny hat. The knot unravels a bit to let one guy through to look at our stuff. I don’t really think anything of it (by this point we’re used to small groups of kids stopping to dig thru button bins), but there’s something familiar about this guy and a little odd about the way he seems to be trying to hide from anyone beyond his little group and us. I look a little closer and I realize why he’s so familiar: it’s SETH GREEN. He realizes that I recognize him and he gives me a little wink as if to say “Keep cool, dude. I know you know.” I look over at Ashlie and I realize that she knows too, because she is starting to turn BRIGHT RED like she’s got sunburn. He looks around at our stuff, asks Ashlie some questions about her magnet packs, does some cuddly stuff with his wife (the cute girl in the bunny hat), and buys 2 of her magnet packs (A Harry Potter and Spider-man, I think). Sadly, once we realize that he’s trying to stay kind of incognito we don’t want to bother him for a picture and blow his cover, so we have no proof. But it’s still pretty cool! At this point, Ashlie and I decide that WE FREAKIN’ LOVE COMICON. LOL! The rest of the day kind of goes by in a bit of a haze after that. For dinner that night, Ashlie & I decide we want Mexican food, but there aren’t any Mexican food places listed on the google maps anywhere near the con, so we decide to settle for a place called Dick’s Last Resort. OH GOD. This place’s big deal is that they allow you to be a complete douchebag, apparently. People are throwing napkins (used and otherwise), seemingly aiming for people’s drinks/food/head, etc. Ugh. The servers are rude, the place is loud, and the food is kind of crappy. This entire experience is causing Ashlie and I to start to lose our tempers and get snippy with each other. Somehow, in all the ruckus, the guy sitting next to us at the community table we’re at notices our badges and we start talking (yelling over the din, actually), turns out that he used to be an artist with a comics company out of NY called Valiant (I remember Valiant, but I can tell from the guy’s tone that he doesn’t think anyone does, LOL) and is now an animation storyboard artist (he’s wearing a PIXAR hat), just coming out to see his friends at their booths. Lesson learned: in San Diego during SDCC, keep your cool – you never know who’s sitting next to you. We go back to the con after “dinner” because we want to go watch the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund charity fundraiser that I donated art to (partly to see what’s up for sale, and partly to see what my submission went for ($130!! WOOT!)) , and to go to Geek Prom and see a couple of friends of ours from Phoenix, and then to see Rocky Horror Picture Show at Midnight (but we failed because we were tired).
You weren’t really expecting anything different for Sunday, were you? We actually get there about 1/2 an hour late, through a folly of errors that morning. We got up on time that day, actually, too. The trolley was late due to half-wit morons that won’t move into the cars and away from the doors, thus not allowing the trolley to move away from each stop when it should. We get to our stop where we usually get off and walk to the con, but the trolley driver tells us that if we want to go to the con, there’s an Orange train waiting. Ashlie and I, being essentially adverse to physical activity, go “ALL RIGHT!” We’ll just ride in. Wrong. Turns out that we misunderstood which train we were supposed to be on, (even after asking someone) and we end up going the exact opposite way than we wanted to go. We end up about a mile away from the con. MAJOR FAIL. I call the transit tracker hotline and it tells me that the next train isn’t due for another 23 minutes. 23 MINUTES! We’re screwed. We start talking about calling a cab, or walking. Then all of a sudden, I look down the line and there’s the train! YAY! We hop on and get to the show a little less than 1/2 an hour late. Woo! Once we got there and unwrapped, I put together a couple of Sunday sale signs (which I never, EVER do), and sales are pretty good. Woot! At about 12:30 a guy and a girl swing by the table. The girl looks familiar, but I have problems placing her until the guy introduces himself. He’s the Buyer for StarWarsShop.com (no, I won’t give his info out, either) and is interested in the possibility of using one of my prints (the Star Wars/Space Invaders t-shirt design) in the SW shop! The girl that was with him was with Bonnie on Friday, and brought him back to my table! He gives me his card and tells me to shoot him an email when I get home, and we’ll go from there. Awesome! The rest of the day is OK, (except for one moment where a girl walks up to our table, doesn’t bother to look at our stuff and just asks, “What’s on sale?” Grr.) Ashlie and I take a little bit of time and money out for a walk and we pick up some art books and a print from my friend Allison Sohn, and we take a few minutes to catch up with some of my friends that I missed on Thursday. Ashlie and I make some plans with a friend of ours from Phoenix to meet for dinner that night after we’ve packed up. 5pm comes around and the most magical words I’ve heard come out of the loudspeaker “SAN DIEGO COMICON 2010 is NOW OVER. THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING AND WE HOPE TO SEE YOU AGAIN NEXT YEAR. PLEASE EXIT THE EXHIBIT FLOOR.” Ashlie, Beth, Mari and I tear down, pack up and lug our trunks out the back door and into Beth’s GF’s truck. WOO-HOO! Unfortunately, there’s no room in the truck for all of us and our trunks, So Mari and Beth take our stuff back to the hotel with the idea that Ash and I will hop the train and meet them back at the hotel and help unload. 30 minutes later, we’ve seen no train and Mari calls to tell us that they’re done unloading and to tell us to get off the train and they’ll meet us at the stop. Well, we’ve never gotten on the train, so we’re still at the convention center. We all get into the truck, I call my friend, and we all make plans for dinner in Little Italy.
YAY! SDCC 2010 is over and we lived! Woo! We come to some realizations and decide that we should try to focus on doing our own stuff to expand our brand a bit beyond the zombies. So Ashlie has decided that we need to do 2 new books for next SDCC, and I’m going to try to focus on doing artwork that’ll fit within our new direction, and less “fan-art”. At least for cons… 
Speaking of which… I did this yesterday as a kind of test for our next book. Keep your eyes open, and I might be nice and post more if you like it.
