Click here to go directly to the photogallery for the 2026 San Diego Comic-Con.
Now that I’ve returned home, unpacked and reconciled my sales from the show, here’s a report on this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. Continuing a practice I started a couple years ago, I stayed an extra day and drove home Monday morning, rather than Sunday evening after a long final day of exhibiting.
This year’s Comic-Con turned out to be a bit of a roller coaster, though it ultimately turned out to be a pleasant surprise. After a slow start Thursday and Friday, sales came roaring back on Saturday and Sunday—in fact, it was one of my strongest shows ever! On Sunday, people all of a sudden seemed ready to buy. Sales were boosted by relatively big ticket items that were popular, particularly the five trade paperbacks for $40 deal and all 27 issues of Rob Hanes Adventures for $50 offer! (Deals, I should add, that are also available at my webstore!) Sales of original art—sketches and especially cover art—also have boosted the bottom line in recent years.
So my thanks to everyone who stopped by—as always, I had a great mix of longtime fans and new people discovering the series for the first time. I love that people don't get hung up on having to buy issues in order or purchase the entire run—people are happy to pick up issues that sound fun to them. The Death at Comic-Con issue (#18), the baseball issue (#10), and the 1930s soldier-of-fortune homage issue (#25) are all perennials.
I also participated in more after hours activities than usual. As mentioned in earlier posts, I had a late dinner with friends on Wednesday after Preview Night. On Friday, I attended another dinner organized by Margeaux Pepoy (I forgot to take a group photo!) Following dinner, I popped into the Eisner Awards. Afterwards, I planned to walk back to my hotel from the Hilton San Diego Bayfront via the marina behind the convention center to check out the overnight line for Hall H and other activities, but forgot—d'oh! I did bump into fellow artist Don Nguyen on the walk back though and talked a bit with him.
On Saturday night, my wife got tickets to see Kevin Smith and Ralph Garman’s Hollywood Babble-On show at the American Comedy Co. comedy store in the Gaslam . My wife is a big fan of the show and we’ve seen the duo's show about five or six times in the past, where they primarily spout about pop culture news in a hilarious and inappropriate manner, riffing off each other. Ever the geek, Smith gave a first hand account of being backstage at Hall H during the Marvel panel as well as the Spaceballs panel.
And in keeping with the this year's theme of unexpected encounters, Kevin Smith snuck up behind me and interjected a comment into a conversation I was having as the line made its way into the club. I was remarking to a friend how Garman, a fan of the 1960s' Batman tv show who later became friends with Adam West, was largely responsible for getting him his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. As I said this, someone behind me bellowed, "Yes, he did!" and when I turned, there was Smith smiling behind me! Evidently, he was running late from his own panel in Hall H, and had run in just as we were let into the club to be seated (about 20 minutes late). I quickly thought of taking a selfie with him, but it happened so quickly, the best I managed was to pat him on the shoulder lol.
In my posts during the show, I mentioned spotting comedian/actor Marc Maron walking by my booth during the show, as well as comedian Thomas Lennon, who stopped to chat—I met Lennon at last year's Comic-Con and then bumped into him a month later in L.A. where we chatted again! Other people who came by my table were actor David Dastmalchian and Richard Taylor, founder of Weta Workshop. When I saw him strolling by my booth with a companion, I called out his name and he turned to wave—I took the opportunity to gush and tell him how much his work on the Lord of the Rings films meant to me as a lifelong Tolkien fan. I’m sure he’d heard it all before, but he was incredibly kind and appreciative.
In addition, on Sunday morning, the last day of the show, I bumped into Jenny Blake Isabella in the lobby of my hotel! Jenny has been a huge supporter of my work over the years, so I'm glad I had the chance to congratulate her on the Bill Finger Award she received at the Eisner Awards. She was about ready to fly home and was glad to hear that she had a wonderful time as a guest of the show.
Anyway, it was another memorable and successful San Diego Comic-Con. Next up is Long Beach Comic-Con in September! Below are a few additional photos from the show, with the full gallery available here.
I've just posted the official press release about my exhibition appearance at this month's San Diego Comic-Con, scheduled July 23–28—my 29th show!
I'll be debuting the 27th issue of my globetrotting action-adventure indie comic book series, Rob Hanes Adventures and a new trade paperback collection, Rob Hanes Adventures, Vol. 3.
More to come in the lead up to the show!
I recently discovered that my brother had camcorder footage from the 1994 San Diego Comic-Con! Though I’ve attended the show since 1986, that was my second year as an exhibitor. It was also the 25th anniversary of the show, which feels like it was only yesterday. (Comic-Con celebrated its 50th in 2019.)
I learned (or rather was reminded) of its existence in some old notes. When I asked him about it, he told me that he had several unmarked tapes but was unable to play them since his camcorder had broken down years before. Fortunately, I still had a working camcorder in the same format and took it with me when I next visited him in Northern California. After I found the tape, I digitized it upon my return to Los Angeles.
The tape includes footage of my first appearance on a panel, about self-publishing, that included Don Simpson, Batton Lash, Jim Valentino, and myself. There is also clips of Adam West signing.
What also made the tape personally fun is that a bunch of my college buddies showed up in support. Several of them became Comic-Con regulars, including Terry Delegeane who worked at Bongo Comics for many years and Scott Brick who worked for a time as a writer for both the Comics Buyers Guide and Wizard, and has moderated panels at Comic-Con over the years (he’s since become an award-winning audiobook narrator and teacher).
Looking at the footage, since the show took place at the same location it’s been at since 1991, in the San Diego Convention Center, it doesn’t look much different than today and felt very familiar. Nevertheless, it was a nice time capsule, especially given how young I looked back then.
Over on Facebook, I posted the link below to a YouTube video from San Diego Comic-Con by a vlogger who goes by the handle JustinScarred, cued to my cameo appearance in the video! I ended up watching the entire video and greatly enjoyed it! As mentioned in my Facebook post, I was familiar with Justin, but I must say, his walk through of Comic-Con captured the show fairly perfectly. Though your mileage may vary, I do find Justin entertaining and funny—and while I know he's a big geek (his channel, Randomland, used to primarily focus on theme parks), I came away impressed by how broad his knowledge is of all things geek—including comics!
It was nice that he made a point of walking through and highlighting both the Small Press Area and Artist's Alley, and particularly called to attention his love for Stan Sakai and his work, Usagi Yojimbo, and not just in one video but two! Justin posted a video for each of the three days he was at the show—even more impressively, he pretty much edited and posted each video by the end of the day! That sounds pretty nuts! But I watched all three and enjoyed all of them. If anyone is inclined to get a sense of what it's like at Comic-Con, this is as good as you could ask for.
To go straight to the photogallery from the show, click here.
Although I’m still catching up and recovering from the show, I can confirm that this year was my best ever San Diego Comic-Con in terms of straight comic book sales! On top of that, I sold sketches and original art and still have some sketches and orders to fulfill now that I’m home.
As always, there was the usual mix of returning readers and new people discovering the series for the first time. Though people find their way to the series in different ways, I continue to be cheered by the appeal of Rob Hanes Adventures to a broad audience—it's been nice to discover that the series appeals to readers beyond what I assumed was a more specific target audience of classic comics.
Some love the art, with many “getting” the Jonny Quest/Tintin/old adventure strip vibe right off the bat. (The last couple of years, a lot of people have told me that my work reminds them of Archie comics!) Others dig the done-in-one adventures without the need to know an extended continuity, while others latch onto specific stories, like the baseball issue, the Comic-Con issue, the drawing room murder mystery story, or last issue’s “time travel” adventure that took Rob to the 1940s. (One person immediately recognized the film, Black Hawk Down, as an influence on issue 9 from the cover alone, before I even brought it up in my spiel—that reference is always a draw and he immediately picked it up.) I’m also glad that people today don’t get too hung up on the issue numbering, often picking up random issues based on what grabs them—and often coming back for more!
Best of all, with so many issues under my belt, I’m glad that people don't get hung up on having to start with number one and are open to picking up random issues—of course, it helps that all my stories are stand alone. And many do come back to complete their collection.
Though there is always an ebb and flow each day, Wednesday's Preview Night, Thursday and Friday were strong—my weakest day was Saturday. Back in the day, Saturday was often anticipated as a big sales day since, being a weekend day, that was when a big influx of attendees arrived. But my experience has been that the dominance of big draw programming in Hall H and other panels often sucked people off the floor. On Saturday, the size of the crowds was fine, but sales for some reason were much more difficult to make and close.
Panels and Exploring the Floor
The main drawback of being an exhibitor is that I rarely have time to explore the floor, go out to visit people I know, or attend many panels and programming. Nevertheless, I did still see many friends and colleagues at the show, many because they stopped at my booth.
I also was invited by artist-writer David Blake Lucarelli (Tinseltown) to participate in a Writing for Indie Comics panel on Friday at the Omni Hotel. I hadn't participated on a panel for years, so it was a great experience. Some people at the panel did come by my booth later during the show.
Colleagues and friends I saw included Andrew Pepoy (Simone and Ajax/Little Orphan Annie),who invited me to a dinner he traditionally organizes each year during Comic-Con, which also included Lucarelli, Ted Sikora (Hero Tomorrow Comics), and John Lustig (Last Kiss); comics writer Ron Ingersoll; comics writer Tom Mason; comics editor David Olbrich; Matthew Schofield (Steamroller Man); New Yorker cartoonist Lonnie Milsap; writer and Lucasfilm PR veteran Craig Miller, and more. In addition, while strolling through Artist’s Alley with my son, I bumped into Jackie Estrada, the night before she oversaw her very last Eisner Comics Industry Awards show after an amazing 35 year run! (I regret I didn’t think of taking a photo with her!)
I did attend some after-hour panels with my wife. I went with my wife and friends to see Kevin Smith’s after-hours panel in Hall H, as well as the Bad Medicine podcast panel she has taken to attending every year that features actual physicians—this year, in a panel entitled, “The Unbearable Weight of Medical Mixups,” they discussed the injuries and maladies seen in Nicholas Cage films. (Last year, they covered the many deaths of actor Sean Bean in films and television!) My wife separately also attended a podcast recording of a Comic-Con Hollywood Babble-On with Smith and Ralph Garman that was held at a local club in San Diego.
I also attended part of a “playback” panel where they re-play some of the big panels of the previous days (but cut any exclusive footage scenes)—though I saw part of the DC/HBO Max Peacemaker panel, I really wanted to see the Ryan Gosling and Ghosts panels, but ended up deciding to grab a late dinner with friends and family instead. Those panels often can be later found on YouTube anyway!
I also took time on Friday to explore the floor, primarily traversing to the opposite end of the floor to see the DC Comics booth and Artist’s Alley. On Sunday, I also made a quick run to the LEGO booth to see its impressively massive recreation of both the interior and exterior of the San Diego Convention Center during Comic-Con (seen in picture at right)!
Hiccups
Of course, there were also the occasional hiccups and obstacles. Over the past few years, I’ve experienced an intermittent issue with completing credit card orders on my mobile device that’s become worse over time—tap payments from a credit card have become particularly hit-or-miss unless it’s phone-to-phone. Though I fortunately still have my old plug-in card reader, even that was not going through. I even consuted with the IT/wifi folks at the exhibitor’s help desk! However, on the first day of the show, a customer (in fact, the one who bought issue 9 based on the Black Hawk Down cover) gave me a tip that really saved my bacon! He suggested I switch my data from 5G to LTE, saying that everyone at the convention center was clogging the 5G network—and that turned out to resolve my problem!! I had hoped to see the customer come back so that I could thank them, but they never did. In any case, what a lifesaver of a tip!
Though I didn’t mention it to many people during the show outside of family, I also caught a stomach bug the first night that woke me up at 3 a.m. each night and kept me occupied until it was time to prepare for the show. While I was fine the rest of the day, strangely, it would strike me again at the same exact time each morning. This went on for the duration of the convention! All things considering, since it didn’t affect me during the day and put me out of commission during the convention, it could have been worse.
While the current political climate has reportedly created a chill on international travel to the U.S., I must admit, I was happy to see some of the people who regularly come to the show from overseas stop by my booth. I always pointedly asked how it was coming into the country and, fortunately, none had any horror stories. These included people from Europe, Mexico and Canada.
News Coverage
My appearance at this year's San Diego Comic-Con generated some appreciated coverage at First Comics News (June 10), The Beat (July 11), and Bleeding Cool (July 13)!
I also made a quick cameo in YouTube @JustinScarred's Randomland channel in an episode from Comic-Con on July 26! The embedded video below is cued to my appearance, but I encourage you to watch the entire episode, it's actually as good an account of the Comic-Con experience as you can get!! I actually know of Justin's work from way back, when my son for a spell followed his channel. He's a big kid at heart and his videos are entertaining and funny—he posted three videos for the three days he attended.
In addition, an article about the show on, of all places, The National Review, included in its photo gallery a shot of the floor where you can clearly see me in the middle of the shot! (Photo below—you can clearly see my booth and me in the center, bottom third of the shot. My banner with the orange background pops pretty well!)
Lovely San Diego
As I've mentioned, this was my 28th appearance as an exhibitor. Though in many ways I have my system down pat, I've also learned to be flexible. Traditions come and go...
In recent years, we've begun staying at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, which is one property over from the Marriott Marquis next door to the convention center. We've stayed at both over the years, but have come to prefer the Grand Hyatt—it's close enough to walk but still provides a little distance from the frenzy of the convention that often bleeds into the Marquis. With Seaport Village in the back, a nice restaurant (and hotel commissary and bar in the lobby), it provides a more convenient alternative to having to forage for dinner in the Gaslamp. This year, I even discovered the pool!
Anyway, it was a fun and exhausting show, I’m already looking forward to next year—and already have the script for Rob Hanes Adventures #27 completed and ready to be drawn!
Below are additional photos from the show. Click here to see the entire photogallery.
Below is my annual report of the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con, held July 25–28, 2024. Or go straight to the photo gallery.
In terms of crowds, the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con felt like a return to form. The show is always crowded, but this year it felt moreso, even on my end of the floor in the Small Press. With the release of milestone issue 25 of Rob Hanes Adventures, sales were strong and steady, though 2022’s show—the first “regular” Comic-Con after the pandemic—remains my best year ever. Indeed, there seems to be an inversion law: whenever there is a level of buzz and activities outside of comics that excites and draws the crowds, that seems to slightly depress sales (at least for me).
Aside from the usual mix of longtime fans and supporters picking up the new issue and new people discovering the series, there seemed to be more than the usual number of memorable highlights for me at this show compared to years past.
The only negative note was that, for some reason, my Square app for taking credit card payments was sketchy the entire weekend—I believe it was due to a combination of both the app and poor data coverage. (I should add that I’ve been at this booth location for more than a decade and taken credit card payments on my mobile device even longer, and never before experienced such a chronic problem.) I even lost one sale though that buyer graciously returned on the last day, when the sale went through fortunately.
Sales of Original Art
Another boost to the bottom line was the sale of original art. While I have periodically sold pieces over the years, they tended to be more expensive cover art. Prior to the show, for the first time, I considered preparing and selling affordable sketches. So I did a few and brought them along, including a Will Eisner Spirit piece I had done earlier this year. I always exhibit my original art at my table and, without any signs or fanfare, displayed the sketches too. Several of them ended up being sold, along with a couple of original covers as well! In the future, I plan to include more sketches among sold items.
Catching Up with Friends and Colleagues
Even before Comic-Con kicked off with Preview Night on Wednesday evening, it started on a high note when I was on line at midday to pick up my professional guest badges. When I got on line, actor, screenwriter and comedian Thomas Lennon—who co-hosted the Eisner Awards this year as he has done a few times now—got on line behind me with a small group of companions. I didn’t bother him, but a few days later during the show, he walked by my booth. I mentioned I was a fan and handed him one of my comics (my Hollywood issue, as it happens, as that seemed apropos). He was delighted to receive it and when I asked if I could take a photo, he insisted on taking a selfie with me (see photos!).
While on that line, I also said hi and chatted a bit with TwoMorrows publisher John Morrow, and met and struck up a conversation with comics artist and writer Jimmy Palmiotti, who could not have been nicer. Then, when returning to my hotel to check in, I bumped into fellow cartoonist Andrew Pepoy in the lobby! We have known each other for years—he is a true fan of comics art and history. He has had a small press table just one aisle over from me for a few years now.
Other highlights included noted graphic designer Chip Kidd making a beeline for my booth after he spotted my work while walking by. I didn’t realize it was Kidd until after we’d been talking for a few moments. He complimented me on my work before moving on.
I also met Japanese manga artist and character designer Hitoshi Ariga, a guest at this year’s show, who was awarded an Inkpot on Thursday. After returning from a break, I found him looking through my comics and he seemed enthused by it. We chatted a little through his interpreter. Later, I posted about the meeting with a picture of the two of us on social media, and received a complimentary retweet from him! That was truly a great honor.
With manga artist and character designer Hitoshi Ariga
Other industry people I saw and chatted with include Tom Mason, David Olbrich, Charles Hatfield, Rik Offenberger, Barbara Kesel, Chad Frye, Nat Gertler, Mark Fearing, Matthew Schofield, Bill Morrison, Scott Shaw!, David Rios, Lonnie Milsap, Don Nguyen, Christie Shinn, and Craig Miller. My dinner with Andrew Pepoy included John Lustig and David Lucarelli, and his companion Jules. (Apologies for any omissions in the above list!)
Comic-Con Fever
But the enthusiasm of the crowds couldn’t be denied. There definitely was palpable excitement in the room, driven of course by Hall H programming that was back in full force after being in hibernation in 2023 due to the Hollywood industry strikes. Marvel Studios, of course, drove much f this, particularly in the surprise and last minute panels for Deadpool and Wolverine and then The Fantastic Four, which of course included the films’ stars.
From my Small Press exhibitor’s booth, the floor seemed incredibly packed, right from the get-go on Wednesday’s Preview Night. The Small Press gets its share of traffic—I’m nearly catty corner from the Charles Shulz Peanuts’ booth which often has a long line for its exclusives that snakes in front of my booth. It was even worse in the middle of the hall, extending out to the south end, where Marvel, the streamers (Hulu, Netflix, Paramount), toys (Lego and Funko Pop), and entertainment companies (including DC/Sony) all sit. Artist’s Alley is on that end of the hall along with the illustrator, comics artists and original art booths. When I walked to that end on one of the afternoons of the show, it was sometimes shoulder to shoulder! (I should add that I usually wore a mask when I was out and about in crowds.)
Because my focus is on selling comics, my time on the floor is limited, which means I don’t attend many panels or make many purchases, if at all. But being a huge fan of the Beatles, I did attend a “50 Years of the Beatles in Comics” panel that was moderated by animation historian Jerry Beck and included as a panelist Bill Morrison. I later picked up Morrison’s Yellow Submarine adaptation at Andrew Pepoy’s booth, after it sold out at the publisher’s booth where Morrison did a signing. Other purchases included a Will Eisner Spirit artist’s edition book from a French publisher and the Kong Crew #1 from the Stuart Ng Books booth and More Movie Memories by Craig Miller, a follow up to his fun memoir, Star Wars Memories, which I purchased directly from the author. (Since reading the first book I’ve become acquainted with Miller since we learned we live on the same side of town!)
Extended Stay
For the first time ever, I also stayed two extra days in San Diego, arriving a day early for the convention on Tuesday and departing the following Monday morning.
My usual routine over the years has been to drive down early Wednesday morning (departing around 4:30 am, usually arriving right before 7 am when the floor opens to exhibitors for set up, in preparation for Preview Night that begins in the evening.
While that has always worked for me, arriving Tuesday afternoon made things a little less rushed and hectic, allowing me to drop off materials at my booth in advance, and have more relaxed time with family who also arrived early before the frenzy of the show began. And while I similarly never had an issue driving home Sunday evening after the show, staying over until Monday allowed me to have a nice (if expensive) breakfast at the hotel that morning (I was really craving pancakes). I checked out and departed San Diego around 10:30 a.m. and was home in two hours!
Anyway, 2024 is now on the books. On to ‘25!
Below are additional photos from the show. Or click here to see the full gallery.
