Countdown to San Diego IV (364 Days to Go)

I've just arrived safe and sound from the Comic-Con International in San Diego. Fortunately, the traffic back to Los Angeles seemed lighter than last year. Though the 5 and 405 freeways were heavy at the usual bottleneck points (starting in Carlsbad), unlike last year when it often slowed to an unbearable crawl or came to a dead stop, this evening at its worst the freeway moved at a steady clip of about 30-40 MPH. Which meant I got home in only about two-and-a-half hours (I think it took me more than three last year). Believe me, it was a treat compared to last year, and a pleasant trip. The Beatles and Ben Folds Five kept me company.

I'll be posting my usual annual Comic-Con report shortly, but a few quick impressions:

• Apparently, the sales pattern I experienced was mirrored by many other exhibitors at the show: namely, as reported in The Beat, that sales were "disappointing for Friday and Saturday, as thousands of people stood in line to get into Hall H or get bags or just gawk at girls in skimpy costumes." (Saturday sales for me were quite strong, but not until very late in the day—the first part of the day was a complete wash!) Overall, I was satisfied by the sales at my booth, even though as I mentioned it was uneven throughout the show.
• For the first time ever, all 4-day passes and all single-day passes for the convention sold out in advance. As a result, the traditional "slow" days of the convention—Wednesday's preview night, Thursday, and Sunday—felt just as crowded as a Saturday. (Those days actually seemed MORE crowded). I can vouch for that personally—navigating the convention floor was truly a daunting experience.
• It was nice to learn that I'm not the only one trying to deal with what continues to be a challenging market for small independent comics. One colleague and prominent fellow publisher flatly told me that he thinks the traditional retailer model is dead. Though I'm not quite sure I agree with that entirely, I understand the reasons for such sentiment. Many people are hungry for a new distribution model that will enable more diverse work to be seen in the current environment.
  

As this quick overview shows, I caught up with a lot of fans, retailers, and fellow pros. In particular, I received some good feedback that will help me in promoting the series. And despite some of the more sobering assessments mentioned above, I still found the show to be greatly energizing; the comments, feedback and expressions of support I received, particularly from longtime fans and retailers, were deeply appreciated—it's humbling and a thrill to know that my work continues to entertain and excite readers. My thanks to everyone who stopped by!

(Stay tuned for a full report shortly!)

WCG Comics Conducts Talent Search for New Artists

Long-running Independent Comic-Book Company to Use Outside Artists for the First Time

July 19, 2007

For the first time since its founding in the early 1990s, WCG Comics announced that it is conducting a talent search for up-and-coming artists to work on one of the longest-running independent comic-book series, Rob Hanes Adventures. The series features the adventures of a modern-day international spy-for-hire and soldier of fortune, and offers a modern-day spin on classic high adventure comic strips like the Spirit and Terry and the Pirates.

For more information about the talent search, interested artists should visit the WCG Comics website and click on the “Help Wanted” link.

Self-publisher Randy Reynaldo, the creator and writer-artist of the series, has been the only artist to work on the series since its inception. Although Reynaldo plans to continue working on the series and releasing new issues, he hopes that bringing new artists on board will increase the frequency of new stories, as well as bring new energy to the title.

“I plan to continue working on the flagship comic-book series as I always have,” says Reynaldo. “But I have several story ideas that I may not have a chance to get to for awhile to do myself, so I thought bringing in other artists might be a good way to solve this problem.”

Reynaldo primarily is looking for artists or artist teams that would produce finished art (pencils and inks) from Reynaldo’s scripts.

Though Reynaldo is well known for a clean black-and-white art style that is reminiscent of classic adventure strip artists like Milton Caniff and Alex Toth, Reynaldo said artists would not be necessarily expected to work in the same style.

“Of course I’m looking for an artist that has an affinity for the kind of stories I do, but otherwise I’m open to all kinds of interpretations and art styles,” Reynaldo says. “After all, part of the fun of doing a project like this is seeing other people’s interpretation of the series.”

Reynaldo admitted that he’s not entirely settled yet on whether the work will appear in the regular series as fill-in between his own issues or serialized online as part of the webcomic edition of the series as rhadventures.com. Reynaldo says he is exciting about the prospect of collaborating with a other artists for the first time.

Rob Hanes Adventures is a comic-book series about an international troubleshooter and modern-day soldier of fortune who works for Justice International, a worldwide private investigations and security agency. Reynaldo is a Xeric Foundation grant recipient and a past nominee for the Russ Manning Award for Most Promising Newcomer, which is awarded annually with the Will Eisner Awards. In 2006, WCG Comics celebrated 15 years of publishing.

More information about the series may be found at the WCG Comics website at wcgcomics.com. 

#    #    #

Countdown to San Diego III: The Early Bird...

When I was a kid, we had a tradition of departing for family trips by car very early in the morning, around 4 or 5 a.m. Though I'm not quite sure of the reasons behind this, I have pleasant memories of this tradition—of sitting in the back seat half-asleep watching the sun rise as we embarked on a trip cross-state or cross-country, with my parents in the front seat.

The last couple of years, I've done the same for my trips to San Diego. Of course, I have more practical reasons for adopting this practice: living in L.A., I know how bad the traffic can be on the 405 Freeway corridor between these two major cities, especially during rush hour in the middle of the week. So I try to get an early start, and often end up in San Diego around 6 am.

I've arrived even before the convention center was open, but this gave me a chance to grab a nice breakfast, and park my car close to where I need access to get into the convention hall. (On the morning of the last day of the show, I also get up early to get a good parking spot so that it's easy to load up my car when I tear down my booth. Then I go back to the hotel to prepare for the show.)

It's actually fun to be at the convention center so early. It's surprising how much work still needs to be done before the show opens for preview night, so there are forklifts all over the place, the carpeting is still being put down, drapes on tables, and people are putting together their booths. I'm usually done by lunch, so I walk around, take in the atmosphere, see friends, then check in to my hotel to wind down before the show begins.

Based on my experience, over the years, I've developed check lists to remind me of things I need to bring down for the show and when I need for vacation. I'm happy to post them for download (click on the file to download): my Convention Checklist (for exhibiting) and my general Travel Checklist.

Countdown to San Diego II: My Contribution to the CCI Souvenir Program

Below is my contribution to the souvenir program for this year's Comic-Con International in San Diego. Click here to see it in fuller detail.

Each year, contributors are given a variety of themes to choose from, and it was a no-brainer for me to focus, of course, on the centenary of Milton Caniff's birth. (Caniff, of course, is the creator of Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon, and one of my idols who inspired Rob Hanes Adventures.)

Caniff is pictured seated at the table, and surrounding him from Terry and the Pirates are Pat Ryan, Terry Lee, and Burma from Terry and the Pirates; Steve Canyon (from his namesake strip); pining away in the foreground at far right is the iconic Dragon Lady.

I also usually try to somehow work my own characters into the theme. So at bottom left, you'll see my character, Rob Hanes, and his partner, Abner McKenna, commenting on the proceedings.

Also included in the drawing are various Caniff characters, all from Terry: Captain Judas (visible behind Rob and Abner); Anthony Sandhurst and his put-upon wife, Normandie Drake (Sandhurst is the direct inspiration for my own character, Antony Cromwell); Chopstick Charlie, Raven Sherman and Dude Hennick (the first two are partially obscured by the Terry logo); and at the rear of the club on the balcony are Terry's companions, Connie and Big Stoop.

I should note that I also thought about contributing a drawing celebrating the centenary of the birth of Herge, the Belgian creator of Tintin. My plan was to draw my character putting gel in his hair to emulate Tintin's famous spiked forelock, just as Tintin walks in on him. But I just didn't have the time to complete the drawing.

(At right is a personal favorite Comic-Con drawing from 2005, honoring Will Eisner, which you can see full size here).

Countdown to San Diego I

In the coming weeks, I'll be formally making announcements through press releases, my website, and my e-newsletter about my participation as an exhibitor at the Comic-Con International (CCI) in San Diego (booth S14 in the Small Press Pavilion--come visit!). However, I thought I'd use the blog to give people a behind the scenes peak at preparing for the show. This year marks my 10th year as an exhibitor at CCI, dating back to 1994.

Planning, of course, starts anywhere from a year to six months before the show when exhibitors must reserve and purchase a booth. Not too long after that, I actually reserve my hotel. The popularity of CCI has caused great competition for rooms, and over the last several years I've found it necessary to book way in advance. I also try to order any books I'll have on sale at the show as early as possible to avoid being part of the surge in demand many printers experience right before convention season. (In one of my first years exhibiting, I discovered on a Friday evening that a shipment sent to me by my printer was at a shipping dock near the San Diego Airport that was literally due to close in 15 minutes for the rest of the weekend. With my then-girlfriend (now wife) in tow, I hailed a cab and promised the driver a $20 tip if he got me there on time. We made it with minutes to spare.)

The big news this year is that I created a new banner for my booth, pictured here. I have a set-up I used for years (which can be seen in my photogallery of past conventions), but I was way overdue for an upgrade. Digital technology offers many choices and has made this kind of job more affordable.

The photo here was taken about 1 a.m., after the family was asleep, and accomplished after several successive evenings of trying to figure out how to assemble the banner. Once I finally figured it out, it actually is not too difficult to put together. But I still had to jury-rig part of it because it didn't quite work as advertised. It looks fine, but I wish it was sturdier. (But you get what you pay for!)

The real test will be whether it survives the wear and tear of four days in San Diego. If it works out, I'll provide a link of where I ordered it and be happy to recommend it to people. But I think I'll wait 'til after the show after I've had a chance to use it "in the field" under real-world conditions!!

(I plan to post more, but for additional sneak peaks, visit my photogallery for the show!)

Rob Hanes Adventures Audioshow Now on CD!

Back in the 1990s, WCG produced a 30-minute Rob Hanes Adventures audiotape called “Three Days of the Fanboy.” Designed as a classic radio show, and professionally produced and engineered, the story brought the series to vivid life with voice actors, music and sound effects. (One of the program’s lead voice actors, Scott Brick, has since become a prolific and award-winning audiobook narrator, having recorded more than 250 books to date, including many by best-selling authors such as Brad Meltzer, Orson Scott Card, and Tom Clancy.) In the show, Rob is hired to protect the comic-book collection of fanboy extraordinaire Johnson McFeeley (played by Brick).

Long overdue, the audiotape has finally been transferred to CD and now is available at the WCG Comics webstore. As seen above right, the cover art has been redesigned for the new CD format. Revel in the dated references and hear the series come to life with this unique and fun collector’s item!

To see photos from the recording, click here.

Hello Again, My Loyal Public!

Yes, I know, it's been awhile since I last posted. All I can say is that it would be very easy to spend all of my time promoting my work on the Web if I wanted to -- but then I'd never finish any new comics for you, my loyal public!!

Anyway, I'm pleased to announce that the landmark 10th issue of Rob Hanes Adventures is now available!

For details, including how to order, go to the newest edition of my e-newsletter or visit the main WCG Comics website.

The issue is a full-fledged sports story that takes place in the world of minor league baseball, and was a fun change of pace.

As mentioned in a previous post, issue 10 will be available at my booth at the Comic-Con International in San Diego, July 26-29. I'll be in booth S14!

With issue 11, the series will return to form with a story of high adventure in which Rob goes to Asia to battle modern-day pirates. A preview for the issue has just been posted here.

Pending the completion of a few final details, I have some additional exciting announcements coming up related to the future of the series and the upcoming convention, so stay tuned!