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Baltimore Comic-Con Report

The Baltimore Comic-Con has come and gone.  It was my first time attending this convention.  After 3 years just doing San Diego, it was a bit of a shock to see such a small show, let me tell you.  But it was a good show, overall.  Met a lot of people.  Made some good contacts.  Sold a lot of books and met a lot more Oddly Normal fans than I thought I would, which was great.

Some people I met:  Jimmy Gownley (creator of Amelia Rules!), Dave Perillo, Scott Derby,  the all-ages friendly operators of A Little Shop Of Comics, Chris Moreno (artist on the Image Comics title Sidekick) Matthew "The Black Bastard" Mohammed, Nekokaiju, Laura Inglis, Brian Babyok (writer of the webcomic Weirdlings), all the folks behind Unshelved.com and many others (if I forgot a name, I apologize).

It was also fun seeing my pal (and uber-talented inker) Marc Deering again.  We shared a table at the con and it was great being able to catch up a bit and talk comics, movies and other nerd-related subjects.  Hopefully, we'll see each other again next year at Heroes Con.

As usual, Leigh did more wandering and schmoozing that I was able to.  She attended two panels held by the crew at the Kids Love Comics website and met a number of the creators.  Her Oopie hat apparently made quite an impression at the panel!

Here are some of the photos that Leigh took at the con . . .

Me and table-mate Marc Deering:

Me and Marc after being told to "pose again because the shot was blurry":

Oopie makes some new friends:

Me trying to act like I know what I'm talking about:

Darth Vader and some punk kid:

The photographer herself:

The best news of the con was that my pal Brian Fies won the category of Best New Talent at the Harvey Awards for his work on Mom's Cancer.  Congrats, Brian!  I wish you could have been there.

I have to admit, Artist Alley was a bit of a bust in terms of arrangement.  It would have been nice if there would have actually been a designated area instead of having all of the tables lining the perimeter wall.

But I had fun.  Thanks everyone!

-Otis

B4 Baltimore

I'll be at the Baltimore Comic-Con this weekend, signing and selling books in Artist Alley (table #69).

See ya there!

-Otis

Odds and Ends

A couple of Oddly-related itrems . . .

The second printing of the Oddly Normal Volume 1 Trade Paperback is underway! They should be available for purchase in the Viper online store in about a month. FYI . . . for the second printing we've moved the original mini-series comic covers from the interior to the back of the book so that it now reads like a single volume story, just as the rest of the series will be.

Also, Publisher's Weekly recently wrote an article about Viper Comics and its recent attention Hollywood and libraries, and Oddly Normal got a nice mention.

In other comic books news . . . I just this week finished the artwork for a 14-page story that will be included in an upcoming Viper Comics anthology book edited by Jason Burns.  The story was written by screenwriters Adam Moore and  Kevin Abrams.  I'm very proud of the work I did on this story and I'll post artwork from it when I get the word from Jason that it's a go.

Next on my plate is finally finishing the Oddly Normal: Fignation Times script.  It's basically done, I just need to complete breaking it down into panel-by-panel descriptions for Jess.  This is probably my favorite Oddly script that I've written so far, because it answers so many questions from the first book in a very fun way (and in ways that surprised me, since a lot of the mysteries were set up with no answers in mind . . . always a fun way to write).  I hope that the readers feel the same once the book is released.

I'm also continuing work on Zeek!.  Zeek! is like my "back burner" project.  I work on it here and there, when I have time.  Hopefully, I can dig in a bit more when I get some other projects off of my plate.  I'd like to have the book released next year, but that might be wishful thinking.  But it's a project that means a lot to me (it's currently the only book that I'm writing and drawing myself), so I'm keeping it alive no matter what I'm working on at the moment.

And lastly, the next four months will be busy promotion months for me.  I'll be attending the Baltimore Comic-Con, SPX, Wizard World Texas, The Non-Sport Update show and possibly Fanta-Sci 6 in my old stomping grounds of Hampton Roads, Virginia.

Busy busy busy.

-Otis

Conventional Blog Post

As some of you know, I don't go to a lot of comic book conventions.  Since I started working on Oddly Normal, I've been to the Orlando MegaCon once and the San Diego Comic-Con twice.  I was invited to Star Wars Celebration IV, but this came around the same time that I was making the decision to re-focus my creative efforts on  my own projects, so I decided not to join in on the big 30th Anniversary hoopla in Los Angeles.

Instead, Leigh and I are planning to attend a couple more comic book conventions this year (along with the San Diego Comic-Con, which we plan to attend annually, no matter what) to promote the release of Oddly Normal: Family Reunion.  So if all goes well, we'll be at the Small Press Expo and the Baltimore Comic-Con later this year!

The Baltimore Comic-Con will be held on September 8th and 9th at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland.  The Small Press Expo will be held on October 12th and 13th at the Marriott Bethesda North Hotel & Conference Center in Washington, D.C.  SPX touts itself as  "the preeminent showcase for the exhibition of independent comic books and the discovery of new creative talent."  It's like the San Diego Comic-Con of the Indy scene.  I'm really looking forward to this show, so I hope I got my table application in on time.

Both of these cons are local shows for me now that I live on the outskirts of Washington D.C., so Leigh and I will be able to drive to them from our apartment each day, which is nice.  One of the worst parts of going to cons is the travel involved, from a financial and a practical standpoint, it's a real pain.  It costs a bundle and we have a cat and a dog to think about when going away for any length of time.  I really don't know how some comic creators do this all year long.

And, of course, we'll be attending the San Diego Comic-Con, which will be held from July 25th to July 29th at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California.  This will be my third year attending this con and I'm really looking forward to it this year, since I'll have two Oddly books to sell!  I'm also looking forward to sharing a table in Artist Alley with fellow Viper creator Josh Howard.  And, as usual, I'll also spend some time in the Viper Comics booth.  It should be a very good show this year.

See you there!

-Otis