Convention Schedule 2013

SPACE and Comic-con International are over, but there's still a lot to come for us this year.  I'm still working on those photos from Comic-con International in San Diego, but here's where you can find HappyGlyphs in the coming months:


SPACE, Columbus, OH April 13-14
Comic-con International, San Diego, CA, July 17-21
Baltimore Comic Con, Baltimore, MD, Sep 7-8
Ohio Comic Con, Columbus, OH, Sep 20-22

I should have plenty of Pirate Packs available for these shows, but there are a limited number. We should have plenty of the new comic book, though, and I'm planning to have sketches and original art available for the first time.

Hopefully there'll be another event in there, and some of these are awaiting confirmation, so stay tooned here or at our facebook page for updates and further news.

And watch for lots and lots of photos from Comic-con International, coming soon! :0)

All the best,    JOHN :0)

Ohio Comic Con this weekend!

This weekend is the Wizard World Ohio Comic Con, formerly known as the Mid Ohio Comic Con.

One thing to note is that this year there will be a Friday Night added to the comic con, which is new to me!  And I thought two days was exhausting enough. :0)

Well, it's a good exhaustion, anyway... I really love doing these shows, but they do wear me out.  I'm excited to see what a Friday night at a comic con is all about... it doesn't look like it's a preview night or anything, just an extra day to spend at what seems to be a growing show.  Hopefully this will mean more opportunity to catch people's attention, and make a few more sales, and a few more friends. :0)

If you remember, last year was a bit disappointing because I seemed to be stuck in a corner where not a lot of people walked by, and sales were pretty poor due to lack of attention.  The people I did meet were awesome, and friendly, but not enough came by.  This year, however, I will be in Artist's Alley, which makes me nervous because it's usually so crowded, but then again, it seemed like last year the Artist's Alley way got about 10 times the traffic I did, so... here's hoping I find my place at this show.

And the show is huge this year, with big guests and stuff, but don't let all that distract you from coming by Artist Alley and checking out all of us creators who are out here doing something different.

See you there!    JOHN :0)

On my iPod?  Fish: Raingods with Zippos!

PS Stay tooned here or at our facebook page for pics and stories from the Ohio Comic Con,

Mid Ohio Con 2010

The Mid Ohio Con simply wasn't my show.

I'm not saying that I didn't have a nice time, but... well, let me explain.  I've been to the San Diego comic con, and well, that's a show on it's own.  I've been to other shows over the years, from small comic book shows to full blown comic conventions, and as an Artist/Creator/Publisher/Exhibitor I probably wouldn't go back to a comic book show because I mainly do comic strips, and material based on comic strips.  I do not normally do superhero stuff, as much as I do like that kind of thing, and my artwork is not in that genre.

Call me a geek, but having Lord Vader and entourage march

past my booth was a totally cool moment!

Now, having said all that, the Mid Ohio Comic Con was more comic book show than convention. There was an awesome Costume Contest, to judge by the terrific costumed characters that paraded past my booth, and there was a tremendous amount of Star Wars material, but the rest was mainstream comic books, and tons of it. So much so that I was bored walking the floor after my first round through.

You may know from previous blogs that I've been to the Baltimore Comic Con the last two years, and I loved the energy of the Artist's alley, and the variety of stuff to see. I wasn't neccesarily 'in' to all that I saw, but the variety was wonderful. Here at Mid Ohio I didn't even see that much Manga! Two booths had some manga, and each had under a dozen books.... more like extras they had lying around. I also looked for graphic novels outside the superhero genre, and saw nothing by Chris Ware or any other big name I would have liked to pick up. I did see one copy of American Born Chinese, but nothing else by Gene Yang, or any other favorite Creator. So... the Mid Ohio Con was not my show... as an Exhibitor or as a Spectator.

Of course, there were a LOT of people having fun at the show, so remember, you're just reading one man's opinion.  I was warned by other Cartoonists that Mid Ohio Con was very small, and not worth going to.  Well, it was not small by any means.  There were a lot of booths, and a lot of people walking around.  There was a totally different crowd on Sunday than on Saturday, which I thought was unusual... apparently people chose to come for one day, instead of getting the weekend pass.  Which may indicate that the show was smaller in the past.

I've seen a lot of Ghostbusters in my day, but this guy really stood out. :0)

Now, if you're local to Columbus, and love comic books, then this is definitely a fun event to attend.  And there were a few celebrities from TV and movies, so there is a little more pop culture than I let on earlier.  If you're an independent Creator, then it may be worth a shot, especially if you do superhero stuff.  And of course there's always a fun time at shows like this... like a rock concert, there is an excitement that comes from a lot of people sharing a common interest and gathering together in one spot.  I enjoyed myself, and met some great people, but I have to admit to disappointment at how many people walked by our booth without even looking to see what we had to offer.

I'll freely admit that a lot of women like my work, and so have been fortunate enough to be spotted by women who have been dragged to comic shows by their boyfriends.  Some have even thanked me for offering something that 'they' can enjoy, which is an awesome feeling.  At this show, though, the women who had been dragged to the show either talked on their cell phones the whole time, or ran by... possibly assuming that each booth was the same, which at this show is easy to understand.

I was very surprised at the lack of browsers!  I mean, you're paying to be at an event, so why not look around?  Baltimore Comic Con is a 'browsing' show, and that's why I enjoyed it both personally and as a businessman.  Here, I was frustrated to watch folk run by without the slightest glance.  Still, I don't believe in a hard sell, so what can you do?

I'll wait and see to determine if I'll go back next year.  After the two Baltimore cons, my internet sales went up drastically.  If sales go up in the next few weeks, then Mid Ohio Con just may see me back again.

Cheers,    JOHN :0)

PS I've added a HappyGlyphs Flickr account!  Check out the link at right for lots of pics, from my Studio to Events to Artwork.  Lots of fun stuff to come. :0)

UPDATE:  Looking through the program, I see there were some panels and other events that I did not know about over the weekend.  Manning a booth means that you don't see everything, although at this show I thought I did.  There were announcements of a sort, but no one could understand a word of any of them.  There were also big names from the comic book industry, including Matt Wagner, who I would have liked to have chatted with professionally, and others that are quite popular.

Baltimore Comic-con 2009

Just got back from the Baltimore Comic-con... my first time there as both visitor and exhibitor, although to be honest, as an exhibitor I spent nearly the entire time behind my table. It looked like a terrific show from where I was sitting!

Overall, it was an excellent learning experience. The first day started out slow, and moved to depressing, until it was explained to me that most of the crowd head for the freebies, the big names, and the mainstream stuff first, and then eventually migrate to the independents like myself. Good to know for a first time convention go-er! And it was true! The afternoon picked up quite nicely, and Sunday went very well. Made some great friends, both fans and pros, sold some books, and just had fun altogether. :0)

HappyGlyphs Comics will definitely be doing more shows next year, and we'll be back bigger than ever once we've implemented all that we learned inthe last few days!

Meanwhile, until the coffee hits, and my brain clears, here are some lovely photo high-lights from the show!

The very awesome Leanne and Rod... 2 great talents that work great together! Expect great things from these two!

Check them out at http://www.rodhannah.com/ and http://www.leannehannah.com/



This Lady in Red is an awesome artist and all around great lady. People like her make conventions fun. :0) I'll post name and link as soon as I track her down!

SuperFan Jen showing off the new HappyGlyphs Comics Bag, which made it's debut in Baltimore!

The littlest Art Lover, checking out our most popular print. :0)

The Awesome Matt, who went beyond the call of duty to help me survive 15 hours sitting behind a table!

"Who was that masked man?!" Inside this costume is a great guy who took the time to pose for hundreds of photos, and was nice to everyone who stopped him. And what a costume, huh?

See? Buy a book, get your picture taken, end up on the internet. Fun!

If you were at the show, and especially if you stopped by the table, please comment below. We'd love to hear from you!

Cheers, JOHN :0)