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)

The ABC's of 3D Movies...

Okay, perhaps the title is misleading, but I wanted something catchy. :0)

I went to see the re-release of Toy Storys I & II yesterday, along with a preview of Toy Story III in 3D. Actually, all of the movies were in 3-d, which seems to be a 'fad' again, all these many years later since the first time 3-d became a fad.

A lot of the new movies are either coming out in 3D, or offering a choice of 3D... for an extra cost, of course. Movies are already expensive, but a 3D movie is even more so, which leads me to ask the question, "What do YOU think of 3D movies?"

[Sorry. Poll removed for being ornery]

Personally, I don't care much for them. With Toy Story, the movie is so well done that the figures are often nearly 3D without the 3D. Of course, you HAVE to wear the glasses, so without them, the film becomes blurry in bits, but in standard movie mode, the Toy Story movies are fantastic, so the 3D did not add any value to the movies. With the new Christmas Carol movie coming in 3D, there appear to be a lot of 3D gimmicks... where objects come toward you, or appear to float in front of you.... and these are just that. Gimmicks. Tricks that have been done, and done enough. A 'cute the first time' kind of deal, but not that exciting, really.

All I can think of is that a company like Disney is looking at the big picture, and that 3D is a sterp towards something else... Or maybe just technology for technolgy's sake, to further mankind's knowledge. I can also hope that this is not just a gimmick to edge a few more dollars from movie-goers, and I pray that this is not leading to Virtual Reality. God forbid we have to watch movies in 'immersive environments'! I mean, a small pair of smudgy glasses is bad enough, but if they ever bring out virtual reality movies, I'll have to say 'pass'.

I like going to the movies and watching them on the big screen, and with Pixar's technology, I can enjoy them completely, without the characters 'leaping' off the screen, or me having to miss something while I wipe a stray fingerprint from the left lens.

But that's just me. What do YOU think?

JOHN :0)

What I am listening to? Fish, Communion. Most excellent...
What am I reading? The new Dan Brown book, about symbols. Yawn....

Comic Strip Superstar

In case you haven't heard, I received notification that I have advanced to Round 2 of the Comic Strip Superstar Contest, "an international search for the next popular comic strip artist, sponsored by Andrews McMeel Publishing and hosted by Amazon.com."

What this means is that from the maximum of 5000 entries worldwide, I am one of 250 chosen to advance to the next round. Now, Universal Press Syndicate will judge us and then the next chosen 50 will advance to Round 3. In this Round, professional Cartoonists such as Gary Trudeau and Lynn Johnston will narrow the list down to 10. Those 10 will then be posted on Amazon.com, where anyone registered with Amazon can vote. The Winner will get paid to develop their comic strip further, with the goal of being placed in newspapers world wide.

A big deal, but remember, I only made it to Round 2 so far, so wish me luck.

For your info, my entry consisted of The Inquiring Minds cartoons. I know, some of you may have preferred Knight and Day, but the contest called for previously unpublished work.

I'll keep you posted. The winners of the next round should be announced the day after the Baltimore Comic-con, October 12th.

We shall see... JOHN :0)