Posts Tagged ‘convention’
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Well, it’s not 100% official, but it looks like I’ll be going to Minnesota soon for my VERY FIRST comic book convention! I’m getting really excited for it.
Setting up a booth at a convention is going to be a really big step for me. It’ll be an opportunity to meet the fans and maybe sell a little merchandise in a market a little larger than Des Moines.
The real kicker to this event is that there is a strong likelyhood that I will be sharing table space with Zach from No Pants Tuesday, Mitch from Nothing Nice to Say and Carrington from Movie Punks (driving all the way from Toronto!)
This little scheme of ours has been in the works since late spring at least. Finally things are coming together.
So if you feel like coming to Minneapolis to meet the 4 of us, mark your calendar for Saturday, October 4 and Sunday, October 5. It’ll be a blast. If you’re interested in learning more about the convention, you can find their website here.
Oh, and Carrington, if you’re reading this – Send me or Zach an e-mail with your instant messenger address if you have. We need some information to submit to the convention organizers to confirm our table reservation.
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As most of you are aware, next week I will be attending the Minnesota FallCon in the lovely city of St. Paul (soon I’ll be placing a banner to this effect so you’ll NEVER FORGET!)
But it dawned on me that probably 90% of the people at this con aren’t going to know who I am. I’d better pack some materials to introduce people to Theater Hopper.
What I plan on doing is just printing out a few strips and placing them in a binder for people to flip through when they stop by. Here’s where I need your help:
Help me pick which strips to include!
I think I have a pretty good idea what is funny and what isn’t, but often I get messages from people telling me “That strip was hilarious!” or “That strip was lame” and find myself diametrically opposed. So I’ve decided to remove myself from the process of selection.
If you can e-mail me your favorite strips or storylines, that would be great. If you’re interested in leaving feedback in the forum, there’s a thread already in place for that. Thanks!
POSTERS
Phase Two of my convention plan: Merchandising.
At the convention, I plan on selling two posters. The cast shot that I am currently selling at the site, and a BRAND NEW poster that visitors to the con will take first crack at.
It’s entirely possible that I could sell out of the first poster because there are only 30 left. So if it ever occurred to you to buy one of our first edition posters, now is the time to do it before they’re all gone. If I sell out at the convention, you’ll be S.O.L. because they will never again be reproduced.
If you’d like to order a poster, click here for more information.
This is one half of the news I wanted to give you. Check back a little later for some info about some possible downtime Theater Hopper could experience.
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Greetings! I am pumped for the convention this weekend. I have prepared copies of the Theater Hopper documentary for this event, with special cover art by Tom. I hope to see as many of you as possible this weekend.
To increase production in the “special projects” area, I have been slacking in the “tell you about some movie I saw and tell you how I found it to be ‘enjoyable’” area. Sorry. I have watched several movies, but I’ll have to talk about them later. Or, since I’m heading up north, I’ll tell you aboot them later.
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I was gathering up all of my materials today to take up to FallCon and it occured to me that I didn’t thank some of you for helping me choose which Theater Hopper comics would be included in a sample binder I was taking with me.
A lot of you responded and I apologize for not thanking you personally. But, as you can imagine, things are hectic.
It was really interesting to get your feedback and find out what strips struck a chord with which readers. I noticed a definate “old school” vs. “new school” vibe in the e-mails – if that’s even possible for a comic that’s been around a little over a year.
But, yeah. Some of you picked the older comics while some of you were picking the most recent material. A lot of you picked comics that followed a story line – which is making me think that I need to be doing more story-telling rather than hit and miss one-liners.
Either way, I really appreciate the feedback. Thanks!
I think FallCon is going to be a blast. I’m nervous as hell, but it’s going to be a great learning experience.
Be sure to check back here on Monday for the full recap. There’ll even be a new comic to boot! I plan on taking a lot of photos, so once I get those back, I’ll post them to the site.
Have a great weeekend, everyone!
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In my rush to post a comic today for the one I missed on Monday, I totally neglected to post a blog recapping my experience at the Minnesota FallCon comic book convention this weekend.
I had been geared up for the event all last week. As I was making final preparations, I could hardly contain myself. I started having trouble sleeping Thursday night before we were to make the 4 hour drive to Minneapolis on Friday. By the time the first day of the convention rolled around on Saturday, I couldn’t sit down.
Being as amped up as I was (and also trying to navigation an unfamiliar city), I decided to head out to the convention center early. I was there to greet everyone when the doors opened. I met Zach from No Pants Tuesday first, then Mitch from Nothing Nice to Say arrive and finally, Carrington from Movie Punks . Suffice to say, they were all really cool.
It was weird to meet these guys in person after corresponding with all of them in one form or another over the last year. I knew what they looked like, I knew their sense of humor, but it’s like they weren’t real people until they were right there in front of you.
Conversation flowed like wine and we were all getting along great. Sometimes, we’d be so deep in conversation, we’d ignore people checking out our booth! Whoops!
But I’m glad things turned out that way and not the other. It would have really sucked if we were all just sitting there, staring off into space with nothing to say to one another.
In terms of people who came to check us out, I’d say the turn out was pretty good. True, the majority of people who stopped by didn’t know who we were or what our comics were about. And when we told them they were on the web and that we update multiple times a week, we got some interesting reactions.
But I’d say most of those reactions were positive! A lot of people promised to check out the site. And if you’re one of those people and you’re reading this right now – I love you!
Carrington and I would sometimes have some odd overlap when were explaining our sites to people. People would ask one of us what it was about, and we would say “Well, it’s a comic that makes fun of movies and it’s updated every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.” Then they would turn to the other and we’d say “Ditto.” We had fun playing around with people and charge that one was ripping off the other. Good times.
The biggest treat of the convention was meeting the people who were already familiar with the site. The crew from Still Untitled came to visit and we chatted them up for a good while. They were really cool. BobaBen from the forums also said hello and it was good to see him.
All in all, it was a great experience and it was great to sit around and talk shop with the other creators. I had so much fun, I’m thinking about heading out to another convention in Kansas City this November. Theater Hopper Tour ’03!
Be sure to keep checking the site because I’ll be offering TWO posters that were on sale at the convention. I have a new one for Theater Hopper and a SPECIAL EDITION poster created by the four of us who shared a booth together. It’ll be a trip!
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I just realized in my previous post that the link that I ∗thought∗ was taking you to the eBay auction for the artwork used in last Friday’s strip actually just took you to… last Friday’s strip.
There are less than 3 days for you to get this ORIGINAL piece of Theater Hopper artwork. I’d really love to see some frenzied bidding on this one because it is my intention to use the profits to help pay my way to the Kansas City Planet Comicon comic book convention this coming April 2-3.
I also have ambitions to film not only my appearance at this convention, but two other Midwest conventions I plan on attending this summer in hopes to assemble the footage and create a NEW documentary to sell by the end of the year. My good friend Jared is the director and we’re hoping to capture the experience of the convention circuit and give everyone a little behind-the-scenes understanding of this facet of Theater Hopper’s grassroots promotion efforts!
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Jared makes a good point. I totally forgot about those “wine-shooters” we were doing before we got something to eat and then see the movie.
Guess you boys can’t hold your liquor like “Mr. Bloated Kidney”.
That’s me, by the way.
I remembered some of the other things I wanted to talk about.
Seeing comic book movies at comic book conventions is starting to become a kind of mini-tradition among our ilk. You guys might remember this comic I did regarding Aliens Vs. Predator when Zach and I went to see it during Wizard World Chicago.
I guess the next big comic book movie to hit the screen will be Fantastic Four. It comes out a month before Wizard World Chicago this year (August 5-7), but since I plan on avoiding the movie like scurvy when it’s unleashed upon an unsuspecting public, maybe the radioactive half-life on the film will have expired and we can snap it up in a dollar theater when we all assemble again.
Another couple notes of interest: Yes, Zach ∗did∗ in fact wear that very same Homestar Runner shirt. And yes, Mitch ∗did∗ in fact wear a very similar Jawbreaker shirt.
I’m nothing if not a stickler for the details!
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I wanted to let everyone know that I’ve updated my information regarding my appearance at Wizard World Chicago. You can learn everything from what time I’ll arrive, to where you can find my booth, to what we’ll be doing after the shows if you want to hang out all right here. Rather than type it all out a second time, I just wanted to call your attention to it.
Last year I needed a little bit of help getting to Chicago after Truman came down with his mystery intestional ailment and we have to perform emergency exploritory surgery on him.
Luckily, we’ve had no such crisis this year and my money situation is looking pretty good in terms of getting me to Chicago and back. But if you’re unable to make it to Wizard World Chicago and want to show me a little support, feel free to donate a little gas money. I’m looking at a 6 hour drive each way and I’m sure I’ll need it.
Maybe that’s kind of skeevy to ask, but the worst you can say is “No,” right? Besides, it’s not like you won’t be compensated for your generosity. Learn more about that and The Walk of Fame here.
Thanks to everyone for their support! I hope to see as many of you in Chicago as possible!
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This isn’t the first time Tom has taken flight. It isn’t the first time he’s seen a movie with his web comic contemporaries, either. But as I place great importance on tradition, so goes today’s strip.
For the record, great thanks must be extended to the fabulous Joe “I’m So Fast I’m Already” Dunn who not only helped whip up the punch line of today’s comic, but also added some compositional suggestions to the last panel.
Anyone who dares to doubt that Joe is the most talented man in web comics needs only sit next to him for 15 minutes. The man works so fast and with such precision, the fact that he’s able to churn out work for four to five web comics a week starts to come into focus. Seriously. The man doesn’t even pencil out his work first. He reaches straight for an ink brush. He’s THAT good. I’m hoping that by hanging around him for those four days at the con that I can absorb a little of that talent. I don’t know how. By osmosis or sumthin’.
# THE REST OF THIS BLOG WAS LOST WHEN THEATER HOPPER MOVED TO WORDPRESS IN JANUARY 2009 #
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I know today’s incentive sketch makes it look like I had a pretty rough time at Wizard World Chicago. Those things did happen, but in total truth, it was one of the best cons I’ve ever been to. Lots of success, great ideas gathered and a few doors opened through the magic of networking.
Sadly, commentary for today’s comic as well as a recap of the convention will have to wait. I drew and inked today’s comic yesterday while I was still in Chicago and immediately sat down to color it when I got home.
I have that bouncy feeling like I’m still in motion after the 6 hour drive home. I’d like to take a shower and spend some time with Cami and Truman. The rest will have to wait.
Come back to the site later this evening for more.
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