In my haste to post this morning's blog, I forgot to include an explanation of the rather... unique sound effect in the second panel.
It's actually a very specific reference to my good friend Mitch Clem's old journal comic San Antonio Rock City. Specifically, the comic where he shoots me in the face.
I was always a little disappointed that "cha-bert" never caught on as a sound effect...
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.
I know I'm going a little blog-crazy today, but I don't care.
After both kicking ass AND taking names with his month-long stint on Joe and Monkey, web comics own versatile rock star has emerged from seclusion and returned to the comic that made him famous - Nothing Nice to Say!
Reading about Mitch's return in a blog Zach left over at JaM got me giddy when he talked about Carrington's blog site and a potential rumor that he would be restarting Movie Punks.
Well, that turned out not to be true. Carrington still has it on the back-burner. But the prospect of a POTENTIAL return still has me giddy. I was thinking back to the time when the four of us met each other for the first time back in October 2003 at the Minneapolis FallCon. How cool would it be if we could repeat that event in 2005? Come back two years later... a little older, a little wiser, a little fatter and swap notes. It would be tres cool!
Looks like that old 2003 commemorative poster isn't as obsolete as we once thought! It can live again!
You may have noticed that we have a new sponsor this week - the awesome Joe and Monkey.
Now, normally this would be cause to celebrate all on it's own. But our good friend Zach Miller pulled a bait-and-switch on us. A very awesome bait-and-switch!
For the entire month of January, the erstwhile original punk rock gangsta of web comics Mitch Clem is running the show at Joe and Monkey!
You might remember Mitch from such previous web comic hits as Nothing Nice to Say and Barrett's Lament. And if you don't, it's time to make yourself familiar.
All of this awesomeness is leading up to the ultimate in awesome. The return of Clem to his own full-time gig, The Coffee Achievers in February. Who says winter has to suck!
So if you want to see if Mitch still has the mojo, check out Joe and Monkey for his triumphant return to web comics!
By the by, besides the current column sponsorship, all of the advertising spots are available for purchase. If you're interested in putting your site in front of a bunch of people for the New Year, now's the time to come aboard. I'm making a concentrated effort to re-introduce Theater Hopper to the web comic community, so I'll be stirring up a lot of press that will hopefully draw traffic here.
I'm looking forward to the trip to Wizard World Chicago, but a little nervous, too. From Des Moines, it's a 6 hour drive to Chicago. That's the furthest I've ever driven somewhere by myself. Hopefully I won't get desperately lost and end up dead in a crack house somewhere.
I'm also a little panicked that I didn't bring enough stuff to sell. I only have maybe, 20 of my original posters left. Jared gave me his last 6 copies of the DVD to sell. I'm bringing, like 8 t-shirts - all mediums and larges that I've been waiting for someone to order and that I've been sitting on. I still have a lot of the Trainspotting parody poster. But the item I worked the hardest on - the 24 page sampler booklet with a new, never seen before comic - well, I only have about 150 of those. Still, if I sell out of merchandise, that's not really a bad problem to have, is it?
I went totally D.I.Y. on this booklet. They've all been lovingly arranged by hand. I was going to take them to a professional printer, but they wanted $300. Sh'eah, right!
Once I get to Chicago, I expect things to be in full swing. I'm sharing a room with Zach Miller from Joe & Monkey. Let's hope he doesn't snore!
The two of us are sharing a booth with Nothing Nice to Say's Mitch Clem. We were also supposed to be booth-buddies with Neil G from Robot Stories, but he had to drop out at the last minute because he's buying a house and needed to get his stuff together. We'll miss Neil, but I'm sure we'll have a good time. It's like a reunion of the Minneapolis FallCon!
...except without Carrington, who we will also miss.
Before I wrap things up, be sure to check out our latest advertiser Built For Comfort. These guys are just getting off the ground with their comic, but I think it looks pretty good. The site design is tight. BOOKMARK'D!
I prepared Friday's comic in advance and it's sitting in the display cue ready to go. Hopefully I didn't screw things up with the code and you'll have a nice comic about Aliens vs. Predator to kick off your weekend.
See you soon!
Something I wanted to mention yesterday but was too busy fighting off a migraine to recall is that Zach Miller - yes THAT Zach Miller, the one from the erstwhile No Pants Tuesday - has thrown his hat back into the web comic ring with a new strip called Joe and Monkey.
What's Joe and Monkey about? Simple, really. It's the tale of a delivery boy named Joe and a monkey named Monkey. Oh, and be on the lookout for Kleptobot!
Anyone familiar with Zach's work knows that Joe and Monkey has been in development for a long time. There's a good reason for that. Y'see, Zach sometimes has a little problem with updating on time. Not a strike against him! Just stating a fact!
Well, Zach knows it just as much as we do, so he decided to do something about it. That's why he produced A TON of comics in advance so he would never miss an update. You think I'm joking, but the amount of comics he produced weighs literally 2,000 pounds.
At any rate, I'm really excited to see Zach producing comics again and also experienced a warming of the heart when he mentioned Theater Hopper in his opening blog and had lots of nice things to say. Thank you, Zach! You cut to the core of me!
Incidentally, I will be sharing a booth with Zach at Wizard World Chicago August 13 through 15. Don't forget Mitch Clem of Barrett's Lament or Neil G from Robot Stories. They'll be there, too.
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!
Sit up straight, kids. Cuz I've got big news.
Mitch Clem is in the house. Tanned, rested and ready to rock - NOTHING NICE TO SAY IS BACK!!!
It looks like Mitch will be updating whenever he damn well feels like it, which I think is a smart move. But just to see that guy back in the game puts a big smile across my face.
Visit his site now and show him the love.
Mitch from Nothing Nice to Say has announced that he is cutting back production on his strip from 3 times weekly to once each Monday for personal reasons. I am unbelievably bummed, but wish nothing but the best for Mitch and his emotional heath.
Here's to Mitch Clem - a great talent much less deserving of the crap being flung his way. Chin up, man. And take care.
Something I wanted to mention earlier, but forgot: Both Nothing Nice To Say and No Pants Tuesday are back in full swing.
Anyone who already checks this site, probably already checks theirs - so this information may not come as a surprise. But both of these guys are buddies of mine and I wanted to give them a shout-out. It's great to see them back on the horse.
...and nooooo, I'm not talking about heroin!
