Rainy Road Warrior Newsletter
Happy Independence Day!
This newsletter is a little late because I just got back home a few days ago after being away for 2 weeks, so I’ve been busy playing catch-up. Took the kids down to Florida for Hero Hype (see below) then stayed with parents for about a week then with my aunt for a few days. It was nice to get out of Asheville for a while and take a little break because things are about to get very busy in the next few months, personally and professionally.
It’s Put Up or Shut Up Time
So, the Epic of Darkness campaign may be my last hoorah in the comic book world. If it fails, I’ll remove myself from comic books entirely and focus my energies elsewhere.
I want to launch the book in August so it can be printed and in people’s hands sometime around Halloween. Of course, that timing will also depend on if there are still paper shortages to deal with.
But I won’t launch the campaign until all the artwork is completed. At this moment, there are a few pages left to do for 2 of the stories and I’m hoping they’ll be done before the end of July.
Take a View at this Preview!
I’ve put together a rough PDF preview of Epic of Darkness to build up hype for the campaign. It contains several pages from each story. Note that in this preview, there is a story called “Roketto-Man” that’s in black and white but it will be in full color in the finished book. And, in case it’s not yet clear, these stories are for mature readers. So, if you’re uncomfortable with sex, nudity, foul language, adult themes, etc, don’t look at it.
But if you’re okay with all that, you can check out the preview at this link:
https://1drv.ms/b/s!AuLuDQeZqlmtjTAW3XhQ3hDolOwE?e=gU9mPr
The Amazing Con-Man - Hero Hype (Orlando)
It was a good thing that this was mostly an excuse for a vacation because it was the most horrible con experience so far.
I and the kids left Asheville on Wednesday, the 15th to make sure we would be in Orlando on the night of the 17th so that we could get a good night’s rest and be ready for the show the next morning.
I had planned to drive my grandmother’s car because I had driven it to the show in Nashville and it seemed okay. Well, the day before we were going to leave, the car crapped out. (Silver lining: I guess it’s better that it failed in town rather than while going down I-95.) So I had to take my wife’s car instead and leave her with the Kia Soul.
The hope was that my grandmother’s car would be reliable enough so that we could sell the Soul since we might be able to get as much for it now as what we paid for it almost 2 years ago.
Also, I had gotten the 11 x 17 posters (six:eight, Roketto-Man and Lady X) that day from Comix Well Spring, just in time to pack them for the trip. And I stayed up late that night printing the Epic of Darkness ashcan previews with the new (real) cover.
So, I was hyped for Hero Hype! (You see what I did there?!) But, apparently, I was the only one. There were literally more vendors than attendees. There were times when I looked out on the room and it was completely empty.
Also, the size of the table was weird. I think it was 8 feet wide but it was only a little more than 1 foot deep. So I only had enough space to put up the cage. No space in front to put the pinup folders, stickers, etc. I’ve never seen a table that size before.
At the end of the day, we sold 1 sticker. And I was only able to give away 1 copy of the ashcans. There were so few people that I couldn’t even give stuff away!
I think one of the big problems was that they were charging $15 just to walk in. Even for kids! I think that was way too much to charge for such a small show and charging the same price for kids is ridiculous.
Another problem was that I didn’t see the organizers promoting the event on social media very much. I think I put out more posts about the show than they did.
So, considering the $130 table cost and the organizer’s questionable strategy, I would not consider doing another show with them.
I’m debating whether I should even make a video about the experience because it was so awful and I try to stay away from negativity. I’ve had enough of that in my life.
But, if I do, you can check it out on my The Amazing Con Man video series here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbdT7-MGwCZP1UaUldDk9vQ/playlists
And you can check out my website for my con schedule. Next show will be the Tiny Time Tunnel Con on July 9th in Hickory, NC.
This Week in Randomness!
Do you give your cars nicknames? Our family does. Since our Kia Soul is red, we call it “Kit Kat”. My wife’s Honda is a sort of copper color so we call it “Kiwi”. My kids called our old Toyota Sienna “Royal” because it had so much room — like something kings and queens paraded around in. My grandmother’s Chevy Lumina got the moniker, “Ecto-1” because it’s white and it’s a reminder of the time when I stayed with my grandparents in the summer of 1984 and blasted the Ghostbusters theme song all day, every day. True story.
~Michael T Gonzalez
