Yay! Another Baltimore Comic Con (9/5-7) for the books!! This year marked my *8th* year vending at conventions! This was also the first year Baltimore Comic Con opened up it's doors on Friday- which omg made setting up the table and getting myself prepared for the show SO MUCH EASIER. This year I was set up in Artist Alley with my BFF Little Asian Sweatshop- we each had one full table and our widest selection of products yet.
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| Me and Fenny as the Cobra typing pool |
Weee! Here's a quick little video of my table!
Every other year with it being a two-day show it's an absolute mess trying to get up to the show with all of my merch, half dressed in costume, all before 10am when the doors open and gads of people start filing through because it's also the BIGGEST day of the show. It was a welcome addition to have the extra day to take my time setting up and even bring my con outfit and makeup to the show separately so I wouldn't get all sweaty and bust a seam setting up. It's actually become my new thing that I do on setup days and at shows that require crazy prep the morning of. I'm really surprised I haven't started doing it sooner.
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| Tactical error in parking on Friday- 3 trips to the car in 100+ heat. BUT SO MANY CALORIES BURNED. |
This year's Baltimore Comic Con continues to become more and more of a successful endeavor for me every year, with this being my most prosperous yet. I think the combination of having done it so many years in a row, along with it being my hometown show- so many of my friends from various stages of my life come out to see me and say hello and support me with purchases and kind words. It is so appreciated. There are no fans like Baltimore fans- once you've earned their favor they will continue to support you every year you make yourself available to them.
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| Retro COBRA office ladies! |
Saturday was our big day where we finally got to wear our retro Cobra typing pool costumes and they were very well received.We've even inspired a few friends to join in, so hopefully in the future we'll see more snarky (or should I say SNAKEY?) office ladies.
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| Harvey Awards mixer? Or Cobra recruitment meet-and-greet? |
Saturday night my husband Phil and I attended the Harvey Awards dinner- he and his team at Kodansha Comics (where I also work my day job as a manga letterer) were nominated for Best American Edition of Foreign Material for the Attack on Titan manga. Everyone else at Kodansha had already been down in Baltimore for Otakon one month previous, so Phil attended on the team's behalf. The dinner and awards ceremony were great fun, my only gripe was that after a full day of working the show in an uncomfortable outfit- I may have gotten a bit snippy with people (mostly my ever loving and patient husband). Plus actual industry parties with big wigs and editors and old comics guard tend to make me nervous. This is why I don't typically do afterparties. I'm much more comfortable socializing in a 'work' setting like my table.
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| Phil and I at the Harvey Awards dinner |
**And excitement! They won! Yay!!**
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| Yay! |
Sunday was another crazy day- maybe even crazier than Saturday. So many friends and fans came by to say hello. Baltimore truly is one of my favorite shows of the year. I also have to say a special shout to the Friends of Humanity from the 90's X-Men cartoon cosplayers. I literally laughed so hard I cried when I saw them. And they were IN CHARACTER!!! Shouting 'NO MORE MUTANTS!' in that ridiculous redneck accent from the show. If only they had a Graydon Creed with them in a red suit. It was SO GREAT. You guys have NO IDEA how much my husband and I quote from the X-Men cartoon.
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| IMHO, best cosplay all weekend. I cried laughing. |
And now for an amusing story:
Sunday was a cluster of seeing SO MANY FRIENDS that at one point I think we had about 10+ people from various stations of our lives hanging out around our table. It was exciting to see so many people and when Fenny especially sees someone she loves she explodes with unbridled squealy happiness. There was no doubt for that :45-hour that our table was the place to be. It was such a rag-tag gaggle of cosplayers, pinup girls, tattoo artists and punk rockers hanging out with us and having such a good time enjoying each other's company that we actually had to be SHUSHED by an AA neighbor 5 tables down. Which he did so indignantly we initially thought he was joking. No one could be THAT lame, right? But really- dude is 5 tables down from us on the same side. Clearly we're all having a good time. It's a comic show, not a wake. Instead of coming around front and politely asking Fenny or I like people if we can turn down our volume, he goes around behind 5 other AA tables, pops his head out from behind my vertical banner and hisses at us all to 'stop screaming because he keeps thinking someone is hurt!' Because he thinks he'll have to run over here and give us all mouth-to-mouth? I honestly don't know. Fenny and I initially thought he was kidding, he was being so melodramatic about it. My friend badass tattoo artist Hunter Spanks was like 'Holy shit that dude was SO SERIOUS- and I thought tattoo shows had DRAMA! This is GREAT!' Once our pals started to dissipate and Fenny and I were left alone to our tables I kept noticing every time the dude passed our table he would give us a massive stink eye. To which I, in my DILIGAF best- smile and wave back to him with a 'yeah- stop screaming we're so loud, wokka wokka!' Because if he's going to act like a joke then I'm going to treat him like a joke. Fenny couldn't have been happier- she LIVES for people having a problem with her. She loves it almost as much as praise. And if he actually had the balls to say anything to us afterwards (which he didn't) there were SO MANY WAYS we could have played it. There was the standard 'Really? We thought you were joking!' route- where dude has to admit he is a lamoid who can't handle anyone else having fun. Especially since his table? From the looks of it- NOT so much the place to be. (I think someone might have been jealousssss...) There was also my topical favorite- which was 'Excuse me but are you trying to SILENCE MY FEMALE VOICE?' Because yeah, hot button issue of sexism in comics and at conventions. Ready the pitchforks.
Sunday was a cluster of seeing SO MANY FRIENDS that at one point I think we had about 10+ people from various stations of our lives hanging out around our table. It was exciting to see so many people and when Fenny especially sees someone she loves she explodes with unbridled squealy happiness. There was no doubt for that :45-hour that our table was the place to be. It was such a rag-tag gaggle of cosplayers, pinup girls, tattoo artists and punk rockers hanging out with us and having such a good time enjoying each other's company that we actually had to be SHUSHED by an AA neighbor 5 tables down. Which he did so indignantly we initially thought he was joking. No one could be THAT lame, right? But really- dude is 5 tables down from us on the same side. Clearly we're all having a good time. It's a comic show, not a wake. Instead of coming around front and politely asking Fenny or I like people if we can turn down our volume, he goes around behind 5 other AA tables, pops his head out from behind my vertical banner and hisses at us all to 'stop screaming because he keeps thinking someone is hurt!' Because he thinks he'll have to run over here and give us all mouth-to-mouth? I honestly don't know. Fenny and I initially thought he was kidding, he was being so melodramatic about it. My friend badass tattoo artist Hunter Spanks was like 'Holy shit that dude was SO SERIOUS- and I thought tattoo shows had DRAMA! This is GREAT!' Once our pals started to dissipate and Fenny and I were left alone to our tables I kept noticing every time the dude passed our table he would give us a massive stink eye. To which I, in my DILIGAF best- smile and wave back to him with a 'yeah- stop screaming we're so loud, wokka wokka!' Because if he's going to act like a joke then I'm going to treat him like a joke. Fenny couldn't have been happier- she LIVES for people having a problem with her. She loves it almost as much as praise. And if he actually had the balls to say anything to us afterwards (which he didn't) there were SO MANY WAYS we could have played it. There was the standard 'Really? We thought you were joking!' route- where dude has to admit he is a lamoid who can't handle anyone else having fun. Especially since his table? From the looks of it- NOT so much the place to be. (I think someone might have been jealousssss...) There was also my topical favorite- which was 'Excuse me but are you trying to SILENCE MY FEMALE VOICE?' Because yeah, hot button issue of sexism in comics and at conventions. Ready the pitchforks.
Overall, it reminded me way too much of this episode of
Always Sunny in Philadelphia:
Always Sunny in Philadelphia:
Either way, that dude was lame and we are awesome.
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