My souvenir print for Heroes Con, 2015.

Friends and lovers of comic books. Tomorrow, King: The Phantom #3 comes out in finer comic shops everywhere. Brian Clevinger wrote it, Myself and Scott Godlewski​ drew it, Robt L. Snyder colored it and Simon Bowland lettered it. I was very pleased to have Scott help me out on it, it is honestly a career highlight. Pages will go on sale tomorrow, contact me if there are any specific ones you want. The cover is by Declan Shalvey​ http://www.comicvine.com/articles/exclusive-extended-preview-king-the-phantom-3/1100-152458/

I had a great week in D.C. visiting old friends and being a tourist. Just what I needed as deadlines come barreling down my throat. The last three days of my trip were spent at Awesome Con D.C. The show floor itself was very big and nicely spaced with big 8 foot tables, and the convention floor was very cold, which is great and much better than the alternative. As far as business went it was another very disappointing show. Possibly because the floor was so large it felt a little slow all weekend long. It never felt packed at all. I have seen other creators post about it being a good show for them, but for where I was placed, it was kind of a no-man’s land. Several factors play into why convention goers don’t always support the attendees and I think the cost of the show is a major one. Parking in downtown D.C. is very expensive and the Metro is a great alternative, but still costs some money. Admission prices are a major issue in my opinion across the board of conventions. $30-40 is the average daily ticket price at most big shows. Add that to transportation and the attendee is out of pocket probably $40-50 before setting foot on the con floor. All that, plus a lack of signage and advertising around the city led to very poor sales for myself, personally. I was also placed in artist alley far away from the other professional artists. My neighbors were mostly crafters and hobbyists. I do take blame on myself as well as I had a paired down set-up and no show-specific items.

Still, it was an experience and I’m already very much looking forward to Heroes Con in Charlotte in three weeks. That show has already proven itself to be welcoming and profitable. Here are a couple commissions I did this past weekend.

I won’t be at the show (for the first time in about 8 years) as I am doing Awesome Con in D.C. that same weekend. I was asked by a commissioner to still do one of my souvenir prints for the show, so here it is. If you want to pre-order one for pick up at Phoenix Comicon, email me at hurricanekids@gmail.com

Fury Road was everything I wanted it to be. Every writer who wants to write action adventure fiction of any kind should see it. The perfect amount of story to make you care about the characters without shoving multiple useless plot lines down your throat. Too much of modern comics, television and movies is so overly written writers forget that there are other ways to tell stories. Everyone should go see it and reward this type of filmmaking.

I’ve been asked by a couple people if I was taking pre-show commissions for Awesome Con D.C. and Heroes, and the short answer is yes, but I have to keep them fairly limited as my work load on The Phantom, Doc Unknown and Project A.V. are keeping me at the table non-stop. Here’s the info and you can email me with any questions.

Keep an eye out for King: The Phantom #2 from Dynamite Entertainment.

The cover by Chip Zdarsky does not reflect it, but I drew 15 pages in this issue and am currently penciling issue #3. I’m really happy that I was able to jump in and help out on this book and I’m looking forward to being part of the team for the rest of the mini-series. Also, the kickstarter for Doc Unknown is in it’s last day and we met our goal, so I will be starting on volume three next week, expect that in late September. I also updated my convention schedule (in the Upcoming Appearances list on the right) and I’m excited to visit D.C., Charlotte, and San Antonio for the first time this year.

It seemed like for many people I know personally and through social media, 2014 was a shit year. It was for me as well for the most part, although I was fortunate enough to have my family healthy and my wife took huge steps in the forward direction for her career. My grandmother passed early in 2014 and that was hard, but she led a full life and was at peace in the end. Career wise I had another iffy year. Outside of Doc Unknown Vol.2 coming out in the first half of the year, I had a fairly sporadic and uneventful year in terms of releases. In positive areas, I made a conscious decision to raise my page rates and value my work more, and that has paid off well. I was able to hang out with Stuart and Kathryn Immonen and that was a highlight for sure. They are a great example of a positive relationship and being able to watch Stuart work and chat with him will always be a career highlight. We had another great ACME event, and I’m very proud of the Arizona Comic Mini Expo and what is being built with that.

2015 will start out with my first work for IDW, some short anthology work in Imaginary Drugs Vol.1. I’ve lined up some small work at another publisher I have never worked with and I’m currently waiting to hear back on some pitches that I hope will take off. Doc Unknown Vol.3 should be coming out in the late summer/early fall and that is the volume I have been looking forward to for working on for over a year. 2015 also marks my ten year anniversary of deciding to make a run at a life working in comics, and it will mark the start of my 5th year doing it full-time. I’m planning and hoping for it to pay off with some higher profile work with people and companies I respect. So let’s keep chugging along and see what happens. Thanks to everyone who hired me for commission work and to clients who allowed me to feed my kids and do this for another year.

I like to break down my conventions in detail so I know how to plan out for the future. I enjoy cons when I can speak with educated attendees about art, comics and creators, and I also enjoy meeting new creators and talking with friends I only see at these shows. I also do shows as an income supplement and a way to travel. Now that my 2014 shows are over, I broke down my numbers and really tried to focus on what shows were people spending the most per individual. Not which shows had the biggest numbers, but which shows had the most creator-supportive fans. I had to approximate attendance numbers for ACME (The Arizona Comic Mini Expo), ACE! and Staple! so those figures are skewed but are fairly accurate in my estimation, and if anything I skewed towards a smaller attendee number.

First off, going strictly off profit, the order is Phoenix Comic-Con, Staple!, Tucson Comic-Con, Albuquerque Comic Expo and ACME. Costs varied for each show but my gross income is almost identical but switch Albuquerque and Tucson, though the difference is only about $25.

The number I found interesting, but not unexpected, was the dollar amount spent per attendee. Again, using some estimated numbers, the order for that was; ACME, Tucson Comic-Con, Staple!, ACE!, and Phoenix Comic-Con. So I tend to do better per attendee at smaller shows. Phoenix Comic-Con is the anamoly where the massive amount of people equal a greater total profit. For me, less attendees equals less “observers”, those who walk around and look, with no intention of buying, and also less cosplayers and media guest fans, both crowds who do not tend to support my work. The shows I had the highest dollar amount per attendee both had next to zero cosplayers and absolutely no media guests. The top three shows in this category had no media guests at all. It would be interesting to me see if other creators had similar experiences.

I also have to mention that I was a guest at all these shows this year, so that mitigates costs involved. All involved road travel and one involved hotel fees. I’m looking forward to next year already, with only two shows lined up as of now. ACME4 is in May and I have my first ever east coast convention appearance next summer at a show I have wanted to do for years.

Tucson Comic-Con is next weekend and here is some of the swag I will have for sale. The TCC Souvenir print is only $10 as is the 11×17 Rocket print & the Deadpool print. I also have $5 5×7 prints of Wonder Woman and Deadpool, Vols. 1 & 2 of Doc Unknown are $12 each and VERY limited. I’ll also be doing $20 con sketches and $60 11×17 commissions.