Fort Collins Comic Con

Last Friday Monika and I headed up to Fort Collins to attend their first ever Comic Con. It was only a one day event on Saturday but we were asked if we could set up our booth the night before so we headed up north and spent the night with one of Monika's friends.

We were both pretty tired as we drove up to Fort Collins but we found the event center okay and headed in to set up. The whole event was held in a big gymnasium with one of those indoor tracks running around the top of it. I had a bit of a high school gym class flash back but I managed to keep it to myself. The table we were assigned was right next to a runway and PA loudspeaker set-up. I didn't think anything of it at the time but I wish I had. I might have asked to move right then and there.

We did a pretty quick set up of the table and backdrop and called it a night. We had a late dinner and headed over to Monika's friend Anne's house to spend the night.

I always have a hard time sleeping anywhere new so I don't think I fell asleep until around 3am or so. I guess that is normal for me but I was hoping with how tired I was it might have been easier to sleep. The alarm came all too soon at 6:30am and we were up and ready to go.

Because the convention was only a one day event the coordinator's scheduled it from 8am until 8pm. That is one looooong day to be sitting behind a table trying to hock your wears. And, it didn't help that I hadn't slept well the previous two nights.

Things started slow and I didn't even have my first sale until 11am. There were a lot of people in costumes walking around and, because we were right next to the stage, I had a good view of all the costume contests. In fact, once people got off the stage they all gathered right in front of my booth. That was alright but what quickly drove me nuts was how loud they had this PA cranked up to talk to the crowd through out the day. And we were right next to the speaker! It felt like some sort of torture every time this one certain guy with a booming voice jumped on the microphone. We asked if they could turn it down or if he could not yell into the mic but that didn't help. By the end of the day both Monika and I were a bit shell shocked and twitched every time anyone got on the PA.

Other than that things went well. We met some new people and got to catch up with some old friends and I even sold a few books here and there. It was a long long day and I'm not sure if I am in a rush to do it again. The business side of me thinks it might have been too much work to earn how much money we brought in. But the people we met and talked to made it fun so I guess I should turn off my business head sometimes.

I also got to do a bunch of sketches for people and here are a few photos I took of them before I gave them to their new owners.

Oh, and my favorite costume out of all the people I saw there? It had to be the Latino man who reminded me of Guillermo from The Jimmy Kimmel show wearing an orange and blue Denver Broncos Iron Man suit. Seeing that guy made my day and definitely made the trip worth while.

We got back home safely Saturday night and had some ice cream before passing out while watching the beginning of Kill Bill Part One. Tonight I get to see how the first part ends!

Enjoy the art!