When I moved out to Los Angeles in 2005, one of the things I was most excited about was San Diego Comic-Con. This was twenty years ago, before all cities had at least one mid-size comic convention. Buffalo didn’t have one, as far as I knew. When I was a kid, my dad took me to the flea market on Sundays. It was an hour outside of town, a perfect opportunity for dad to introduce me to his classic rock favorites. The Beatles, The Stones, Yes, The Who, and Janis Joplin, who he saw live. The music rocked, but the flea market was mostly so boring. The booths contained musty magazines, dusty lamps, and leather chairs with weird spots on them. Every so often, there’d be a booth with longboxes full of comics starring “off-brand” heroes like X-O Manowar or a guy with a few plastic folders of Magic the Gathering cards. That was the closest I got to a “comic-con” growing up, besides occasional trips to Nickel City Comics, our local spandex book emporium.
By the time I got to Los Angeles, I knew the legend of Comic-Con well from the pages of Wizard magazine. Comic publishers! Movie studios! Celebrities! Finally, I’d be among the unwashed masses of nerds. My people.
Those first few years going to SDCC were an absolute blast. The convention hall was full of people, but not overwhelmingly so. Like Disney World in January. I remember going to the TV Funhouse panel starring Robert Smigel as Triumph the Insult Comic Dog making fun of the geeky crowd, very much in Triumph’s wheelhouse. Apparently my wife and I were both in the audience of that same panel prior to our first meeting. Comic-Con was like a black hole for all my friends, professional contacts, and the coolest nerds I knew. We all got sucked us into its gravity. I would go to panels, buy indie comics and cheap animation cels, catch free t-shirts thrown at me, and sneak into parties with open bars thrown by studios to promote long forgotten TV shows. Anyone remember Hulu’s Future Man? I only remember it in party form.
Comic-Con was like a nerdy vacation, but I’d always have a Comic-Con mission of some kind. I was more than a passive nerd. I was an ambitious media professional. So I would seek out particular studios, publishers, editors, and executives, and make it my business to connect with them at the show. One year, I toured the floor with an executive at Starburns to discuss audio fiction ideas, none of which came to pass. Another year, I chatted with editors at a publishing house about tabletop game pitches, none of which came to pass. There was the year I went to Comic-Con dressed as an elephant for a Warner Bros pilot, which the studio rejected. That same year, I met the editor at BOOM! Studios overseeing their Muppet Show comic. (I took off the elephant costume,) I didn’t get to write on that book, but I became close friends with the editor, Paul Morrissey. We went to Gen Con this year and had a grand time. (More on that next week.) My 20 year friendship with Paul has been more enriching than writing for Lou Zealand would have been, which is saying a lot.
After years of attending SDCC as media professionals who mostly were there to have a good time, my wife and I decided to instead come to flip the script and work the show, so we only had a good time occasionally. For many years, Amanda and I tabled as our humor press The Devastator, selling books to passersby at SDCC, along with 10 to 15 other conventions per year. It was fun, but in a different way. We were too tired for parties, too busy for panels, and too broke to shop much, investing all our money back into the business. You know how people say running is “fun?” Running is draining, physically taxing, and often boring, but doing something difficult successfully leaves you with a feeling of accomplishment, which is “fun.” You know. Grown-up fun.
After eight years, The Devastator shut down. Amanda stayed in publishing, working for Lion Forge, Oni Press, and currently Andrews McMeel. She had solid professional reasons to attend SDCC. Her new companies tabled there. She could scout for artists in Artist’s Alley. There was hobnobbing to be done at the Eisner Awards. Her rise as a comics editor in the industry has been an honor to observe and I’m very proud of her.
I remain a proud media professional in the game world. But unlike Amanda, I’ve become less sure over the years as to why I still go. I have clients and colleagues who go to GDC every year. Last year’s Gen Con directly led to the financial success of my Kickstarter for ALL-CARDS. Those shows provide much more for me in terms of business opportunities.
The most fun I had at this year’s Comic-Con wasn’t actually at Comic-Con. It was hanging out poolside at the Marriott next door to the convention center with Amanda’s good friends in the comics industry, who call themselves The Chepitas. I was chatting with Che Greyson, a very talented writer currently helming Absolute Catwoman for DC. She asked me about my day, and I gave her a mealy-mouthed answer about doing whatever. I asked Che about her day. She told me she had very good meetings with executives at Warner Animation. Remembering the name of the person I pitched to there, I asked if she met with Sam Register, now the President of Warner Animation. Che said she hadn’t.
And then a voice boomed at us. “I’m Sam Register!” I turned and sure enough, three pool chairs down was Sam Register. At first, I think he was weirded out to hear his own name from the mouths of strangers. He’s not a public figure exactly. But eventually Sam came over and asked how I knew him. I explained that I pitched him a show nearly 20 years ago when I was working at Warner Bros in their web series department. I told him he rejected the pitch, to which he humorously feigned awkwardness, but I told him I watched the pilot recently – it was the one where I was in the elephant costume – and I assured him he made the right call. I introduced him to Che and the two of them had a nice chat. It was a reminder of who I once was and why I used to be excited to come to Comic-Con.
This year, I felt like I was mostly going to other people’s Comic-Con. I attended Amanda’s panels. (She did awesomely, as always!) I went to Paul’s work dinner. (He’s got nice colleagues!) I met my friend Grant on the floor, who was working a booth. (I watched him sell a shirt!) The crowds felt particularly thick and oppressive. I got shoulder checked multiple times. But I’m not saying I didn’t have a good time. I had fun! I swam, I played a new CCG, and I got sundaes at Ghirardelli’s with The Chepitas. Good memories! But I remember when I used to feel like I was in the driver’s seat for Comic-Con. This time, I felt like a kid in the backseat.
In 2025, I didn’t go to Comic-Con at all, because I thought going to both SDCC and Gen Con would be too much physically and emotionally draining. I was absolutely right, lol. But after last year’s Comic-Con, Amanda said everyone she talked to asked about me. Why wasn’t I there? So this year I went. It was nice seeing so many friends, but 90% of them were from Los Angeles. They were just folks I hadn’t seen in a long time, because that’s what being a middle-aged adult in LA is like. You go to San Diego to visit with friends from LA on their work trip.
Next year, I think I’m going to skip Comic-Con, unless I have some adult business at the show. Instead, I’m going to have a pre-SDCC party and invite everyone who I imagine will be going to the con. We can actually see each other and connect and laugh and not worry about missing a big panel, leaving the booth too long, or being late to a work brunch. And I’ll know exactly why I’m there, because the party will be at the house I live in. If that’s not driver’s seat, I don’t know what is.
🎲 Your Turn: Have you been to a comic convention? Do you like going? What’s your favorite comic show? Mine is TCAF in Toronto, which I’m planning to write a bit about in a few weeks. It’s a magical show that’s free to the public, where they bring in comic artists from around the world. I always come away from TCAF inspired. Anyway, this is supposed to be YOUR turn. Tell me your thoughts about cons! Reply directly to this email or hit the orange button below to leave a comment.
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