So How Was My Free Comic Book Day?

I got a speeding ticket and cracked the face of my Razr phone.

It was fantastic.

Yeah, I did get tagged for driving a little over the speed limit on my way to the signing in Lima. And I dropped my phone putting a couple of spider web (ironic, no?) fractures in the plastic plate in front of the display. And with that being said, it was still fantastic.

I did three radio appearances the day before, and spent most of the day in perpetual motion. I managed to get most of my client work done and be off to see Spider-Man 3. I’ll write more about that i another post.

Anyway, Marc at Alter-Ego in Lima, Ohio invited me to his store to participate in a Free Comic Book Day event. He treated me like I was a far bigger name than I am. Got me a hotel, covered my meals, and everything else I could want. He sent someone to the hotel to pick me up. Heck, I bet you that if I asked him to have a Starbucks’ skim no-whip mocha waiting for me at the signing table, it would have been there with a cardboard sleeve around it.

I got there a little before the store opened at 10:00 and there was already a line. A line, in front of a comic shop. It was a glorious site.

I set up, people came into the store, and I started signing and doing free sketches at 10:00am.

Then it was 4:00pm.

Seriously, it was that quick. Six hours of drawing and talking and signing. Six hours with one two minute bathroom break and occasional bites of the Cupie’s burger in my left hand as I drew with my right. Six. Hours.

And I never felt tired.

I do caricature gigs all the time. After four hours of that, I start to fade a bit. Six hours is close to insane. Yet not this time.

I think it was the people. Shortly after I got there, a camera crew from the NBC affiliate came in and asked me some on camera questions. One of them was “How does it make you feel to see all these people?”

“Scared. Thats a lot of people.”

I shouldn’t have been. To a person, they were all great to talk to and to draw for. I met kids and adults. People interested in becoming artists and people who didn’t really read comics. My friend Sarah surprised me and came by for the event, and I thanked her by letting her work my table so I could draw more.

And boy did I draw. Venom was the most popular, followed by Spider-Man and Catwoman. I drew a couple Things, a few Batmans, and a couple of Abby and Marks. One person asked for my favorite character, so I hope he likes his picture of Firestorm. No one wanted Aquaman, though.

I signed a couple hundred issues of Love and Capes, I figure. And I chatted constantly, I gave people advice on becoming cartoonists, my theories on women, and even singing songs from the Buffy musical. Seriously. It was just six of the best hours evet.

Now, I fully realize they weren’t all there to see me. Very few of them were. They were there for the Art Monkey, the guy who did drawings, not the creator of Love and Capes. I’m fine with that and it was still a blast.

Some of them must have liked the free book though, because I sold a good number of issues #1-3, and even a couple Raider trades.

I haven’t had a chance to check in with Comic Heaven or the Lake County Captains to see how their respective events went. As soon as I find that out, I’ll let you know.