Monday's Free Comic Book Day-inspired comic book panel went off, if I do say, without a hitch. There were comics, presentations, door prizes and - oh yeah! - free chicken nuggets. I'm not sure what more you could have asked for. I suppose that last statement was hyperbolic.
There ended up being around 75 people, not including comic store workers or comic creators, at the New Hanover County public library for the two-hour presentation. A lot of that time was spent listening to illustrator Tom Fleming recount his career, which was really interesting. Tom's really had a varied career, designing paint cans, costumes for World Wresting Federation characters, comic book playing cards and Cracked magazine covers, to name a few. The stories he told went beyond just a list of what he's done - I think everyone there was interested in hearing more.
I gave a 15-minute presentation after Tom was finished, and I talked about writing for comics and questions I hear every so often - a lot of it was based on an article I recently wrote for the Brownsville Telegraph - and I think that it went over well. A few of my jokes (okay, most of them) fell flat, which was actually pretty funny in itself, but I heard good things about it afterwards, so I imagine that at least a few people took something from it.
After the presentations, those there from Fanboy Comics - sponsor for the event - held a raffle to benefit the creation of a graphic novel section in the library, and then chicken...glorious, delicious chicken. If you haven't been to a Chick-Fil-A yet, do yourself a favor and go (RIGHT NOW)! They had chicken nuggets and chicken salad sandwiches, and I had...let's say more than my share. Delicious.
The event ended with several local creators selling and signing books. I sold a few issues of Teddy and the Yeti - someone even came by to buy a whole set - and talked with a number of people about T&Y and comics in general. In the picture above, you can see me talking to a young comic fan and his mom. She looked at the books and said "Wow! [Young child], would you like me to buy you one of these books?" very enthusiastically. The kid hung his head, frowned and said "NO!" Oh well, maybe next time, fella.
In my opinion, the turnout was great, and I can't thank the folks at Fanboy Comics enough for sponsoring the event. Certainly, it was nice to make people aware of Teddy and the Yeti (which I mentioned during my presentation more than a few times), but in general it was just nice to get to talk comics with a few dozen fans like myself. I even had a couple friends show up unexpectedly to hear my talk, which I appreciate to no end. There was talk of putting together a comic creating workshop for some of the area kids, which would be lots of fun. I'm sure it'd go off without a hitch - "hey kids, who here likes Teddy and the Yeti?" Kids: "BOOOO!" Me: "What the hell is wrong with you?!?" Good times, good times.
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