NOLA Comic-Con

So the first ever New Orleans Comic-Con is in the bag. How did it go you ask? It was freaking awesome! Before I even get started here, I feel a HUGE thanks should be sent the way of Ronnie of Media Underground Comics who put this thing together. Since we entered "the scene" a month ago, Media Underground have been one of the biggest supporters of our stuff. Ronnie, Jason and Beth took our book at face value and took off with us from the get go and helped promote us without us having to ask them for their help. These guys are now and will always be near and dear to the Mass Casualty hearts. If you like comic books, these folks are the ones who give EVERYTHING to do their part in keeping the comic world spinning. They deserve all of our thanks as both fans and creators so hit them up sometime and say thanks (preferably in the form of buying stuff from them)! Although the New Orleans market is not in the same leagues as LA, New york, Chicago and the bigger cities, the folks at Media Underground have one great store and in my opinion are on the same page as a Golden Apple. We love you guys and will always be indebted to you for your support of what we do and all that you do for the comic retail world.

So the NOLA Comic-Con. A great venue that was a huge success and I have no doubt that this was the first of many years to come. There was a great turnout at the show as well. With Jazz Fest in town, in addition to the NFL Draft and the Zurich Classic in town, I found myself amazed at not only the turnout, but also the level of zeal that the fans and other vendors showed. There was a great energy that got stronger and stronger as the day went on, which I was really impressed with. Sean and I were at last years Comic-Con in San Diego and I swear it felt the same today. it was like the San Diego show  had been shrunk down into one room and consolidated into one day...truly awesome! I put in my request to Ronnie that he go with a multiple day show for next year and apparently I wasn't the only one who put in that request. Let's hope that it happens next year. I know we at Mass Casualty can't wait for the 2010 NOLA con man!

Our day consisted on a great day of sales for Hungry for Stink and the Barely Rotten Girls merch. We sold out of books by the end of the day and made a huge dent in the calendars. It felt amazing to pass the 200 issues sold mark with the book being an unknown and only out for a month. I feel like we got a great group of new fans on board and people seemed to dig what we're doing. The fact that these were hard rolling comic book fans make that nearly tear inducing on the levels of special things we've experienced thus far. On a floor surrounded by the masterpieces in comics, and in such company as Derec Donovan, John Dell, Robby Musso and Tim Lattie, the fact that we sold a single book was a hell of an accomplishment for us. The fact that we sold out of our initial printing was really something special for us. The great guys of the 2 in 1 Showcase podcast invited us to be a part of their show from the con and we had a blast rapping with those dudes. Bill and Eddie (the makeup masters of the Barely Rotten Girls) turned our girl Dahlia into her BRG persona and the fans really dug that. Then Bill and Eddie spent the rest of the day turning kids and other fans into miniature zombies and demonstrating special FX techniques to fans. 

As a comic fan myself, I hit the jackpot myself on what was going to be my main target in San Diego this July. This being some signed work of Alex Ross. Low and behold, I left the con today with a giant Ross print that was hand signed and also a copy of, on of my favorite books, Marvels that had been signed by Alex Ross AND Kurt Busiek! You can bet these bad boys will be on full display in the new Mass Casualty office/war room I'm building at my house. Sean walked out with a freaking Frank Miller signed Ronin. Yeah, get some! I may have to venture and call dumbass on anyone who isn't there next year. The entry was $5 and I would challenge anyone who was there to say it wasn't worth five times that. 

The con had appearances by the always amazing 501st Legion for those Star Wars fans like myself. I saw Rorschach in the house, and several other costumed attendees. Man, all in all it was a kick ass day for me, not only as a comic creator but as a comic fan. As I may have mentioned, I can't f-ing wait for round two next year because I know it is only going to get bigger and better and we had the honor of being there for the beginning. Something I'll wager there'll be a lot of people claiming in the years to come as this thing continues to blow up!

Catch you here soon for my next mental venting.

Jon McCarthy