First, a big, hearty welcome to the many folks who signed up for this newsletter at Los Angeles Comic Con. I always love hearing from readers, especially new ones, so please feel free to hit me up in the comments or by replying to this email. It’ll also help cement you in my memory!
Next, if you’re one of the unfortunate souls who stopped by after I had already sold out of BEEF BROS, Stoned Master, The Comic Book Story of Professional Wrestling and/or No One Left to Fight vol. 1, you can order all those books and more from my pals at Collector’s Paradise!
As evidenced by all those sell outs, I had a big weekend for moving books, which, of course, is always gratifying. However, what’s been even more exciting is the response to Jed Dougherty (my Savage Hearts cocreator) and my next book.
The new creator-owned series, which we landed at my dream publisher, hasn’t been announced but Jed had a stack of original art and was absolutely mobbed by people trying to get a sneak peek at the hottest comic of 2024. How well received was it? People actually bought pages from it, despite the fact that it doesn’t even exist yet! If that’s not a ringing endorsement of the type of intricate, deliberate work that Jed is doing, I don’t know what is.
But as much as I appreciate great sales and enthusiasm for the next thing, what I valued most about Los Angeles Comic Con was seeing so many fellow creators and readers, many of whom I’m proud to consider friends. My absolutely fried voice can attest to the fact that I talked with way too many people to list out here but a special thank you to table neighbors Jed Dougherty and David Booher for enduring my relentless jibber jabber, Matt Bors for making the trip down from Canada to hang all weekend, Jason Aaron for stopping by my table and making me feel like a big shot, and, of course, Collector’s Paradise for welcoming me as part of the Creators Court.
Being entirely truthful, I was feeling a little down about doing this convention, but not because of anything related to the show itself; it’s my local show and I’ve loved tabling there for the past three years. Rather, I was having a hard time getting psyched up since it’s been so long since I had new work on the shelves. While I couldn’t possibly be more invested in and excited about Jed and my new book, I was worried that being surrounded by so many people with so many awesome things happening would just make me jealous and/or bummed out. Thankfully, my concerns were completely unfounded.
Once I got behind my table, once people started coming up and checking out the work of myself and my outrageously talented cocreators, I was reminded not only why I was there but why I subject myself to the quite frequently difficult and frustrating task of making comic books: The very people standing in front of my table and reading these words.
Being siloed off, chipping away at something, especially something that people don’t even know exists yet, it’s easy to lose sight of the reason for creating art. For me, it’s not sufficient to just get idiosyncratic, specific thoughts out of my head; I need other people to read them, to engage with them. And Los Angeles Comic Con, like any good comic book convention, was an effective and welcome reminder that there are, in fact, people out there reading and engaging with these things. The widening eyes when people flipped through my books, the enthusiasm with which they decided to buy some, and, my favorite, the excitement of folks who showed up already in possession of my books…I didn’t realize how much I needed it.
There are two obvious reasons for doing comic book conventions: Making money and making fans. At Los Angeles Comic Con, I was blessed to have been successful at both. But the most important thing, the one that has me champing at the bit to get back to work despite being utterly exhausted, is the psychological, emotional, and spiritual nourishment that comes with interacting with other people who are as passionate as I am about the absolute best visual storytelling medium in existence.
Thanks for a great show, for reading my work, for coming up and chitchatting with me, and for reminding me what the point of all this is. I’m already looking forward to seeing you at a convention in 2024.
Aubrey
Savage Hearts is one of my favorites and has been great comfort food to go back to a few times this year. Positively thrilled to see what you and Jed have cooking!
Is that the Forgotten Fantasy book from Sunday Press? I love that collection.. imma have to pull my copy out now...