CON!!
Of course, CON!! must be yelled in your best, William Shatner, Wrath of Khan voice in order for the total effect to be felt.
Anyway, yes, I spent Friday and Saturday working for the Silver Snail at the annual Canadian National Comic Expo (or whatever they're calling it now) in order to pay for that nasty comic book habit I have. This works out wonderfully for me, since I've managed to pair down what I'm reading, working two days at the con generally gives me enough credit at the store for the entire year. Yay!
Friday starts bright and early at 8am to set up. This year, we had a booth double the size of the ones in previous years. I kid you not when I say we were probably the largest retail booth at the entire con. I work the comic book side (I refuse to do the toys, things get crazy over there), so my day is spent lugging around and arranging the 150 or so comic book boxes we've brought with us. Somehow I manage every year to forget how heavy those damn things get after awhile. But, we get them arranged, get the expensive silver-aged wall books out, (with a break while we all ohh and ahh over various books, especially the Amazing Spider-Man #1, which is priced for the low, low bargain of 10 grand) and I unpacked and arranged all the graphic novels this year. Which is usually what I ended up looking after; since I unpacked 'em, I know exactly what we have on hand. Plus, this keeps me down towards the end of the alphabet, and everyone's agreed that I know the X-Men better than just about everyone else there and can answer all the kids' questions about them.
We finished setting up by about 3pm, which gave me just enough time to go wash my face and change my clothes and look somewhat presentable before they let the hoardes in. It also gave me enough time to go get my lovely hardcover edition of Green Lantern/Green Arrow: Hard Travelling Heroes signed by the artist, Neal Adams, once again before they let the hoardes in. Mr. Adams was a very nice man, and we chatted for a few minutes about how much fun it is to draw Batman because he never gets tired of drawing that big, awesome cape. Nifty :) Neal Adams was actually the only person signing at the con that really interested me. I had no desire to wait forever in a line up to get Michael Turner to sign something for me. He draws nice cheesecake I suppose, but really, Big Barda, Wonder Woman and Supergirl should not all basically look the same.
It was a nice day overall, one of my cousins gets a table at the con every year to sell his own wares, so he dropped by a couple of times, as did my dear friends who were over in the gaming section, demoing Shadowfist. We even had an honest-to-goodness Manga fan working with us, which lessened the annoyance I usually feel for the manga/anime crowd considerably, since I didn't have to deal with them this year :) But by the time 10pm rolled around and the con closed for the day, I was dead on my feet and just wanted to go home.
Saturday starts at the reasonable hour of 9am, so armed with a muffin and some tea from the Horton's, we quickly set a few things out, and once again waited for the hoardes to be let in. Saturday was IN SANE. There were soooo many people and as we were one of the only booths accepting credit cards and debit, things were just flying off the shelves. It never ceases to amaze me that the graphic novels and trades that sell the best every year are still the ones considered classics, or well, even canon in comic books. Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns, V for Vendetta, Batman: Year One, to be joined by 'recent' classics such as Batman: Long Halloween and Kingdom Come. We sold out of Kingdom Come on the first day.
By the end of Saturday, I wished I couldn't feel my feet anymore, they hurt so much. I didn't even really get a chance to wander around the con at all, but then, considering I have credit and a discount at the Snail, it doesn't really make much sense for me to buy comic books anywhere else. Despite my complaints, I do have a good time working at the con every year. It becomes a bit of a reunion for all us ex-Snail employees and its nice to see people I really only see once a year at the con.
And now I can go spend, spend, spend at the Snail again. Whoohoo!!
Anyway, yes, I spent Friday and Saturday working for the Silver Snail at the annual Canadian National Comic Expo (or whatever they're calling it now) in order to pay for that nasty comic book habit I have. This works out wonderfully for me, since I've managed to pair down what I'm reading, working two days at the con generally gives me enough credit at the store for the entire year. Yay!
Friday starts bright and early at 8am to set up. This year, we had a booth double the size of the ones in previous years. I kid you not when I say we were probably the largest retail booth at the entire con. I work the comic book side (I refuse to do the toys, things get crazy over there), so my day is spent lugging around and arranging the 150 or so comic book boxes we've brought with us. Somehow I manage every year to forget how heavy those damn things get after awhile. But, we get them arranged, get the expensive silver-aged wall books out, (with a break while we all ohh and ahh over various books, especially the Amazing Spider-Man #1, which is priced for the low, low bargain of 10 grand) and I unpacked and arranged all the graphic novels this year. Which is usually what I ended up looking after; since I unpacked 'em, I know exactly what we have on hand. Plus, this keeps me down towards the end of the alphabet, and everyone's agreed that I know the X-Men better than just about everyone else there and can answer all the kids' questions about them.
We finished setting up by about 3pm, which gave me just enough time to go wash my face and change my clothes and look somewhat presentable before they let the hoardes in. It also gave me enough time to go get my lovely hardcover edition of Green Lantern/Green Arrow: Hard Travelling Heroes signed by the artist, Neal Adams, once again before they let the hoardes in. Mr. Adams was a very nice man, and we chatted for a few minutes about how much fun it is to draw Batman because he never gets tired of drawing that big, awesome cape. Nifty :) Neal Adams was actually the only person signing at the con that really interested me. I had no desire to wait forever in a line up to get Michael Turner to sign something for me. He draws nice cheesecake I suppose, but really, Big Barda, Wonder Woman and Supergirl should not all basically look the same.
It was a nice day overall, one of my cousins gets a table at the con every year to sell his own wares, so he dropped by a couple of times, as did my dear friends who were over in the gaming section, demoing Shadowfist. We even had an honest-to-goodness Manga fan working with us, which lessened the annoyance I usually feel for the manga/anime crowd considerably, since I didn't have to deal with them this year :) But by the time 10pm rolled around and the con closed for the day, I was dead on my feet and just wanted to go home.
Saturday starts at the reasonable hour of 9am, so armed with a muffin and some tea from the Horton's, we quickly set a few things out, and once again waited for the hoardes to be let in. Saturday was IN SANE. There were soooo many people and as we were one of the only booths accepting credit cards and debit, things were just flying off the shelves. It never ceases to amaze me that the graphic novels and trades that sell the best every year are still the ones considered classics, or well, even canon in comic books. Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns, V for Vendetta, Batman: Year One, to be joined by 'recent' classics such as Batman: Long Halloween and Kingdom Come. We sold out of Kingdom Come on the first day.
By the end of Saturday, I wished I couldn't feel my feet anymore, they hurt so much. I didn't even really get a chance to wander around the con at all, but then, considering I have credit and a discount at the Snail, it doesn't really make much sense for me to buy comic books anywhere else. Despite my complaints, I do have a good time working at the con every year. It becomes a bit of a reunion for all us ex-Snail employees and its nice to see people I really only see once a year at the con.
And now I can go spend, spend, spend at the Snail again. Whoohoo!!