Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Ace Kilroy Pin-Up by Neil Vokes
I've gotten Aquaman-centric pin-ups from Neil every year at the All Things Fun Christmas Sale, and I love every one of them, so it occurred to Dan and I why not ask Neil to do one of Ace Kilroy, since monsters are right up his alley? Neil agreed, and the next day handed us this awesome shot of Ace in danger!
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Wizard World Philadelphia 2012 Wrap-Up
We had our Ace Kilroy table set-up, all ready for business by the opening bell of 500pm on Thursday. We had an exclusive print (more on that in a moment), a portfolio featuring the entire first arc, trading cards, coasters, buttons, stickers, bookmarks, t-shirts, mugs, 11x17" broadsheets, lots of cool original art, all flanked by two swell giant-size banners provided by Dan and Kayla O'Connor:
Thursday night was pretty slow, with just a trickle of people walking by. Everyone around us (who were more experienced at attending this particular con) said that was to be expected, and it would of course increase the next day and really kick off on the weekend. Having been to many, many cons, that seemed to make sense to us.
While there was a definite uptick in attendance on Friday, the amount of people walking down our aisle was still fairly paltry, and only a tiny fraction of those people stopped by our table. Dan and I filled the time talking over various ideas concerning Ace Kilroy, both in and outside the strip. We had a great time doing that, while admittedly fretting a bit about what seemed like slow going, business-wise.
Dan had periodic visits from his wife and his cute-as-a-button daughter Ava (who wanted her picture taken with every person in costume, good guy or bad), so I filled some of the downtime taking pics of some of the more dynamic and impressive cosplayers:
Dr. Strange!
Batman!
Supergirl!
Dr. Hunter S. Thompson and The Dude!
Batman Beyond!
Scarlet Witch!
OG Catwoman and Super Friends-style Toyman!
Liberty Belle!
Two Indiana Joneses!
Robin!
Captain/Miss America!
Two Wonder Womans!
Power Girl and Wonder Woman!
Two Supermans!
Black Canary!
The Wonder Twins!
Dr. Doom!
Killer Moth and Deathstroke The Terminator!
Green Arrow and a different Black Canary!
The Wasp, Cyclops, and Storm!
Catwoman (Meow!)
One of many, many Boba Fetts!
And these were just the ones I could get! A bunch more ambled by, but circumstances prevented me getting a pic of them. Sadly, no cosplay Ace Kilroys (yet)...
Some friends of mine stopped by, friends from various portions of my life (in fact, virtually every significant part of my life was represented by someone stopping by, kind of amazing really!), and we made some sales. The free stuff went the most of course, but we eventually sold out of our mugs, tempting me to write SOLD OUT over the mug entry on the price list in big red letters.
Despite the sales, though, it became clear that this show--and pretty much all the Wizard World cons--primarily focused on big time autograph stars, with the comics portion being something of an afterthought. I talked to several awesomely talented artist friends, who expressed the same frustration as I over the lack of interest from the crowd when it came to comics. Clearly, most of them were here to see--and spend their money on--big name guests like William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, Bruce Campbell, with the Artists Alley being something to stroll through just before they left.
But not all was lost! Over the course of the show, Sunday especially, Dan and I made some new friends and got to hang with old ones, which was GREAT! We got a visit from fellow Kubert School alumni Matt Luxich, the first time I think the three of us had been in the same room since around 1990.
I'm generally not a celebrity/autograph gatherer, but when I learned that Kevin Brown, aka Dot.com on 30 Rock was at the show, I made a beeline for his booth and got a pic of the two of us:
Some friends of mine stopped by, friends from various portions of my life (in fact, virtually every significant part of my life was represented by someone stopping by, kind of amazing really!), and we made some sales. The free stuff went the most of course, but we eventually sold out of our mugs, tempting me to write SOLD OUT over the mug entry on the price list in big red letters.
Despite the sales, though, it became clear that this show--and pretty much all the Wizard World cons--primarily focused on big time autograph stars, with the comics portion being something of an afterthought. I talked to several awesomely talented artist friends, who expressed the same frustration as I over the lack of interest from the crowd when it came to comics. Clearly, most of them were here to see--and spend their money on--big name guests like William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, Bruce Campbell, with the Artists Alley being something to stroll through just before they left.
But not all was lost! Over the course of the show, Sunday especially, Dan and I made some new friends and got to hang with old ones, which was GREAT! We got a visit from fellow Kubert School alumni Matt Luxich, the first time I think the three of us had been in the same room since around 1990.
I'm generally not a celebrity/autograph gatherer, but when I learned that Kevin Brown, aka Dot.com on 30 Rock was at the show, I made a beeline for his booth and got a pic of the two of us:
Doug was manning the camera, and I literally jumped for joy after I was out of Kevin's eyeline, lest I embarrass myself (further). I absolutely love 30 Rock, and getting to tell one of the cast that directly felt really good. Kevin could not have been nicer, and I'm proud to say that night we became friends on Facebook!
One of the cooler parts of watching people come by our table and check out the Ace Kilroy stuff was seeing the reaction of kids. A lot of kids took the free pins and bookmarks, with one parent asking me how appropriate Ace Kilroy is for kids. I said if they let them watch Raiders of the Lost Ark, they can probably handle Ace. The Mom in question said they'd check the strip out when they got home, with one of her kids already in Nagging Mode about wanting not to be deprived of the strip (reminds me of my own childhood, just swap out cable TV for the internet). One of our generous Kickstarter contributors and Ace's Allies members, Dan Fraga, brought his delightful kids Simon and Beatrice, who were all-too-happy to brand themselves Ace Kilroy fans via the free pins:
Overall, while we had a good time, Dan and I came away with the knowledge that celebrity/pop-culture-driven cons like Wizard World are probably not the best venue for getting attention for Ace Kilroy; cons more focused on comic books like the Baltimore Comic Con and SPX are probably better uses for our time and efforts. We made plans to scope out a con attendance schedule for the second half of 2012 and 2013, so we can get Ace Kilroy in the right place(s) at the right time(s). Onward and upward, boys and girls!
One final thing: we did leave the con with a lot of unsold copies of our exclusive print, a 10x14" signed color poster of Ace battling a heretofore-unseen monster:
Since these were meant to be exclusive to the show, and are branded as such, we don't have a lot of use for them after the end of the con. So we thought we'd offer them to anyone who couldn't attend the show via the blog!
You can order them one of two ways: if you are already a member of Ace's Allies, you can get a signed print mailed to you for just $5.00 ppd:
Alternately, if you'd like to take the opportunity to join Ace's Allies now, you can do so for the regular low, low rate of $1.60 a month for one year. You will receive all the regular benefits (exclusive AA membership button, being permanently listed on the AA page, and more) PLUS A COPY OF THE SIGNED PRINT, FREE! This offer is only good for the month of June, SO DON'T DELAY!
One of the cooler parts of watching people come by our table and check out the Ace Kilroy stuff was seeing the reaction of kids. A lot of kids took the free pins and bookmarks, with one parent asking me how appropriate Ace Kilroy is for kids. I said if they let them watch Raiders of the Lost Ark, they can probably handle Ace. The Mom in question said they'd check the strip out when they got home, with one of her kids already in Nagging Mode about wanting not to be deprived of the strip (reminds me of my own childhood, just swap out cable TV for the internet). One of our generous Kickstarter contributors and Ace's Allies members, Dan Fraga, brought his delightful kids Simon and Beatrice, who were all-too-happy to brand themselves Ace Kilroy fans via the free pins:
One final thing: we did leave the con with a lot of unsold copies of our exclusive print, a 10x14" signed color poster of Ace battling a heretofore-unseen monster:
You can order them one of two ways: if you are already a member of Ace's Allies, you can get a signed print mailed to you for just $5.00 ppd:
Alternately, if you'd like to take the opportunity to join Ace's Allies now, you can do so for the regular low, low rate of $1.60 a month for one year. You will receive all the regular benefits (exclusive AA membership button, being permanently listed on the AA page, and more) PLUS A COPY OF THE SIGNED PRINT, FREE! This offer is only good for the month of June, SO DON'T DELAY!
Monday, June 4, 2012
Ace Kilroy Pin-Up by Dan Parent
So we thought, wouldn't it be fun to see ol' Ace as if he lived in the Archie universe? I gave Dan some reference on Thursday night and the next morning he handed us this dandy piece of Ace as if he lived in Riverdale! We loved it!
Come to think of it, Archie has met The Punisher, so could an actual team-up with Ace Kilroy be on the horizon? Stay tuned!
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