Convention Report – C2E2 2012
Ladies and gents, I’m happy to announce another successful C2E2 show occurred this past weekend in Chicago. The people at Reed outdid themselves yet again, with some killer sales and awesome staffers putting together one of the fastest growing shows in Chicago.
With that said, let’s dive right into the con report:
THURSDAY:
Even though the show didn’t start this day, my friends who were attending the con arrived that night. After getting out of the office I met up with Scott (my web guy, and a great friend) and headed off to pick up a table for Joe and Phil (www.digitalpimpsonline.com), since they were flying in from another state. We also went to order pizza. My phone wouldn’t stop blowing up with text messages and phone calls, as everyone was looking to get unpacked and relax. Plus, I had promised them food. 😉
Eventually Russell Lissau (Strawberry Shortcake) and Lora Innes (The Dreamer) showed up, followed by Alan Evans (www.rivalangels.com) and Joe and Phil.
Everyone showed up, drinks and laughs were had, it was a full house for sure. I set everyone up with sleeping arrangements (I’m happy to say with 6 house guests, no one had to sleep on the floor), and we all headed off to bed. The next day would be an early one, since we all needed to set up our booths and tables.
FRIDAY:
An early morning greeted us on the other side of our pillows, followed by packing up the cars and hi-tailing it over to the convention center. Reading with Pictures was the booth Russell and I were running – volunteering our time to help out the organization. Russ had a few issues of Strawberry Shortcake, and I had a brand new Albert the Alien story. Additionally, we were both selling RWP books and promoting the recently announced Kickstarter campaign.
The day started off with heavy traffic, took a dip in activity, and then finished strong. Throughout the day I kept running around the floor, taking advantage of the professional hours to say hi to some comic friends I know (and only get to see at shows like this), and prepping for the live RWP reading we would be doing on Sunday.
Sales seemed to be mirrored by everyone on Friday, with that last minute rush helping quite a bit. Albert sold extremely well, especially for the premiere at a larger show like this – which tends to be dominated by licensed characters.
After the show ended, the group organized and headed to my favorite sushi place in the city. Located a few miles away from the convention center, Niu offers a variety of Asian Fusion options – so there’s a little something for everyone. We were joined by Comfort Love and Adam Withers (Rainbow in the Dark), Byran L Glass (Mice Templar), and a few additional new friends we met that night. Overall the night was fantastic, with the company being top notch. The food never disappoints at this place, and we drank and laughed late into the night.
Eventually, however, the evening had to come to an end and we headed back to the apartment where we continued the party. With another early morning around the corner, however, it was quickly time to call it a night.
SATURDAY:
We got up early and went to the post office to pick up a package that Lora’s husband sent to the apartment. Unfortunately, since my name’s still not on the directory yet, mail tends to have some difficulty finding me. Lora and I walked to the place (after grabbing a doughnut from Dinkles, which Beth was kind enough to buy for everyone), and waited for like 30 minutes before an announcement came over the intercom saying “Louise, your break is over.” Suddenly, someone was able to wait on us.
What kind of person takes a break at 8am on a Saturday, I ask you? At least Lora and I got a chance to hang out a little, which was nice.
After getting the package, we headed out to the show floor and arrived just as the doors were opening. Thankfully, setting up the second day is much easier than the first, when you’re trying to figure out where everything goes. Sales on Saturday for Albert were not as strong as Friday, but RWP sold like hot cakes. Russ even sold through most of his Strawberry Shortcake stock. The day was solid wall-to-wall traffic. Thankfully, our table was right next to a 5 hour energy drink booth, in case we needed a pick-me-up at any point in time.
Beth attended the show on Saturday as well, disappearing for most of the day. She tells me she spent most of it in a corner playing Plants vs Zombies, but I don’t know that I believe her. There was way too much cool art in artist alley to check out to play video games. And Beth has an eye for cool art stuff.
After the show the group split up for dinner. Knowing I had a pile of work at home (and was exhausted), I headed back to the apartment with Russ, Scott, and Beth. We went to a local restaurant with southern comfort food, and then went to an ice cream place for a tasty treat before heading home. Once there, we popped in Spaceballs (How many @$$holes! do we have on this ship, anyhow?) and laughed our exhausted butts off. Eventually the rest of the group returned, and we drank and socialized until much later than we should have. However, it was a fun final night together before our last day of the show.
SUNDAY:
Our last day at the show saw a later get up time (for me, at least) since everyone was pretty much exhausted. We grabbed what was left of the pizza and doughnuts and headed to the show (after some minor car issues involving the need to jump the battery). Sunday was kids day, and we sold books like crazy fiends. Around 11:15am was the live reading for RWP. I was joined by Beth and Scott for the reading, and we headed over to the large stage. Our crowd started off at around 30 people, and ended with about 150 people. We had some kids come up on the stage to volunteer their reading skills for a chance to win a copy of the anthology signed by all of the contributors at the show. We had some really brave kids come up on that stage, hold a mic, and read some of our funny books – but the kids were fearless, and did an awesome job.
After the reading, we went back to the table and spent the rest of the time selling through as much of our remaining stock as possible before the end of the day. I sold through most of my Albert books (about half of my stock), and we knocked out several kickstarter packages for C2E2 attendees. Overall, Russ and I did a lot of business at the show and had a great time doing it.
After the show ended we said our goodbyes, and parted ways. Beth and I went home, made some dinner, and watched some True Grit and How I Met Your Mother before hitting the hay.
Overall, C2E2 is a great show filled with celebrity comic creators (and celebrities), and a fun venue through which to premiere a new book. Always a great time hanging out with my comic creator friends and meeting new people and fans at a show like this, and I’m looking forward to the next one soon!
