Superman Homepage

2006 Comic Book News Archives

April 5, 2006: Superman Homepage Emerald City Comic Con Report!

Well, it's two days late, folks, but here's my diary of the Superman Homepage at the Emerald City Comic Con.

In a word, amazing. I had no idea that the Homepage stretched so far, so wide, and so prominently across fandom. From the minute I sat down about two hours before the con started, people who knew this site from the net came by and said hello. It was humbling, it was flattering. It was a blast.

Click "Read More" below to read Neal's complete report.

The first day I met Tony Flores. Walking to the table, I sat down, and had handed to me a mini-comic, one of the mediums favored by cons for their accessibility. They're easy to print, and also a good way to show your stuff around. I was surprised out of my mind to see the image shown here (right).

Yeah! Me! In a comic book! Tony, scripting the book with Jeevn Atwal, has created Lil' Jeewee, a prankster kiddo intent on causing trouble. I'm going to be reviewing it shortly at Cinema Crazed where I putter with non-Superman reviews with Felix Vazquez (also of the Superman Homepage) along with a bunch of the other indie books people sent my way, but until then, check out these preview images:

Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4

The full version of the page featuring the Superman Homepage is page three. Check out more at BrownyWood.com!

The first day was the long day. I got in at 7.00am, the con started, and there was a veritable flood of people. I learned, being a first day man myself, that cons tend to have a whole bunch of people on the first day, and then the second day is slow. I actually saw Bob Shreck and the gentleman from Slave Labor there for portfolio reviews alone and unbothered in the first few minutes of the con, so I got to talk to them about getting out there, finding an artist, and cracking the biz.

The advice was, and is, as ever, make a book, put it out, hand it around, then get lucky. At least, from the writer's side. From the artist's side, it's more BE GOOD! (E.T. style).

I set up the suggestion pad, and the Big Blue Report/SuperTrivia Quiz signup sheet, and immediately started getting signatures. Mostly, though, people who stopped and knew the site were already signed up, which was great.

I also tried peddling my evil wares which you might have seen floating down in a side ad on the side of the site for a few months there. Basically, I self-publish through Lulu, which publishers say is the mark of death but which every author I've met has told me most artists do, so I do it anyway. I'm less about the money, more about getting through to folks. That said, I learned the first day the hard way, selling stuff at a con if it's not instantly collectible or coming out of your famous fingers (mine are basement geek fingers), it doesn't fly. Bottom line, $300 to print and buy the table, $40 in gas, $9 in parking, and, well, yeah, I spent $10 on Silent Forest by my buddy Jake Black, all for a return of approximately sixty bucks in sales.

But that sounds pessimistic. It's not. I actually think the convention was a roaring success. I met SO many people who thanked the Superman Homepage for their work, I DID manage to sell four books, and most people who stopped to peruse the work laughed. I had a ton of great conversations.

A professional who shall not be named gave me a nice glare. Good times.

I realized that I'd need a cane to pull the apathetic in, so I put up a sign that said JIM LEE in front of myself. In parenthesis beneath, in small letters, I wrote (NO, REALLY! HE'S JUST WEARING A NEAL BAILEY SUIT!) per Donnie Darko. That didn't work very well, but I was amused.

I was surprised at how many people wore Superman shirts at the con. A ton of them didn't look twice at the table, but then, that happens a lot. It was easily the most common shirt around. I saw at least four Bizarro shirts, all manner of variants I'd never seen before, and a Solomon Grundy that looked like Eddie in the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

I also had my share of crazies. Most cons do. My favorite was the guy who stopped and told me, for a half hour straight, why Superman sucked. All the while quoting every issue from the last five to ten years. I wanted to tell him I already have that racket down for Smallville (kidding!) but he just stopped mid-sentence and moved on. There was another guy, he was great, he stopped, I said nothing, he laid down three dollars, grabbed merchandise, and disappeared without saying a word. I want to sell him my house. Or my writing. Or my future children.

Stuart Immonen was a welcome presence, about four booths down. I got up and said hello, talked about the end of the triangles. A real stand-up, honest, good guy. I wanted to buy some original art, but then, I couldn't buy much of anything, so I simply went back, but he was still a great guy, talking it up. A key Superman artistic influence for me, it was a great moment.

Karl Kessel and Gail Simone were also at the con, but given that I didn't leave my chair too much for visitors, I didn't get a chance to say hello. That was the one downside of the con, not getting to look around that much.

The double looks from people who didn't know we would be there was fun. They'd see SUPERMAN HOMEPAGE! In the periphery, double take, and then come back. "You with the Superman Homepage?"

"Yep. Neal Bailey. Good to meet you."

"Neal Bailey? Cool!"

You guys who did that, you know who you are, thank you. That's all the compensation I ever need.

I met a TON of artists. I put out a sign that said "ARTISTS NEEDED", because I've been trying to get a comic off the ground for YEARS now (I've written 30-40 scripts, artists just crap out on me all the time, for good and bad reasons) and I think I may have a few solid leads.

The compliments all around for the site, all of the writers, and the support, it meant the world. Thank you all. I'll definitely be bringing the site to more cons after this, money be @#%$ed.

This August, Barry Freiman and I will be manning the booth at Wizard World Chicago. I hope to see you all.

Regrettably, there are no pictures. I poured six yards of concrete yesterday, and a punk kid ran through it. I took pictures to show the police, it was wet out, and when I tried to show the police the pictures, the camera fell and broke, scattering what I had. My apologies.

Once again, thanks to all who showed up, and I hope to see more folks in Chicago! C'mon. Barry will be there too. You know you want to! Keep visiting and maybe... just maybe... I'll be able to get Steve stateside one of these days for a con, or maybe go to the SuperNova con in Australia. I hear Geoff Johns is going.

VIVA LA CON!

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