InterventionCon 2010

September 10-12, 2010
Rockville, Maryland

InterventionCon is a first year con put on by Onezumi Hartstein and James Harknell specifically for web-based entertainment. (That’d be webcomics and the like.) It was a lot of fun, and some amazing stuff happened which I will flail and geek out about in detail below.
I’ll start by getting the one bad thing out of the way: it was a slow con. Very slow. Apparently, SPX, the Small Press eXpo, had gotten rescheduled to the same weekend, and it was near enough to draw a lot of the potential crowd from Intervention. That said, it was still a pretty damn good con.
I drove down Thursday after work, only getting lost twice, before crashing with Alex, Chris, Pete and Katie. Friday morning, I had a few hours to kill before set-up, so I took a walk around Rockville. It’s a really nice place, and I took a few hours to just wander up and down Rockville Pike. I stopped at Toys R Us, too. Is it any wonder I got the “Toy Hunting” bumper sticker from David Willis? Back at the hotel, Pete, Katie and I watched Cartoon Network and bitched about the awfulness of most of todays cartoons. It was fun.
Friday was pretty slow, but the artists alley\vendor room was only open for four hours. I got to walk over to Mookie and thank him for running my filler page. He blew my mind by saying he recognized my art style in the con guide, so Friday was all-around a win just for that. I was able to wander a little bit and talk to other webcomic creators. Since there’s so many of them, I’ll have a whole list at the bottom of the report, just so I don’t forget anyone.

At one point, Travis Surber stopped at my table, and we got to talking about creating oddball superheroes. I love some of his ideas, including the guy who can grow twice his size and get the proportional speed, strength and agility . . . . who just so happens to be a midget. That’s one of the things I loved about this con, I’ve been going to a lot of anime cons so no one cares about superheroes. This con, there were several people I spent time talking with about American comics. It was such a breath of fresh air. And they actually seemed interested in The Cow, which, again, is kind of rare.

Saturday I got up early and went off in search of breakfast and Target. I got a little lost (not much, just went the wrong direction for a few miles . . . . ) but eventually found a grocery store that doesn’t even come CLOSE to comparing to Wegmans, as well as a two-story Target with special escalators for shopping carts. They were really neat. I don’t know why I’m mentioning it, but it was just that kind of cool.

One of the first things I did when the artist alley opened was to go buy books from Mookie. I needed volume 5, as did Brian and Rin, but since they weren’t at the con, I had to pick it up for them. That got me talking to Mookie again, and I managed to bring up my comic, which I asked if he wouldn’t mind taking a look at. He said sure, so I ran and got a copy for him. Don’t believe me? Here’s a photo of him reading it!* I went back to him on Sunday to get feedback, which was as follows: “I like it. I like the concept for a superhero, I like Steve too. He’s like laundry: not the worst thing in the world, but you occasionally have to do it. My one criticism is that a lot of it is ‘talking heads.’ The action scenes need to be a bit more . . . comic-book-y.” So, yeah, I’ve been riding high on that ever since. He’s only like my favorite webcomic guy, and getting feedback from him meant a lot to me. Also, I’m totally jealous of his flowing facial hair. It’s downright METAL.

I spent a good chunk of the day drawing some fanart of Scott Pilgrim. I probably should have worked on comics, but I did the Pilgrim pic instead. I did get to wander around and talk to a lot of people. Again, slow sales-wise, but a lot of fun otherwise. Saturday night was the Super-Art Fight. It. Was. FANTASTIC! I’d heard of it before, but I’d never actually seen one. Alex was one of the competitors in the first round, where she fought against Bree Rubin, Ami Bogin and H. Caldwell Tanner. They started off with Rock vs Paper vs Scissors vs Hippo, and it slowly devolved into Hobos, rapping droids and Edgar Allan Poe with boobs. I seriously want to do one of these now, they’re so much fun. (If I can get them to Tora-Con, I have a shot at getting in, so here’s hoping!)

Sunday was still slow, but I pretty much spent the entire time talking to people. Chatted with Jim from Morlock Enterprises (I forgot to buy a wristband though, damnit!) I picked up some stuff from around the artists alley with my cash box money. I figured, why not give others a few more sales?

Since I’m forgetting just what happened when (as I’m finishing this up a week later,) I’m just going to go over a few things randomly to finish up.

I’d like to apologize to Chris and Alex for having to put up with sitting next to me. Exposing someone to my hyperactivity without fair warning is kind of cruel, but at least they survived. And Chris has the hat. (See photos below.)

Mookie was awesome. Did I mention that?

Everyone loved my “The Tick” tie. Several people jokingly threatened my life for it. At least, I hope they were joking . . .

I finally got to meet Pete Abrams, the man who introduced me to webcomics. I said that thanks to him, I’ve spent the last seven years drawing webcomics. His reply? “You’re welcome and I’m sorry. Apply those wherever you need to.” That was pretty cool. I also bought a stuffed Bun Bun, which he was kind enough to autograph.

Bought Hainted Holler volume one from Travis, who lured me in with the promise of a clown supervillain. I was not disappointed.

The folks from Sticky Comics sat across from me and put up with my ridiculous animatronic posing. And singing. And random skipping about. And yeah, apologies for the dancing are a given. And, yeah.

Hawk commented on my wristband. He had a similar one. Fred didn’t have any wristband and felt left out. It was a rather surreal exchange, to be honest.

Interrobang Studios had an AWESOME Commander Keen print I totally regret not buying. I also found out they’re the ones that do “It sucks to be Weegie.” That’s a funny comic. Check it out.

Big props to that one guy who I talked to about comics over the weekend. I feel like an idiot, but I’m totally blanking on his name. He saw the issue of Nextwave on my table and flipped. He then dragged Garth Graham over to look. That was cool. Anyway, I had the Scott Pilgrim pic up for sale on Sunday, and he’s the only one who showed any interest, so I gave it to him. No real reason other than he was fun to talk to. That, and I really didn’t want to figure out how to get it home. So, yeah, he was cool.

And while I’m talking about cool people who stopped at the table, someone stopped by on Sunday and told me my Deegan filler was her favorite. That totally made my day.

David Hadskey of The Monkey Hotel stopped by my table on Friday, regaling me with tales of monkeys. They were funny monkeys, as monkeys often are.

Had an odd conversation with Kilika about people who aren’t very technologically savy, and their inability to delete their history. Also, kickin’ shark t-shirts I would have bought had I the money.

Capes and Babes had some really sweet comic book prints, as well as a business card involving the Silver Surfer trying to make some quick cash. It amused me and scarred Brian, so, you know, win-win.

David Willis parked next to me in the garage. That, or he has a really big fan who likes custom Walky lisence plates. It could go either way, really. And I totally bought the hell out of his HONOR print.

Bought a “Doom Kitty” t-shirt from Geeks Next Door. I love the fact that I’m at a con with American comic stuff. And what’s more American than Doctor Doom and a kitty?

Oh, check out The System. It’s from Rosscott, one of the Super Art Fight guys. It’s neat.

Megami from Annie: A Space Western is the owner of one of the happier penguins I’ve met. (Rin has had happier, I must say.)

H. Caldwell Turner has a keen hat, as well as a neat sense of humor. I’m a “Cartoonist” on his “What kind of artist are you?” flowchart. It is quite accurate. He is also the winner of the first round of Super-Art Fight. He is the creator of the Hippo Hobo and the Hobo Hippo.

So, yeah, all in all, it was an amazingly fun con. Can’t wait for next year!

Photos:

My table. Bitey is now the official guardian of the price sheet. Oh, and the mascot.

The business card setup. I drew a little cartoon for the various business cards I now have. (Collect them all!)

Bitey wanted his close-up.

Chris and THE HAT. I totally want a hat like this for Brian when he watches my table at the next few cons.

Me at my table.* Notice the nifty keen Tick Tie? Yeah, it’s hidden. I should take a photo of it . . .

Mookie reading my comic!* Totally going to like, frame this or something. (I’m such a nerd fanboy . . . )

The Scott Pilgrim pic. I did this on Saturday out of boredom. I gave it away to one of the cool staffers.

Scott Pilgrim part 2. I took another photo. Huzzah.

* these photos are actually from the Intervention site, they weren’t taken by me.