FallCon report

Most of the links below lead to pictures, so click away!

Grant's fans wait for him before the show even starts

FallCon was the best ever. Both issues of Tales from the Inner Sanctum sold well and I got some great ideas (mostly from Jess Hickman) about how to get some Cownt product on the marketplace while Gav and I are still working on the comic. More info on that later.

The best part of the weekend though was all the people whom I either met or got to know better. It's always fun hanging out with Grant, Jess, and Darla, and this year our group expanded with the addition of Paul Taylor, Katie Cook, and her husband Ryan Wilcox. Paul's been to FallCon before, but we've never sat next to him. This was Katie and Ryan's first FallCon. The seven of us took over the entire end of one of the aisles and it was a great location, so everyone was busy all weekend. I did my part to increase busy-ness by commissioning sketches from everyone. Grant, Jess, and Katie had already done Cownts for me, but I got new ones from Paul and Darla. And I had everyone make Hulk sketches for me too. I love the Hulk, but Katie does too and it was some of her Hulk art that gave me the idea to start a new Hulk sketch book.

Another person I got to know better was Josh Fialkov, creator of Western Tales of Terror and writer of Elk's Run. I'd started getting to know Josh in San Diego and was thrilled that he came to FallCon. I had a blast hanging out with him, Phil Hester, Tyler Walpole, and a few other Iowan delegates. Also got to know Allison Sohn and Adam Hughes a little better, which was fantastic. They're an incredible couple, probably because they're both such genuine, nice people who don't take their success for granted. Looking forward to hopefully getting to know them even better. It was also nice seeing Jennifer Young again. She's a talented cartoonist and I always enjoy seeing what she's working on.

During the convention, I also got to talk to some new creators about using the Internet to network. I need to follow up with them by emailing them some links; it'll be fun to see how they do. One of them was an illustrator and she showed me her very impressive portfolio. It sounds like she's got her own story ideas, but I was tempted to ask her to work on something with me right then.

Diane and David showed up on Saturday for a little bit. It was cool that they finally got to meet Cori Doerrfeld, who writes a series of mini-comic-like children's books about a little girl named Leah. We love them and they've been a recurring part of David's bedtime routine for a couple of years now.

Diane's brother (and Cownt co-creator) Dave also came with his wife and newborn daughter, and our friend Gary.

So that was the show. I'm still riding the high from it and that's making it possible for me to function today even though I didn't get nearly enough sleep all weekend. I'm way excited for MicroCon in the Spring now. Lots to do before then and I'm anxious to get cracking.