This weekend was my second New York Comic Con and my third con overall. It was an intense experience. Things changed. I’ve changed. I fell into my own, I think. For the first time, it was less of an event, and more like going to a job that I really enjoyed. I was in this magically eccentric office where we all have a task to do, selling our creativity to the masses. And yeah, sure, the pay isn’t great, but you put yourself through hell because you just love working there.

I couldn’t really hit the show floor this year. Instead, I was there to show my work to the fans. To get my writing out there and into the hands of some good readers. I went there representing 3 books this year: Fenix Gear, Unlife, and Division. Fenix Gear was the same big funny thing it always was, Unlife had come into its own with 100 strips, and Division was sharing a preview issue with my script included. I have to say, I was so focused on pushing out bookmarks and buttons and Unlife and Fenix Gear that I barely noticed the amount of signatures I did this year. Between Division, prints, minis, and FG Trades, I would say I signed almost 200 items. My version of office documents, I suppose.

I was always at the booth, talking to people, generating laughs. It wasn’t all selling. Sometimes it was just funny conversation. Talking with the fans, laughing with co-workers and booth mates, even from across the way, before returning to the grind of selling creativity. It really was an office.

I feel like such an awkward guy sometimes. I try to be friendly, but I’m pretty positive that I’m weird. But for once, I didn’t really feel all that weird. The folks at Comic Con get made fun of a lot, but hell, they’re the best kind of people. They’re passionate, they’re friendly, and they’re there because they love something. And they make it a great big circus where anything can happen. Where wonder is offered to the masses, and they reflect it back on the creators that gave it to them with so much love and enthusiasm. They’ll even spend 100 dollars on cat ears that twitch according to your brainwaves (I swear to God, I am not making that up).

My biggest regret, really, is that I didn’t take more pictures. It went by so fast that I never had time to play tourist. I barely even spent time with any of my old friends who dropped by. All those brief encounters felt so fast, so fleeting, and I never had a moment to really relax and savor them. It was almost a best of album, with snapshots of friends I got to see during and after con, people who checked in because they cared. It was really wonderful seeing all the support I have, all the friends and family in my life. Thank you to everyone, new and old. I hope I get to see you all again before I leave for LA.

All in all, it was an amazingly successful con. All of our buttons and mini comics and bookmarks gone, 140 Division comics sold, 37 Fenix Gears sold, and Zack tried Grey’s Papaya for the first time. I don’t like name dropping, but the stars of comic con were Zack Turner, Tom Martinez, Mel Martinez, and my gorgeous wife Jena, looking adorable in my giant Dragon Ball Z t-shirt. Next year, who knows? Maybe I’ll get a little cubicle with them in San Diego. We shall see…

My stomach is growling incessantly at me. I need to eat. I didn’t plan to do anything this morning, but the only thing I wanted to do was write. I wanted to get back to work. Go figure.