The Comical World of Josh Sullivan My first time to the San Diego Comic-Con (stands for convention, not as in trying to con you out of your money, although that seemed likely to happen to dumb comic fanboys) was a very exciting and tiring experience. Ever since I started making my own comics over five years ago, it was my big dream to be a part of this convention. It's the largest of its kind in the country and almost anyone and everyone in the world of comics and pop culture attends it. So, here's my tale of fun and excitement of going to this amazing event that happened from July 18th-23rd, 2001. The first day of the convention being open to the public was actually dubbed "Preview Night" for the simple fact that it gave people that had paid ahead and professionals like myself (ha! I'm not professional) a chance to beat the rush of the massive amount of comic fools and check out everything ahead of time. I was staying in a hostel in the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego. I lugged all of my stuff down to the convention center which included copies of all my comics I still hadn't sold or given away, some display stands, and other various comic junk. I was told that I couldn't set anything up because it was just for publishers and retailers to show the items they had. I was pissed because I found out I wasn't even on the list of artists expected to have tables even though I registered months earlier. So, I trudged around the convention center and was mad. I became happy after buying a bowling shirt with famed "Dairy Products Gone Bad" Milk & Cheese on it and after I saw this picture I drew was published in the beautiful souvenir book all attendees received. I then left and walked a mere five blocks back to the hostel. It was time to get ready for the big opening of the con the next day. I got into the convention center with the notion that I wasn't going to have a table to put my comics out on. I walked up to this very nice woman who was running the "Artist's Alley" area and asked her if I could get a table. She asked if I had my temporary seller's permit (I owe the state of California about $7.50 now because of their lame taxes) and I said yes. She told me I could take a table and I thanked her very nicely. This was great but I realized I didn't have too much stuff to put out because I left most of it at the hostel. Two minutes after I got everything I did have out people were coming up to me and they wanted to see what I was all about. I would've been better suited in the small press publishing area of the con but I was in the area of all these big time creators and I was amazed at some of the people I was sitting by. I was next to a guy who drew some Batman stuff for DC, some guys who created some of the biggest super-heroes, and some really talented artists as well. Anyway, I was wearing this puke-greenish type sportcoat because of the simple fact that I was cold but it ended up being an attention grabber. People were looking through my mini-comics and taking my flyers. I was giving out buttons and having a great time. My tag line at my table was "Josh Sullivan, World Famous Midget" and some people actually believed that because the sport coat was obviously too big for me. This guy my age dug my stuff a lot and decided to sit down with me and he kept muttering that I should've made t-shirts. I wonder what happened to him. After selling some crap, I ran so fast back to the hostel and got the rest of my goods. I kept giving away buttons and freebie comics at my table and when I would get bored, I wandered throughout the convention center to find comics to buy and read. I gave the people that run some of the big time independent publishers my books and went dashing about the crowds to make it back to my table. The first real day was great because I realized I knew what I was doing and that the rest of the con was going to be easy for me. This was my fourth con as a guest and I'm only 19! Sheesh! The second full day was on a Friday and it was noticeably busier and more crowded. I had a lot more people come up to me and ask me stuff. There was a large number of the press at the con and I kept giving them stuff to take back to their newspapers or magazines and burn. When I was reading a comic and not paying attention, this man and woman were rifling through my minis and I looked up and they had press badges. I gave them some pretty comics and then the woman oddly enough started intereviewing me. She then told me she was with the Boston Globe. I was all happy at the thought I being mentioned in a big newspaper. They probably called me names and said I looked like a fish. So, I went back to reading various humor books and strange crap I only seem to like. I was thrown off by the fact that people wanted their pictures taken with me, they wanted me to sign books, and some even wanted to draw in their sketchbook. At this point, I think I spent about $400 or so. I think that was the end of that particular day. I went and saw "Edward Scissorhands" in one of the exhibition halls. I then went over to a hotel where they were showing movies late at night and watched "Plan 9 From Outer Space" and "Ed Wood" (it was just a big Johnny Depp/Ed Wood fiesta for me). I was bummed because I missed the Eisner Awards which is the big time awards for mainly independent comic creators. I went out in the beggining of "Plan 9" to look for something to drink but I found myself on the floor where the Awards' afterparty was. I wandered about being in the midst of a billion comic creators while they were all drinking it up. I got sick of that and went back to the movies. Yee-haw! The third day was even busier and more amazing. Before I set up, I decided to sit in on a panel made up of Frank Cho (he does the comic strip "Liberty Meadows") and a few other people as they discussed how to get your strip syndicated for the newspapers. Well, they talked way more about the cons than the pros and even said that the industry sucks more than once, which it does. You can spend a lot of time, money, and effort on your creation and not have a lot of people notice it while some crappy piece of work is scooped up and loved by a lot of inbred waste who don't enjoy talent and creativity. After that enjoyable lesson on the more popular form of the comic, I rushed over to another room where they were going to have a panel about new Cartoon Network shows and show a new episode of "Space Ghost: Coast to Coast." I got a seat right up front and I look over and I see Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons just standing there. I went up to him and gave him one of my comic pins and told him he was the reason I started making my own cartoons. Yowza! The Space Ghost stuff then got under way and it was so great! Not only did they show the new episode but the went on to show a full episode of a new cartoon starring Birdman, another old Hanna-Barbera creation. He's going to be a lawyer helping out other cartoon characters when they get in trouble. The first episode involved the two guys on "Johnny Quest" fighting for the custody of the children, seeing as how it is revealed that they were actually lovers. The then had a Q & A session about "SG:CTC" and I decided to go up and ask about "Cartoon Planet," a show they once had on that starred all the Space Ghost characters singing hilarious songs. It was the show where Brak (the weird-voiced lion-looking thing that everyone loves) got his start on. They said that there weren't going to be doing any new episodes of it. After that, the panel discussion was over and I went up to Andy Merill, the voice of Brak, and gave him a pin as well. All of a sudden, this guy that worked with Cartoon Network came up to me and asked if I would like to be part of an interview to see how people liked the new shows specifically designed for adults, including "Space Ghost" for the new Adult Swim programming they're going to be showing. I was ecstatic and went with him. This other guy and I were asked a bunch of questions on camera about the shows and I hopefully said some halfway decent stuff because they mentioned it might be used on Cartoon Newtork for promotions! We got Space Ghost shirts, too. After all that, I went to my table about 3 hours late and ended up selling a huge amount of my comics. What a great day! The last day of the main part of Comic-Con was interesting and funny. This older woman came up to buy some books off of me and asked me some questions. She told me that in the Phoenix Public Schools they're having high school kids make their own 'zines and other publications, which really is astonishing. She asked if I ever thought about holding a workshop on self-publishing and then said she might fly me out to hold one for them at some point in time. What I thought to myself was, "All this for sitting on my ass and reading comics? What a deal!" That would be cool to pass on some of the knowledge I have of being in this business. It pays little but it is so much fun and self-rewarding. After that, this strange looking fellow pointed at one of my stick people comics and said that it wasn't art. I laughed at him and said that it is the best form of art. I went even further and said that my "non-art" brought me in $100 at the convention. Hee-hee. I love people. So, after pretty much everyone went back to their villages and crap towns all over the world to leave San Diego quiet once again, the convention center was home to a smaller con called Pro-Con. Pro-Con was so tiny compared to the gigantic event that just occurred. It was just for creators, publishers, and comic shop retailers. It really gave me the chance to talk on a more personal level with those that had influenced me or that were the publishers of my favorite books. I handed out as much stuff as possible so I wouldn't have to lug it back to Florida. I met this guy that owned a couple comic shops and he really liked my stuff. He told me I should go to a comic convention in New York City he was promoting. That would be fun because then I could write about more convention shenanigans. In all seriousness, this was a wonderful experience for me. I was one of the youngest professional guests there and I'm really proud of myself for working so hard to get invited to this prestigious event. Comic conventions are great! Chek one out sometime. -Josh!