August 15th, 2007: The San Diego Comic Con Report 2007!

When this photo was taken, we'd already been at the 2007 San Diego Comic Con for over 48 hours. We'd given away nearly 200 PIRATE COVE sampler books, sold around 65 books, and were getting worried we would sell out of books before Saturday's end! We needn't have worried. Saturday turned out to be the slowest day of the convention!

But I'm getting ahead of myself. On the morning of Thursday, July 26th, around 5:30 AM, Joe stumbled towards his Jeep, which he'd loaded with PIRATE COVE product the night before. Joe finds his friend Randy asleep in the Jeep's passenger seat. Randy is nearly 20 miles outside of Los Angeles before he wakes up to find the sun rising in his eyes.

Just over 2 hours later, PIRATE COVE had set up camp in the Small Press Area of the San Diego Convention Center. Table K-9: featuring the all-new COMIC CONJOB 3 Comic Con exclusive, and the convention debut of professionally printed & bound editions of EPISODES 24 & 25, EPISODE 26, EPISODE 27, and EPISODE 28 in both full color and economical black & white.

Once again, we plyed the public with with sample books and free magnets... all the better to get them hooked on the strip! As stated to one such visitor, "It's like dealing cocaine. You give 'em a taste for free, then once they're addicted, they'll come back to buy!"

"Sinister," the visitor smiled. "With a sense of humor like that, I think I'm ALREADY addicted!"

Sure enough, he returned on Friday and proceeded to buy a copy of COMIC CONJOB 3 as well as copies of EPISODES 24 & 25, and 26.

By Saturday afternoon, we'd given away all of the free sampler books and were running low on the books we'd brought to sell. As mentioned above, Saturday turned out to be the lightest when it came to foot traffic in Small Press, despite the fact Saturday had been sold out for several weeks!

Despite the reduced crowd, there was still a lot to do on Saturday as PIRATE COVE fans young and old, new and longtime, came by to say hello, get a sketch, and talk about the future of the series. This year, Brian was the most requested character in sketches, although there were a few requests for Edre, Joe, and even a Chevre!

Also of note, Robert "Chachi" Gomez stopped by the table and announced that MIRRORVERSE, the PIRATE COVE spinoff, WOULD continue at some point in the future. So keep checking back for more news on that front!

Unfortunately, I cannot report of any celebrity sightings at the PIRATE COVE booth this year (although some might have stopped by while I was stuck in the elevator of the Radisson for half an hour. One never knows.)

Everything picked up again on Sunday, tho, and we proceeded to sell out of COMIC CONJOB 3!

The last copy gets purchased...

By the end of Sunday, it was a sellout! Every Lulu-printed book we brought had been purchased by the eager crowd and around 5PM, three-quarters of San Diego's temporary population began their mass exodus back to all corners of the globe.

As always, I greeted the end of Comic Con with a mixture of relief, exhaustion, and great sadness. There never seems to be enough time to do everything I'd like to do at the show, yet I'm always ready for a week-long nap afterwards! Many thinks to everyone who stopped by to chat and I look forward to seeing you all again next year!

I'm not sure which convention PIRATE COVE will pop up at next, but we're looking into WONDER CON in San Francisco as well as the New York Comic Con in Manhattan!

Thanks for reading and, as promised, COMIC CONJOB 3 is now available to purchase through Lulu! Keep scrolling down for some more photos from the show!

Viva Las Vegas!

- Joe!