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The Rant Shack
(Wherein We Rant)
Mike Says:
(07/08/04)
FANDOM MONTH CONTINUES!!
Welcome to the second week in our all-July weekly Nice Guy updates celebrating fandom (and the Nice Guy's 1-year anniversary, too...). This week, we pay tribute to a show Tim digs called "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World". It's a period show set at the beginning of the 20th century, rife with high adventure and action. It follows a group of explorers trapped in this "lost world", a world filled with dinosaurs, giant crocs, apemen, giant bees, warring tribes, and civilizations ranging from ancient Egyptian to Arthurian. BIG escapist fun. The show ran for three seasons and is available on DVD. It ran both on regular TV, and I seem to recall you could also see it unedited on DirectTV if you wanted to see boobies (imagine the money NBC would have made if they'd thought of trying that with Friends...). Our main page art, wallpaper, sketchbook update, and new strip this time tips our fedora to fans of the Lost World everywhere.
It happened! Our first live Nice Guy appearance (at least with both of us together), and it took place on Free Comic Book Day at A-1 Comics in Roseville, CA.
In case you missed the skinny last time, our pal Brian Peets, owner of two A-1 Comics stores in the Sacramento area, was throwing a big event for Free Comic Book Day, a national, annual event that raises public awareness of the industry. Brian put a lot of work into marketing this event, too, from radio appearances to putting up a table outside the theater on the opening night of Spider-Man 2 to hand out flyers and such. And he also got the idea to bring in some major talent (yeah, we bad) to sit behind tables and sign autographs for fans. That's where we came in. Brian was nice enough to include us in the deal, and give us an opportunity to world premiere our first print comic ever. Saweet!
We got there around 11:00 a.m. and got set up at our table in the back of the store, and realized fast the Brian's marketing had really worked. The place was packed. We set out our comics, our Nice Guy art standup, our cards, our free Nice Guy temporary tattoos, and a stack of Tim's original art from the site. We also got treated quite nicely by Brian's people, who were taking care of our needs, bringing us free drinks and snacks. We were in kind of big rectangle, with all the other tables and creators situated around us, and fans just started making a big circle to the different tables, giving us a steady flow of folks to meet.
Meeting fans was a hoot. We met a lot of great people, from just general fans to people who just came in to find out what this Free Comic Book Day was all about to fellow comic creators. We signed a lot of autographs--and sold a good amount of books!--charging $.25 for each of our autographs, as were all the creators, to raise money for ACTOR, a charity that helps out with the health care of long-time comic creators. We mainly introduced people to the book and the site, but two people actually knew who we were without us knowing them to start off with, which was really cool. Mostly very nice people, excepting for the one jerk who was mad that we couldn't give him store information and that we insulted his intelligence by telling him we were merely comic creators ("Well, that's kind of OBVIOUS...").
Tim and Mike (front), taking a pic with their pal Kevin (rear)
We were seated next to Billy Martinez, a San Diego creator who runs Neko Press, has his own comics called Wildflower and Kickass Girl, and has done some work for Heavy Metal Magazine. We had a good time talking with him and his wife, and I had a lot to discuss with them as we're all San Diegans. Also in attendance was Dan Cooney, a local Sacramento writer/artist who puts out a book called "Valentine". Tim and he have met at a few of these things, and I knew him through my former roommate, Aaron, who's been pals wish him for years. I also got to say hi to David Hahn, creator of a fantastic book called "Private Beach", whom I'd met at last year's San Diego Comic-Con. Also appearing were Chris Wisnia (writer/artist for "Tabloia"), Richard Moore (publisher/writer/artist for "Boneyard") and Jim Sinclair (artist, "The Maxx").
And we got to meet a couple of up-and-coming creators, too, who showed up at the event just to check it out, including Dave Isera, creator of the comic "OMGWTF" and other indie comics. We exchanged comics with him, and I really dug on his stuff, and went to his site to check out more. I think you're going to hearing a lot more about him in the future.
The big score, though, was finally getting to meet Nice Guy Pimp #1 Sarah Haslett, our biggest fan and supporter, who did the interview with us a couple of months back in one of her regular columns. She'd met Tim before, but she and I only knew each other through e-mails, so it was great to finally meet her, and her fiance Will. She'll be reviewing "The Nice Guy: Pilot" in one of her columns soon, so I'll be sure to set up that link when it happens.
And we had some of our people show up and say hi...some old friends of ours (like Rich, Kevin, Adam, Randy and Joy), and my grandmother even dropped in. All in all, we had a great time, and it was great training for the four days we have coming up in San Diego. And you can check at all the photos I took at the event by heading over to the PHOTOS page. A great first public outing for Fool Court Press, I must say, and again, we're very grateful to Brian for making it happen for us. Hopefully we'll be able to return the favor by selling lots of Nice Guy comics in his stores!
A big "thanks!" to all the people who showed up to see us! Great to meet all of you, and we hope you'll become regulars here at the site. And we'll see some of you in a couple of weeks in San Diego!
THERE'S NO FOOL LIKE A NEW FOOL!
Since we're really starting to take off, Tim decided that we needed a new, professional looking logo for Fool Court Press (especially since we're getting business cards made up). He got to work on designing the art for it, and worked with a graphic designer pal of his named Todd McClintick on the design and lettering. And here's the final result!
Da Vertical
Da Horizontal
Nice work boys! You'll start seeing this not only on the site, and on our next comic, but hopefully on some tee shirts and such as well. The Fool rules, baby!
SAN DIEGO AWAITS!
Wow, it just hit me that Tim and I will be packing the car and hitting the road for San Diego--and for the 2004 Comic-Con International--in less than 2 weeks. Too...much...to do! I can't even remember what watching TV was like... Busy, busy, busy. But it's going to be great. We got the last of the details squared away on our table at the Con. We now just have to get the design and production done on the cool table skirt that will be adorning our Nice Guy space, and we'll officially be exhibitors. Should be a good time. We'll be driving down that Tuesday, getting registered and set up Wednesday night, sitting behind our table and pushing our wares (wares? Where?) for Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and then it looks like things will be ending Sunday night with the first annual Nice Guy Post-Con BBQ at our pal Russ's house. I'm sure we'll be really in the mood to unwind by then. I'll keep ya'll up on the details as things get closer. Just one more update from Sac, and then the following week, you'll be getting this rant straight from San Diego, in the middle of the Con! I wonder if it's too late to hook up a live Nice Guy table web cam?
DISTURBING INTERNET IMAGE OF THE WEEK
But he's got...hiiiiiiiigh hopes.....
AND THAT'S ALL HE WROTE!!
Sorry, got to keep it short this time, folks. This weekly schedule's a workout! Want to hurry up and get this cranked out and updated...and get right to work on next week's update! If you haven't had a chance to check out "The Nice Guy: Pilot" yet, we encourage you (you think?) to buy up a copy right here off the site and check it out. And stay tuned for more of Fandom Month, when next week, we'll boldly go...somewhere else in fandom (subtle, wasn't it?). Take care, Nice Fans, and see you in 7!
Michael
The
Nice Guy
“Pilot”
Now on Sale!
ITEM!
New strip added in the Comics! section: "Kneeeel Before Zod"
ITEM!
New update in The Rant Shack...with the news on the A-1 Comics Van Fundraiser...and the shocking Tim Watts finger news...
ITEM!
Update to the Photos page with A-1 Comics shots! Sorry, no shots of Tim's finger...
ITEM!
Always find out the latest NG News in the What's Cookin' Section
ITEM!
Look for new material on the 1st and 15th of every month!
And now available for purchase! "Serenity", the film continuation of Firefly! Order yours now!
Want to see more? How about watching the first 9 minutes of the film for free? Click below!
