Project: Gemini #1

Well, it's official. Mrs. A went to the printer yesterday and picked up a box of 100 copies of my comic. If you've never had a bunch of literature you've worked on come back from a printer, imagine that scene from Back to the Future when the later, cooler, George McFly opened a box with his first science fiction novel. It's just like that. A brown box, with some packing material inside and a small stack of copies of your baby.

So, for all you folks who'd like to buy a copy, you can go here and plunk down your hard earned couch change for a copy of a small press comic book.

And now the fun begins. I plan on doing this as much as I can. The work was arduous but the result is a triumphant reward. I accomplished something I've wanted to do for almost 15 years, and it's taken me that long to do it. By myself, I've written and drawn a comic book. I still can't believe it.

But I can't sit on my laurels. I have at least 5 more to do with just this story before I can move on. Next time, I'll have better art, less printing costs, and maybe even distribution. Instead of 100 copies, maybe I'll get 200, or 500. Maybe I'll distribute online and have a few hundred people buying it. By next year's Chicago convention, I'll have 2 more books to sell, maybe 3.

It's stuff like this that makes me happy. That's a really weak and poorly constructed statement, but it's exactly how I feel. Mrs. A's photography makes me feel the same way, each time she gets a new booking I get a little smile.

Plus, I have to keep up with the Joneses. Mr. Darn Tootin himself just got an agent for his book. Good news again from Central Texas. He's a talented writer with a pretty pointed wit and I'm pretty happy for him. (I'll be happier when it's written, Rob.) ;)

So tomorrow we head to Chicago and spend three days immersed in total geekdom. I know Mrs. A has seen pictures and heard stories, but I still don't think I've been able to paint an accurate picture of the level of dork and nerd and freak that will be seen on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I write and draw my own books and I'm impressed with the abandon with which people fling their inhibitions. It's almost a cathartic release from the 362 other days of suppressing their inner geek and they are given ample time and space to don small skirts and alien antennae and proton accelerators and mandalorian armor and capes and bone bustiers and walk around like it was Tuesday afternoon at the local grocer. The conversations will all be about comics. The lectures, the movies, the guests, the merchandise. It will all be about the dorkiest of the dork.

I hope she still respects me in the morning. Who am I kidding, I don't think she respects me now.

See you on Tuesday with pictures.