Comic Con Report, Pt. 2

You know, Ira brings up a great point in his update below. I have never understood the "I have no money" excuse. If you don't want a book, fine. There's no need to lie. Why not just admit that you hate love and have no interest in re-igniting the passion in your life? That's a perfectly acceptable reason as well and it's much more honest. Look, I know we have high pressure sales tactics and sometimes when we lock in on someone it can be difficult for some people to walk away. So they just come up with the simplest excuse possible (to them) to walk away. All I'm saying is that a simple "No" will suffice.

It's been about 15 years since I actually worked in the comic book industry so another thing I love about the convention is that it gives me an opportunity to reconnect with old friends. And unlike Albert and Ira, I don't really know too many of the creators personally. Sure, I know who they are and what they do for the book but often times I can't really put too many faces to names. Even the lovely and talented Mr. Ethan Spaulding of Operation: Gutterball fame, the man who illustrated my "Encuentro de la Semana" love letter to luchadores in the latest issue is someone who I've never actually met (we have, however, spoken many times on the phone). Getting the chance to actually talk to some of our creators face to face is always a nice treat. Almost. Angry Bob is shockingly less interesting then you'd think he'd be. Go figure.

And then there's the usual cast of characters. Friends that I see a little more frequently but I was still happy to see them nonetheless, namely HMLC contributors Rob Goodin, Louie Del Carmen and Rafael Navarro, who, as previously mentioned, shared our table. These creators in particular are usually at the various shows pushing their own individual products so they're hustling just the same we are. By the way, be sure you click those links and check out their books too!

Here's another round of pics for your enjoyment....

The Teen Titans' Hawk & Dove were very excited to find our booth. Very excited. Especially Dove there on the left.

And while we're on the subject of thinly veiled phallic symbols.... here's Plastic Man.

Chewbacca? More like COOLbacca.

Hellloooooooo Kitty

These little ladies were at the con promoting the cosplay café, Royal/T in Culver City. According to their flyer, Royal/T is Los Angeles' first meido kissa restaurant which basically means that the service staff there dress as, and I quote, "elegant maids." I'm told that the café primarily caters to otaku, aka obsessive anime fans. Sounds positively pedo-rific to me.

Oh, hey. What's up, Michelangelo?

Wonder Woman and Awesome-X. Booosh!

I've already talked about this someplace else but I want to go ahead and mention it here. I want to give a very special thanks to Señor Ira. He's the taskmaster that's responsible for putting all of this together, which I'm sure can be like herding cats sometimes. From cracking the whip on the creators, to making sure we're registered for the various conventions, to dealing with the tax collecting section of the City's Office of Finance, Ira is the guy that makes the magic happen. Playing the bad guy can be a thankless job but without him, Hot Mexican Love Comics never would've emerged from it's 10 year hiatus. It may seem like some of us need a break from each other by the time an issue is published but we've all had a tremendous amount of fun because of the book and it's all due to Ira. So thank you, Señor.

So what's next for Hot Mexican Love Comics? In the short term, nothing. I think we're all going to just take a break for a moment. There's the West Hollywood Book Fair coming up in September but I think we're going to skip that one (right, Angry Bob?) so can concentrate on November's Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco. As far as new products are concerned, I believe we may have a new sketchbook ready for APE. We shall see.

Until then, stay tuned. Any new updates will definitely be made here. Thanks for stopping by and we hope to see you all again soon.

Excelsior!