Lazy enough that I actually drew and coloured this print which was SUPPOSED to be a con exclusive for this con, but wound up printing out zero copies. So here it is for you now, jsut in case.
As you can see, I was a little bit worried at first because what I didn't realize until just a few weeks ago was that San Francisco Comic Con was the exact same weekend. With a huge event like that, I feared no one would even bother to drive up north to see us in Our Great State's Capital. But I was proven wrong when a few of my friends decided to jump the SF ship on Saturday and come see me instead on Sunday.
I guess a lot of bigger ticket guests wound up cancelling, along with a few of the panels. Also, I guess the cosplay scene up there wasn't exactly all that? I'm not sure, I'm going based off a friend's testimony.
I had one other friend who told me he actually had a great time there, so I guess there's no accounting for taste.
I would have gone to SFCC if it hadn't been for my already long standing tradition of going to the Sac shows. also, if you follow me on social media at all, you know that me and SF have kind of "Shining" thing going on. That place gets in my head in a really bad way and I do everything I can to avoid going there in general. I don't bother it and it don't bother me!
Last convention I went to was Queer Comics Expo, and that was a very different type of experience. It was way more art show, way less con. And that's not a bad thing at all, in fact I rather enjoyed it. That being said, there's definite merit in coming back to what one is used to. Somewhat bitter sweet, since I just announced my hiatus at the end of the year. Kinda puts a lump in one's threat to think "I'm finally back" only to prepare yourself to leave again not long after. I will admit that this con was SO good that I am tempted to scrap my hiatus plans and try to make this work throughout the rest of next year, going ahead like nothing happened... but family DOES unfortunately come first.
See My Sac-Anime Pics HERE
But enough of that depressing talk! Let's talk about how great the convention actually was.
In short, it was pretty great and went off without a hitch! A glorious return to form (as stated in the title of my photo album above). I had my friend and collaborator Courteney Carr in tow with me this time. She came with me to Sac-Con this past winter, but before that, we hadn't done a con together since Alternative Press Expo in like, 2008 or 09 or some shit. You might remember Courteney from the back of TransCat Issue #1. She did the mini-story after the main one. She also has a comic going of her own that I'm doing my best to mentor her on, although if you ask me, she barely needs me help at all. At least not from an artistic standpoint. I'm mostly there just to motivate her and keep her working and on task. She's got a great story in mind, and I'm just doing my best to keep her going on it and not wander or meander or spend too much time overthinking any one aspect of it.
As I've stated many times before, I love the fanbase that shows up to the Sacramento shows. Generally, you can assume that if you're meeting someone at a Sac-show, then they're good people. It seemed especially true this year, because my trans sisters came out in force! We have been slowly overtaking various corners of nerd-dom, but the takeover was REALLY noticeable this year. On both sides of the table! Lots of trans content creators and lots of trans fans shopping the aisles and killing it in cosplay. Soon we will reclaim anime and it will belong to us. Mark my words!
Other things that were heavily represented at the con were Suicide Squad (haven't seen it yet, don't judge me), Stranger Things, Overwatch and Steven Universe. None of those things are anime, but let's be fair, they might as well be. Sac-Anime is just a larger version of Sac-Con anyway, and Sac-Con represents anime pretty hard already, so there's no shame in bringing in plenty of "secular" "non-anime" to the table here.
My friend Savannah was there rocking out in Elegant Gothic Lolita mode the entire time, so that makes up for it.
I also got commissioned again by the DickButt guys, which in and of itself isn't a huge deal because they commission everyone, every time. what IS noteworthy is what I drew for them this time. They said that they had been collecting DickButts for seven years, going to as many conventions as they could afford. I countered by saying I was gonna draw them a DickButt like none they'd ever seen before! When they came back on Sunday to retrieve their picture, I asked them "So, tell me, has this been done before?" I showed them the monstrosity that I had created and was told it had not. That is a personal best for me. I pride myself in being original in my comedy and my art. This time, I was both!
I didn't get a chance to scan the artwork obviously but I managed to take a decent enough picture of it on my phone. I put it up as a freebie on my Patreon page. Go check it out! If you like what you see, i got a whole secret TransCat comic in there for anyone who wants to chip in a dollar or more! :)
So that's pretty much the long and short of it. Lots of great cosplays, saw some good friends, great queer representation, almost went to go see a dramatic reading of "My Immortal" but IT WAS TOO CROWDED!!! Also went to the swap meet but same problem. All that, plus plenty of sleep in a comfty hotel bed. For the win!
Next up on my Con schedule is Santa Rosa Comic and Toy show. It's a one-day con that's gonna be on the 24th of September. Then we got Gaymer X 4 at the end of September/beginning of October, and then finally Alternative Press October 8th and 9th.
I'm also on the wait list for Sac-Con Winter, but I have heard back nothing yet, so I guess we'll see.
In the mean time, I'll keep doing my best to get TransCat issue *3 out BEFORE my hiatus officially begins,
Stay cool, you cool, cool cats!
met you in santa rosa. mentioned Willy Wilkinson, Kate Bornstein, and Leslie Fineberg. A bit of history you might be interested in. They are authors too.
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