No shoving! Line starts to the left. Single file, please!

Phoenix Comicon is bagged and tagged and in the rear view mirror. It was a pretty odd show. It lasted three days (Fri.-Sun.) with a three-hour preview on Thursday night. Without getting into the grim, tear-inducing specifics, Team Cool Jerk almost pulled up stakes Friday night and called it quits.

I’ve done three-hour store signings that made 20 times — and that’s NOT an exaggeration — the amount of sales as Thursday and Friday brought in. When Friday wrapped, I asked myself, “What the hell? Does Phoenix not LIKE comics?” I knew it wasn’t Cool Jerk-specific, as I talked with other creators/exhibitors who considered every gimmick short of performing handstands (or sexual favors) to make a sale. It was more like a junior-high super-kawaii Halloween cosplay cutegasm hugfest than it was a convention for comics fans. (Comics fans with wallets, that is.)

Saturday arrived and immediately a dude ran up to my booth and exclaimed “OH MY GOD! COOL JERK! YOU ARE MY HERO!” That was pretty startling, but, alas, no sale was made. I gave Darlene the “let’s pack up the Subaru and go looking for Gila Monsters” look, but shortly afterward, a dude named Ron came up and bought a book. Then Josh and Rochelle. Then Adam. Then Bastion and Brad, who each bought two books. Tiffany remembered me from 2006 and bought both Cool Jerk volumes. Others came by and bought my t-shirts, buttons, stickers. Saturday ended up being pretty decent. We decided to hang around through Sunday.

Sunday mirrored Saturday with brisk sales and lots of activity. Thanks to Ben, Stephen, Daniel, Tyler and others who also patronized my table, joined the subscriber list and/or made the day worthwhile.

All tallied up, Phoenix ended up being a better show in two days than either Emerald City or WonderCon. Come to find out, the dude who stormed my table on Saturday morning was the boyfriend of a long-time Cool Jerk reader, Jamie (she became a subscriber at the 2006 show). She meant to come by but was either too busy with convention duties or was repelled by the manhole cover-sized splash of puke from Saturday afternoon. Sorry I missed you, Jamie!

Will I do Phoenix again? Hmm. I’ll have to think about it. Phoenix was a valuable lesson that no two shows are alike. I needed to adapt on the fly to accommodate attendees and pique their curiosities. Darlene suggested maybe I need to do some strips with Yuri in a milkmaid cosplay uniform so I can sell tiny hats with lace glued to them next year. =:^)