I spent the weekend attending the first ever webcomics "con" in Easthampton, MA. It was more of a sort of gathering or what-have-you of webcomic creators and fans. I’ve been hearing that the turnout was around 500-600 people on Saturday alone, which is pretty amazing if you think about how short notice this thing was. It was really exciting to see how enthusiastic and professional the webcomics crowd is. I’m so used to fan boys at anime conventions. Haha. It was also interesting to see the age differences of the common anime convention-goer compared to the webcomics creators and even the fans. I usually feel like a dinosaur at an anime convention, even though I’m only 25. It seemed the webcomic crowd was more 21 and up, which was really cool. The whole weekend felt like I was back in college again, being with like-minded art people and most importantly, the comics people I haven’t been around in what seems like forever.

Speaking of these awesome webcomic artists and writers, I met up with Shawn Handyside so I could actually get into NEWW since I didn’t register until the last minute. They were trying to keep the numbers down since parking was pretty limited. Anyways, I met Brian Wilson (Geist Panik) who when I met at first was wearing only lobster print boxers. Who am I to judge? I also met Ross, the creator of The System webcomic, Chris from Blue and Blond and Mookie from Dominic Deegan. Also, playing Smash Bros Brawl with most of these guys at the hotel brought back some of those good ol’ college memories. The memories where I can only win at Smash Bros is by dropping people off the stage ala Kirby. T.T;

I’ve been out of this whole seemingly webcomics inner social circle for a long time, so I basically had no idea who anyone was this whole weekend. However, there were a few people I did recognize the artwork and I made some strategic purchases of a book from Exploding Dog, a hot Napoleon shirt (BTW- Napoleon is my dream man) from Kate Beaton and I was able to buy the original artwork from Gunshow "Cats Can’t Type" by KC Green which is my favorite strip from him EVER.

I had a great time this weekend and I hope that it happens again next year and it’s even bigger. I can really see this becoming a larger convention and being even more awesome that it was this year. I’d like to see more webcomic artists representing their work with their own table and of course, more panels. Some things involving scheduling seemed a little unorganized, but it was okay. Most of the panels I attended were informative and at least all were generally amusing. BTW - Chris Hastings of Dr. McNinja has the cutest dog (Pomeranian?), who’s cuteness was only maximized by the cone it was wearing on Saturday.

The main focus that I now have after this weekend is to get my butt in gear even more so and get Paul Reveres up to a two day a week update schedule. I’m thinking probably a Wednesday/Saturday schedule, unless I find that something else works out better. I’m also going to start promoting the comic more in the next month or so to get more readers once I get the story going a little bit more. I’ll be promoting the hell out of this webcomic at ConnectiCon in July this summer as well. I have some big plans for promotional freebies and I will have Issue #1 out in print for sale by then. I’m going to try to squeeze in a bunch of sketches and maybe a special goodie for people who purchase the first issue. So, if you plan to attend ConnectiCon this year, look for me in the Artists’ Colony area where I’ll be trying to make the best of the half table I stupidly purchased because I was too cheap for a full one.

I also want to thank you all whoever has been clicking on that tiny-ass "VOTE TWC" button on the right nav here on the site. I made that button so small you would think that I wouldn’t want anyone to click on it to vote for this comic, but that’s not really the case. I’m going to be putting up vote incentives like special illustrations, sketches or wallpapers for people who click the button to vote. To vote you have to click on the "VOTE TWC" button and type in the first three letters of the character they present to you. Thanks!

My Memorial Day weekend was spent in Anime Boston’s Artists Alley selling fan art stuffs for the kids and trying to promote this comic. Like I had mentioned before, I was giving away free buttons with the characters and such away. The whole bin of pins didn’t last the whole day on Friday. I didn’t even have the supplies to make more. You kids sure like free stuff. I think I’m always going to offer these pin designs for free at cons and maybe with book orders if I ever get around to that this summer.

Check out the crappy photo I took of the booth. Looking at it now, it seems I could do more to promote the comic, maybe the poster isn’t enough/big enough? This picture was also taken on Saturday, so you don’t get to see the bucket o’ free pins. As a consolation prize, you can see my sister manning the booth dressed up at the Scout from TF2. Shouldn’t I be the one behind the table? Probably. However, a lot more people come up to the table when she’s selling stuff. I think I scare people away. Maybe it’s because I spend my time peering from underneath the table and not talking. That would do it.

Besides being a freakin’ weirdo, I did meet some awesome people that really seemed interested in the comic. I ran out of all but 3 postcards and people were interested enough to take them and talk to me about it. I had to explain the use of the electric guitar in an 18th century setting. I told them it was all Ben Franklin kite power. Let’s not underestimate that man. I’m sure he did it just for the electric guitar too. Makes sense… to me.

The only weird thing that kept happening had to do with “The Union Jack-Offs” pins and postcard. People either loved the name or hated it. I felt more people thought the band name was humorous than not. It was fun seeing people wearing “The Union Jack-Offs” pins on their con badges all weekend. There was this one couple that came up to take a pin. The woman exclaimed the pin was gross and the guy was like, “I’ll take that!” LOL. I also heard the comments of “Best band name ever,” which is true. It’s so true that some little shits in the UK are using it too. Myspace told me so. However, we are the true originals here on paul-reveres.com. Remember that. My DA buddy,~misternewuzer, came up with the name months ago and the band was born in comic form. Such a clever guy, that one.

I also had the pleasure of meeting Alison Acton of Bear Nuts, one of my favorite webcomics (Gimpy Bear, FTW). I bought an issue of her comic which was really nice and in full color. It was printed by Kablam, who I’ll be using to print with as well. It’s nice to see that the quality is there.

Also, I thought I would share that one of my con buddies introduced me to a PIRATE metal band. The lead singer uses a keytar, so he thought that would be up my alley. Guess what? It is. The band is called Alestorm and they actually have a new album coming out tomorrow. I did not know. Thanks for this one time, myspace. Why do some bands only have a myspace page anyways? I hate myspace. Hate.

I think I’ve finally recovered from this past weekend’s ConnectiCon, although now I have a cold. It’s been a while since I got sick from a con. Guess what? I didn’t miss it. Blah.

Anyways, it was a fun con. This was the first convention where I was promoting the webcomic by itself. Usually I have a big set-up with anime and game fan art stuffs, which is a big money maker. However it’s definitely not as rewarding as promoting your own original work. I would like to do more of this next year with the comic. If any of you have any suggestions of conventions you think I should take a look at, please let me know. I tend to be attracted to New England cons, but I should explore more too. n.n;

I want to thank all of you who came by this weekend and told me you read the comic! I loved talking to you all and certainly didn’t expect to meet so many of you at ConnectiCon. It was awesome! It was also great to meet new people on Friday, have them go home and read the comic and come back to me the next day telling me they enjoyed it. I love you all!

The best part of a convention, for me, is seeing my friends and Artist’s Alley buddies. Arty, Steve and Jake were workin’ the Sanshee booth with extreme fierceness, selling awesome t-shirts, buttons and stickers. I also met up with Shawn and saw his ADORABLE daughter, Sophie, who’s now the proud owner of her own Snickerdoodle doll. Rosscott was there representing his webcomic, The System, which is always awesome. Jimmy FTW, always. As I was leaving the con on Sunday, I heard my name being called. It was Beck, who I went to school with at SCAD. She was in my club, Shoujo Phonebook, which was a while ago for me now, so that was awesome. She was promoting a comics anthology that she’s part of called, Same Old Future.

I also had the opportunity to meet new webcomics people. I chatted up comics with Erik Amill of Biff the Vampire and Trevor Kent of Taka Comics. I made the rounds in the Artist’s Colony and discovered some new webcomics that I’m going to read the hell out of, Garanos, by the talented Alex Heberling. I bought a copy of her mini comic, “Alex’s Guide to a Life Well Lived,” and I wasn’t disappointed. I’m going to tackle Garanos on my lunch break tomorrow. Looks epic. I also got cards from Magical Princess Anya, Also Bagels (dude’s card is shaped like a bagel. Awesome.), White Rose, Knit Princess and Machinegun Angel.

I hope to go back to ConnectiCon next year. It’s a really great con for webcomics.

More Photos: Closeup of the table and half of Lindsay, Far East of the table, Snickerdoodle Army.