Sarah found a box of old HOF merch and promo stuff this morning, some of it dating back seven years judging by some signed DHC promo cards (which were, unfortunately, pretty much all mangled).
So I now have a new batch of HOF Thank You cards (I was down to less than ten) to include in book/art sales, one or two DHC promo cards and a small batch of Forbidden Planet bookmarks (featuring our kaiju and robot designs, Forbiddus and Planetron).
There's a number of enamel pins that escaped our notice, the babay Cthulhu design, the three monster designs (including the skull and bride that have glow in the dark features) and there's two Milk & Cheese pins. And two of the pendants Sarah made with the Cthulhu and D20 designs. This is probably the only cache of this stuff we had in hiding, but you never know after 30 years of accumulating things.
Might hold onto the M&C pins but the rest of them and the pendants will be available for sale at some point. I'm going to take a few to the two HS cons and will hopefully have some set aside for online sales. I'm definitely not bringing all my Beasts/Nerd Inferno books with me to these shows, also hoping to eventually offer signed/sketched sales here before another pritning comes out. Fingers crossed. I really don't think I'm prepared for this month. That's not a bad thing, I'm excited and looking forward to traveling and seeing olks, but I've never done five appearances in a single month before. It's been some time since I've done five appearances in a single year. And I'm not exactly young and jaunty these days. I've never been jaunty, actually. It sounds creepy, to be honest.
So, hopefully I'll be able to sell some pins here, not to mention copies of the Beasts of Burden and Nerd Inferno books that are boxed and stacked in the studio closet and hallway. They're heavy and I want them out of the house. And I can use the money. Not going to get a ton of work done in the next five weeks or so. Because I'm on tour starting tomorrow! Wheee!
Speaking of the tour, I just got my flight information for the rumored May 23rd signing. It's a go. As is my flying anxiety. If you've read Dork #7 you know what I'm talking about. The last time I flew was in late 2019 for a friend's memorial. I'm working with my therapist to maintain a semi-calm composure, and I have my anxiety meds, and a friend is going to hook me up with some edibles if I feel I need that. I'm a lightweight so that might be the ticket. We'll see. As long as I get there and back. I'm probably more stressed being away from Winky than getting on a plane. Anyway, that makes five appearances in May. Wheee! We'll be announcing the destination after Free Comic Book Day. Because I'm on tour! Wheee!
Speaking of work, I got my fourth story accepted by Oni/EC for Catacomb of Torment. Or whichever title it ends up in, because I'm not privy to how the different anthologies are scheduled. I think CoT is moving past issue #12, which would be cool. I'm partial to it, and writing the Tormentor host. I don't know when I'll be able to get the script done, because...I'm on tour! I won't write "Wheee!" this time. Even though I totally did write "Wheee!".
I've pushed some commission work forward, not as much as I'd like, or the customers who have been waiting for years would like. Every line helps. I'm set to doing a few drawings for a friend's non-comics project.
In "I signed an NDA" news, one pitch crashed and burned, DOA. I didn't pitch it, and it wasn't my baby, not exactly, but I was involved and a pitch is a pitch. I wasn't really expecting anything from it, so, no psychic damage done from the rejection. Another situation seems to actually be in a good place, obviously nothing is guaranteed but it's passed some hurdles and I have some hope for it. And there's that third thing. Oh, that third thing. The years go by.
All right, I should eat something, Winky wants attention, and I have to pack up some things for the Nerd Inferno release party tomorrow at JHU Comics. And tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day! Or whatever they call it now because of the Diamond fallout. I'm looking forward to the signing and I hope to see some folks out there. Sign some books, draw a few quick sketches for people, talk myself hoarse. This has been a ride for me, and May will be a rollercoaster.
I'm a little scared of rollercoasters. Wheee!