Last weekend was the 2012 Pittsburgh Comicon! We premiered NEVERMINDS #2 as well as the prototypes for the first set of Drumfish figurines (Alanis Munroe from NEVERMINDS and Firebomb from SENTINELS) to great success! It was also the first meeting between all of the creators behind NEVERMINDS #2. Danielle Aleix St. Pierre, the new colorist on NEVERMINDS, attended the show and was drawing and selling prints all weekend. This was Danielle's first convention ever and she did amazing!
As always, our good friends Al and Glenn got things started Thursday night with their penthouse party. This year they had everyone drawing on tiles that they would auction off at Saturday's charity auction. This year didn't seem as crazy and rowdy as past year. I chalk that up to Scott Derby and Kristin Ross not being there. 
Friday was the usual slow day of the weekend, but that didn't stop Jamie Fay and Danielle from sketching all day long and having a commission list. I even did two sketches that day. One was a commission and the other was a donation for the Inkwell Awards ( http://www.inkwellawards.com/ ). They are a great charity that needs all comic creators support. So, Jamie, Danielle and I all contributed something to them. Hopefully it helped. There were a lot of inquiries and admiring of the Drumfish figurines and we took preorders all weekend. We are definitely planning to do another set! :)
Saturday was crazy busy. I was on my feet selling all day. I couldn't believe how many people were there this year and how much they were buying. It was a nice change from Friday. We sold almost all the copies of NEVERMINDS #2 we had and I almost sold out of my Robins print. Since this is the first time I ever sold prints at Pittsburgh, it was nice to see some good response. We got to chat with many, many fans , friends and new people that I didn't want it to end. After the show, we rushed out to eat real quick and then return so that we could attend the "Make-A-Wish" charity auction. Both Jamie and I had donated art and it was my first time ever having art of mine up for auction. I was kind of excited. Unfortunately, the auctioneer didn't seem to want to be there and when it came to Jamie art, he only said "This is a picture of the Fantastic Four and a bunch of people I don't know. Let's start the bidding at $20." This was kind of an insult to Jamie as his art was on the flier and on the 3-day passes for the show. I yelled out and said "Who's the artist?", at which time there was more information given. Then when it came time for my art to be auctioned, the auctioneer looked at my art and my name on it and said "I'm not even going to try to say this one. This is by Rich somebody.". That totally sucked. But hey, at least it got bid on and sold for $100. Since it was my first time donating anything I was very happy to have helped raise some money. The highlight of the auction was a last minute addition for a dinner with Stan Lee for two people. You had to be ready in a half hour and Stan would pay for dinner and you got to spend private time with him. How cool was that? I still can't believe that it only went for $675 dollars. CRAZY! After the auction, we hung in the bar with friends and then crash after the long day.
Sunday was another great day at the show and we had many people coming back and buying more books (from buying just one the previous day) and more prints. Jamie and Danielle did the "Quick Sketch" and had many people coming around after to have them sign stuff and buy their prints. Very cool. Before we knew it the show was over and we began the long drive back to NYC.
The Pittsburgh Comicon has changed a bit over the years, but it's still one of my favorite shows to do. That's because of the people. Both the creators and fans that attend this convention are amazing! A huge thanks to all for making this show so great!!
Special thanks and kudos to Javier for pimping Neverminds #2 at his table!!!
