New York Comic Con

Well, sometimes miracles do come true!

I have been attending New York Comic Con since....I want to say around 2008. The show's been going for about ten years now, and I have always enjoyed it immensely, both because of how much fun it is and because of the chance it offers to make contacts in the various media genres. Well, a special thanks goes out to my buddy John Cavooto, who told me about the pro registration stuff and suggested I give it a shot since I had self-published a book in 2006 and am working on a few others now. I took his advice,  and applied. I wasn't sure I could get a ticket for the show however, due to the fact that...well, 2006 had been my last time having anything published. But low and behold, what to my wondering eyes should appear this afternoon in my email in-box but a confirmation of approval for the show on the pro pass.

To put it mildly, I am nothing short of elated. I quickly went through and confirmed my reservation, and am now able to say that I am officially in for this year's show. I hope in the next few years I can possibly get a table there. Though that might be a bit pricey, so I'll have to see about teaming with someone to afford a spot there.

One thing is for sure, even for people who've only published once and have been frustrated in getting anything else released, miracles do come true. Sometimes you just need a friend to point you in the right direction. 

One step forward; Five steps behind

Well, as the year moves along, one hing that always becomes and issue for me is research. I mentioned in my last post that it can be a pain in the ass. trust me, it can be. It's always worth it when I find what I need to continue my work, but it also has the issue of slowing my work down.


One of the biggest issues for research on my end is figuring out what makes the most sense to use. For example, one of the works I'm developing is vampire-related.

I know, I know. Who hasn't done vampires at this point?

But when it comes to the undead, there is thankfully a multitudinous amount of stuff to pick and choose from. However that's a double-edged sword. Because there is a virtual sea of stuff to pick from, culling it down to what i absolutely need can be a genuine mess to overcome.

It gets worse when you're looking into stuff that's more recent and almost purely in the realm of pop culture, rather than gleaned from mythology. Because at least with mythology, you can deviate wherever you want and just claim you're slapping your own take on it. With myths, everything old can be new again. Look at Marvel and DC and their various reinterpretations of classic myths for a great example on this.

For something akin to say, giant robots, that's a harder nut to crack. Why? Well, the giant robot genre is still comparatively young. And then there's the issue of  "real" robots vs. "super" robots and the like. Because there are tropes and structures that are almost completely built into either sub-category. Trying to make something new out of it isn't impossible. But it does come back to bite you if you think you're just going to waltz through that minefield unscathed. Though I suppose fans will get on your case on any genre if they're passionate enough about it.

In any case, I hate to do a title reference, but I keep feeling like for everyone step step forward, I end up five steps behind on the research lately. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like the further I go on this new project, the farther behind I get on the overall information I've gotten. I may have to break a bit further from classic material and just go my own way.

Research. Worth it, but slow going.

It almost seems like it would be inevitable.

Research can and will hit a dead end.

Sadly, that's what I've been putting up with in the last few months. My work is a piece of fiction and set an a alternate reality Earth. However I still want to be as accurate as possible with anything that would be recognizable as genuine real world culture when I used the real thing and not any of the fictional culture I'm using for this thing. The biggest problem is that the culture I want to represent faithfully is one I've never experienced.

You can imagine how much of a pain in the ass this has become, and believe me, it very much is just that. However I'm keeping at it even as I continue my work as best I can while scouring through stuff online and in books in the hopes that I don't royally screw up and do something to offend my future readers.

Here's hoping the Japan Foundation can help.