Dwaine

Outstanding find! Another puzzle piece in the early history has fallen into place! I'm sure we'll learn who "KIS" is someday. Can't wait to listen to the interview soon!

I'm glad they have the movie and TV stars. They certainly bring people in. A lot of them enjoy going to conventions and meeting fans. I've read lots of nice things about certain folks in the convention rating and management groups. It's all about striking the right balance. Comicpalooza has the Animaniacs cast, which is awesome. If they had that with stronger comic talent, I would've paid for a badge for sure. Jump on Boston. That's a great lineup! Even last year. Sometimes creators will sign one thing for free and charge $10-20 For each item after that. When Greg Capullo was here a few years ago, he signed for free and there were dudes who brought MULTIPLE long boxes. Don't forget Donny Cates had God Country, Redneck, Baby Teeth, and Doctor Strange before Venom. He was going to be here two years ago, but cancelled. There's got to be something up with the Comicpalooza management, because he lives in San Antonio and does practically every Texas convention. I hear it's really slow today, which doesn't bode well for the convention as a whole. With the holiday tomorrow there's bound to be a dip in attendance too. It sucks. My friends do great work and I want them to succeed!

The lineup is significantly weaker this year. The talent you mentioned are the best, but those folks are also at conventions all the time. Most of, maybe all of them have been to Houston or a neighboring city before. Adams and Claremont particularly - conventions and store signings. Hung was with the Felix Comic Art agency. Last year they brought Skottie Young, and Ryan Ottley. Nick Piterra was also with them last year, but I'm kinda used to seeing him since he used to live here! Compared to literally every other convention in the state this year, Comicpalooza didn't have enough talent to justify the price. Plus they held off on guest announcements while they continually jacked up prices. It's one thing to build hype, but that's shady. There's stronger talent in the artist alley. Many of them local to the state. There's a also an issue with that, because of how they run the artist alley they make it nigh impossible for anyone new to get in. Great for the good talent because it always guarantees them a spot if they want to come back. Bad because of the movie still tracers and splatter fill artists who buy multiple tables and endcaps. I've been waiting for years for Comicpalooza to get it together. It's not a new convention anymore. There's no excuse. They're tied to the tourism bureau, so they make sure there are practically no competing conventions. The artists I know have been saying for years they haven't been doing well here and are more successful at other conventions. I could go on about that, but I'm sure it would be long and boring. Crazier.

Thought I'd give you folks an update on my special friend the "free hugs" guy. Originally I wasn't going to go to the convention. $60 for a pass and we get Chelsea Cain? C'mon, Houston. But then I realized I have to go. My boy needs his hug! This year was a special year. It's our five year hugaversary! I was going get shirts made of him. Hot pink with his picture drawn in his typical togs, but his face like All-Might's. It's on my Instagram. Sadly, all the printing places had a minimum order of 12. My best friend said to get a bunch printed and hand them out for free. (Next year...) Instead I drew a horrifying picture of us in yaoi style. I was speaking to another artist when my friend texted me with a pic and said, "Is this him?" I immediately stopped and ran back to the other side! Caught up with him and said hi. He was very confused. Then I showed him the picture. The fear in that poor young man's eyes... He went on his way and I saw him a couple hours later. I showed him the shirt and he smiled. I'll win him over yet. Before I left I saw him walk by and I yelled, "Haaaaaay! ...I'm gon' get that hug!" He probably thinks I'm a legit stalker now. It's all in good fun. So what should I do for next year? The shirt? Dress up AS him? Or make some body pillows. One of him and one of me. I can give him the one of me so we can hug each other every day!

But why would you waste your time going there when you could go to Target?

September.

I know. They don't need to. She's her own best troll.

Then they all throw shade at Brie Larson. This one is my favorite.

That didn't stop me from spoiling it.

That being said, I'm not against creators earning money off their work. I wish creators and organizations would vet their ad networks to ensure their advertisements don't work against them. While I'm still eeeeh about the concept, Patreon has evolved into more than just e-begging, but stuff like wish lists and "buy me a coffee" are just stupid and tacky.

Laugh and continue using it. I ad block and NoScript for one reason - every piece of malware I've ever received has come from a site's ad network. Every piece of malware I've had to clean from family and friends have come from ads. And not even ads from questionable or porn sites. Regular, everyday sites. Sites for news, weather, art, etc. Not only do I not trust ad networks, they block content, interrupt browsing, mislead users, and...they never, ever work! Nobody clicks on them. The only time someone will is if it's one of those "you've won gift card" iPad ads that blocks everything and you can't back out of. So to all the people that whine about users using ad block - deal. Find a better way to run your site. Find an advertising method that's safe for users. Until then I'll gladly stay safe by blocking your ads and crypto miners.

I would hope not. Community managers tend to want the community to be happy.

Said it before an' I'll say it again, I'm really happy for you. Glad there are people there who are really invested in the series' success over here. All the promotion over the past few months has been really good and engaging.