The Demonweasel Speaks

This is going to be a lousy week. I can feel it in my bones, and with my cheery positive outlook, I am bound to make it so.

We’re doing another Guitar Hero tournament on Thursday, this time at Peach’s, the music bar and grill about a block away. It’s us, the music store next door, and Peach’s hosting, with me “emcee”-ing it so I can pimp Free Comic Book Day, which is this Saturday.

Right there, those two things are causing the aforementioned cheery outlook. Guitar Hero came together right before the last minute, but with three shops organizing, it hasn’t been too much hard work, just those crazy last minute details that always fly up in your face like a leaf-covered rake. Like the prizes, and where I’m going to sit, who (if anyone) is going to be there with me, and yeah, being on a stage at a bar trying to be “funny” or whatever while I’m hosting a making fake music contest. Or how we’re going to randomize the songs. Or if we’re going to get Tony’s 360 hard drive to Peach’s to use the downloaded or unlocked songs. Or how I’m going to get the tournament bracket set if we don’t get enough people.

Hey, lets think about Free Comic Book Day instead. Like where we’re going to put all the stuff we ordered. Or where the Darth Vader and Stormtroopers from the 501st Legion are going to be, or if they’re going to be on time, or if you can make them happy and be a good host. Or if the money we spent on flyers or radio advertising will actually bring people out.

Lots of fun.

I could also talk about how I got the runaround for a month from the people at the movie theater when I wanted to do some flyering and coupon handouts at the Iron Man premiere (this Thursday, natch). After dealing with fuck-ups at the corporate office, Tony and Travis went out to th theater in person to talk to a human, we found out one of the other comic shops in the area locked down a promotion two weeks ago…after I’d been told by someone there to put all my eggs in corporate’s basket. Fool! Never put anything in corporate’s basket!

Of course, that would’ve been the same night as Guitar Hero and that would’ve been a blast (of crap in my face), so that’s okay, I guess…but damn.

But hey, I heard back from the agent that has my full manuscript. It was on Friday, just after I spent the whole day applying vinyl letters to the awning outside the store so we could be big and visual on the outside for our inaugural FCBD. You’d think putting letters on an awning would be cake. Of course not. Instructions were apparently sold separately, and I measured them wrong, meaning I had to come up with a whole new way to use the $150 worth “comics & games” we bought. So we spend the whole damn day working on it, me up and down the worlds ricketiest ladder, finally Tim Gunning it up and then, exhausted physically and mentally, I sit down to check my email, and there’s the one I’ve been waiting six months for. I actually sat there and said “crap…crap…crap” for about five minutes before I opened it.

It was anticlimactic, just a “wow, I’ve had this for a while, do you still interested in me representing it?” I wrote him back, using less strong language than “Sweet glorious fuck-stick yes, please!” I haven’t heard back yet. I am cautiously optimistic. Or soon to be catastrophically heart broken, coupled with the self loathing that comes from not querying as much as I should.

Lee is, I think, done with the pencils for the first ten pages of the comic. I think. Then we begin the rickety, uncharted, process of inking. And then the hellish no man’s land of lettering.

I’ve been writing for crap lately. Finished the 2nd draft of the third issue of the aforementioned comic. I’d been wanting to have drafts of all six issues done by now, but 4 and 5 are still in first draft notebook stage. I’m still trying to pace 6 out in my head, but I find myself unsure. Regardless, it’ll be done by Chicago (end of June) by hook or by crook. I don’t know which one involves more blood and tears (because both sound pretty horrible), but it’ll be that one.

I leave you with this video one of our customers made for an entry into a Free Comic Book Day commercial. If you look closely, you can see me (playing the role I was born to play, that of the confused shopkeep) and my store (you don’t have to look to hard to figure out which one it is…we don’t sell fabric)…and the store logo that I sent him that has the wrong phone number on it.

See? Cheery, positive outlook.

PS: “Harold and Kumar: Escape From Guantanamo Bay,” like donuts, is awesome.

Eventful times, of course. I’ll forgo the usual “oh gee it’s been so long,” except for this whole mentioning it thing.

The store has been doing well, quite well in fact. We’ve been busy but not overwhelmed, but we’ve been all worked up over Free Comic Book Day, which is coming painfully soon. We’ve got all kinds of fun stuff lined up, including a visit from the 501st Legion Storm trooper folks, who craft their own highly detailed and accurate Star Wars Imperial costumes and make appearances for charity donations. Maybe we’ll find ourselves with some good press this year and keep making a name for ourselves. We did our first off-site sale at a local comic convention, which went really well even though we’d been wait-listed for a table and got one with about 12 hours notice.

Writing is going relatively well, although I did find a way to finagle myself an Xbox 360, so now I’m all enthralled with new video games and it’s really putting my mettle in the fire. My MySpace quote used to be “There’s no such thing as writer’s block, just video games.” So true, Brian Vaughn. So true.

We’ll see how well things turn out. The first draft of five of the six issues have been written, and we’ve got about 8 pages of pencils so far. Then inked, lettered, printed and then its off to Chicago.

Then it’s on to the next adventure…