My First Comic Book Signing!

Blackout #0 at Our Mutual City Coffee Co.!

Hi, everybody! As I mentioned in the most recent edition of the newsletter proper, I had a signing on Saturday, February 22 to officially release Blackout #0, “Where There’s Smoke, There’s Blackout” written by me with art by Michael Howe! I had invited all the members of the Comics Book Club and several friends, and I thought I’d share some of what happened. Enjoy!

I arrived at the venue, Our Mutual City Coffee Co., at 11:00 am to have breakfast before the signing started. I get coffee from them multiple times a week, but this was my first chance to dine in for quite a while and I’d been wanting to have one of their bagel sandwiches since they opened.

Behold: one half of the Winston!

I was so hungry, I forgot to take a decent picture before I ate half of it. There goes my shot at being an influencer or a food blogger! Lol The staff was kind enough to reserve a table at the end of their seating area so I didn’t have to worry about where to set up. They had a full house, so I was grateful for their foresight. Friends of mine started arriving shortly before the 11:30 am start time, but soon after I there were a few people gathered around.

Synergy!

I’ve never tabled anywhere before, but I know several people who have. I also read up on important ways to prepare for a signing, so I made sure I had a lot of what’s necessary when selling one’s small, self-published comic: a display, a newsletter signup sheet (with working pen), business cards (bookmarks, in my case), a pen or marker to sign the cover, and enough comics to cover demand.

My table in all its glory!

The only thing I’d forgotten was change. I was so nervous about arriving on time, I forgot to stop by the bank on the way. Fortunately, the owner said that if anybody needed to break a five-dollar bill or larger they could ask at the register. I had my Venmo QR code handy, too, if anyone wanted to pay that way.

Photo courtesy of Mark Martell

Some people were generous enough to tell me to keep the change. I only charged two dollars per issue because I would have felt bad charging more than that for a four-page comic with a four-page afterword. XD

Photos courtesy of Onicia Muller

I had the physical proof of The Passion of St. Alban of the West handy as a preview of work to come, too.

I spoke a little bit about the origins of Blackout, both the original and my own attempt to bring him back, and the process of creating the book. Huge thanks again to Michael Howe for such incredible art, letters, and colors!

This was a real dream come true and I couldn’t be happier!

Let me know if you have any questions down in the comments. Do you have any tabling experience? Would you like to learn more? Take care of yourselves and each other! Thanks again for everything.