Unpacking the Trenton Central High School Charity Comic-Con
This past Sunday, June 2nd we had the absolute privilege to be part of the 3rd Annual Trenton Central High School Charity Comic-Con in Trenton, NJ. This show is a student-run philanthropic event at Trenton Central High School supporting a student-chosen charity every year. This year's charity was the ASAN (Autistic Self Advocacy Network). Students from the Comic Book & Manga Club, Volunteer Club, and Restaurant and Business Management Academy come together to organize this amazing event.
The event these kids put on was really something to behold. The gymnasium layout was perfection with a generous amount of space for each vendor. The Artists and Creators were prominently featured in the center of the Gymnasium allowing a nice flow of foot traffic. I saw many people loop the gym several times, stopping at different tables each time.
There were kids activities and a photo alley with large cutouts of various comic book and movie characters. I may or may not have allowed my photo to be taken in one of these contraptions (it’s in good fun for charity right?)
Our booth was more or less the same as last week at Richland (by design, for my own sanity) but I brought back my “wall books” from the TPRFM. Some guys would feel a little inadequate when up against the walls of the vendors I was sharing the gym with (or rather, they were sharing with me). However, every vendor I encountered was so gracious to us. I realized after the fact that a few of you even came by and bought stuff from me, I’m sorry if I didn’t recognize you!
Shout out to John @ NJ Comic Stop and Griffin & Floyd from Final Boss Comics & Games. Absolute pleasure!
This was my first-time seeing Carmen Costa as a fellow exhibitor. If you haven’t checked out his series Proctor, it is fantastic! It’s a more grown-up vampire hunter story than the ones you may remember on tv! Issues 1 and 2 were both great reads and I’m looking forward to Issue 3 and beyond!
Thanks to Ron Cacace for signing the Bite-Sized Archies for my little one, that made her day! I’ve spied her reading them on a few occasions over the past few days.
I also had a chance to chat with Anthony Anozier of Overlay Comics. I grabbed a copy of his AGENT BLAKK trade paperback. I haven’t had a chance to read through it yet, but the art style has a heavy manga influence. I really like the lettering/typography too, very nice!
So that was our 3rd show and I couldn’t be happier with how it all went. I feel like I’ve gained a lot of confidence that I lacked beforehand. The goal I set for the store in our first year was to do three shows. I am so proud and grateful to the people who helped us cross that finish line. The fact that each of the three shows were completely different from one another was just icing on the cake. I’m looking forward to more shows soon!
I did promise my family that I’d take the summer off from doing any more shows. Honestly, its for myself too. I need some time to recharge and refocus on a few things. I may drop in on the local outdoor markets in my area here and there as my back-issue bins grow… we’ll see.
My main goal for the next couple months is to get some long-needed features finished here on the online store. I want to get Manga and Graphic Novels up for Order/Pre-Order as soon as possible.
I am rewriting a lot of code for my data imports from distributors. This will reduce the number of janky products that show up on the site. I need to have a better system for alerting customers when a pre-order book’s release date has been pushed back. Anyway, yeah there's a lot of stuff to do.
My hope is that by the time the store’s one year anniversary rolls around (August 14th) that it will be a far superior version than you see before you now (Early June).
On a more personal note, I started off the weekend prior to this show with the loss of my dear four-legged friend of 14.5 years, Koopa. If Mutation had a brick-and-mortar store, she’d have been our shop dog. 14 plus years is a hell of a long life for an English Bulldog. We were extremely lucky that she didn’t have many of the health issues that they’re known for until the very end. Sadly, it was time to say goodbye as her body had simply given out. It absolutely broke my heart.
Having such an amazing day, getting to sell comic books to people who were excited about comic books… it really helped me out. So, thank you to Ed Hoplock and all the Students, Staff and Security at Trenton Central High School who made this event possible. I can only hope to be lucky enough to do it again next year!
