San Diego Comic Con: one year later
And a look ahead to infinity... and beyond!
One year ago I was sitting on my couch wondering what might be next for my comics endeavors and aspirations. My pitch for a YA SciFi graphic novel, Major Thomás, was under review at a couple of publishers and I was strongly considering a crowd funding campaign. At that point, I wasn’t going to Comic Con (or SDCC as the kids call it) and I was bummed after having attended in 2023. Then fate stepped in.
A friend in the comics librarian community, the great Jack Phoenix, posted that he had a badge he could assign if anyone wanted to snap it up. I hit him up, and he said he wanted to wait a couple of days before confirming. TLDR and 48 hours later: my homey Stan Alachniewicz and his wife were generous enough to put me up in a spare bedroom at their lovely San Diego home for a couple of nights (again!); I hastily booked a roundtrip ticket to San Diego, and my comics designs started to take shape—even if I didn’t know it at the time.
One year later, I stand before you as someone with a full slate of activities at SDCC 2025, including creator signings, a few panel appearances, a spot at the Eisner Awards, a networking event, a Bar Con meet-up, a couple of business meetings, and more opportunities to carve my niche in the comics world. The hardest part about juggling all of this is not being able to go to all the panels and events, and see every single friend and creator I’d like to see. But such is life. I’m happy to be in the mix at the biggest industry event in our galaxy.
Major Thomás will have a major presence at the show, pun intended, thanks to my publishing partners at Amazon/Comixology/Kindle. There are a couple of things that I’ve been sworn to secrecy on, but let’s just say they are big — literally and figuratively — digitally and physically. If you come by the Amazon/Comixology/Kindle booth (#1935) you can get your fill of Major Thomás with a poster, a post card, and a special surprise if you scan the QR code at the booth. If I’m at the booth, I’ll be happy to sign the poster and the post cards I’ll be lugging around, if you’d like. Read all about the larger QR code hunt here: Comixology to Host Exclusive Scavenger Hunt at Comic-Con 2025.
So, how did all of this come together in one year? If you’ll indulge me, I’ll spin you a little a yarn about the meeting that changed my creative life. You’ve come this far, why not come a little further with me?
My pitch was under review at Comixology, and they had asked me if I’d be at SDCC. At first I told them no, then I quickly doubled back and said that I’d be a last minute attendee. At that point, there were no guarantees of a face to face connection, but as Woody Allen once said: 80 percent of success is showing up. And show up I did, hungry to get that last 20 percent that always seems so hard to attain.
I attended a Comixology panel, featuring one of my mentors, the great Scott Snyder. After the meeting, I loitered a bit and made my way up to the stage where I saw Scott’s assistant, Tyler, who kindly introduced me to two key people. I’ll call them “PMH” from Superfan Promotions and “JDB” from Comixology. So there I was, standing face to face and shaking hands with two people that I’ll be forever indebted to, among many among others at both Superfan and Comixology. I exchanged phone numbers with JDB and made a loose plan to have a Sunday meeting to review my proposal for Major Thomás.
I didn’t know if the meeting would actually happen, but JDB was true to his word, and he was kind enough to make time to have a cold one with me at the Hilton (tip: do NOT cheers with water — thanks for the lesson, JDB). It was a phenomenal meeting and I walked away exhilarated, knowing that my dream project would have a real chance to reach a worldwide audience as a part of a Comixology Originals line-up that stands shoulder to shoulder with digital comics from every major publisher that distributes via Amazon. Nothing was guaranteed, but I heard the voice of the universe whispering in my ear to keep the faith… and that patience would be rewarded.
I went outside and took this picture, immediately after meeting with JDB. After the photo op, I grabbed my bags and flew back to Oakland floating on cloud nine.
Fast forward a few months and I had a signed contract with Amazon for a 10-year exclusive. We targeted a February announcement to coincide with NASA’s anniversary of the first American to orbit the Earth, when John Glenn made history aboard the Friendship 7. From there, PMH and the incredible team at Superfan put the publicity wheels in motion in a big way. They lined up a big splash for the launch of the book with a press release, article placements, a ton of podcast guest spots, and a panel at WonderCon the same week that my book launched in late March. It’s been a whirlwind!
If you remember nothing else from this entry, please remember my overwhelming and sincere thanks to everyone that helped the universe deliver my dreams over the last year: my God, my family, my indie and mainstream comics friends, all the artists I’ve worked with, business partners, Jack the librarian, Stan the fraternity brother, Scott the writing mage and his familiar, Tyler, PMH and the magicians at Superfan, and JDB the master of Castle Comixology.
I can’t wait to see what this year’s SDCC yields. I’m itching to catch up with the entire cast of characters in this journal entry. With any luck, I’ll be typing up another one of these a year from now, outlining all that has happened since SDCC 2025 wrapped up.
Until then, see you next mission… 🚀
Love all of this! Congrats brother
Good luck!