In any case, we’re going to be rocking over at booth #420, pardoning any drug references, and hawking the Steam Crow goodness to any who might listen.

What are our top 10 things about WonderCon and San Francisco?

1. Hanging out with our friends Deb Aoki and the Hockins
2. Eating fabulous San Francisco food! It’s da best.
3. Enjoying the big, but not too big, WonderCon crowd.
4. Having 3 days (instead of just 2) to show off our wares.
5. Talking to all of the SF artists and creative folks. (There are many living in SF)
6. Rain and very cool air, before Phoenix becomes a furnace of incredible heats.
7. Damp pillows (Hey, it’s very dry in Phoenix.)
8. Seeing all of our Convention buddies like the Loters, Ben Walker, Paul Horn, Travis Hanson, to name a few.
9. Longingly gaping over the fence at Pixar in Emeryville. (I do that just about every time.)
10. Wondering who the famous artist is, that we’re talking to.

Here’s a map of where you can find us. (Go to Halfpixel, and then turn around. You should see our wall o’ prints ®:

We’ll be showing off our poison bottles, books, and buttons along with:

Our new Lincolnstein print:

And our new Monster Commute traffic novel:

Dawna and I look forward to seeing you there.

- Daniel

Here are the Steam Crow SDCC quick facts:

• Steam Crow/Monster Commute booth #4207
• Same spot as last year (for the first time)
• It’s our 5th appearance
• We started Steam Crow after attending SDCC 2004
• We’re across from Sony and Fox mega-booths
• We’re next to our friends Ben Walker!

Here’s a map of how to find us!

San Diego Comic-Con floor map

We’re bringing all manner of oddities to share with you:

New 8×10 Kawaii food prints:

• 16 different food designs
• $10 each or all 16 for $100 (Save $60)
• Super cute, ideal for kitchen or ?
• Easy to find cheap frames in 8×10

(There is no “Steam Crow” watermark on the front of the prints.

Feratu Friend resin cast toy/idol

• SDCC Exclusive
• Hand-cast by Daniel and Dawna in the Steam Crow kitchen
• Only 10 available (total) in antique copper finish
• Comes with 1 inch button
• Chunky cool
• Comes with a little poison bottle
• $50 each

10 SDCC exclusive Feratu Friends available

Monster Poster Prints

• 12×18 on 50 year archival satin film
• Cheap 12×18 frames are available at Aaron Brothers
• We’ll ship them to you, if you don’t want to carry them at the Con
• Frankenstein, Singing for the Brains, Doomtooth Toothpaste, Metropolis, Dr. Jekyll Mr. Hyde, Nosferatu

Steampunk Goggles

• We took some cool welding goggles and punked them up!
• Several different designs, with hand-cast resin details (that we made by hand) and hand painted details
• 19 pairs available
• Prices $25-$45 a pair
• Not intended for real eye protection anymore
• Don’t stare at the sun

I have to admit that I was a little tentative about this year’s show, as the convention floor expanded greatly this year, offering a couple (few?) new tables. In short, more competition.

Now, it’s not that we’re afraid of a little friendly competition; it’s that APE has been a pretty small show in the 4 other years that we had done it, and it wasn’t looking like attendance was likely to improve much. And well, it did improve a little this year… and we did manage to grow our sales by 20% which isn’t bad. (Considering the vastly higher number of artists there.)

A huge thanks to all of our supporters who took the time to stop buy, and pick up one of our books/prints/glasses/etc. It’s your fault that we’re coming back next year!

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Dawna and I were kindly hosted by Ms. Deb Aoki of Bento Box and About.com Manga fame; but maybe more than that, Deb is a foodie! She always takes us to the most fabulous restaurants and farmer’s markets, and this year was no exception. We ate like Queens (and kings) at places like Sauce, Can’t Fail Cafe, and some big conglomeration of fancy food trucks that was top-notch.  Didn’t have anything short of a great meal. Even if she didn’t feed us, Deb is a great (and supportive) friend.

We also hung out with Audra Furuichi of super-kawaii comic Nemu Nemu. (Check it.) Audra is really sweet and cool, and we had a great time talking with her, lugging stuff around, and eating all of those eats. We look forward to seeing more of Audra in the future.

We also hung out with pals James and Rebecca Hicks of Lunasea Studios, Jamie Baker, Ben Walker,  Denis Caron, Ghostbot, Louis Del Carmen, Octavio Rodriguez, Philippa Rice, Ali Showkati, Julia Lundman, Nanamations Tim and Nan, Chris Pitzer of Adhouse Books and plenty more.

Pixar

The trip started off with a bang; our pals Ben and Leann Butcher took us on a tour of Pixar, there in Emeryville. If you know us, you know that this was a frikkin’ dream come true. We got in there a bit early, as the artists seem to wander in just before lunchtime it seems. The place was big, clean, and beautiful. We were there for 5 hours, and got to see all kinds of places and stuff, and even had lunch in the Luxo Cafe.

Then Steve Jobs shows up with Bob Iger, the president of Pixar.

(!!!)

Jobs and Bob stop about 12 feet from us, and have some sort of fancy conversation. I just watched. Closely. For 10 minutes.

I know that Jobs is a real person and all of that, but I truly never figured that I’d see the guy in real life. Ever. Wasn’t my plan, but apparently it was his. Even if you don’t drink the Apple Cool-aide, you have to admit that the man has some marketing and business sense; he’s a frikkin legend.

Anyway, that was icing on the cake of a pretty awesome trip, all the way around. We had a terrific time.

Tired and inspired,

- Daniel