Hyun Supul

NYC Visit: Comic Shops

Last weekend, I went to NYC to visit Pradip, a college friend of mine. The City That Never Sleeps sure had many different faces to offer. Here let me talk about my weekend comic shop/comic sale adventure.

(Jim Hanley’s Universe)

Around the noon time on Sunday, we went to Jim Hanley’s Universe, an indy-friendly comic shop right next to Empire State building. It only took a minute of conversation with Harry the manager to sell all ten copies of Inbound I brought. I also sold copies of my own mini-comic (”Re-Cognition“) as well. Harry the manager turned out to be very friendly and accommodating. He placed the copies of Inbound at the “I” section among the mainstream comics, instead of the special Indy section, supposedly because we had professional looking finish.

Even though I no longer had copies to sell, we still paid a visit to The Forbidden Planet, another indy friendly comic shop at Union Sq that seemed to have a lot more traffic (mainly with young college crowd pouring from the nearby NYU.) I was basically told: bring copies and they will take look at them. I was told that all transactions will be done in Paypal so it seems we can feel a little better even if we get a consignment deal. I clearly got the impression that I could have made a sale there as well if I had come better prepared.

Coming from the world of technology and art, playing a traveling salesman is a new experience for me. At the end I found it not only pleasant but also strangely liberating. On the way back from Jim Hanley’s Universe I mentioned to my friend about (Randy Pausch’s) Last Lecture. I mentioned that one of the lessons in that book was: Sometimes, the only thing you have to do to get what you want is just to ask. The NYC sales experience certainly drove that point home.

My Very First “Mini Comic”

Hooray. . . my very first self-published “mini comic” is now officially on sale. Thanks to our good friend Shelli at Red Sun Press, the first batch of my independent comic collection “Re-Cognition” has been printed today. After the BCR meeting, around 9:40PM today, I brought the comic books to The Million Year Picnic, an independent comic store in Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA. Tony the owner was nice enough to buy five copies from me right there and then. In coming days I will try to visit other comic shops around the Boston area to make my sales. Meanwhile my comic books will be available for sale at The Million Year Picnic at least. It sure is a modest beginning, yet to me it’s a landmark that points to greater things to come. Thanks to everyone at BCR and elsewhere who have given me direct and indirect supports.

New Art Class

Yesterday was the first session of the human anatomy class at MassArt. This turned out to be another one of those classes that made me think: “Why didn’t I take a class like this ten years ago?” All those times I have been banging my head at the wall trying to figure things out on my own. . . could have been used to churn out better pieces of art instead. Also, it was a nice feeling to hang an art portfolio case around my shoulder after several years. Using a computer to create art sure is convenient, but does not give you “in the world” type feeling. All the real life art mateterials make you feel like, you know, being an artist again. (Now where did I put my beret. . .)

I have little doubt that this class would help me enrich my drawing skills. Despite the cold weather, I am clearly looking forward to attending the rest of this course.

Revamped with Wordpress

Welcome to my wordpress revamped page. The page itself needs tons of work still. But hopefully it would mean more frequent updates and more words to spread. . .