New York Comic Con 2010 - Day 1

My first sale, just minutes after I arrived at my booth in the Small Press section, was to Tania del Rio, who toplined the recent manga-inspired run on “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch” for Archie Comics. She told me that Mike Pellerito, the President and Editor-in-Chief of Archie – the one who contracted appendicitis in San Diego – was at the Archie booth and that I should catch up with him before the “Archie Means Business” panel, which started at 3pm. She also told me that they talk about me at Archie all the time!

I ran over to the Archie booth and spied Nina Kester, the Communications Director who was so helpful to me in San Diego. She told me that Mike had not arrived yet but was expected shortly. So I introduced myself to two of the other creators, Fernando Ruiz and Alex Simmons, who were doing signings. They both said, “Oh, they talk about you at Archie all the time!”

Mike arrived and he was all smiles. We made small talk until the Archie business folks, including Mike, needed to make their way downstairs to where the panel was to be held. Since this was my first time at NYCC and I was not at all familiar with how the Javits Center was laid out, I just followed them, reinforcing that I belong with them.

At the Archie panel, they announced that because the Kevin Keller issue of “Veronica” sold out and led to the first reprinting in Archie Comics history, they were going to launch a four-issue Kevin mini-series in 2011. And if that sells well, he will get his own series. And if that happens, they will need writers – like me!

I have this thing about finding pennies at pivotal moments in my life – especially when things aren’t going well or I stand at a crossroads. I believe they are the way God speaks to me, and I call them my “pennies from Heaven.” My previous record, during a disastrous tech week on the “Jayson” musical in 1998, was the 18 pennies I found just a block from the theater, that gave me the strength go on with the show.

Friday evening Bud and I went to see a performance of the musical “Promises, Promises” with Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth. On the way to the theater I spied some pennies on the ground as we were exiting the subway station. I picked them all up and shoved them in my pocket. “They’re dirty!” Bud cried. “This is how God speaks to me!” I snarled. As soon as we got to the theater, I washed my hands, and didn’t count the pennies until after we returned to the hotel. In my pocket were 41 pennies! I dare say that something great is about to happen. Oh, and the show was good too.