You know you've made it as a comic book creator when...
You get invited to San Diego. Congrats, Jimmie.
To springboard this into discussion, what other things might qualify?
1. Someone cosplays as one of your characters
2. Someone makes a stuffed animal or action figure out of one of your characters
3. Someone writes fanfic with your characters in them
4. You get invited to a large show as an expenses-paid guest
5. You get invited to pitch at Marvel or DC
6. An artist / writer you admire contacts you asking to work with you
7. Your co-creator gets poached by another company
8. You do a standing-room only panel at a convention
9. Your Artist's Alley table has a line of three or more people
10. Something negative about you makes it on to Bleeding Cool
Anything I missed?
Comments
Edit. No. 7 is the one that's happened to me frequently enough that I'm beginning to feel like the "Good Luck Chuck" of comics.
So yeah, that's definitely a thing.
For the list: Another creator compliments you to your publisher or editor behind your back.
(As an aside: I would freak out to the point of paralysis (in a good way) if someone cosplayed any character I wrote or made a toy of them.)
I think that fact that not a lot of comics readers know my name means that I haven't made it. But at the same time, there are people in this little corner of the comics universe who will be happy to work with me, if only because I get the work done.
1. I can point to a stack of comics I've written/comics I'm writing.
2. I basically just do the projects I want to do with the people I want to do them with.
3. Money (which is the weakest leg of the tripod at the moment).
Everything else is just (delightful) gravy.
I was thrilled recently when another self-publisher/indie artist sent me fan-art of a character from my graphic novel - - that was pretty cool.
"Groupie sex" - - damn - - I don't get to enough conventions :-S