Phoenix Comicon 2011

This year's Phoenix Comicon was the best show we've ever had. We worked hard, laughed a lot, played Iconica, met new friends and talked with other indie artists such as Daniel Davis and David Petersen.

Our Booth Setup

Each year, my wife Larissa is such a huge help to me. We've been married for 15 years and I'm so proud to be her husband. I want everyone to know that without her support, guidance and critiques, I'd be lost on the high seas of my own fiction with no direction.

Here's a few quick thoughts, images and highlights of our show. (Next year, I promise to have a dedicated photographer taking more pictures! It's something I always forget about as the days fly by.)

Releasing Iconica Series 2

During the four days of the con we held demos of Iconica right at our booth and showed newcomers how to play. With the help of several Iconica development team members (thanks Adrian, Ryan, Josh, Kevin and Kirk), we organized games in the Phoenix Comicon Game Room at the Hyatt for newcomers and pros as well.

Iconica Box Sets

We had in reserve several Iconica Series 1 box sets for in-person sales and we brought lots of Iconica starter sets for newcomers. Yet we were not prepared for how well Iconica Series 2 would do. Things went so well with the Iconica Series 2 release, we sold out of our initial stock by Sunday mid-afternoon.

We're so encouraged by the diversity of people who have embraced Iconica's story elements, iconic imagery and gameplay style – children and tweens, Dads and Moms, young couples and yes, even hip grandparents.

Iconica supporters include scientists and military personal, as well as stay-at-home Dads and yoga instructors. We had a great time talking to gamers of all kinds from all different parts of the country!

Meeting David Petersen

For years, I've enjoyed David Petersen's work on MouseGuard, so it was such a pleasure to meet him and his wife Julia. Larissa and I went over to his table on Saturday to get his new book Legends of the Guard (and have him sign my existing collection of his books) and David was kind enough to talk with us for a while and even take a picture with me.

Eric Torres (left) and David Petersen (right)

While David is very proud of his work, he's a really cool, down to earth person. I have a lot of respect for artists and authors who remain approachable and wear their success lightly. I'm sure you've met people you feel the same way about too.

So What's Next?

Well, our Iconica vendor has promised to deliver a new shipment of Iconica Series 2 cards by this week. As soon as we receive it, we'll be releasing it online! Thanks for your patience on this. Hey, I guess this is what happens when you're working with small print runs and fresh content right?

After Iconica Series 2 is released online we'll focus our attention on completing rynaga.com and finalizing our custom shopping cart system. Even after we finish our own shopping cart, we'll still use Etsy. But we think having multiple ways to find our merchandise is probably a good thing!

As a heads up, you might be excited to know more about our next big project, which is a narrated book due for release this winter! Look for a more detailed update on this project within the next couple weeks.

Thanks to everyone who made Phoenix Comicon such a huge success for us! We're so grateful to have your support.

-Safe travels!