Humerus Blog

It’s two weeks after Comic-Con and everybody else has posted their thoughts.  You’ve read about the awesome panels, the celebrities, the movie sneak-peeks, the stabbing, the costumes, (wait, did he say stabbing?)… how the con has spread throughout the city…  BUT have you heard what it’s like to spend all of Comic-Con weekend in a 10′x10′ square at one end of the exhibit hall?  I think not.

Zombie Hunters League T-Shirt

The notable first sale of the show is our new Zombie Hunters League shirt, and people are digging the new magnets by Ata-Boy and we feel like we’re off to a great start.  Preview night closes at 9, we decide to skip the local eats and head to the hotel – but we get stuck in construction generated traffic, arrive too late and the hotel’s restaurant is closed – we barely eat, and get to sleep well after midnight.  

Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday all sort of blur together (damn, I should have written this two weeks ago)… but they go something like this:

Speed Racer at Ralph's Supermarket

First coffee at the hotel lobby, then drive from Hotel Circle, pick up lunch at Ralph’s supermarket (with other expert con-goers), drive to RESERVED PARKING under the Convention center just a half hour before the hall opens! (OMIGOD – this was a fantastic improvement by the Comic-Con staff and SD Convention Center this year THANK YOU). 

When they open the hall doors and the faithful stream in it’s non-stop…  a steady flow of people coming by, stopping to laugh at our designs “Dude, check this out… Mr Piddles, Bringer of Death!”, picking up a couple of shirts or a poster,  and chatting with us about Zombies, Bacon, etc.  

Nights were simply eat, drink, sleep, shower and repeat.    

Humerus Booth Comic-Con 2010 - open for business!

Zombie Con T-Shirt a SELL OUT!

NEW STUFF – the new to Comic-Con shirts like Geek Hazards , Zombie Hunters League, and Zombie Con were all hits.   And our two new licensed properties SOLD OUT!  (the aforementioned magnets by Ata-Boy, and the popular BRAINS poster by NMR Distribution) 

OLD FRIENDS – Sure we could make stuff and sell it online, never venturing off of the Humerus island headquarters… but we’d never get to meet the great people who we see year after year at the con…  There were online friends we knew we’d see like Katrina Hill the Action Flick Chick, Kristin Rielly aka @GeekGirls, Rebecca and James Hicks from Little Vampires, the mad geniuses at X-Sanguin and Misty from Morbidly Adorable

Here are just a few of the friends who surprised us with a booth visit this year…

WE’LL BE BACK in 2011!

For all our pictures from this year’s show, and updates throughout the year, visit the Humerus Facebook page and click the “LIKE” button…

We’re very excited to announce an exciting new direction for HUMERUS!   For the past 4 years we’ve been creating our zombie comedy and other designs and putting them on t-shirts, posters and stickers ourselves.   We’ve been having a great time offering them at Comic-Con, Wondercon and other events, (as well as at Humerus-Store.com) and we really love all your positive responses!  But deep down we wished we could do more…  

The time has come for us to expand our “business model.”    We have begun to license our art out to other manufacturers.  People who get our sense of humor, can create new products and give them better distribution… 

This year at San Diego Comic-Con International we PROUDLY DEBUT OUR FIRST TWO LICENSEES…

Ata-Boy (Magnets) :

HUMERUS magnets are now available from Ata-Boy.com

and NMR Distribution (poster):

Humerus BRAINS poster available from NMRdist.com

If you’re coming to San Diego Comic-Con this year be sure to stop by our booth (#736) to see the exciting new stuff!   (and if you have a store we’d love to tell you how you can order officially licensed HUMERUS products wholesale)

This is just the beginning…  We’ll be expanding to other products, and introducing new designs.   It’s an exciting new chapter.   

~ Mark & Brett, Team Humerus    

(store owners who won’t be attending Comic-Con can contact us here: http://www.HumerusOnline.com/ContactUs.html )

We are proud to be a part of the San Diego Comic-Con Zombie tradition.   Each year we’ve seen it grow into a little Zombie-Con within the con.   And this year there are great things for Zombie Lovers!

San Diego Zombie Walk

We were going to put together a whole list of Zombie Panels, signings and booths for Zombiephiles… but San Diego Zombie Walk has already put together a great listing… (link below)

Let me just give you OUR Top 5 Zombie Happenings at Comic-Con 

1)  Walking Dead Panel – AMC’s new series based on the acclaimed graphic novel.  This is going to be a packed house, so be sure to get to Hall H early! (Friday 11:30-12:30)  – Also check out their booth all weekend #3721

2) San Diego Zombie Walk - Friday 6-7pm in the Gaslamp District.  Participate or just feel the thrill as hundreds of undead shuffle through the streets of San Diego.  (And don’t miss the after party at Quality Social  789 6th Avenue, San Diego, CA 92101)

Humerus Comic-Con 2010 - Booth #736

3) HUMERUS  Booth #736 – We’ve got some awesome new Zombie designs, some returning classics and some cool new products we’ll be unveiling at Comic-Con 2010!   We’ll be here all weekend -stop by anytime and be sure follow us @HumerusOnline

4) “THE LOVING DEAD” Signing – X-SANGUIN - booth #433 – This year X-Sanguin / Zombie Defense Network presents some fantastic artists all weekend, and scheduled signings – including Amlelia Beamer author of “The Loving Dead”  (Thurs 12pm), 

5) “UNIVERSAL DEAD” signing – also at the rockin’ X-Sanguin booth the cast (Doug Jones, Gary Graham and Valerie Perez), screenwriter (Kelly Parks) and director (Vernon Mortensen) of “Universal Dead”  (Friday 1:30pm)

Honestly this is just the tip of the iceberg… for a complete listing download the Comic-Con 2010 Zombie Schedule , a PDF from San Diego Zombie Walk.

Dowload the Comic-Con app for schedules, maps and more

If you’re an  iPhone user and coming to San Diego Comic-Con International there’s good news (sort of).   They have updated the Comic-Con iPhone App for iOS4 just in time for the show.

Once you’re in, you’ll be able to review schedules, and locate Exhibitors (like HUMERUS, booth 736 – hint! hint!). 

Right now there seem to be a few glitches with the new version, but Comic-Con is working with Apple to get the app working right.

Assuming they get it fixed in time for the big show, the App promises to provide maps, sessions and vendor lists for San Diego Comic-Con 2010. as well as fully searchable sessions and descriptions (and other surprise features).

When you download the Comic-Con iPhone App be sure to search out HUMERUS on the exhibitor list and mark us as a “favorite”!

It’s our first App appearance… we’re so proud    ; )

The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has our panties in a  bunch.   Our frustration with the massive disaster caused by this short-sighted corporation came spewing out in a design session earlier this month… and the result was this mashup logo (with apologies to Sherwin Williams). 

Mashup BP Logo benefits charity

This image will be available on t-shirts at our booth at San Diego Comic-Con International July 22-25, 2010  They are also available for order on our website.

We will be donating 5% of our sales of this shirt to The Nature Conservancy
to aid in their Gulf recovery efforts.

Sometimes you just have to express yourself in watever medium at hand.

We’re just back from WonderCon in San Francisco, and a good time was had by all!    If  aren’t familiar, WonderCon is San Diego Comic-Con International‘s little sister.     

This was our third year exhibiting at WonderCon and we’ve been excited to watch the show grow year after year.    Don’t take my “little sister” comment the wrong way.   The show is just younger, and about 1/3 the size of San Diego (Let’s face it EVERYTHING is dwarfed by SDCC).  But by no means  is this a rinky-dink convention – the comic publishers,  movie studios, autograph dealing celebrities, 501st Legion were all there…  And if what we witnessed from the show floor is any indication – there was a surge in fan attendance this year!
 
Panels from DC Comics, Chuck, Kick-Ass seemed to dominate conversation on the floor, there was a huge outdoor promo for Tron on Friday night, and a lot of demand for preview screenings of  the new Doctor Who and Kick-Ass…  But being exhibitors we have absolutely ZERO to report about anything more than 10 feet from our booth.

Things were hopping at the Humerus booth

But we can tell you that we had a blast in our little 10×10 space!  We debuted several new images that I’ll share in upcoming posts, got visited by a lot of returning customers, met some Twitter pals in person, and met tons of great fans and professionals – including our neighbors at the Capcom and Retro Rebel, as well as visits from G4′s Chris Gore and Zombie author Max Brooks! (each of those visits gets a seperat post coming up).

It really is more to talk about than just one post… so stay tuned for more…

Yesterday we had another Comic-Con prep meeting and things are rockin! New product designs were gone over – some are done and ready to print, some still in development… racing to the July 22nd deadline. Did I say July 22? YIKES!

The big reveal was the new Humerus sign! Our logo has always been a parody of an X-Ray, and recently got cleaned up and updated (not even fixed on our site yet) – so when we wanted to upgrade from the foamcore sign we’ve used up until now an Xray seemed the natural way to go. Check it out:

Humerus X-Ray

I took the pic with my cel phone so it could be better.  You’ll just have to come by our booth to experience it’s awesomeness in person!

We’ll post more about our Comic-Con preparations as the big event approaches… in just (gulp)… 28 days!

In the midst of  all our preparations for San Diego Comic-Con International I’m flashing back (oh so far back) to 2006 – our f irst Comic-Con.   

If you’ve ever been to San Diego for the premier pop culture event of the year you know how huge and overwhelming the massive  show can be.  In the summer of 2006 we were just starting to become Humerus and had only 1 shirt designed.  We went to Comic-con to road test our idea. 

Our First Humerus Design

There was no time to make an official appearance , but we did get shirts printed and walked around the floor with the only 4  Zombie Nixon for President shirts we had. 

That was our learning year.   In 2007 we had more designs, had some smaller shows under our belt, but couldn’t get a booth at the incredibly popular Comic-Con.    Again we walked the floor in our shirts – talking them up to people, handed out flyers.  

The Godfather of all Zombies says "These are Fantastic!"

We caught the attention of George Romero who paid us a great compliment - He reviewed our product sheet and said “These are Fantastic!”  I’m still proud of that undocumented quote.

Our first Comic-Con booth was rockin!

They said it couldn’t be done, but last year,  thanks to a last minute  opportunity we got in!   We expanded our line even more – and the crowd responded!  We were the Zombie booth – with the big hit t shirt of the show - our Caution Zombie Crossing t shirt.  Four rockin’ days of hanging out on the floor talking Zombie Humor with Zombie fanatics from all walks of life!  We had a great time and were thrilled with the reaction to our stuff!

Now 2009 Comic-Con is almost here… (gulp) we’ve got a booth and we’ve got a lot to do…   new stuff coming soon!  I’ll keep blogging updates as the date approaches!