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…

So tonight I settled down to FINALLY write a post about our fantastic Comic-Con experience…  but the internet had other plans for me (as it often does)…    I stumbled upon a mouth watering photo that required further investigation…

Ladies and Gentlemen… allow me to present the Bacon Cheese TURTLEBURGER!

The mouth watering Bacon Cheese Turtleburger

Yes, that’s an all beef burger, topped with sharp cheddar cheese cheese, wrapped in a weave of bacon -  with Hebrew National hot dogs thrown in for good measure…  OMIGOD!

Chews Bacon T-Shirt

I will EARN my Chews Bacon Shirt and wear it proudly!

So instead of doing what I sat down to do – I’m cursing my poorly stocked refrigerator and heading off to the market… in preparation to gorge myself on meaty goodness!  

I may not survive eating one of these, but I’m going down trying!

Bacon Turtleburgers ready for devouring!

It has to be said… YUM!

Click HERE for the original distraction/source – whom my arteries will curse forever.

(and that comic-con post is coming… I promise)

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.

There’s something the air…  it’s the smokey, salty, profitable whiff of Baconprenuerism

There aren’t many crazy trends I can really get behind – (I just don’t get Lady GaGa) – but the Bacon Craze that’s sweeping the globe has my hearty endorsement!

Recently in Chicago over a thousand fans got together  for the first ever BaconFest Chicago!   Tasting delicious dishes prepared by local chefs, sampling products like Bakon Vodka and Baconaisse…

Was it popular?  The festival sold out the first day tickets went on sale and the operators spent then next 3 weeks apologizing to all of us who couldn’t get in.

Was it a success?  The Chicago Tribune called it a “Tasetful Celebration”  and ChicagoFoodies.com called the event ”Swinetacular!”  (you can’t make that up)

Yes, other foods have been celebrated, had their moment to shine… (even spices – can you say “chipotle”?)… but few  have developed non-food spin offs.  This is where Baconprenurism really takes off…  Could you use Bacon Tape in the office?  Carry your ID around in a Bacon Wallet?

People have been making art from the two things they love  most…
BACON & BOOBIES  - The Bacon Bra
BACON & STAR WARS  - The Bacon Star Wars At-At
BACON & GUNS – The Bacon AK-47 Rifle

We love the celebration and want to do our part to sing the glories of Bacon.   So we are proud to introduce our two new Humerus Bacon T-Shirts:

CHEWS BACON T-SHIRT

I Believe In the Bacon Fairy shirt

This fad has the makings of a pork-fueled tidal wave that will last until, well, until somebody gets their cholesterol checked.

Man, my mouth is watering…  Maybe I’ll just slip a cheeseburger under a pile of bacon…

Team Humerus at WonderCon 2010

Zombies, Comedy, T-Shirts, Posters… these are the foundation and cornerstones of our little business.   This year is our third year at WonderCon and things were looking up!   And here Humerus Mark tells our tale…

So, there we are Sunday, manning the booth, tired but happy. We have been fielding customers left and right. During a brief lull, we take a moment to check email, and update Facebook and Twitter. As we text away, a guy comes up, looks everything over, and says “Love your stuff. Thanks for spreading the word.” I thank him. Sensing my lack of recognition, he shakes my hand and introduces himself as Max Brooks. I thank him VERY MUCH for the kind words. I swing around to clue-in Brett, who is still Tweeting away. Brett looks up and Mr. Brooks repeats his compliment after which, he moves on. Then, Brett asks “Who was that?” I tell him. We stand there for a moment thinking about how neat that was. The moment passes and we start to get back to what we were doing.

Then, the stupid fog lifts…

Max? BROOKS!?! We didn’t get pictures? A quote? ANYTHING?

This happened at last year’s Wondercon with Carrie Fisher. I was at the opposite end of the booth and  Brett had no idea who he was serving. To be fair, she looks a lot different in person these days. Still, by the time we extracted heads from rear-ends, she was long gone. Wanting to avoid a repeat performance, Brett quickly grabbed a camera, a Brains shirt, and went off to track down the elusive Max Brooks. I am happy to say he succeeded, and we will be posting the picture soon to prove it.”   And here  it is:

Our first TV appearance!

If you followed our Twitter feed during WonderCon you know one of the many people to stop by our booth was G4′s very own Chris Gore from Attack of the Show.    That was cool, but what happened a couple of days later was AWESOME… Chris Gore appeared on Attack of the Show wearing our zombie BRAINS tshirt

In the past we’d seen him at WonderCon and Comic-Con, but he’s never stopped to check us out.   Or so we thought.   Turns out he was very familiar with our shirts and just never had time to stop.   Well this year he made time to stop by, hang out and tell us how much he liked our zombie shirts and posters.  He picked up two of our Zombie Evolution Poster, and a bunch of tshirts.   All that was very cool, and we really appreciate all our customers…  but not only did he tweet about his new Zombie posters right at the moment – he took our shirt to the geek masses!   Chris, you’re awesome. 

Here’s the whole clip with Chris Gore and Olivia Munn on Attack of the Show.

It’s Gay Pride week and we thought it was a fitting time to show off this 2009 t-shirt design:

A twist on the classic Evolution of Man illustration

This Humerus take on the classic “Evolution of Man” was inspired by our own “Evolution of Zombie Man” image. (you knew I hand to mention Zombie here somewhere…

It’s currently available at http://humerus-store.com/evofmentsh.html

Check here for more original t shirt designs being prepped for Comic-con (teasers coming soon).

- Brett
http://www.facebook.com/humerus.brett
http://www.Twitter.com/humerusonline

Okay we’re trying something new.

We’ve got an idea for a new Zombie Shirt and we’re going to preview it here in development. This is the color test for the art of our new Twitter Zombie shirt…

Twitter Zombie Shirt Design

SO?  What do you think? Would you buy/wear it? What color shirt would you prefer to see it on? (doesn’t have to be white – but were thinking a lighter color would be best).

We’re curious to get your feedback.  If this shirt gets the go signal you could see it debut at San Diego Comic-Con International in a few weeks.

(sorry about the watermarks – lawyers insist we protect our concepts)

Posted by Brett
http://www.facebook.com/humerus.brett

http://www.twitter.com/humerusonline

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!

It’s been said many times, many ways… Change is a comin to these here United States…   We’ve elected Barack Obama – the first computer literate president!   This could be a new kind of President, President 2.0 or the iBama if you will. 

He campaigned on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, he’s addicted to his Blackberry, and not only has an iPod, but uses it!

In a Rolling Stone interview this summer Obama revealed what is on his ipod… Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Rolling Stones, Elton John, Earth Wind And Fire, Coltrane, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Howlin’ Wolf, Yo-Yo Ma, Sheryl Crow, Jay-Z

It’s kind of exciting to have a President that is connected to the people…  President Elect Obama has already started his weekly radio address… only he’d doing it on video on YouTube.com

We here at Humerus we were  trying to get Zombie JFK or Zombie Reagan in the Oval office, but this is good too.   We’re retiring those old Zombie President designs in favor of this new change… we welcome The Era of iBama.

(republished from previous blog host 12.08.08)