Reflections, SDCC 2025
Sarah, showing off the booth.
This was a big year for me at SDCC, so I wanted to take some time to reflect and share everything that’s happened. In this post I share my experience attending the Eisners as a finalist and guest, my first time hosting and moderating a Comic-con panel, as well as other highlights and photos.
I'm a San Diego native. I’ve been attending the comic-con for over 20 years, and haven't missed SDCC in over a decade (not counting the pandemic years, which everybody missed). This year was unlike any before, because this time I was on the opposite side of the booth!
The debut of the Octopolis small press booth was, by any standard, a splash! This was the first time I left SDCC with more money than when I started! We actually sold out of several items, notably our nonfiction zine How the Octopus Lost its Shell and our octopus dive mask straps.
For that reason, it was also incredibly busy. The days were long. I only went to one panel the entire time, to spend as much time as possible at the table to meet people. By the end of the weekend, Sarah and I were both physically drained, but filled with a sense of accomplishment and excitement for the next steps.
The Eisners and the Russ Manning Award
Photo by Avi Erlich
I grew up in San Diego. I've been coming to SDCC since I was a kid. I bought my first Bone paperback here, and it was one of the comics that sparked my desire to make a graphic novel. It was surreal to not only be a guest at the Eisners, but nominated for an award that comic’s author, Jeff Smith, himself had won.
Of course, it's an honor just to be a finalist! I did my best to remind myself of that all throughout the experience. But that doesn't mean I wasn't hoping that I would win. Of course I wanted to win! Who wouldn't?!
So it was disappointing, when the name read was not my own.
If you’ve ever been bodyboarding, this felt the way it feels to miss a big wave. Sometimes when you’re out there, you see a wave cresting, coming up sooner than you expected. It's the perfect wave: it’ll carry you all the way to shore in a thrill of foam. You start swimming to catch it. You go all out in a burst of speed, but when the wave breaks, something’s not quite right— your placement is low, or your speed just a little too slow. The wave washes over you, and you’re left behind, floating in its wake.
Thankfully there was far too much interfering wave action going on that night to dwell on the loss for long. I set those feelings aside and enjoyed myself. Josue and their wife joined Sarah and I, and we had a blast mingling with the industry folks who stayed to socialize after the show. None of them cared that I hadn’t won. We listened to Joe Ferrera of Atlantis Fantasyworld sing ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’ in his mellifluous baritone with piano and flute accompaniment. By chance we met Vincent Kings, who was in the same position as me a year ago, runner up for Promising Newcomer. And we actually spent most of the time hanging out with the Russ Manning winner, Richard Blake, and his editor Oliver. They were incredibly gracious and kind, and I’m so grateful that this competition afforded me the opportunity to become friends with them! Richard’s book Hexagon Bridge is stunning, and I hope you get the chance to read it.
The next day, back on the convention floor, an older gentlemen came by the table holding a copy of Octopolis already in his hand. I didn't recognize him, and my first thought was that maybe he had bought it while I was away, and had come back to get my signature. But when I opened it, I realized it was one of the copies I'd sent to the Russ Manning committee to be reviewed. Standing before me was comic artist and animator Rick Hoburg, Russ Manning's former assistant, and a judge for the award given in his old boss’s name.
Selfie with Rick!
He said to me that he'd loved Octopolis, and that it gave him joy to see something so original. He asked me to dedicate the comic to his octopus-loving friend, with whom he intended to share the book.
It raised my spirits to learn that Rick had enjoyed my work enough to seek me out and tell me so. I thought of all the talented artists and former winners who'd received and read copies of my comic thanks to this nomination, and reminded myself that the true reward of a successful comic is having it be read by people who enjoy it.
What kind of protagonist achieves their goal in the first narrative arc, anyways? It would spoil the drama!
Since then, I’ve interrogated my feelings further about why I wanted to win the award. Certainly the feather in my cap would have been aggrandizing. But I think what I really wanted was validation from some authority. After years of self-publishing, I was yearning for the kind of structure I’d left behind in my college days, where projects had a due date and at the end you got a grade. I was looking for a gold star to prove that I'd done a good job. As if this was the end of a story, and not the beginning.
Even if I'd won the award, I'd be in the same position I am now. I'd still have the a ton of work ahead of me. Just one comic under my belt, and a community of people waiting for the next one. The factor that will determine the trajectory of my career is how hard I work on my next project.
So rather than dwell on a wave missed, I look to catch the next one. And as it happened, the next wave was right on the horizon!
SS Julian, Josue Cruz and Danna Staaf at SDCC 2025 (Photos from the panel taken by Kathryn Gonzalez)
“How to Draw an Octopus” drew a Big Crowd!
I was so pleased to have even gotten a panel approved for Comic-con that I didn't mind it was scheduled for the ‘close-out’ shift—the last slot on the last day. I was just proud to get my friends a chance to experience the con, and claim a coveted SDCC panelist tent card for themselves. When I invited Danna Staaf and Josue Cruz to contribute to my ‘How to Draw an Octopus’ workshop, I tried to temper their expectations for attendance. We figured if we had maybe… 50 people attending we'd call it a win. Considering how long the weekend had felt to me, I fully expected every other attendee to be ready to head home to catch some shut-eye.
The line
So you can imagine our surprise when, 30 minutes before our panel began, we saw a line forming outside the room. You may not have guessed this, but the people of comic-con love to draw. And it turns out, they love octopuses, too! That line stretched all the way around the corner of the entrance, and when the last panel wrapped up, that room was filled to the brim. There were, by my estimate, over 300 people at the panel. People had to be turned away!
Despite it being the end of a long weekend, the energy in the room was positively electric!
I've done a 'How to Draw an Octopus' talk a few times now, but this was the first time I'd done it with support. Having Danna and Josue there improved the presentation exponentially. Danna Staaf is an artist, author and marine biologist with a Ph.D. in squid sex (and babies), so she brought an unmatched level of cephalopod expertise to the educational elements of the talk. Josue Cruz claims no special familiarity with octopuses, but they are one of the most talented artists I have the privilege to know, so they brought a fresh perspective to the exercise using their deep knowledge of the principles of cartooning. And then there was me! With our range of backgrounds and perspectives, we made the perfect trio. If I do say so myself, our banter was both ebullient and illuminating. We had a blast.
Attendees, rapt wth attention.
Our heroic panelists
The panel was also unique in that Josue (serving double-duty as AV expert) figured out how to stream three simultaneous inputs to the projector, so that the audience could see all of us drawing at the same time. Afterwards, the room coordinator told me they'd never seen anything quite like it!
And indeed, seeing everyone hold up their octopus drawings for us at the end of the panel (which went by way too fast) filled me with an energy that is impossible to describe. After a long weekend of hard work, this felt like victory.
Josue’s multiplayer drawing display sensation
Everyone sharing their octopus drawings
Danna Staaf, SS Julian and Josue Cruz at SDCC 2025!
The whole talk was recorded, and we’ll be posting clips and excerpts from the talk in the coming weeks, so follow Octopolis on socials to get notified!
Friends, Old and New
Despite how busy it was, this was by far the most social con I've ever had. It's easy for folks to find you when you have a table. I reconnected with some San Diegan friends who I hadn't seen in many years, and new friends were able to find me, too.
Murray, an artisan we met at Wondercon, found us at SDCC and brought us an incredible octopus mask he handmade! We'll be displaying it as a show-piece at future conventions, if anyone's interested!
We were grateful to be placed next to the educational club B.L.A.S.T., which helps kids in San Diego learn to make comics!
Thanks everyone who made this year a high point in my SDCC adventures. Looking forward to doing it all bigger and better next year!
Shoutouts
Thank you Danna & Anton, Josue & Kathryn, for your contributions to the amazing panel. To all our booth helpers: Miriam, George, Oliver, Mairead & Rico, Kevin, Jessica & Caroline, Amanda Le. Thanks Erica, Maria, Diana, Michael & Laura, Billy and all of our friends who stopped by to visit the booth! Shoutout to my professional mentors, peers and friends: Avi Erlich, Dave Baker, Nicole Goux, Barbra Dillon, The Hot Tropiks family (Angelo, Nadine & Cloud), Rod, Elijah and the B.L.A.S.T. fam, Murray, Amy DeSuza, Kathy McClancy, Joe Ferrera, Chris Martin, Lee Duhig, Chip Mosher, Eddy Atoms, Michael Sweater, Rae Dukes, Oliver Zeller, and Richard Blake. Thanks to the panel room organizers: Javier, Duke, and the twins. And finally thank you to my partner Sarah, without whom I'd never have survived the weekend.
