A circle is complete

I still wonder sometimes whether Zombie Ranch has “succeeded”.

That’s weird, isn’t it? Especially for a story that by its very nature isn’t complete. I start wondering then how I’m even trying to define success. Notability? Critical reaction? Monetization? Some combination of all three? I feel like last year’s successful Kickstarter and the trade paperback resulting from it were definitely milestones and accomplishments for us, but it’s not like it magically made us household names, even within the comics or webcomics community. Big news sites aren’t busting down our (virtual) door demanding interviews. Strangers don’t line up to buy the book at conventions, and those conventions don’t offer us free airfare and hotel stays just to hear us speak. Our major motion picture deal has not materialized.

But I’m not going to cry myself to sleep over that. Because this happened:

That’s Amanda Conner. In October 2009 she was gracious enough to trade a sketchbook of hers for one of Dawn’s and our first crappy ashcan Zombie Ranch preview, as mentioned here. Then about a year later we were lucky enough to get to be Artist’s Alley neighbors with her, as I also documented. But since then we hadn’t had much contact, beyond a quick hello here and there. Did she even remember us?

Well, if she didn’t, she faked it really damn well when Dawn spied her walking down our aisle at the Long Beach Comic Expo this past weekend and we waved. On a slow Sunday morning, away from the usual pressures of her commission/autograph line, she stopped and chatted with us and reminisced about past and present, and when I mentioned that the ashcan from all those years ago had blossomed into a TPB, she pulled out her wallet and declared that she needed herself a signed copy.

We were in such a tizzy I didn’t even think to take a picture until she was already on her way back to her own booth, but fortunately I managed to scurry over and snap the above photo for posterity before the crowds found her. Then I came back and Dawn and I just sat and smiled. The strangers may still have not been lining up to buy our book, but one of our idols had just coughed up thirty bucks of her own free will so she could own a copy. I didn’t demand or even expect that, but given the history of it all, after the fact it sure felt right.

I guess sometimes the feel of success is measured by when a whole bunch of people want what you’re offering. And sometimes, all it takes is one.