Just as the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano, so too do the Unshaven Lads descend upon Atlanta on Labor Day weekend. This year, Unshaven Comics entered Dragon Con’s 40th celebration of their fan-forward nerdy Mardi Gras ready to rock out as hard as we possibly could. How so you ask? We bought two tables to fill with merch. We finished The Samurnauts: Rage of Rep-Simian #1. We ordered custom badge ribbons — an amazing fan-led custom the con has adopted over the years. I personally audited and ordered full refills of my PokeMashups to fully take hold of all four of my spinner racks on the second table. We designed a brand new mighty mashup poster celebrating The Princess Bride and the Muppets (in addition to our recently debuting Mandolorian + Bluey poster). We even ordered business cards after giving up on them years ago due to fan demand.

And then the universe laughed at how desperate we were and whispered “oh yeah?”.

Let’s see… Those badge ribbons? Didn’t arrive on my doorstep until the day after we’d left for the show. In spite of paying for expedited shipping. The business cards? Never even printed. Turns out OvernightPrints had a printer error, and decided simply not to fill the order and send a refund to me… a day before the show. My PokeMashup order? FedEx lost the package, didn’t report it for over a week, and when I finally notified OvernightPrints of this folly? They just issued me a refund and a shrug. Shout out to Solution Printing though… as they delivered “Rage of Rep-Simian” to us a full three weeks early. Because they are awesome. OK. Enough with my angry Google reviews, right?

In spite of all that, let me heap praise upon the con and Con-Gods. Because printer and shipping mishaps aside, the show itself was (as always) a creator’s dream in terms of logistics. Kyle, Matt, and I were able to drive directly to the venue the night before show-open, head to a loading dock bay, be given an extra large rolling cart to bring all the bric-a-brac onto the show floor in one trip, and got our badges all as easy as could be. From there, each day, the entrance and exiting of AmericasMart was handled beautifully by staff. I can’t stress enough how much of an improvement this was over last year — as we were told the building management shifted some things on the Dragon Con folks last minute in 2025, resulting in vendors often being run around the building post-show when we wanted to get to our parked cars in the building’s lot. Not this year though. All on-site building staff were friendly, and we were able to get where we needed to go without any issues. It sounds silly, but trust me: AmericasMart is a pretty dense building, and getting around it is cumbersome if you’re led astray. But I digress.

As for the show itself? This year versus the last two was admittedly a bit of a slog. Simply put, the crowds were there (75,000 tickets sold, kiddos), but buying was more prudent than it’s been in years past. Not just for ya bois mind you. Chatter amongst us in Artist Alley all noticed the slight downshift overall. The reasons why, of course, must be varied and hard to pin down. Seems the badge pickup process might have been underwhelming at best. Word had it that no badges are sent to fans early; you simply register, pay, and pick up at the show. This meant queuing up outside, in the Atlanta heat, for hours on end, all in a central location. While I personally can’t verify that process exactly… combing the comment section on any number of posts from the con seems to paint that picture. If true? Then I’d get how it might dampen a mood via retail therapy. One other large and orange possibility could be that everyone these days is facing a bit of an economic downturn. As such, splurging on merch — that is likely now more expensive to make — may be limited by tightened purse strings.

That being said? Unshaven Comics can’t complain. I’ve always been honest to a fault with the economics of my indie imprint. Our basic goal hasn’t changed. Twenty trades sold per con-day keeps the engines running. And we did that. More than that. We eked out just north of 100 books by the end of the tiring fourth day of the show. In addition to the trade sales, we also boasted some poster sales (more than enough to have covered costs), and floppy-copy sales as well. Our till was properly filled. Furthermore? Both Matt and my personal coffers were also adorned with coinage throughout the weekend. Matt sold about a dozen pinups from his art bin, as well as completing two on-site commissions. As for my PokeMashups… even missing half my offering didn’t stymie sales. While I might have sat frustrated as folks asked about certain Pokemon I might have hidden in the racks, it honestly didn’t affect my bottom line all that much. Doubly-so, given the economic exhaustion everyone was feeling (if not outright saying). 

So, the sales were made. We glided in and out of the show floor with ease. Our twelve plus hour sojourns to-and-fro were mostly a breeze (Google Maps decided it really wanted us to explore the Kentucky / Tennessee hillside more than we anticipated…). Heck, even our hotel room was a boon! We finally found an affordable, two-bedroom hotel suite, with complimentary breakfast, located only 20 minutes from a con, surrounded by dinner options and sundry stores. Truly, we couldn’t have asked for more. 

What then for Unshaven Comics next? GalaxyCon St. Louis, October 23-25 will wrap up our year. While on our trek home from Dragon Con, we might have planned out 2027 shows as well. Stay tuned, of course, as we apply-and-pray! 

In my humble opinion, Dragon Con 2026 represented 100% why Unshaven Comics remains a thing. We worked hard before the show — even if the universe could care less. We worked hard at the show — where we wouldn’t let the heat beat our pitch into submission. And now, we’re working hard after the show — applying for 2027 tables, working on our next comic(s), poster(s), and merch. This has always been a labor of love, and any success we’ve had has come because of that love. As such, Georgia remains a peach to we Unshaven Lads. Tip of the cap to the Dragon Con staff and volunteers, our fellow artists-at-arms (hey Deano! Hey Onrie!), and from me to my mates Matt and Kyle.