…And all you got is this lousy blog post.

Hey guys! :01 Senior Editor Calista Brill here, with a report on my doings in New Delhi, India, where I went to run the First Second booth at the third annual Comic Con India.

New Delhi is a big city, but it’s a small world, after all, so of course the first night we were there we ended up in a restaurant with big comic panels on the walls. Obviously! (Close observers will recognize Frank Miller’s work, I’m guessing from Sin City?)

Our hotel, the Ivory 32, was small but very chic-looking, in a neighborhood in New Delhi called “Greater Kailash, Part I.” I spent some time trying to find “Son of Greater Kailash” and “Greater Kailash: The Reckoning” but had no luck. There was, however, a “Greater Kailash, Part II” just a few blocks away, so that’s a relief.

I regret that I did not try any of the 50+ varieties of milkshake on the menu at the All-American Diner but I can verify that their decor looked completely authentic to me, and if no diner in the US has apple-honey milkshakes, we should get on that, because doesn’t that sound delicious?

I did a little tourism: a few hours spent at the Red Fort…

…And a blissful afternoon on the serene grounds of Humayun’s Tomb.

I was happy also to get a chance to visit the famous Lotus Temple, a center of the Bahá’í faith in India.

“But enough of this self-indulgent, generic tourism,” you cry! “Give us the goods! We want to know about Comic Con India!”

Okay, but first: DOGGIES!

There’s a huge stray dog population in New Delhi, and I found the dogs hanging around the Dilli Haat especially charming.

The Dilli Haat is a gorgeous open-air market with folks selling textiles, pottery, and other crafts from all over India. It’s a very cheery scene.

It’s also the location of COMIC CON INDIA!

We arrived at the show Friday morning and began to set up our booth. The organizers of the convention had very kindly put us in the care of two able volunteers, Shalvi and Shubham, without whom I would have perished a thousand times over. They are pictured above! And also: below!

My booth babe beard model luggage handler husband Perry helped out a great deal as well.

There was a lot of really great cosplay, including this awesome Lady Loki, who won the cosplay contest on Friday. (Thor won it on Saturday, in case you were wondering.)

Thank-you gifts for our wonderful friends at the :01 booth! Shubham got an advance copy of Matt Kindt’s awesome new book Red Handed: The Fine Art of Strange Crimes, which doesn’t come out until May…

And Shalvi got a copy of Relish: My Life in the Kitchen, by Lucy Knisley, which comes out April 2.

I had no idea what to expect when I was shipping books to India to sell at the show, but I was delighted to find that our sales were very strong. And the books that people are drawn to at our US shows were the ones that got the most love in India, as well, which was cool: First Second books speak to people on some universal level, apparently.

By the end of the day Sunday, our table was empty. But our hearts were full! Okay, I know how dorky that sounds. But it was a really fun, well-run, high-energy, friendly show, and it was such a thrill to make new friends and meet Indian comics fans and introduce them to First Second’s awesome books. I’m very grateful to have had the opportunity.