Things were relatively quiet for Erik Hendrix at his booth during the Wednesday preview night at San Diego Comic-Con international, but the Oceanside writer was taking it in stride.

An independent comic writer such as himself, he said, may bring 25 comic books to the convention and be happy to sell any. Within his first hour, Hendrix had sold more than five.

"I'm already happy," he said.

Hendrix knows he's a small fish in a big pond. Directly across from his booth, about 100 people lined up for limited editions of a Futurama comic. Few even glanced his way. Towering portraits of Batman and Superman looked down from another booth, and down the aisle a giant golden prop throne from the upcoming film "Thor" was an intimidating reminder that Comic-Con is about much more than comics these days.

But while Hollywood grabs much of the attention at the pop culture convention, which runs Thursday through Sunday, Comic-Con still is an avenue for unknown but hopeful artists and writers trying to break into the comics field.

Sometimes that avenue is an appointment with an editor for portfolio reviews. Other times it's more guerilla tactics, such as the one taken last year by Hendrix, who came to the con with 500 fliers to hand to anyone who crossed his path.

A lifetime of writing

Hendrix, 34, grew up a military brat, living in several cities before landing in San Diego County in 1989.

He and his wife, Amanda, have lived in Oceanside for seven years, and in his day job, he works for Cisco Systems in Irvine.

But his passion is writing, which he has been doing since age 6, and he found some early encouragement when a fantasy story he wrote in the third grade was considered good enough to place in the school library.

He started working on a novel in 1994, and though he set it aside after being distracted by his career, he revisited it in 2008 and started it over, finding ideas were flying fast.

He wrote 300 revised pages. Two years earlier, he had written 400 pages as a project to earn a degree in programming and information systems.

Around that time, he said, Amanda was recovering from the latest of a series of back surgeries, and money was tight at home. Looking for a way to earn extra income, Hendrix naturally thought of writing, but realized the novel that already had consumed years would take too long to finish.

And that's when he thought of comics, which he figured he could write on his train rides to and from work.

"If I can write 300 pages, how hard is a 22-page script to write?" he asked himself.

Learning the ropes

Hendrix knew no one in the field, but he was a quick study and knew how to meet the right people.

After naively writing to top comic publishers for work, he learned about a contest called Small Press Idol, a sort of "American Idol" for comic books.

Hendrix went online searching for artists. He found four, and soon was at work on four projects.

Working with artist Arnie Gordon of El Cajon, he created "Fraction," whose lead character Acker is a former Marine with a mechanical arm.

Competing against about 40 other entries, "Fraction" made it through four rounds. As part of the fourth and final round, Small Press Idol printed full comic books of his story.

"Nothing can match the feeling for me of actually opening the box and holding the floppy (single issue) of the book for the first time," Hendrix said. "I think I even had tears in my eyes."

Last summer, Hendrix and his wife attended the Comic-Con, where he handed out fliers asking people to go to the Small Press Idol website and vote for his comic.

"Fraction" won first place, earning him a contract with Dime Store Productions. Hendrix opted instead to form Carpet Bomb Comics, a name that reflects his marketing, and has just published his first comic, "The Citizens," with artists Michael Nelsen and Ibrahim Moustafa.

Manning a booth

Hendrix since has signed a contract to create four comics for Arcana and edits the publisher's magazine, Zedura. While his Arcana books are not out yet, the company is allowing him to sell and sign "Fraction" and "The Citizens" at their booth.

Wednesday night, Hendrix got his first taste of comic stardom when a fan tracked him down.

"He's on my list of the first places to start," said fan Jeremy Whittington of Spokane, Wash. Whittington said he read a synopsis of "The Citizens" online and was intrigued by its futuristic world. He brought $700 to spend on the convention, with some of that money earmarked for Hendrix's book.

"You've got a star on my map," Whittington said to Hendrix, showing him a map of the convention hall that had been marked with must-stop places.

"Yes!" Hendrix said about the recognition.

Several minutes later, Hendrix was still riding high.

"I'm a star on that guy's map," he said. "That's made the whole con for me."

Call staff writer Gary Warth at 760-740-5410.