With all the movie news and video games and lights and noise and whatnot, it’s easy to waft through Comic-con and miss out on some of the comics sans capes. Being an East-Coaster, I’m not attending this year’s Comic-con. But if I were, here’s five things I would do.
1) Swing by the small press area. That seems like a no-brainer, but, like I said, it’s a big con and quite easy to miss the little, more secluded areas. Five tables in that area where I’d definitely stop by are: Keith Knight’s, Bob The Angry Flower, Comic Foundry, Narbonic and Robot Publishing.
2) Say hi and get a book signed. Obviously, you need to be careful about how many graphic novels you can cram into your luggage. A good rule of thumb is not to purchase anything your own local comic shop would carry. That rule can easily be broken however, if the author of said work happens to be at the con. And thankfully, this year’s con has quite a number of extraordinary cartoonists who will be doing signings. Five I’d track down would be: Guy Delisle, Tony Millionaire, Renee French, Eddie Campbell the Hernandez brothers. (I know, that’s really six. So what?) But why stop there? Alison Bechdel. Joe Matt, Miriam Katin, Jhonen Vasquez, Roman Dirge, Paul Pope and Rick Geary are all going to be in attendance as well, and I’m sure I’ve missed one of your own favorites.
3) Attend a panel. Comic-con is huge enough to accomodate panels for just about every flavor of fan, indie include. Five I’d definitely attend are: Fletcher Hanks: The Ed Wood of Comics? (Thursday); the two spotlight talks with Jamie and Gilbert Hernandez (Friday); Reality-Based Graphic Novels (Saturday); Great American Comic Strips (Saturday); and Ellen Forney: I Love Led Zepplin (Saturday). Oh alright, six. Happy now?
4) Buy a book that’s not in English. Bud Plant, Stuart Ng and Last Gasp carry a number of quality European books that can be quite hard to find in the U.S., even via the Internet. It’s worth taking the time to sift through their wares.
5) Five things I’d probably be buying if I were going to this year’s con:
THB: Comics From Mars (Adhouse)
Edison Steelhead’s Lost Portfolio (Sparkplug)
The Cat Who Walked in Beauty by George Herriman (Fantagraphics)
That print from Bryan Talbot’s upcoming art book (NBM)
Sundays with Walt and Skeezix (Sunday Press Books)
July 23rd, 2007 at 1:02 pm
“A good rule of thumb is not to purchase anything your own local comic shop wouldn’t carry.”
I’m confused, isn’t part of the fun of cons to get stuff you wouldn’t normally be able to get elsewhere?
July 23rd, 2007 at 1:42 pm
And you should check out the Independent Publishers’ Pavilion as well, for lots of self-publishers, including Carla Speed McNeil, Jim Ottaviani, Rich Koslowski, Batton Lash, Eric Shanower and many, many more–
Jackie Estrada
Exhibit A Press
July 23rd, 2007 at 3:03 pm
Ian, I believe that was a typo, as I think Chris was trying to say not to buy stuff you could get at home. I’ve updated the text.
July 23rd, 2007 at 3:07 pm
JK was right. I am, it seems, incapable of typing anything coherent. Apologies.
July 23rd, 2007 at 4:56 pm
Thanks for the good intentions, too bad you can’t attend my lecture.
With all of the competition I fear that my Fletcher Hanks talk may not be well-attended. They will probably schedule me simultaneously with some must-see fanboy event like an interview with the former model who became the infamously endowed Venusian with three breasts on Battlestar Gallactica in 1987.
Rest assured, Hanks fans, if you do attend I will share some Fletcher Hanks drawings never before shown in public (excpt at MoCCA).
-Paul Karasik