In No Particular Order

I originally posted this as a reaction to a news story about Comic-Con, but I figured I'd share it here as well. My thoughts on Comic-Con:


I was set up in the Image Comics booth all week pimping SWEETS #1, and I had a fantastic Comic-Con. I was flooded by people all week long specifically interested in comics and meeting the Image Comics' creators. In fact, the Image booth was packed, non stop action all week long for every creator at our booth. One quick look around, and I could tell Rob Guillory, John Layman, Jason Howard, Ryan Ottley, Andy Kuhn, and Phil Hester had people swarming all week long.

I'd say that comics have certainly been overshadowed in the press by movies and TV, but lets face it, the press NEVER cover comics anyway. If the film and TV stuff was pushed out of the convention, the media would simply loose interest all together.

Photo by Philip Simon

But the ATTENDEES still love comics and that's what it's all about. Lots of comic readers also love DEXTER, and that's cool with me. If it ever gets to the point where the attendees ignore comics in favor of TV, that's when I move on. But that hasn't happened. In fact, I'd say the attendees were swarming around the comic booths MORE than they were around the movie booths. I don't do many panels, so I can't speak on that subject, but our KICKSTART YOUR COMICS panel was packed, standing room only. People were eager to learn more about how we used the Kickstarter.com site to launch our comics and we were flooded with follow-up questions at our booth the following day. I wasn't at the Image Comics panel, but I'm told it was also standing room only.

I think we, as industry professionals, can look at the 'spectacle' of Comic-Con as a true opportunity. I was able to get coverage on G4TV not once, but TWICE, I was on camera several times as the Spurlock documentary crew followed John Layman at our booth, and I also did an interview with the crew filming Comic-Con in 3D for a separate documentary. I did 2 or 3 podcasts a day for comic and non-comic audiences, and I was even interviewed by a Jonas brother. Yes, I know the Jonas Brothers aren't exactly what we'd consider our normal "comics audience," but one of my main goals of Comic-Con is to reach out and EXPAND my audience.

Mission accomplished.

If we go into Comic-Con with an optimistic view and carefully plan our attack, a lot can be accomplished at that show. If you just sit around and complain about GLEE all week, you'll miss an amazing opportunity to reach an impressionable pop-culture-friendly audience that only comes around once a year.