Well, it’s been a few weeks since the San Diego Comic-Con (or, technically, “Comic-Con International: San Diego”) and I guess it’s finally time for me to quit procrastinating and write up my report on the show. Sorry for the delay. In addition to the usual sleep deprivation and sensory overload that accompanies the convention (making the "Walking Dead" banners throughout the convention center very appropriate), I also managed to catch a nasty cold on the last day of the show so by the time I got back home, I was feverish and coughing and was pretty much wiped out for the next two weeks. By the time I was back on my feet, so much other work had piled up while I was sick that my intended convention report got pushed back yet again. So… before anything else can go awry, here it is!
THE TABLE
Table space was more cramped than usual this year. The consensus of the other vendors is that the tables shrunk in comparison to previous years. Still 6 feet long as promised, but they seem narrower, and more tightly packed against the aisles. In previous years, we had room for the display rack, a half-table full of giveaway tracts, and still space for table signs, a candy bowl, and a clipboard for a sign-up sheet. This year, we had to forgo extra table signs, and the sign-up clipboard had to be stashed away behind the display rack.
This year, God blessed us with enough to cover the cost of the table and still had enough left over to cover a hefty chunk of a downpayment for next year’s convention season. In fact, the sales of books were surprisingly good, considering the fact that access to half our table was blocked by a trash can which the convention placed directly in front of us to catch water dripping from a leaky pipe overhead. (We tried to make light of this by posting a sign offering “free baptisms”, but after four days of being unable to have the leak repaired, that had gotten old.)
We got many positive responses from other Christians who were discovering us for the first time, as well as expressions of relief that there were Christians here representing something other than the angry Westboro protesters. (The attention given to the protesters was wildly disproportionate to their actual impact. There was just a small handful of them, they protested outside the convention center from behind a police barricade with no direct contact with anyone, and they were there for less than an hour on Thursday afternoon before departing to go picket their next scheduled target.)
Our table was next to a fellow Christian artist, and across from several other small publishers with whom we struck up friendships and apparently made a very positive impression. The result was that if someone did make a rare complaint about how “awful” it was that "those Christians" had a table at the convention, our neighboring non-religious exhibitors would actually defend us and praise how friendly and helpful we had been to them.
As always, the CCAS table featured a wide variety of comic-style tracts that we gave away for free to all who would take them. Our tracts included everything from the Street Comix (mini-comics with art produced by CCAS members and published by the Foursquare Missions Press for a street ministry outreach for gang members, prostitutes and the homeless) to classic Jack Chick tracts (but only the ones offering clear Gospel messages, not anti-Catholic conspiracy rants, FYI), as well as free sample booklets showing preview pages from the soon-to-be-released Action Bible from David C. Cook.
We carried a very wide mix of comics this year, actually more than we had room to display on our table. Most of it was new: Ralph Miley and I had just produced two new titles through the New Creation Now imprint (Ragged Capes and the New Visions Anthology); Kingstone Media was offering childrens’ titles focusing on Bible stories of Moses, Noah and others; Kurt Kolka brought new copies of The Cardinal; Clint Johnson had a limited edition ashcan preview of Matthew Cross: Faithwalker; Headpress Publishers had released a new installment of the Eyewitness series; and the Voice of the Martyrs had produced a new comic book on overseas persecution, Hope Amid Horror. We also carried older, evergreen titles such as Buzz Dixon's Serenity manga series, the Proverbs & Parables anthology, and the various “Z” Graphic Novels by Zondervan and Lamp Post Publishing.
THE PANELS
The Saturday morning panel focused on “Spiritual Themes in Comics” and had the following writeup in the convention guide:
11:00-12:00 Spirituality in Comics— How can comics help communicate timeless truths through new media to new audiences? Discuss the latest trends of spiritual themes in comics with moderator Scott Shuford of the Christian Comic Arts Society and panelists Holly Golightly (School Bites), K. J. Kolka (Cardinal Adventures), and Clint Johnson (Faithwalker).
The panel wasn’t bad, but wasn’t as good as previous years. This wasn’t the fault of our panelists, just the reality of the placement and crowds. Scott and the panelists did well, but as for the attendance and audience enthusiasm, those seemed only fair to average. A large part of this was due to our change in venue. Last year, our panel was held inside the convention center, and our room was packed to overflowing. This year, in a smaller room, we had plenty of open seats left. The lights were also turned down so dim as to prevent video recording (although we were able to record the audio of the panel and hope to post it online as a podcast soon.) We got in to the room late, because the previous panelists (a Twilight fan-fiction author fan group?) were slow in ending their session, and their crowds simply moved directly outside the door of the room where their loud continuing conversations threatened to drown out our own panelists inside the room. Let's just say the acoustics of the room were somewhat lacking at that point.
Our scheduled non-Christian panelist (Holly Golightly) was not able to attend the panel; she had told me earlier that there might be a scheduling conflict with events going on at her own booth, and I believe she told Scott that the fact that it was being held outside the convention center also played a factor. We were able to replace her spot on the panel with Brett Burner of Lamp Post Publishing at the last minute. As a result, our Saturday panel lacked the back-and-forth diversity of viewpoints we normally have. Our panelists did great, but having the subject of “Spirituality in Comics” discussed only from a Christian perspective felt like it was lacking something. Personally, I think the Christian POV on the Saturday panel is showcased better when it can be compared and contrasted with other viewpoints. Still, our roster of available panelists are often outside of our control, so we work with whomever God brings us and we trust Him for the results. We’ll see what we can try arranging for next year
The Sunday morning panel with Buzz Dixon, Eric Jansen and Sergio Cariello went better. The convention had fixed the lighting by then, so I was able to record the panel with video as well as audio. (Again, postcasts will be forthcoming, Lord willing.) Also, there was a gap in the scheduling between our panel and the next, which allowed our panel to go long and take up to half an hour of extra time for questions and answers. Here was our official writeup in the guide:
10:00-11:00 Christian Comics: The Word in Pictures— From Andre LeBlanc's classic Picture Bible to Robert Crumb's recent adaptation of Genesis, there is a long tradition of Bible-based comics. Moderator Buzz Dixon (Snokie Stories) and panelists Sergio Cariello (The Action Bible) and Eric Jansen (The Christ of Prophecy) discuss the challenges involved in adapting the words of scripture into visual media. A short devotional message will precede the panel discussion, put on by the Christian Comic Arts Society.
Sergio provided an opening devotional about the impact our lives make upon one another, and how even seemingly unimportant artistic efforts (like his freebie contribution to the Proverbs & Parables anthology a decade ago) cause ripples and rebound in unexpected ways (in Sergio’s example, he explained how the art he did for that old anthology ended up putting him in a position where he was chosen to illustrate the new David C. Cook Action Bible, which has been an extensive multi-year project and labor of love for him.)
The panel discussion started off with Sergio's experience with the Action Bible, and Eric's experience with his Christ of Prophecy comic produced and distributed worldwide through Foursquare Missions Press. The discussion then widened to include a discussion about the Genesis adaptation of Robert Crumb and other examples of non-Christians creating art based on the Scriptures. We had a very interactive audience, with even staffers from the convention getting involved in the Q&A.
Out of the many other events at the convention that went very well for us, the one event that did not go so well for us was the “After-Hours Mixer”:
<7:30-8:30 After Hours with the Christian Comic Arts Society— Creators and fans alike are invited to attend an open meeting of the Christian Comic Arts Society for an informal time of Christian fellowship, networking, laughter and prayer. (Think of it as the social hour after church...just with comic books instead of coffee, cookies and punch.) Room 24ABC
I think there were several reasons this event fizzled. One was the setting: In previous years, we had a relatively small room, but we were free to rearrange the chairs and microphones, which provided a cozy atmosphere of fellowship. This year, we were in a large hall where all the chairs were firmly anchored in rows and even the microphones were bolted down to the floor. We were hoping for the feel of an after-church fellowship hall, and we got a lecture podium with pews instead.
The other problem was the timing. In previous years, our after-hours meeting was relatively ignored by the convention: they gave us an unused room and because there were no further events scheduled, they allowed us to just “hang out” without a set end time. However, with this year’s meeting down the hall from some larger events (the Masquerade, a Kevin Smith panel, etc.), the convention enforced a strict one hour time limit, at the end of which we were ejected and the room locked up tight. End result: we had just enough time for people to make introductions and say “Hi, my name is ___ and I’m a Christian and a comics fan” and… that’s about it. There just wasn’t enough time for much “mixing” to go on at our mixer. Oh well. We’ll know better for next year to be more specific with our requests of the convention as to what kind of room we need and how much time to expect.
PERSONAL THOUGHTS
The convention itself has my usual complaints: it’s simply grown too large. It often took me over an hour to move from one end of the hall to the other, or to travel from one panel discussion and back to our table. As a result, I spent much less time at our table than I had planned to, because most of my time was spent trapped inching my through crowds trying to even reach our table. The size of the crowds, the noise, the claustrophobic gridlock in the aisles… it’s all too much for me. I keep coming back each year as an exhibitor as part of this volunteer outreach ministry, but there’s no way it would be worth it for me to come as a “fan” anymore. Not unless I was coming just to camp out to grab exclusive movie studio swag.
On the other hand, the “feel” of the show was not as oppressive as in previous years. I remember just one or two years ago when almost every table in the small press aisle seemed to be offering some sort of blood-soaked vampire or zombie book. Entire aisles would be nothing but a sea of gloomy black and red banners. This year’s offerings were much more diverse, with everything from funny animals to mystery to historical drama to comics for girls. Not that I have anything against the horror comic genre per se, I just like seeing more variety in such a big show as San Diego.
But overall? It was a good convention for the Christian Comic Arts Society ministry. Our panels went well, our table sales were exceptional, we met a lot of new Christian friends, and we gave away many tracts as well as all of the Action Bible samplers we had brought. (We grabbed a few extra from Sergio Cariello so we could have enough between us to last through the end of the show on Sunday.) We praise the Lord for this opportunity to minister, and we trust in Him as we make our plans for next year's convention season.
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