Jade

[the_gneech]

T. Campbell told me I was jaded yesterday, and he may be on to something. Comic-Con has left me largely unimpressed; compare to the first time I went to Dragon*Con, where I spent the whole con just sorta going "Woooooowwwwwww..."

I mean, it's not like I haven't seen stuff here I liked ... the "Master Replicas" model of the U.S.S. Enterprise (complete w/ motorized nacelle lights) was absolutely beautiful and would be $1600 well spent if I had $1600 to spend on it (which of course I don't). But precisely because I don't have that, nor the space to store the thing if I did, I can't really get that excited about it.

And on the whole, that's been my experience with the whole con! "Bruce Campbell is here! I won't be able to get within 200 feet of him, but he's here! Um. Yay." "Look, original Pogo art! Cool! It's behind a table so I can't examine it closely, and it's in the 'if you have to ask you can't afford it' category, but it's original Pogo art! Um. Yay."

And finally, I've been thinking about what it would be like to have a table here, and what (if anything) I have to offer that would be worth the effort. Steve Purcell, creator of Sam & Max, has a dinky little half-table and people just walk right on past him. There are rows and rows of people nobody's ever heard of -- most of whom have better art than I do -- all trying to get somebody, anybody in the crowd to stop and pick up their book.

Do I really want to be in that category?

-The Gneech

Comments

[laurie-robey.livejournal.com]

Wel, the question is, "If we do get a table at ComicCon, how do we make it a success?" That's a big answer and will require some thinking on our parts to figure out. Again, as Robin Laws said, you get a lot better response if you engage the audience. Steve Purcell's not exactly going out of his way to get people's attention. He seems to be relying on his reputation and people noticing the few Sam & Max graphics he's got up.

[goodluckfox.livejournal.com]

Could Lythandra be a booth bunny? It works at computer trade shows... *ducks*.

But seriously, what you're doing now seems to be on the right track. I think a body of work that shows consistency and reliability is worth more than glitzy promotion and hey-look-at-me. What good is an impression if the work isn't there to back it up? You've got the work, and I bet if you look at your site stats, you'll see a steady increase as you accrue more fans.

Do you want to be in that category? Well, what is it you truly want to DO? You've pretty much got the "Web Cartoonist" thing down pat, don't you? Heck, you've even started your own little empire when you spun off Never Never with SDeer. What is it that you want to accomplish?

[hossblacksilver.livejournal.com]

How can Lythandra be a bunny? She's a hamster. ;D

Anyway, at least I'll be looking forward to meeting you again at DC this year, Gneech. n_n

[laurie-robey.livejournal.com]

Could Lythandra be a booth bunny? It works at computer trade shows...

I think that would have the opposite effect. I would be far less cute than this icon.

[dennisthetiger.livejournal.com]

Sounds like SDCC is getting a bit too big. Any talk of a fork?

[susandeer.livejournal.com]

Hey! If there's any talk of a fork, then surely there will be BEEF!

[jim-lane.livejournal.com]

But... What about the knife and the spoon?????

(Right. I'll go crawl back into my cave now...)

[exatron.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure about the knife, but the spoon was last seen with it's fugitive accomplice- the dish.

[jim-lane.livejournal.com]

I used to date a real "dish", but suddenly, one day, she hopped on her flying "saucer" and departed for parts unknown...

;)

[the-mcp.livejournal.com]

There is no spoon...

[laurie-robey.livejournal.com]

*throws a ball of pink yarn at you* (even though I've never met you in person)

[susandeer.livejournal.com]

*bonk!* Eek! THWARTED! @:D

And yeah, we do need to meet! we should go to Great Adventure, or something!

[laurie-robey.livejournal.com]

I've heard rumors of them moving it elsewhere. But they're just rumors AFAIK.

[doodlesthegreat.livejournal.com]

They're beneath rumors. They're BS. There's only two places in the country bigger than the San Diego Convention Center, and they're not going to move the event to Chicago or Vegas.

CCI built that place.

[indigoangelcat.livejournal.com]

SPOOOOOOOOOORRRKKK!


Okay... now that I got that out of my system :)

I think it has a lot to do with advertizing. The pet rock was just a rock until somebody made advertizing to say... "YOU MUST HAVE A PET ROCK or you won't be cool". oh... and put some googly eyes on it.

[doodlesthegreat.livejournal.com]

CCI has become a massive media event, and for the life of me I can't get excited about the big displays. Too much noise and hype, not enough substance. I tend to stick on the perifiery, in those same areas you were looking. And I found Steve Purcell as well. Then again, I was looking for him.

Do you want to become that type? Beats me. You do have to learn how to "game" the system, though. Figure out what area would be your sweet spot and how to promote yourself for it. Phil Foglio just had that table, and he did gangbusters. That's likely to be the area you would want to be as well.

But do you really want to do it? I'd say no, for the time being. Build your audience further externally before taking a crack at CCI. Besides, the way the con is going, who knows what will be available for the small-timers next year...

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

Mosta the vendors I talked to said they did pretty well, or sold everything this year.. *peep*

[kevinjdog.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's pretty much how I feel about it, which is why I wasn't there this year. Though I did manage to sell some stuff at the Keenspot table last year, though it wasn't a whole lot. It was just too daunting being lost in the huge crowd, a serious pebble at the bottom of an ocean of fandomania.