August 2007

COMIC CON CONUNDRUM
CAG’s First COMIC CON!
By Keith J. Murphey

When most comic creators make reference to which shows they have been to many make reference to the grand-daddy of them, all the mecca of all comic conventions, the one and only Comic Con International San Diego. The Comic Con has a long history of being the industry’s biggest convention, which has always been held annually in San Diego. That the convention is 3,000 miles away in San Diego has always presented a problem as far as planning and budgeting for myself and I would say to those whom asked, "Yeah, I’m going next year." Due to several wonderful changes this year, I was able to attend thanks to the help of Hector Rodriguez and his wife, Kelly.

So what exactly is Comic Con? You will most likely get different answers from the over 100,000 attendees of the show. As its name indicates, it is a comic-related event. Most now assume it is not truly about comics but everything else related to pop culture. That’s most likely due to the addition of both Hollywood and the gaming industry. The amount of programming, panels, art shows, and celebrity is astounding. The energy level at this show is high, which is probably one of the reasons it separates itself from just about any other comic book convention. So here is what our experience was like this year at Comic Con 2007.

WEDNESDAY: Hector and I arrived at the airport in Hartford in the afternoon and flew to Washington, D.C. in approximately a half-hour. The next plane took us directly to L.A. We arrived in LA around 8:00PM and acquired our rental, which we nicknamed "the banana" and drove for two hours into the San Diego area. We had some slight difficulty finding our hotel as it was VERY CLOSE to the Border of Mexico. We met CAG West Coast Vice-Prsident, Phil Clark at the hotel. Phil had been at the show and set up our table earlier in the week.

THURSDAY: We decided to take the trolley into the show to avoid parking. Arriving at the show early to find it swarming with convention attendees, we still had our wait to get into the show. There was the added confusion of trying to find our registration area, which was no easy task. Many were outside the show room doors and could not wait to get in chanting, "Let us in". When the doors finally did open a sea of con attendees flocked everywhere and were cheering with glee. Hector and I found our table at the small press area and then proceeded to walk around the convention center. As far as organization goes the con was well put together, the majority of retail merchants were to the far left, then rows of creators and publishers starting from the 100’s to the 3,000’s. The show began to change into a smorgasbord of movie industry displays and video game stations. These rows were the most congested, as they were full of large and very impressive and expensive looking presentations. There were beautiful statues and models to be had everywhere. Towards the end of the rows was the artists’ alley area.
After going around it once we were tired and decided to watch some medieval combat performed by the SCA outside the back of the convention area courtyard. After the show, we packed-up to go out for some dinner with Phil.

FRIDAY: Hector and I decided to spend a good amount of the morning approaching over 20 different publishers pitching our project to them, Hell’sBlood. After lunch in the observation area we ended up going back to artists’ alley and getting several sketches of our favorite Hell’sBlood character, Burucu. We then spent some time in front of and behind the CAG convention table, which was compliments of our LA coordinator, Mike Wellman. We ended up taking lots of pictures of con attendees and later went out for dinner. We decided to go out for a little nightlife and spent the evening at the Hyatt Hotel bar area. On this particular evening, we saw Brian Michael Bendis and Joe Quesada stroll by the bar. We ended up taking an early night in preparation for Saturday’s workshop.

GREAT CAG SHIRTS provided by: T-SHIRT EFFECTS!

For more CAG COMIC CON PANEL PICS GO HERE

SATURDAY: We got up earlier and drive in to avoid the parking problem we witnessed on Friday. Both Hector and I are formally introduced to Donna and Mike De Lepine whom are the CAG LA secretary and LA coordinator. We spent the morning promoting awareness to the workshop at 12:30pm. The panel easily held over 100 participants and we managed to fill it quickly. We started on time with Phil Clark MC’ing the panel. It was a privilege to speak about CAG’s history and here both Mike Wellman and Mike De Lepine spoke about their involvement with CAG. Hector said some very genuine and honest statements that also added to the panel. Donna was also very passionate and shared her viewpoint of the group. We did a successful Q&A session, which continued until the panel was over. Several potential new members, and 3 potential new CAG chapters approached us immediately after the end of the panel. The workshop was highly successful and we all agreed it was the highlight of the weekend. We all walked out of there feeling really good about it. Mike Wellman’s comic shop (www.thecomicbug.com) was nominated for an Eisner award, but sadly lost.

That evening we went out to dinner with Christian Beranek and some of his associates and again went back to the Hyatt. This time we checked out the 40th floor of the hotel and got a beautiful view of the entire San Diego area. Later, we spent time with our friend Sam Vera (Catch da’ Craze podcast). That evening there were such industry giants as Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, and David Finch among others hanging out and schmoozing.

SUNDAY: While it was reported that the show sold out of tickets Friday and Saturday, Sunday was considered Kids’ day and most cons traditionally have a slower day on Sundays. Although I didn’t feel that was the case here. We more or less had a final walk around and networked that day. We did get some more pictures, the show ended early and the lights went out exactly at 5:00pm. A large round of applause and cheering could be heard from all of this year’s participants of the show. After helping Phil pack-up, we said goodbye to our west coast friends and headed back to LAX. Hector and I took the red-eye out and got back home to CT around 10:00 AM. I admit as I write this my sleep schedule has not fully recovered.

The downside to this show would be the sheer shoulder-to-shoulder of people, the crowding of bathrooms, and the over-priced vendor food. Despite these drawbacks, we really had fun at this show as we did what we said we were going to do. We saw a lot of wonderful things, met a lot of great and new friends and visited with some old ones as well. For those who have never gone, I would highly recommend that you see it for yourself. For those of you whom have, we will most definitely see you next year. After experiencing a show like this, it can change your perspective on things. Just like any other life changing experience it stays with you, and I think I will reflect on it further on the weeks and months ahead.