Hey there sports
fans, Al here the latest!
Let talk about the ROSE CITY COMIC BOOK SHOW 2016.
Now mind you I didn't attend last year's show as I was under the
gun for gallery shows and the first EUCON show down in Eugene Oregon.
So some of my facts will be out of date.
There were a few set
backs at the beginning even before the show started.
A while back
you might have remembered that I mentioned how real life has a
tendency to throw the monkey wrench into things?
Well this is no
different and since this is the year of Monkey Blog for Rose City
Comic Show 2016, and he's been working overtime. And in this case he
almost had me over a barrel with the printing of the 3'd installment
of Corpse Cop.
But the kicker was the fact that my good buddy
George Leon wouldn't be able to attend this year's show. It was a
real bummer that he wouldn't be hanging out with Dan DePaolo and
myself.
He had wanted to go but like I said real life has this
way of making things happen.
But have no fear for I am pretty
sure that he will be attending the EUCON show this year with Dan and
myself. Haazah!
BUT WE GOT TO GET DOWN TO BRASS TACKS OF THE PROS AND CONS OF ROSE
CITY!
1). The LOAD IN. I in years past have tabled with a number
of friends and every single one of them a professional vendor. This
means that the set up which usually takes place before a show is tag
teamed. And with ease and speed our table set up was done in about 35
minutes. Less time than it was to find a parking space.
2). BOOTH NEIGHBORS. I have had been both situations where I have
tabled in Artists Alley and have had some issues with next door
neighbor's. Either being the EXTREMELY messed up situation at
Crypticon back in 2013 with the Human Wall of Shame or Emerald City
Comic con of 2012 with a small jazz band playing right next door.
Thank God Maverick was there to keep me laughing.
This year Dan
and I had the pleasure of a ceramist named (blank). Her work was
great and impressive.
And they were POLITE.
I would table
next to them again.
3). TRAFFIC. With cos players just across the way I was worried at
first that people would be so enamored of the detail and work put
into these costumes that no one would see our tables and work. HA
.
Nothing was further from the truth. Walk ways were large enough o
have people see both.
4). CUSTOMERS. Everyone that came by our table was kind and mostly
respectful. Never did we have to deal with "booth barnacles".
If you are aware of this very descriptive name please let me
enlighten you. A "Booth Barnacle" is a individual who
lingers around your table and engages you meaningless conversation
for an hour without ever buying anything from your table and keeps
you from being able to make any other potential contact with other
people. I have had these happen a couple of times and have a Barnacle
Scraper to remove these pests.
I didn't have to bust it out.
Everyone that came by said they liked the work that they saw and
said so. This was a very validating thing to hear. And some of it
turned into sales as well.
5). TEMPERATURE.
In times past not always but sometimes the
weather can have a HUGE influence on what is going on inside a con.
And this happened at both large and small con alike. The Lifework NW
show with the huge outpouring of people make everything into a sweat
lodge. This so makes buy trendy hipster shit much easier till you get
it home.
And yes that was a dig at Linework.
Rose City was
good and I hadn't heard anybody complaining.
6). COS-PLAYERS.
I have had trouble in the past with them but
this time around- nope! They stayed for the most part in an area that
was designed for them. Totally cool.
But now it's time (drum roll please.
)
for the CONS of the 2016 Rose City Comic Show.
1). ONE COS-PLAYER singular.
On day one of the show and about
three and half hours into show I'm talking to one friends and
formally a fan Natalie at my table. We are talking about things non
comic book related. During this time frame there have been numerous
groups of cos players coming an going past the booth with no problem
when this young shit bag decides to stop and put his 32 oz. ICEE on
my table because there is space for it.
Natalie looks at me as he
is getting a photo op with his back turned to me. And she says
"Did he just do that?"
My response to that move was
"Oh
Fuck the hell NO!"
I snagged his drink and held
behind the table. When he turned around his drink wasn't there but I
was holding it.
"If you want to put something on someone's
table, ask!"
He looked at me totally dumbfounded an scurried
away like the like the ratfuck he was.
If someone had bumped the
table or anything I would be out a couple hundred dollars of product.
Did he have the money to cover that potential mistake? Good God no.
I tried to be calm (I wasn't I was pissed) and I was stern.
I
had heard stories like this from other professionals who had the same
thing happened to them. Arrrgh. Wake the fuck up!
2). THE P.A. SYSTEM.
Now I do understand
I really do that this is needed for a large event such as Rose City
is but JEEZUS would crank down the volume! There were a number of
times I thought that my ears were going to spontaneously start
spurting blood from my ears! Trying to converse with my customers was
insane. Nobody likes to yell at another especially when you are
trying to carry on a decent conversation. I think that Dan I were (as
well as everybody else for that matter) were blasted from 2:30pm to
3:30pm with inane “Billy please meet your mother at such and
such.” And then immediately repeat the same thing like we didn't
hear the first time. Sorry what did you say? I couldn't freakin' hear
you the first time!
3). THE LOAD OUT.
Now unlike the load
in which was easy by the way the load out was a clusterfuck and half.
Not because we weren't able to break down our gear or anything like
that. Mine you we did have some personally issues pop up keys locked
in car, bike ride to get back up keys without bike helmet because ass
jack decided that they would rip mine off. No, aside from that stuff
the crew that was in charge (if you can call it that surely had no
idea how to organize the loading dock with the different vendors.
Everyone was tired
from the show itself and just wanted to go home.
Having to pack 6”
grates across a parking lot and across the street to a nearby parking
lot. Absolutely BOGUS!
You would have
thought they would have been better prepared. Ah HELL NO.
So there you have it
both sides of the same show.
Would I go back?
Yes. Granted there would be some stipulations along with it. A corner
booth is a must.
SO NOW I WILL IMPART
SOME WISDOM HERE (and you don't have to agree with it either but just
think about it):
1). Get a booth if
you can afford it. It will automatically set you apart from the
Average Joe in artist's alley. Again there is nothing wrong with
being in there and I understand the cost factor but if you can do it
– do it!
2). Don't bring Indy
made comics. I am sure you're scratching your heads about this.
Aren't the shows about comics? Yes, they are, just MAIN STREAM stuff, not
Independent comics.
Ah screw this guy he
doesn't know what he's talking about. Just hear me out and here is my
logic about this topic.
When you go to a
moderately big show walk around the booths and see which ones are
doing a lot of business. You'll see a lot booths selling old
collectible main stream comics.
You'll see a lot of
vendors selling main stream associated merchandise like coffee mugs,
t-shirts, action figures. And will find other artist's selling
multiple prints of copyrighted characters.
All of these kind of
vendors do pretty well for themselves. But since we have been coming
from a comic book art P.O.V. lets deal with that.
Artists at a main
stream show need to be aware that by making and selling prints based
upon popular characters i.e. Deadpool, Wolverine, Batman etc. You as
the maker of these images have to have an okay by the company for the
use of these characters licensed and give a portion of the profits
you make from each sale and give it to the company. There are a lot
of guys who don't know this and the few that do are playing with a
loaded gun. It will only be a matter of time before one the companies
see them and drag them into court for copyright infringement.
Independent Comic
Book Companies like my Black Box Comix don't make a lot if at all at
these bigger shows. Only at a smaller venues like Stumptown Comics
Fest used to be or the more current Linework NW show do independent
creators have a chance to make something that will be seen and
bought.
3). So know why would go
to a show and sell work?
I hate using this
word but do it for the exposure. The only way for people to see your
work is too sell yourself and the art style you are promoting. By
only selling prints you can gage your potential buyers reaction to
the work. This is much simpler that convincing someone to buy a
small press book. Think of this as emotional investment. Plus usually
a print is 4 times more expensive than a comic and for one 100th
of the images including the cover amount of work.
When you see a cover
of a comic that you like you pick it up to see if the art is the same
inside. You want to know if is then you can figure out whether or not
to pluck down cash for it. With a print, you have an immediate reaction
to the work like buy/not buy. Then you move onto the next customer.
That's the business.
Get your Artwork up
off the table and hanging at eye level. People can see the work from
a ways away and get interested in the work before they even get
there. This also allows to block people from seeing something else
that maybe more eyecatching than your work such as a hot looking
cos-player. You want to keep that buyer there as long as you can to
seal a deal – but not to long.
Time for this kid to check out
And as always there are places for you to check out as well.
Etsy
HOWEVER there are these books that I still need to add to the archive for Black Box Comix.
And mind you there is website
and the facebook page
The Website also has some new stuff added for the comic books featuring Corpse Cop.
I am outta of here.
