Over the weekend, Rachel and I popped into SpringCon for a few minutes to see what is the Twins Cities’ largest (non-indie, since I haven’t seen MIX yet) comic convention. I brought along a few promo cards and thought I’d see who was attending and just introduce myself.

I was surprised by just how few webcomickers were in attendance. None of the “major” or even “mid-major” comics were there and the only person I immediately recognized was Fes from the Webcomics Beacon, a podcast I follow on a regular basis. Instead, I saw row after row of small press print comics, which I found incredibly surprising. Print is expensive. It’s hard to sell. Direct market comic stores don’t want to take a risk on an unknown book from an unknown creator so your book never gets shelf space. And it’s, dare I say it… outdated. I couldn’t believe that so many people are trying to stick by the old way of doing things and basically shrugging off the web where everything is free, people will look at your stuff, you can gain a following, and then you can sell them something. Oh well, it’s their dime. Who am I to tell them they’re wrong?

I picked up a few indie books anyway and some of the creators were really great. My favorite was a small sepia-toned book called Wanderlust Blunderbuss, a mixture comic/poem book that had fantastic art and a great idea for a story, though the writing fell a little short of everything else because the visuals were presented so well in book format. I’m lucky Rachel stopped because I would have walked right on by the table, which brings me to another observation…

Presentation! Wow, some of it is really bad. I mean really, really bad. Walking around this small con taught me a lot about how to set up a table when I’m ready to get my feet wet. I found myself walking by almost every table that didn’t have a stand-up banner behind the creators. Without that banner, I have no idea whether it’s something I want to see. If I’m not sure I want to see it, I don’t want to get close enough to lock eyes with the artist or writer and then get roped into paging through a book I do not care about in the slightest bit. Second, put your best work at the front of your display! Jesus, I couldn’t believe some of the stuff that was hidden from view… hey, your second grade art project may be special to your mother but trust me, I don’t give a damn. Really. Anyway, it was a great experience for me to walk through a con and try to pick up on what to do right and what to avoid doing at all.

All in all, it was a good time and it just makes me more excited to visit San Diego in July.

In sad face news, I just found out that I probably won’t get a table at any convention this year because MIX in Minneapolis sold out of exhibitor tables in less than 24 hours. Oh well, that just means I’ll have more content ready for whatever convention I decide to exhibit at in 2012. Then again, there’s always a chance I’ll get my shit together in time to attend FallCon, a small con organized by the same people as SpringCon, though it’s held in, you know… fall.

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