From the Front Lines: WonderCon
Two days later, (okay, a week, but this took longer to write than I thought it would) I seem mostly recovered from WonderCon without having lost most of it to the clutter that fills my brain in everyday life following any event. I’ve decided I’ll be adding a new category for the blog, “From the Front Lines,” where I’ll just talk about my experiences at a particular event.
WonderCon Anaheim was a bit overwhelming for me. Id been to the convention center before when I attended the World Science Fiction Convention there many years ago, the largest event I’ve ever been to. WonderCon dwarfed it. Place was hopping with people.
Got to the event massively early Friday morning because I wanted to make sure I had a good parking spot, or any parking spot. Managed to sneak into exhibitor parking, which was pretty awesome. Had a couple hours to kill, so I went to Starbucks and finished the rough draft of “Legacy of the Dragon Bone Flute.” So, that done, the event day was already off to a productive start. Off to registration.
I got directed down a flight of stairs and stand in this massively looooong line. I did some reading while waiting for this massively loooooong line to start moving. In the back of my head, a little voice kept piping up to me, “Your pro registration doesn’t seem so cool any more does it?’ As the line got moving, I notice a second line out of site of where I’d originally been standing. It had far fewer people in it, and as it turns out, was the real pro registration. The line I’d been standing in was for WonderCon swag. I got my badge, the shiny one. See that picture! I know, you’re impressed.
After that, I waited in another line to for the “pros” to get access to the exhibit hall. Didn’t wait long. Once I got inside…WOW…So many exhibitors, so many costumes…I had plopped down right in the center of geek central. I’d originally thought to do a day-by-day description of WonderCon, but I have some actual books I need to get some writing done on. So I’l just cover some of my basic observations.
I sold some books…which is good…because I was there to sell some books. I’d gone down as part of the Greater Los Angeles Writers Society. I had one shift each day. Passed out a bunch of business cards, met some new readers, ruffled some feathers. I know, shocker for those of you who know me. And here’s where I’m going to be a little candid and toss in a little rant. If you’re sharing table space with someone at an event, any event, and you’re sort of competing for the same customer base: don’t jump on top of and try and sell your product to someone one of the other people at the table brought over. I had this happen a couple of times. And, to be fair, I did this as well, twice. Both times I apologized after the fact, having realized that I’d been that guy. On the other side of that coin, if you’re all there to sell your product, and one guy is going out of his way to draw customers over, and you’re just sitting there hoping people will notice you, don’t get bent out of shape because the one guy who is actively engaging passers by is actually selling books and you are not. Yeah, I ruffled some feather. Shocker.
To all who came by, old fans and new: Thank you so much. For those who went out on a limb and got my books just on the whim of me telling you how great they are: I hope you enjoy them and feel the entertainment value worth the time you invest in reading them. We even had ComicsOnline.com stop by and snap a few pictures while I was meeting new readers. If you’re into geek culture at all, you need to stop by Comics Online.
I’d like to say that it really weirds me out a little when people come up to me and recognize me by name, and they’ve read me. I hope I never loose that sense of wonder and the giddy feeling I get that someone not only reads my stuff, but they like it enough to come and seek me out, just to meet me.
Next up, we’ve got cosplay. Now, I’ve seen some cosplay at Science Fiction conventions, so of it pretty good. We Science Fiction geeks have nothing on Comic Geeks. The level of attention to detail cosplayers have is astounding. I could go on and on about all the different levels of win. However, I think I’ll just say what I think is the coolest part of Cosplay. That’s when someone takes two different ideas and makes them work together.
My favorite of the weekend: Joker Elvis.
Look at him. That’s one well put together costume and makeup job. Even days after the fact, looking at this picture makes me happy. What you can’t see in this picture is the work he put into having moves like Elvis, you kind of get the idea from his pose, but I tell you, this guy even had the walk down. He truly embodied the essence of the Clown Prince of Rock and Roll.
My absolute favorite part of conventions of any kind is getting to meet other people who share the dream of turning their creativity into some semblance of making a living. WonderCon did not disappoint. Self/Indie published writers roll-call included April Adams, author of Drawing the Dragon. Spoke with April and her crew a couple of times at their booth. She’s a great lady, seems to understand a thing or two about getting out and meeting readers. Then I met the Winner Twins, young ladies who self-published a couple of books, with an interesting twist…the books are filled with original artwork. Really cool anime style artwork. Why? Because they wanted to, thought it was awesome, and so they did it. If they’d gone with a traditional publisher, they couldn’t have done that. No way. Good for them. (Interesting side note: I served these young ladies tea eight years ago before this boom of self-publishing even existed.)
A great surprise connection I made was just from walking around the exhibitor’s hall. I saw this booth with the title Kill Shakespeare. I headed straight for that like a moth to a flame. I struck up a conversation with Anthony Del Col about his comic. It’s a mish mash of all the Shakespearean characters, with Hamlet as the main character and is sent by Richard the Third to kill William Shakespear. Adventure happens. This thing looks like a lot of fun. Can’t wait to get done with my current projects so I can dive in. I talked to Anthony about writing scripts for comics, as my artist pal, Alyxx Duggins said doing so would be helpful in drawing the graphic novels and web comics for Halloween Jack and Spellpunk. Anthony sent me the scripts for the first issue of Kill Shakespeare. Going to look over that and learn. We also too a picture of us at his booth, with me holding up my books. He’s going to be posting that to his website in the next week or so.
The best connection I made had to be when my friend, Bill Waters (Renaissance Faire producer and ComicsOnline.com guy) to Douggary Grant, one of the movers and shakers of Big WOW ComicFest. After a couple of conversations and followup chats via Facebook, it’s confirmed that I’m going to be at Big WOW. I’m really excited to be attending this event, and a little nervous. This is going to be the first time in quite a few years I’ll be doing my storytelling show at a venue other than a Renaissance Faire type event. Got some potential great stuff happening at this event. Check my Facebook, Twitter, or Google+ feeds for details.
The biggest shocker was the pretty much complete lack of night events. If there were any parties or gatherings, I was not privie to them, nor did anyone I have any contact with have any way to discern locating them. This took me be surprise, as with science fiction conventions, parties abound. Every convention I’ve ever been to has had at least one floor, usually multiple floors, dedicated to party rooms. Some of them get pretty wild. I though that WonderCon, since the crowd on the whole is much younger than the Science Fiction Convention community, and with attendance being about ten times World Con, it would have been a whirlwind of nightlife, making me feel old and tired by not being able to keep up. Alas. None of that.
The other difference I noticed was the divide between the pros and the fans seems a lot wider in the comic community than it is in the Science Fiction community. At science fiction conventions, pros – both artists and even the publishers – seemed muc more approachable. At science fiction conventions, pros with tables in the dealers’ room seem far more prone to have a prolonged conversation with a fan that might not lead to an immediate sale than in the exhibitor’s hall at WonderCon. Several times while I was talking to other artist/exhibitors possibly about networking or something, after just a minute or two, I noticed them looking past me to all the other people walking by, and being less engaged in our conversation the less it looked like I was going to buy something right then and there. Then again, comic conventions, or at least WonderCon, seemed far more commercial than say WorldCon. Now, I’m speaking from lots of experience at science fiction conventions and only one experience with a comic convention, so I might be totally off base here. I’ve got a few more comic type conventions coming up, so I’ll keep you all posted.
Finally, I met a piece of my childhood and came away very disappointed. It’s no secret I’m a big WWE fan. I grew up watching WWF as a centerpiece of my childhood and adolescent years. At WonderCon I met Virgil, bodyguard for the Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiasi. At first, I thought that was cool. Went over to his booth and said, “Man, you were a part of my childhood.” First thing Mr Virgil tried to do was sell me a $35 print and a signature. Not a thank you, or any gracious words. Just, “give me money.” Two booths down, I saw Billy, the original blue Power Ranger, doing the same thing. Now, I’m as ready to make a buck as the next guy. I’m ready to sell a book to someone, and can come off a bit strong while doing that, especially if I’m at an event where I’m specifically there to make money to pay the bills and feed my children. HOWEVER, I hope and pray that twenty to thirty years from now, I’m not hanging out at a booth at some con trying to sell anyone passing by on the memory of who I am now. If that is me. If I stop writing now, and twenty years from now, I’m still working on selling people copies of First Chosen and Halloween Jack because they are the only books I have, you have my permission to put me out of my misery.
Until next time. This is MTG reporting from the front lines at WonderCon.
