Paradise (Comic Convention)

As a payoff for the humongous amount of (free) work P. did for this convention, he was given two complimentary passes for A. and me. Of course when we arrived at the ticket booth, there was no record of our names but the kind man gave them to us anyway. We both, A and me, had our doubts about attending...well - I've beeen to these thangs and they're oookaay if you like Spawn and big-breasted women beating the crap out of some monster & then being bedded by some other monster...if you know what I mean - so we were kind of, sort of prepared. But what a surprise - we ended up really enjoying ourselves. Maybe this particular convention attracted artists of a different stripe - there was a lot fun and interesting (and brilliant) work. The attraction for me - what made me say I'd go in the first place, was the addition of Women in Comics - a series of forums with women cartoonists speaking about their work & the effect of their gender in the industry.

We did a walkabout of all the artists and people were so pleasant to us. It took us a while to realize that part of that friendliness was due to the 'PRESS' badges we were given for our passes. I should have taken out my notebook & really played up the role! Artists were anticipating our approach and flipping their portfolios open to their best work, pointing out their 'freebies' (business cards & bookmarks, etc.). But even after I said we weren't really 'Press', they were still nice, though a little disappointed. I think a lot of them are happy just to have someone notice them.

A. picked up a beautiful print of chicadees flocking about a berry bush, with some chicadee-coloured dragons sharing the berries. That was by Heather Bruton, and there were several similar prints with different birds cast as dragons (or vice versa).

I picked up 'SuperFuzz', for a 10 year old friend who likes lots of action (read 'violence') in his comics. This was a compromise - it's a lot of fun, with some great hulking superheroes and great drawing. The artist even threw in some stickers because I bought four of his books. Bonus.

We attended a lively forum featuring Sandra Bell Lundy of 'Between Friends' fame and Rina Piccolo of 'Tina's Groove', both syndicated cartoonists. Too bad more people didn't drop in because it was fun session with interesting digressions to thought-provoking questions.

So it's good to know that there's some great talent out there and lots more in the wings. A change from the 'fine art' atmosphere I've been breathing for the last little while. Worlds within worlds within worlds.