Broken Frontier

You’re going to your favorite convention, and about to meet your favorite comic creator in all the world! WHAT DO YOU DO? Also debuting this column: BITS, little asides on the ‘oops’, snafus, and ‘gees’ of comics.

They’re a part of the comic book sub-culture, a phenomenon that is strange and sometimes downright inexplicable to the non-comic fan: Conventions. Unlike most other arenas in life, Comic Conventions are meeting places of the pop-culture, the exotic and fantastic and the outright weird as well as a professional gathering.

For example, when I’ve mentioned to my colleagues in my other professional life about attending a convention, they smile at me and nod. “Sure, nothing like classy rooms in huge hotels, with meetings all day, presentations and networking lunches, huh?” Well, sorta. But you have to include the numerous Klingons, Storm Troopers, Goblins and fat guys wearing spandex Spider-Man costumes. “Huh?”

Comic Conventions serve two real purposes, though the public may be less aware of one.

First, they are indeed Networking and Deal-making Heavens. With creators and publishers spread all over the country and beyond, and communication often dominated by emails and phone calls, a chance to be in the same geographic location as the major movers and shakers in the industry is indeed a match made in Heaven. Behind the scenes at every major convention there are meetings that take place in the back of small booths, around tables in the food court, and outside at nearby benches. Conventions have been the birth place of books, books getting approved for publication, movie right deals, creator contract signings and everything in between.

There will be early morning breakfast meetings, late night dinner meetings, and later night ‘nightcap’ meetings. When creators and editors are not doing signings, or panels, they are wheeling and dealing. The result? For pros, conventions are often like a marathon run in terms of time, energy and thought.

Which brings us to the most public and celebrated purpose of conventions: The Fans! Conventions provide opportunities for fans to meet their favorite creators, attend panels and ask questions on their favorite books and publishers, and get tons of cool collectibles and sneak peeks. Publishers use Conventions to break major new projects and news items, and new companies will often debut at cons.

Along with that are the fans who simply want to celebrate fandom. They come in costume, loaded with books to be signed, money in their wallets to buy, buy, buy, and the long thought-out way of introducing themselves to the best creators in order to have a conversation. Many also come with their own hard fought efforts at creating comics, art and writing, hoping against hope they will be one of the many to walk out of the convention with a publishing deal.

Not to mention, most of the time, this is all crammed delicately into two or three days, where 500 to 7,000 OTHER people are all attempting the same thing.

So, while keeping in mind that Conventions are basically highly-charged, crowded and chaotic, noisy and overwhelming public spectacles, overflowing with larger than life props, more booths, aisles and stands than you can shake a stick at, aspiring pros with high hopes emotionally charged and professionals who are testing the limits of their endurance and stamina…here’s some thoughts on etiquette:

• Respect Boundaries: Just because you’ve read everything ever written by Joe Schmoe, you are not his lifelong buddy whom he hasn’t seen in ten years. Do not overwhelm or be overly familiar with a pro, it can be awkward and uncomfortable.

• Respect Limits: Yes, it sucks to wait in line for a signing, and it ends before you get there, however, keep in mind, they all have to end sometime. Pros, again, are not just doing a few hours so they can then run off and get drunk (at least most aren’t). They may have a panel to get to, or an important meeting. If you really want that signature, or sketch, plan accordingly to make sure you are there in the time allotted.

• Be Realistic: Bringing 200 polybagged issues of Super-X-Spider-Bat-whatever to be signed is not a statement of courtesy. Likewise asking an artist to draw the ‘entire Avengers / JLA lineup’ during a sketch period is sure to draw moans from the fans, and a bit of consternation from the pro.

• Be Understanding: If you finally meet and shake hands with Mr. Superstar and he seems a bit off, quiet, tired, or grouchy it may not be a case of “wow, isn’t he a class A jerk?” but more a case of “wow, he’s been up since 5am, ate one and a half meals of stuffed corndog in the last 16 hours, turning into indigestion, shaken 3,250.5 hands, signed more comics than he thought ever published, sketched until he’s sore, sat on his duff until it hurts in places he forgot he had, and had two dozen meetings today and he STILL took time to say hello.”

• Be Mature: Have fun, but people who go and heckle creators or speakers, make off-color comments or insult people there really only prove one thing: They, meaning the speakers, are idiots. Likewise, if you show stuff to an editor for a critique, well, dang it, expect a critique. Yes, sometimes critiques can be impolite or dismissive, but they often are extremely helpful. If an editor or artist is pointing out flaws, bad anatomy, bad perspective, or layout, ask how you can improve. Accept the guidance for what it is. Keep in mind, those who blow off the critique walking away and saying under their breath “Well, what does he know?” knows a lot less than the one they are talking about.

So, there’s the Convention Etiquette 101 class, and as a bonus thinking point…really question if you’re physique is a spandex leaning physique BEFORE you buy the Spider-man suit…please.

BITS
Starting this week, from time to time, I’m going to run little excerpts from news items, quotes and other comic related sources that speak either incredibly well of the industry or, well, don’t speak incredibly well of the comic book industry. You decide which!

– Role Model(ing)
Last week, I talked about pros sometimes being role models and the nature of being a role model…and there are such things as good role models and…not so good role models.

“I definitely want to be considered a role model. I think being a successful businesswoman and self-promoter is a good image to convey to young women.”
-Cindy Margolis on Cindy Margolis quoted from Comics Continuum.

Okay then, on that note…

Next Week: Revamps, Revisions, Alternate Versions…one man’s look at how comics characters can sometimes suffer real Identity Crises. What happens when you have too many versions of the same character? Answer: You get confused fans.