People In Motion -- WonderCon 2011

I arrived for WonderCon 15 minutes before the show started last Friday. I wasn’t going to miss Opening Day at Dodger Stadium for a simple comic book show…

San Francisco’s WonderCon could be considered Comic-Con Light, but to me it became much more than that. It is operated by the same people that handle Comic-Con; however, the vibe is different. Attendees are more discerning, more open, and yes – more friendly.

I was with Bare Bones Studios (as usual) and its bunny-eared leader, Mike. With Sandra having her own table at artist’s alley, Rob saving homeless dogs and Carlos who-knows-where, Mike and I partnered with Dave, a writer from the San Francisco area.

I brought revised copies of Pretty Vacant: Vegas Showcase while Dave offered posters and Savior, a full-throttle sci-fi prison break comic book. There was the recognizable assortment of Bare Bones books (including “the worst comic book ever”), but the big surprise was that Mike actually sold his own product: T-shirts with sarcastic musings. There were humorous sayings as THE ONLY STUPID QUESTION IS THE ONE YOU JUST ASKED or ZOMBIES EIGHT MY FRIENDS BRAIN BUT KNOT MYNE? and I DON’T LIVE WITH MY MOM, SHE LIVES WITH ME.

We tried giving away free stickmen on the first day but attendees were reluctant to take them. Mike and I rethought the strategy over dinner at Subway and reorganized the table for Saturday, emphasizing our favorite T-shirts on the table while keeping the other shirts on a display rack that was visible to people walking by. I wore the “MOM” shirt in support. We developed our own style to show off the T-shirts: Mike motioning to the shirts on the table like “The Price Is Right” ladies while I underlined the shirts on display mimicking the hostess on “Wheel of Fortune.”

It worked.

The proceeds Mike made were the most he had from any show! There were times where I felt that Dave’s stuff was selling better than mine despite Dave constantly leaving the table to show publishers Savior, but I started with 95 issues of Pretty Vacant: Vegas Showcase and ended up with four at WonderCon’s end, so I had a very good show as well! I was especially pleased that I was able to sell a good number of books simply by explaining Pretty Vacant’s premise.

Sandra and I at WonderCon.  Never take a picture on the last day of a show!

Hanging out with friends is always fun (especially when Sandra wore an outfit similar to Cara from the late, lamented “Legend of the Seeker”), and I got the one thing I wanted to buy at WonderCon for free: a Doctor Who T-shirt, courtesy of BBC America! Being fortunate enough to attend the “Doctor Who” panel on Sunday, it was astonishing that Who panelist Neil Gaiman summed up my favorite television show in 30 seconds!

Other comic shows leave me worn and battered, but WonderCon was an uplifting experience for me! Sure it’s in a beautiful city and it’s only three days instead of five, but the one thing that struck me was the number of people who came up to me who wanted to do his or her own comic book! I have felt that once I was gone, the comic book tradition would go with me. Yet seeing these kids (anyone younger than me is now a “kid”) wanting to create comic books makes me happy beyond belief!

And maybe next year I’ll skip opening day to arrive early. After all, the Los Angeles Dodgers are just a simple baseball team…

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