My 4th comic con was in Bedford in September and it left me thinking, what is a comic con? If you’ve read my other blogs on my comic con experiences, you’ll know that I use them as learning opportunities and this one was no different.
It was a small affair with a very different environment to the others. Firstly, it was noticeable that there were no cosplayers. What’s up with that? Well, the organiser told me he didn’t like all that. Secondly, the footfall was minimal. And thirdly, the majority of people attending appeared to be there for the artists – but not the comic book artists. It occurred to me that it should probably have been called an art fayre.
Saying that, there were some familiar faces – artists and creators I’ve see at other conventions – it was nice to see them again. It was also nice to meet some new people. The comic book creator next to me told me it was hard when he only had one or two issues, but now he has eight, he sees a decent amount of sales across different platforms, he sees sales of newer issues from long-standing fans of the comic and more sales from new fans. The benefit of having eight issues is that people will purchase all eight if they like it. So, there’s hope for me yet!It’s difficult to say if I’d attend this particular convention again. It was alot cheaper than the bigger comic cons for a table, it was only one day, but I made zero sales so it was a total loss. Maybe I should also create some art on canvas to see what effect that has.
I did however get some time to do some drawing which is always good!
