Hello again fans! We’re just into the second month of 2020, and the convention season for Carter Comics is already well underway. While my season won’t really start kicking into high gear until later this month with shows in Simi Valley and back on my home island of Oahu, there was no shortage of convention and convention-related events last month. Let’s go through a few of them.
Pasadena Comic Con returned for its sixth year at the Pasadena Convention Center back on Sunday, January 19th. This was the fifth year I had been a vendor at this laid-back, but well organized local show, but there were two major changes that helped the event evolve: 1 - Having it on a holiday weekend (the Sunday before Martin Luther King Day to be exact), and 2 - Moving to the nicer, larger, street-level accessible exhibitor ballroom on the west side of the PCC Complex. Not only was the interior ballroom a fantastic aesthetic, the show was able to spill over additional vendors and the registration area to the outside lobby, showing passer-bys on the sidewalk all the fun they would be missing if they just kept on walking. My only suggestion to help bolster this great idea would’ve been to place a large banner in the window area above the ballroom lobby entrance to let people know that the fun they would be missing out on was a comic convention. That being said, the combination of the pre-holiday date and new exhibit hall did draw a decent amount of attendees, but there was one problem that came up at the last minute: A half-marathon that closed streets surrounding the convention center during the early morning hours from 6-11 am. This of course, caused alot of traffic problems for both attendees and vendors looking to park in the center’s parking structure underneath. Once the marathon concluded at 11 and the streets reopened, it was a little better for arriving attendees. Overall my sales were less than ok (though the few sales I did get were from an attendee who spotted my books years back at a Long Beach Convention and raved about them). but I feel that was due to not just the marathon closing streets, but also some people still not ready to spend following christmas, and perhaps Pasadena being more art-oriented as opposed to independent comics. A customer who spoke highly of the Pasadena Art Walk that takes place in the fall indirectly offered me some insight on what the community is interested in entertainment-wise. I’ll have to give some serious thought on whether or not I continue exhibiting at this show, as it may no longer be the right fit for the type of art/books I sell.
Long Beach Comic Expo went down the weekend before the Pasadena show on Saturday and Sunday, January 11th and 12th, at the Long Beach Convention Center. I didn’t have an Artist Alley table, but I did snag a professional badge, which are free if you meet the shows required credentials as a working artist or creator. I had been a vendor at this show and the fall Long Beach Comic Con from 2010 to 2016, but stopped after the table prices increased. However, like most shows I don’t table at for various reasons, I still attend them to support my many artist alley friends who do. Similar to Pasadena, Long Beach Comic Expo also moved their usual February dates that wrap around President’s Day weekend to January instead. This concerned many of my Artist friends there, who felt this date was too close to after the Christmas and New Year’s holidays than Pasadena Comic Con was. While this year’s show was smaller in scope in terms of floor size, it was bolstered by the centrally-located Artist’s Alley, and even moreso by shop owner Mike Wellman’s Atomic Basement Alley aisle. For those who may not know, Mike Wellman is a self-published comic creator and business owner, running the Manhattan Beach comic institution known as The Comic Bug (they also have a shop in Culver City), and just recently, a brand-new shop in Downtown Long Beach called Atomic Basement. In order to help out up-and-comic independent comic creators, he often purchases a row of tables at various comic conventions, and doing this at the Long Beach Conventions has been a years-long tradition. Also this year, Mr. Wellman was able to get local news station KTLA to cover the event as a part of their weekend morning news program. For the three-and-a-half hours I spent there speaking to vendor friends either at their table or walking around, the crowd was decent, though I was later informed the next day from friends there that it didn’t equate to much spending. Fortunately more of that happened on Sunday, when the admission prices dropped. I’m glad that most of my artist buddies did well there in some fashion, and I’m glad I got to see and support them. I also couldn’t leave out the other best part of any Long Beach Convention: Q Smokehouse across the street at the waterfront, which has the best fried catfish I’ve ever tasted.
And that was Carter Comics for January in a nutshell. February is where is gets interesting, as I have the new Simi Valley Toy and Comic Fest on Sunday the 9th at the Grand Vista Hotel, a podcast appearance on my friends’ show The Fanbase Weekly on Sunday the 16th (to be aired the next day on fanbasepress.com), and then, I fly home to the islands after a seven-year absence for the Amazing Comic Con Aloha Convention from Friday the 21st to Sunday the 23rd. Needless to say, I will have quite alot to say once March rolls around (and earlier that month, I’ll be driving out to San Diego for another show). Have a great second month of the new decade, and I’ll see you in the Spring!
Regards,
Allen Carter
Carter Comics