Free Comic Book Day

[Gar]

So Free Comic Book Day is coming up in a couple of months (May 7th, if you don't want to click the link), is anyone doing anything for it? I've been thinking of doing up a bunch of mini comics and dropping them off in comic shops around Dublin as promo material. Mini comics are pretty cheap to print up.

I might try putting in an appearance for a couple of hours somewhere and doing sketch cards and the like. Don't have anything to sell yet so it'd be a meet'n'greet/sales pitch kind of deal, but for people with books and t-shirts it could be a great opportunity to have a little mini convention in their local comic shop.

[ShadowsMyst]

That's a cool idea Gar, if one has such a place they could go. I don't really have a shop locally. Right now I'm not sure I'm going to do anything myself. I ran an ad once in the comicgenesis free book, I never saw any real return from it though. I'm not sure if that would be the case with a public appearance though.

I need to find some local peeps to collaborate with to make this stuff happen. It would probably be easier to get people to a location if there was more than one artist there.

[Rob]

That's actually why we formed the Connecticut Webcomics Alliance. LOL

There's only five or six of us but we all live close enough to look into helping each other with this kind of thing and we've already had our first meeting and are bandying about for a second.

So much of my life is up in the air right now that it's hard for me to plan anything. But if I am here in May I really hope we can pull something interesting off here in CT for FCBD. 

[ShadowsMyst]

I would *REALLY* love to find some local comic peeps to hang out with and plan this sort of thing with, but unfortunately the only real group is in Vancouver and I can't get to it when they meet (damn this thing called 'a job').

But if I could find some people in my city or near where I work, that would be great. So far I haven't had any luck though.

[Rob]

Well the way I found local webcomics people was by going to local conventions. Local webcomics creators tend to go to local conventions. I also read a shit ton of webcomics. It gives me something intelligent to say when I'm speaking to other webcomics people because if you can talk about the entire medium with a little understanding and breadth it helps to sort of pave the way to contacts. And contacts beget contacts and so on until you get to know so many webcomics people that the locals just sort of start to pop up.

It takes time though. But not as much as you might think. And it is Sooooo worth it. 

[LukeFoster]

I'll be doing a signing at my local comic book shop, Buried Under Comics in Manchester, CT, for FCBD.  They do quite a lot of business there that day and I'm looking forward to it.

[ShadowsMyst]

I'd love to go to local conventions, unfortunately Vancouver's comic convention scene is sadly lacking as far as comics go. I hear there's rumors the Cloudscape comic group in partnership with an events company is working on putting together a proper comic convention for Vancouver. There's a sci-fi/fantasy convention (V-con) in October I'm hoping to attend, but it has been more writer/novel centric than comic centered in the past. And of course there is the anime convention that's been cancelled for this year (and I have no idea if it will return). Although I've gone to it as an attendee and sometimes panel presenter for years, I've not found it to be as useful as I'd like. I live out about 2 hours out of vancouver, and I can't get into it to be a part of things (I have that 'day job' problem...) so I've been trying to get a group together in the fraser valley. Haven't had much luck yet. Still working on it.

Maybe if the comic convention actually sees the light of day in 2012, I might have more luck finding the right sort of peeps to hook up with.

I've found sometimes too that comic peeps, usually of the male variety seem kinda... weird around me. I'm not entirely sure why, but I'm thinking that there might be some spookishness over me being female...

[Gar]

You think there's not much of a comics scene in Vancouver, try living in Ireland

As for the female creator thing, that's probably an advanced stage of girl-in-the-comic-shop syndrome. Female creators are more prominent in webcomics than in print, but the old geek stereotypes are tenacious and there's still more men than women in the game. Intelligent, creative, socially awkward (maybe a little aspergers-y) men who are passionate about comics and really aren't used to women who understand that passion. The male nerd thought process in that kind of situation goes "Wanna hook up! Mustn't offend! Want To Hook Up! MUST NOT OFFEND!".  They might be acting weird because they're trying to flirt with you while trying not to flirt with you

They'll calm down once they get used to you. You might need to mention your boyfriend/husband/gayness (delete as appropriate) to hurry that process along

[otomo]

Haha Gar...I was going to ask "Dublin...Ireland or California?"  but you answered me.  I'm in the latter.

[Gar]

Yeah I'm in Ireland. Kind of a geographical disadvantage in terms of making it to conventions and stuff, but at least the wry cynicism of my nationality permeates every pixel of my comic

I have a couple of relatives in California, my aunt lives in Venice and my cousin's going to college in Santa Cruz. What's it like to live in a Dublin that gets good weather?

[ShadowsMyst]

On the plus side you probably have a fab accent.

I did find a few comic related events in Ireland. Most seem to be in Dublin. The anime ones seem more well organized than the comic ones, save maybe the 2D festival.

Dublin City Comiccon
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=20486694320
Looks like this is happening in March

Subcon
http://www.myspace.com/subcondublin

2D Festival
http://www.2dfestival.com/
Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=26273587536

Nom-Con - Anime convention
http://www.facebook.com/nomcom

Eirtakon - Anime Convention
http://eirtakon.com/vbdrupal/

That's a start at least. See? You've got some convention love.

[Gar]

Well aren't you just a big ball of helpfulness 

[ShadowsMyst]

Yus. I am a helpful person. ^^

Although I don't want to derail this thread with too much convention stuff, so since this is a merch thread I'll post some places you might be able to get some 'alternative' stuff. Of course, everyone is welcome to post places that you can get a better price, or other unique merch.

Printsess - Print on Demand Metal and acrylic charms, great for things like cellphone charms or bookmarks, or even jewelry.

The Game Crafter - Make your own TCG style card or board games, print on demand so you can make a few or a lot.

Ponoko - Make your own... well anything. They are a POD manufacturer calling themselves 'your personal factory'. Check out their showroom for crazy stuff you could make. Shapeways is also a similar provider of this sort of service.

[Richard]

Those are some pretty awesome links for products! I'm going to have a good in-depth look at these sites.

Unfortunately the gaming site seems to be on the blink. Whenever you click on anything on the site the page crashes.

[tinku]

really good..thanks..