The Week After

Hey there sports fans, Al here with the latest: 

  STUMPTOWN COMIC FEST 2012 

It is now just a resent memory for us comic creators here in town.   As with the latest show up north in Seattle with these ECCC only a month old how did people feel about the show?  

"War Ram" Copyright 2012
Alan Bennett and BBVA

  Well the pre show drink and draw out at the Bridge City Comics.  And it was a lot of fun. I would have to say it was one of the better times I have had to pound back beer and still continue to keep working on art work.   In this case War Ram made an official singular debut.  This piece was good enough to get into the Stumptown auction and if picked up,   could allow me to cover table costs for next year.

  As a member and vendor I  guess I would have to say that it was pretty much par for the course as sales go.

  Though the biggest difference at this show was the fact that there weren't any trades going on at all.  That, to me, seemed odd.  Creators always want trade.  Not this time round.  I can only guess is that people are still feeling the financial pinch of the economy.  I will have to say this the newly acquired Square app for my smart phone worked out well for me.  What once was a issue of not having any cash on hand is now becoming a thing of the recent past.  However I will have to say that it was curious to see the reaction on peoples faces when they would use the excuse that they had no money on them and we would offer to take plastic.   You truly got to see their reaction if they were really into your work or not.

  I know that might sound a little mercenary but printing sometimes makes it hard to work on having fun if you constantly worry about making table fees let alone your printing. 

  In a way I know this seems to run counter to what I was saying about Emerald City ComiCon but its not really.  There, and really any show, is about fun but as any creative force you need a bit of validation.

  I think that a lot of my artistic friends could understand that.

  Thats what I am talking about, is the validation of the hard work we put into it. 

  In any event in my opinion I believe that if Stumptown were to be successful as it has been past years move the event time back a month or two.  I believe it would have done better for a lot vendors if people hadn’t shot their wad all at the Emerald City less than a month before. 

Best Calvin and Hobbs T-shirt ever!

  This to me makes a lot of sense because a majority of comic creators live in Portland and make the trek up to Seattle for that first big show of the year.  I also believe that the New Rose City Show will do well for us creators here in PDX as well as the Jet City Comic Show later in the same  month of September.  The big difference is that Jet City is a one day event.  And I believe that Rose City is the same.

  But of course these are just my opinions about how I would make the show a little more profitable for everyone.

CORRAX: The SEEKER:

CTS Copyright 2012 Alan Bennett and BBVA

  Well what can I say but this bird is taking flight.  After showing a few of the finished inked pages to my comic pals, the evaluation seems to be that it looks like a lot of fun.  I am thinking that by the end of this month I will have all the scans for the first issue completed and the beginning of the digital color work.  I think that maybe I might have the first issue printed by July.  Currently starting to get back price quotes from printers on cost for a full color comic.  Fun stuff!

And I think that is about it for the kid.