Tally Ho!

A Few Thoughts on My (Brief) Return to the Convention Trail

Time for a little followup on the Cincinnati Comic Expo and my Ohio week away. I just last week finished all my September bookkeeping, and tallying up the month, including Cincinnati Comic Expo and my trip to Ohio, just in terms of dollars and cents.

Here’s the special convention t-shirt design graphic World of Strange’s Ben and Tracy Eller, Expo organizer Andrew Satterfield, and I prepared just for the event. Ben and Tracy wrote on Facebook, “We worked with Cincinnati Comic Expo and Stephen Bissette to create this Con exclusive SWAMP THING design for the show. You can find the shirts at Booth 401. But hurry– we’re only bringing a limited number. When they’re gone, they’re gone!” A lot of work went into prep and promo for this event, including the donation of this design and artwork. When events foot the bill for my travel, room, and board, I work my ass off for them.
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Ya, I know. It’s the post nobody wants to read.

Ya, I knew the reality going in. I did it for almost 25 years, I know the drill. I didn’t count the days it took to recover afterwards in my scorecard; man, it’s work! But knew that going in, too—and had planned on the recovery days afterwards.

First of all, my hat’s off to folks like Ben and Tracy Eller at World of Strange (who I finally met at the Expo). Working the conventions is a job, and you’ve got to make sure it all pays off; most dealers are juggling day-jobs with the shows, and subsidizing the costs via those salaries to get to ’em. When I was publishing/self-publishing, it made sense to work the road and the shows.

My hat’s off, too, to my many students and alumni and fellow faculty members from CCS (The Center for Cartoon Studies) and all young and vet cartoonists hitting the convention trails all year long, those who work the indy shows like carnies and quiltmakers, selling their creative work every venue they can afford.

Hey, it’s your/their time, your/their circuit, your/their tribal meetings, first and foremost.

Now, I knew agreeing to the Cincinnati Comic Expo appearance would open a can of worms. I’ve already declined a ton of “invites” (most often, “please come to _____” type “invites,” not guest appearances with all expenses paid), and will continue to. Thank you. It’s kind and thoughtful and I wish I could be everywhere, but—well, read on.

L to R: Tom Yeates, John Totleben, yours truly, and Rick Veitch, just after our panel on Saturday at the Cincinnati Comic Expo; photo ©2012 Thomas Yeates, posted with permission; all rights reserved. Below, left: Me and an original Winsor McCay Gertie the Dinosaur animation drawing (technically, not a cel, per se; every frame was hand-drawn on rice paper, backgrounds included), from the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at Ohio State University; note the cartoon gloves I had to wear! Photo ©2012 Caitlin McGurk, posted with permission; all rights reserved.
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Personally, it was great to be at the Expo. Just great. I am so glad Rich Henn and Andrew Satterfield convinced me to take the plunge after years (decades) of retirement from US conventions (with only one exception: a con I drove to in Portsmouth, NH, in part for its Sunday AM education component for teachers/librarians, in part to hang with amigos Chris Golden and Joe Hill). It was incredible to see Tom Yeates and John Totleben after soooooo many years; what a gift. I’m so glad Tim and Donna Lucas were happy to have me as a guest afterwards (PS: Donna and I started work on a future ebook, compiling all my Video Watchdog writings, coming soon!), so pleased at meeting new people, and it was kind and generous for Jonathan Gilpin to take a day and driving us to the Ohio State University Libraries and the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum and above all seeing former Schulz Library librarian Caitlin McGurk; that will bear abundant future relations with that institution, so, win/win there.

Professionally, it ratified all the reasons I stopped investing in conventions: I shipped four boxes of stuff to sell to Ohio; friends are shipping home four boxes of unsold stuff to VT; what I hauled in my suitcase to Ohio to sell I hauled home.

While fan attention was constant, sales were pretty slack. My biggest single sale was a presale, delivering signed books (a set of S. R. Bissette’s Blur, all five print volumes) to an enthusiastic fellow I used to see in the Mid-Ohio and 1980s convention days (howdy, Ted H., and thanks!). I was “busy” (signing nonstop, save for panel time), and enjoyed the people & meeting fans & remeeting old fans, but didn’t make any money on comics/prints sales; I never once got to walk around and see what/who was at the convention, much less shop (I in fact never took a single bathroom break: I pace eating/drinking at cons so I don’t have to leave the table until the day is over).

I chose not to do sketches, and glad I didn’t, or I wouldn’t have enjoyed what I did enjoy. But the only way I could have possibly subsidized the con would have been to crank on sketches, had folks been buying (just as John and I did all through the 1980s). Had I foot my own bill—had I not been a guest of the con, then of the Lucases—I’d be broke and busted till November payday right now.

In short, while I met some great people, signed a ton of Swamp Things, and had fun with my cronies, I didn’t get to see/shop/experience the con outside of my table space; my being there didn’t sell even one World of Strange Bissette t-shirt (and we were just an aisle apart, right next to each other!); I didn’t make a dime on sales (lost $$ after shipping costs); and my additional commitment to a three-lecture/workshop full day on Tuesday following was a wash, at best (again, personally, great to do; didn’t earn me a dime).

However, that was an educational effort, and for those, there’s something else—and something more—at stake. I’m glad I did it, and glad I delivered my all to those who did attend. You never know what you’ll do that makes a positive difference in someone’s life. Concerning the Lexington KY Comic Creators Group lectures/workshops I presented after the Expo, I received this very kind email this week:

Hi Steve,

I wanted to send a belated thanks for your seminar at the METS Center early last week. The three students that attended and my daughter have not stopped talking about it! You’re a terrific speaker and we all found it to be very informative. Things you said sparked at least two class discussions that week and my daughter is thinking of doing the 24-hour challenge across 24 days and is getting some of her high-school friends to buy in. So, even though it was under-attended, I wanted you to know the big impact you had and are continuing to have in Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati.

Thanks again,
Renee Human
Assistant Professor and Program Director
Media Informatics Program
Department of Communication
College of Informatics
Northern Kentucky University

Good as gold, that. Better than gold.

I wish I could afford to do more of such educational programs.

Still—one must tend to the costs. Now, had I paid for travel/table, I’d have busted my entire fall budget at home to do the one convention. Whatever I made at the table, I spent eating during my stay (and spent more).

If I’m going to travel, it’s going to be travel, with my beloved wife Marge, to see friends/family, not to do cons.

I’m just being pragmatic. I mean, look. I’m thankful I went, and thankful Rick, Tom, John, and I have so many folks who came out to see us! Folks & our fans are great—kind, generous in their comments, and all want their Swamp Things signed, but most of ’em sample nothing else, by and large. Money’s tight everywhere, particularly these days, and Swamp Thing is still all folks really want from us, and those they’ve got. Whatever else I have, I’m better off selling via online sales. In fact, only one person bought one of everything new from the table (and I brought a fair selection of all-new stuff).

Rick Veitch, who sketched non-stop for two full days, and yours truly, manning the table at Cincinnati Comic Expo. I inadvertantly shook the table as Rick inked for both days, too, so it was the Veitch & Bissette/Laurel & Hardy comedy routine for two full days; photo ©2012 Thomas Yeates, posted with permission, all rights reserved.
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In the 1980s, when we were actually working on Swamp Thing, John Totleben and I were at cons and comic shops literally every-other-weekend. With organizers paying for travel/room/board, and we young men drawing our asses off with sketch sales, we subsidized our continuing work on Swamp Thing with what we made at appearances. That ended in 1987, when I left Swamp Thing. Thereafter, I spent fortunes doing conventions, comic shop appearances, and trade shows (remember trade shows?) in the 1990s, promoting Taboo and 1963 and S.R. Bissette’s Tyrant®.

The Spirit of Independence tour of the mid-1990s (including the Vermont A.C.E. Alternative Comics Expo, in Manchester, VT), where I lectured at every venue (history of horror comics lecture) to raise money for the CBLDF, cost a bloody fortune, but it was a cost of doing business, deductible as such, and it fed S.R. Bissette’s Tyrant® sales as issues shipped: cons/travel as promotion meant it didn’t matter that sales at shows didn’t pay for my tables, much less travel/food/board.

Those days are long behind me.

Travel is expensive, time is time, and I’m not getting any younger.

So, from now on, driving-distance-only for me events; it’s the only cost-effective venues to risk time/money/travel on.

Sorry, folks, that keeps me on the East coast, doing at most one event per year, plus the Keene NH Saturday Fright Special Spooktaculars one or twice per year and the accompanying Comic Boom  appearance/event with my New England and CCS cartooning pals.

So: You want to see what I’m up to in 2012, buy/have me sign comics, the new Spongebob Comics, your Swamp Thing comics, whatever, then come to Keene NH for Halloween weekend! October 27th is the date; here’s the scoop: http://srbissette.com/?p=16068

So: I’ve already agreed to my only convention for 2013 (FantaCon, Albany NY, Sept. 2013). I’ll post links in early November (so as to avoid confusion while we promote the Comic Boom/Spooktacular Halloween 2012 event). You want to see me next year, come to FantaCon! For me, it’s cost-effective, and my old FantaCo pal Tom Skulan made it a “can’t say no” proposition: I can also handily drive to that; I’m a guest; I’m doing it with my pal Denis St. John and our CCS amigos; and it’s a horror con as well as a comics show, so maybe I’ll make a bit of $$ to boot. If not, not a prob.

So: You want to see me in 2013, come to FantaCon.

I’m already stacking up art to bring to FantaCon. I’ll have a stockpile of sketches to sell at FantaCon (just not of corporate comics characters, natch), and whatever doesn’t sell there, I’ll sell on my online store afterwards. I don’t accept commissions (recipe for disaster with me), but I will be arming for bear for the full year prior to FantaCon, with lots of new work to sell, including stuff I just couldn’t afford to ship/rack at the Expo in Cincinnati.

So: You want to see me during the interim year, come to Vermont and the various CCS events CCS sponsors annually.

I’m lucky enough to have the ultimate job: working the best convention, the (hopefully) eternal convention—teaching comics at CCS.

For me, CCS is the never-ending convention dedicated to the real thing: creating comics (instead of just localized hucksterism/flea marketing/retail—that’s just a tiny part of the mix).

For me, that’s the only convention worth doing every week.

And—honestly—it’s the best.

No offense, convention organizers, but CCS is a tough act to match, much less follow.

Why ever get on an airplane again?

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This is an expanded & revised post from Facebook I posted last Thursday; the original post and extensive comments thread

• right here (you’ll have to sign in to your Facebook account to read it or comment, natch).

Note the comments from fellow seasoned convention pros, including Beau Smith, Paul Riddell, Ben Eller, Sam Kujava, Jim Keefe—who expanded on my post to share his own views on his blog, in “Networking and the High Cost of Comic Conventions”

• right here—

—and others.

Feel free to keep the conversation going and growing here, please.

• Visit the World of Strange site/shop, too,

and keep your eyes peeled for future collaborations between yours truly and World of Strange‘s t-shirt line!

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Special thanks to Rich Henn, Andrew Cretella, and Michael Schmidt for following up on some essential stuff after the Expo was over. Much appreciated, and thanks again, Rich!