Comic Con 2008 Report

As a creator and publisher of Christian based graphic novels, I view the world of pop culture and the conventions which worship it's icons as my great mission field. And for those of you unfamilar with this world, Comic Con International, held each year since the mid-'70's in San Diego, is the largest of these events in North American. This last year it drew over 125,000 people over it's 4.5 day run.


Comic Con '08 has come and gone....The good? We had our best year EVER at CCI by the number of Eye Witness books we sold and gave out. Since we were doing the world premier of Eye Witness book three: Rise of the Apostle, I assumed we'd be selling mostly copies of it, (since we had had books 1 and 2 there for the last three years), but to my surprise we sold mostly sets of all 3. That is a very true indication that we were attracting new fans to our series, (and Chrisitan works in general), that might not been open to it in years past....as I kept hearing the question, "have you guys been hear before?" So these were people who may have gone by our table in years past without giving my books a second thought. woo--hoo! Also good news was, that I met a group of young people that had traveled from Colorado to come to Comic Con and hand out tracks. This was a mission trip for them!

The Bad? It seems like there was less of a presence by Christian creators, (by that I mean indy, small or self publishers...always plenty of closet-christian creators). Of course the Christian Comic Arts Society (CCAS: http://www.christiancomicarts.com/) was there, like always, but I was disappointed to see that Michael Davis and the Guardian Line of Christian comics was a no-show (http://www.theguardianline.com/)! And I know that, since they were suppose to have a booth right across from me. But other than that, I was unware of any other Christian or spiritual based books being exhibited.

But during the annual Sunday Chapel service I put out a call for all those in attendence, (Since I did the sermon), to dig deep over the next year...discover your spritual gifts...and determine how you can use them in God's service. For those in attendence gifted artistically, that could mean more comics, graphic novels, (for the exhibit hall), original art or sculpture(for the art show), indy films (for the film festival), or costumes (just to walk the convention in, or for the masquerade ball). For those gifted for ministry, it could mean walking the room and handing out comic style tracks or maybe having a table for those in need of help.

It will be interesting to see how that call in answered over the next 12 months.


bob luedke

-http://www.headpress.info/