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BwPCon felt like it had less vendors this year. It was still super cute. It's an outdoor event where a small feminist comic shop closes off the side street to have vendors.
Here's Kelly Sue DeConnick giving a panel in the herb garden/gazebo area out back. I think that's lemon balm in the foreground?
Last year was super hot, this year was a mix of sun, rain and hail. Both years, the vendors were struggling with the weather. That's a bit of a surprise to me because I go to a lot of outdoor events with vendors and most aren't bothered even tabling in winter. But, BwPCon pulls from a different set of artists and crafters. For some established creators, ones I saw tabling at cons like 20 years ago, this was their first outdoor event and, from the sounds of it, their last.
This year had a lot of indie comic creators who's series is up to like issue 2 or 3 and no, I am not buying any more new indie comics from new creators. The worse part is that the comics are always odd sizes so what can you do with them? They aren't designed to go on a bookshelf. They either don't fit in comic boxes or are are small and such thin paper that they slide in weird ways and get messed up. I used to have boxes of indie comics I'd bought to support creators and now, unless it's highly relevant to my interests, nope. If they have stickers I will buy stickers to support them, I am forever burnt out on the storage problems of odd indie comics.
I did find some stickers to buy, not nearly as good of a haul as last year, though:
Rose City Books and Paper Fair was a convention showroom full of rare book vendors. It was fun to walk around, but I am not in the market for rare books. (I'm the opposite actually, I've had enough books lifted from my shelves over the years that I want to sell most of what I still have. The few I am going to keep I want put in UV protectant covers and figure out a way to display them where I don't need to worry about geeks with magpie brains going SHINY and sticking my books up their sleeves. I did some re-organization again recently and am still in a denial that a certain book of mine was almost certainly lifted when I hosted a convention planning meeting ages ago)
I loved some of the art deco book covers, but while I'd love reproductions of some of them or art based on them, I am very over owning/caring for rare books. Also, they did have some occult book sellers and a surprising amount of vintage ouji boards.
Here's Kelly Sue DeConnick giving a panel in the herb garden/gazebo area out back. I think that's lemon balm in the foreground?
Last year was super hot, this year was a mix of sun, rain and hail. Both years, the vendors were struggling with the weather. That's a bit of a surprise to me because I go to a lot of outdoor events with vendors and most aren't bothered even tabling in winter. But, BwPCon pulls from a different set of artists and crafters. For some established creators, ones I saw tabling at cons like 20 years ago, this was their first outdoor event and, from the sounds of it, their last.
This year had a lot of indie comic creators who's series is up to like issue 2 or 3 and no, I am not buying any more new indie comics from new creators. The worse part is that the comics are always odd sizes so what can you do with them? They aren't designed to go on a bookshelf. They either don't fit in comic boxes or are are small and such thin paper that they slide in weird ways and get messed up. I used to have boxes of indie comics I'd bought to support creators and now, unless it's highly relevant to my interests, nope. If they have stickers I will buy stickers to support them, I am forever burnt out on the storage problems of odd indie comics.
I did find some stickers to buy, not nearly as good of a haul as last year, though:
Rose City Books and Paper Fair was a convention showroom full of rare book vendors. It was fun to walk around, but I am not in the market for rare books. (I'm the opposite actually, I've had enough books lifted from my shelves over the years that I want to sell most of what I still have. The few I am going to keep I want put in UV protectant covers and figure out a way to display them where I don't need to worry about geeks with magpie brains going SHINY and sticking my books up their sleeves. I did some re-organization again recently and am still in a denial that a certain book of mine was almost certainly lifted when I hosted a convention planning meeting ages ago)
I loved some of the art deco book covers, but while I'd love reproductions of some of them or art based on them, I am very over owning/caring for rare books. Also, they did have some occult book sellers and a surprising amount of vintage ouji boards.
no subject
Date: 2024-06-15 10:18 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2024-06-16 02:31 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2024-06-21 04:13 am (UTC)From:Outdoor tabling can be a challenge, though I'm most used to "AAAAGH, WIND!" being the bane of many an event. Bummer that it was tough for a lot of the vendors there!
I really like the stickers you got! The mothmans, the nightcrawlers, the trans brick! :D
I can see the frustration with the indie comic formats. I like the idea of buying and supporting artists that way... but where and how to store things like that is a definite hurdle.
Ugh, I'm so sorry you've had pieces of your collection walk off! That's really deeply shitty. (I had several DVDs and some other small stuff go missing mysteriously from my dorm in college after certain friends-of-friends came to hang out, but at least all of that was relatively easy to replace!)
no subject
Date: 2024-06-21 05:37 pm (UTC)From:I had to replace my VHS copy of Curse of Fatal Death twice because it was just too shiny and kept going walkabout. I've had a lot stolen and I want to keep just a few things and find a way to safely display them without the awkwardness of a locked case. I actually have an item in my home that is meant to hide a certain book of mine. The object isn't what it seems, it's just the hidey hole for my ARC of Hitchhiker's Guide and I am sure it would be long gone without it.
no subject
Date: 2024-06-22 04:55 am (UTC)From:Also, agreed! Stickers are such a good bit of merch for creators to have! People who are fans of the thing have extra stuff they can get, people who aren't fans of the thing but like the design have a thing, people who conceptually like what you're doing even if they aren't into your comic can get a thing, you may get some advertising out of it if the sticker gets stuck somewhere other people see...
Having to keep things under lock and key feels so ridiculous, and it sucks that it's obviously necessary. People suck.
But oh shit yeah, I can imagine that being VERY much a thing that would "walk away" if it were left in the open. Because again... people suck.
no subject
Date: 2024-06-23 05:26 am (UTC)From:Yeah, aesthetic stickers with their website, maybe some socials, that would do so well for a lot of them.
I found it in a used bookstore as a kid and have always held onto it. When I made the hidey hole for it I thought I was just being like silly, having fun but turned out I need it. It's just the American ARC, not the British one. It's not actually valuable last I checked. It's just cool.
no subject
Date: 2024-06-25 05:24 am (UTC)From:Plus, I know I'm pretty much always glad to toss down a few bucks for a sticker, even if there's other merch I feel like I can't quite afford or am on the fence about.
That's such a cool thing to have gotten! Even if it doesn't have any significant monetary value, it's still very neat. It's unfortunate that you need to hide it away to protect it from people who just... see something they want and take it. I'm not sorry that I can't understand how someone can act like that, but... unfortunately it's apparently not uncommon enough that people just steal shit.