This is, by far, my favorite convention. Sure, it’s the only one I’ve gone to in the USA and I have never been there as a seller, but there’s some special kind of magic to Line-con (as some people call it… with good reason. This year I witnessed a Line-inception: A line to get into a line to get into a raffle to get a ticket to get into a line… to get into a line) that so far I haven’t seen anywhere else.
Sure, it has it’s bad sides (you can find those complains somewhere else in the net) but for me, the good sides overcome all. Sure, I still have to manage to get to any offsite besides the one that is on front of the Tin-fish (This year it was Midnight Texas, with an amazing haunted house set up that made me want to see the show despite not having been a big fan of True Blood), and the line to the Netflix experience makes sure I will never get that swag (I have a rule: No line longer than 15 minutes will see my feet unless the other end has Muppets), but at the same time people in San Diego are AMAZING (Shout out to the staff at Asti’s and Chocolate, as well as the USA Hostel’s great people both staff and guests) and what I could go to in the con was… well, magical.
Every year since, I think, 2011, I’ve sent a pic to the Souvenir Book. Except for 2013 where my Turtles homage didn’t get in, I’ve always been lucky to be chosen. This year was Batgirl… one day I’ll tell you about the creation of this image:
Last year I was a translator at the Conque: Walls or Bridges conference. That was great as holy shit, we had a surprise appearance by none other than Stan “The man” Lee, but I was still not really part of that panel. I was just there to parrot back words in a language everyone understood. THIS year I was the organizer and part of the conference team in the Small Press beyond the Border panel, together with Fers from Fixia Studio (Soulkeepers), Gina Chacon, Adriana de la Torre and Alejandra Zuñiga (from Studio XIII), and moderated by Martin Arceo (Santos Comics), and it was INCREDIBLE. People were very interested to hear about the challenges and problems to publish comics in Mexico, under the shadow of the huge american industry, as well as the whole way in which our industry has evolved. We started with about half the room full, finished to a full house. I still CAN’T believe it, but can’t wait to organize more round tables like this. Maybe one with an american small press publisher to compare experiences!
(I am also wearing a dress. It’s the first dress I’ve worn in about… 20 years or so)
Cosplay was great too. I love hunting Doctors (I started with Doctor Who, then expanded. If you are wearing a character with a doctorate Cosplay, I want a picture of you!), but this year I also loved getting shots of Moanas, Mauis and Ruffios (I will update the pictures as soon as I get my Ipad to cooperate!)
All in all, I can’t wait to go back… maybe this time as an exhibitor and not just as attendee!
