2005 was our first convention and we were impressed. If there is anything about ConnectiCon that I like it’s the treatment they have for Web Comic artists. They are always treated well even if their tier system is a little out of whack. The tier system made a huge fuss last year and I don’t think it changed much.
After being their two years in a row I think they could make it a little easier to get at least entrance. After attending the NY ComicCon the Dealer’s room looked a bit small and could use a few more artist’s but then I walked around the hallway to the side and found the Artist’s Colony. At first I found this to be very annoying but then warmed up to it when I found I didn’t have to deal with the vendors when I wanted to talk to the artists.
Another aspect which Mathew and Briana did right was to get a lot more sponsors. Almost everything had some company sponsoring it. I half expected Workshop room 1 to be called the Best Buy room. The only problem I had with the Con were the web comic panels. Last year I was very impressed when I read that each comic was given a 30 minute meet & greet by themselves or with one other strip. With Artist’s colony being right outside I thought this would be the perfect setup, but nope there were only about 6 webcomic panels and 3 of them were run by either Phil or myself. (My first panel ever was a big success as every seat was filled and a few were left standing for the entire hour.)
All in all it was great success even if DS received the lowest bid at the auction. That just goes to show next time I’ll have to throw in not just an interview but an interview with an artist of the winner’s choice. We grabbed a TON of interviews and we’re going to be posting them in both podcast and videocast forms. Most important of all the winner of the auction is going to join us for a ConnectiCon show and give you the fan’s perspective on web comics.
Man, I would love to go to Conneticon and exhibit Theater Hopper. Not just for their reputation for treating web comic creators so well, but also for the opportunity to sit down and talk to so many like-minded people.
This is why it sucks to be from the Midwest. A ticket out to Hartford would set me back almost $400.
Still, I gotta find a way to go next year. It sounds like such a great experience. I would love to participate in one of those panel discussions!
We do what we can guys. I hope to disassemble and then reassemble the Tier system this year and will definately bring it up with Matt. We only have so much space however, and the artists who were in the Artists Colony definately got the short end of the stick. Believe it or not, I thought that the AC was in front of the dealers room until I got there because no one had bothered to mark it on the map. That needs to be changed for sure. Love the site guys, keep on truckin.
James Monty-Carbonari
Webcomic Director for ConnectiCon