WILL’S HONEST OPINION – COMIC-CON 2017 – 10-11-17
This year I was able to procure a ticket as “Press” for Double Toasted and attend Comic-Con New York 2017. The ticket allowed me to get into all of the panels, and screenings, and walk beyond the red velvet ropes. This all sounds fantastic, however, the Press pass ostensibly did very little except for wave the bill of getting me through the door. This isn’t a bad thing, but I definitely expected a bit more from the exclusive pink lanyard.
For those of you who may not know, Comic-Con is where geek culture goes to thrive, and fans go to die. I was completely taken back by how much stuff there was. And it was just “stuff”. Comics eating comics. Vendors cramming into vast fields of over packed, elbow scraping con-goers; all trying to pass you and get to the place you just left. Most go for the merch. Others go for the news. Some go to show off their latest cosplay contraption. I however went to submit my portfolio. It has been a dream of mine to one day walk into a comic shop and pick up a copy of “The Shadow” or “Batman” (obviously) and see the name Valle on the cover. But before that happens, you need to enter before you win. This is my account of how that all went down, should any of you decide this is the path you were looking into.
I realized almost right away that portfolio reviews at New York ComicCon are almost nonexistent. Most booths or vendors that have editors generally aren’t willing to look at your work, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get them to see it. And for those of you out there who may wonder whom you should be showing your work to, the answer is generally not artists in Artists Alley. Some of them may look at your work, but only expect actual critiques from artists down there. They are very much working, and taking time to review your work while they have a line forming behind you is keeping them from signings and getting paid. I was lucky enough to have an audience with the professor of my alma mater, Klaus Janson and get some excellent feedback is to what I could be doing better and how to shift into mainstream comics. Although the critique was useful and it was nice to catch up with him, I knew it wouldn’t land me a gig.
Later in the day I would attend two panels about breaking in. Both of them seemed a bit pedestrian if I had to rate them. One was called “How to Break into Comics the Marvel Way.” This was primarily just a panel of current working writers and artists over at Marvel and their accounts of how they got discovered. The hour long panel can pretty much be described in one word: “Persistence”. Keep at it, and stay positive. This panel had a massive audience, but felt more like fan service than actual tips. In the beginning the moderator suggested that there was no magic word for becoming an artist in the industry. You could have guessed then that this was going to be a symposium for laymans.
Finally, I hit up a panel that felt more like a high school dance, than anything otherwise. I should preface though by stating this was actually labeled in the program as being a “workshop”. Essentially the idea was to match aspiring artists with aspiring writers. They started with success stories and personal accounts of how the workshop worked for them in previous years. After, they put the writers on the left of the room and the artists on the right, and had them mingle.. awkwardly. It quickly became a game of “who has the best portfolio” and who can talk to the one hot girl in the room. Most of the artists were novices at best and clearly were only a year or two out of college. There were possibly three artists (out of 50) that were creating on a semi-professional level. IMHO, those 3, (including myself) didn’t need to be there. It was a useful exercise for those who are truly entry level, but if you’re aiming for that brass ring, this type of exposure is more of a hindrance than a benefit.
Once that was over, I headed back upstairs to shop my portfolio around. What you need to do is create a “leave behind”. This is like a mini portfolio that you can leave with publishers and hope that they like it and check out your stuff. If they do, they’ll call or email you. This is where the persistence comes in. Nobody gets a gig, day 1. You’re not Jason Fabok. And even if you think you are, you aren’t. Try to give these directly to editors if possible. Sometimes they will put them in the pile, but if you have one that stands out, they can’t help but take a look the moment you hand it to them. Case and point, DarkHorse told me they weren’t taking any submissions whatsoever. I then found an editor and he agreed to take my leave behind. When I handed it to him he said “man, this is slick!”, and then asked for my card. My advice would be to try and leave an impression. Anybody can do 8 pages of xerox black and whites. Go the extra mile and hand them a folded mini comic. It literally takes another 2 minutes to fold and staple.
Finally, my best advice is to be kind. These aren’t job interviews, but they are personality interviews. I finally got to meet with an editor of a major publisher that took the time to check out my stuff. When he did, he took a good 20 minutes to explain to me how this industry works. I wasn’t combative. I didn’t complain or give him excuses. Ironically he had the same pointers Janson did, so I was lucky to have the same feedback and know for a fact that these were things that major comics publishers were looking for. When we were done he gave me his card and stressed the importance of keeping in touch with him. They want to make sure that you can take direction well. Nobody wants to work with someone that’s always on the offensive. That’s literally the last thing they want. Would you want to work with someone who was all ego?
Overall, the connections I made and responses I got were well worth the trip. The major takeaway was that actual portfolio reviews are done at SanDiego ComicCon, but the critiques and conversations that were had were incredibly valuable because I was willing to put myself out there. If any of you guys are looking to get into this, take my account as something to mull over. Don’t expect anything if you don’t have the chops. This isn’t me being arrogant, but it’s true that people only want you if you’re actually the best. Everybody wants to get with a pretty girl at the school dance, but remember, there’s only one Prom Queen.
-Will Valle
