Sunday March 4th I had the pleasure of attending The Dragon March Mini-Con in Guelph Ontario. For the occasion The Dragon Comics owner Jennifer Haines brought into her store Francis Manapul, Agnes Garbowska, Marcus To, Marco Rudy, Andy Belanger, Becky Cloonan and Ross Campbell. The artists were set up at two tables and fans gathered around to get sketches and talk comics.
It was a relaxed atmosphere and there was a lot of general talk about comics. I asked whether anyone was concerned about the Friedrich verdict and sketching in general but the artists were unconcerned; not sure if that’s because they were mostly DC artists. I asked if DC had a policy in place but none of them had heard of one.
I managed to come away with a few tidbits. Andy Belanger mentioned the next major work will be adapting The Tempest in May from IDW, continuing from the creators of Kill Shakespeare. As well he’s working on a slew of other projects, including a 1960s update to some classic literature.
Becky Cloonan had her self published work Wolves on her table and we chatted a bit about self publishing. She estimates about $2 of her $5 cover price for Wolves goes to printing and distribution; she’s taking it digital with Graphic.ly who offers a low-cost ($150) self publishing flat fee. As well Becky is trying her hand at fundraising for The Mire, her next self published effort.
There was a donation jar for the CBLDF and CLLDF and fans were asked to put in a donation if they were getting sketches; by the end of the afternoon the jar was stuffed with $20 bills. It was nice to see fans appreciate the talent, the sketches and the charities involved.
Haha, I like the caption “Belanger, Cloonan, not sure, Campbell.”
‘Not sure’ was me (oh god, my hideous hair – glad I chopped all that off). I rode up with Ross and just sat next to him most of the day, totally ruining pictures of the more awesome, more important artists surrounding me XD