More about King Con '09

After helping run King Con, I have to admit that even though we were faced with many skeptical individuals, I think we ran a fantastic first show. Yes, we hit a few speed bumps along the way, but everyone helping us put the event together (which was the first time most of them had been exposed to running a show like this) brought in the elevated energy to make it a success. We weren't trying to one-up any other con or be the biggest con in NYC, but rather just run a great show filled with all the talented comic and animation folk that are passionate about their work. I don't blame some for being skeptical, but it’s definitely the optimists that made the show have such a great vibe!

I also exhibited at Zine Fest, which is one of the main reasons I became an adviser for King Con. Zine Fest was a fantastic show which had a mandate of "self-published / handmade stories" on your table and it took place solely on the lower level of the Brooklyn Lyceum. There were a few self-publishing comic creators there like myself, but overall, I don't believe too many of the customers actually read comics or were familiar with the comics industry. That’s fine, but I thought to myself “What if we brought the entire comics community to a space like this?” I mentioned to the coordinators that I would be down with helping put together an actual comic convention. King Con’s Event Coordinator, Regan Fishman, called me up a few weeks later and we started from there.

Now maybe I was predominantly optimistic because I experienced exhibiting at Zine Fest, but to make this a more comic-centric show, I knew there needed to be some major additions. We reached out to several very talented individuals including Brian Wood, Dean Haspiel, Jeff Newelt and Ron Perazza, who were all very supportive and excited about King Con. We then set up sixteen panels, which took place on the upper levels of the Lyceum. They covered all the diverse parts of the comic industry - from mainstream, to underground, to digital comics, to kids comics and more. We also had three workshops in which the attendees interacted with the panelists to learn hands-on about drawing comics, creating a character, and lettering comics. All these factors made the show a solid event and something I’m very proud to be a part of. I’m looking forward to working with the Brooklyn Lyceum again for a King Con 2010 and hope you’ll be there!

King Con Recap

Thanks to all of those who came out to King Con - Brooklyn Comic Con!! It was a fantastic show in which I was able to meet and work with so many great people. For those who missed out on grabbing the newly reformatted HUMAN ON THE INSIDE #1, I will be placing it for order on www.comixels.com shortly. And if anyone has some photos or stories they would like to share about the event, feel free to email me at mike (at) mikezagari.com.