What a fun weekend! The biggest, semi-annual Danish con, Copenhagen Comics was held this weekend in Øksnehallen and I was happy to be able to bring my friend and collaborator, Chris Miskiewicz, writer of Thomas Alsop to the event. Books litterally flew over the counter and it was hard to keep up with the signings and panels. Good show!
Our first signing at Fantask, oldest comics store in Europe, went really well. The staff told us they had ordered a bunch of US edition because they were unsure the Danish edition would be there for the show. The Danish book DID arrive and their worry of bringing too many books was brought to shame when they sold out the US editions on the first day. Boom!
After another signing later at Fahrenheit, publisher of both my books Blodets Konkubine (The Devil’s Concubine in the US), STILETTO and the new Danish edition of Thomas Alsop, I rushed off to do a talk I had prepared called Creative Career Bootcamp. The room was PACKED and people seemed to get a lot out of my talk about creating a freelance career in comics and/or other artforms. I could have gone on for days about this topic (as people who follow my blog at comicsforbeginners.com will surely testify) but I think it went great for an hour talk. A lot of people taking notes and asking questions – and I could actually answer all of them!
Chris did a panel on webcomics and digital vs. print with my pal David Lloyd, known for V for Vendetta and his newest venture into on screen comics Aces Weekly who went on quite a few rants regarding people’s addiction to paper. “You need to get yourselves into rehab!” he said with a grin, prompting the audience to reconsider the need for chopping down trees and installing more shelves in their apartments in order to enjoy comics. “We live in the 21st century and the distribution system is in place. We don’t need printers, we don’t need publishers, we don’t need paper”.
Lloyd’s viewpoint was refreshing and I agree completely that if we can pay a lower price, save some trees AND pay our money directly to the creator, why not? I still love the feel and smell of a book fresh off the print though… If you want to support Lloyd’s cause and get while it’s hot, go subscribe to Aces Weekly, their great comics collective for original comics on screen.
I won’t talk about the many, many fantastic people we met and the many, many drinks we had… Let me just say THANK YOU to Copenhagen Comics and the Ping Awards for another great show. Team Alsop salutes you!