I wouldn’t really define this as a con, personally, but I suppose they can call it whatever they want. It’s one room of people selling comics — mostly back-issue type stuff, but a few small press people.

Small press people including, of course, AdHouse Books, which is mostly why I went (I figured if I wasn’t going to MoCCA — I couldn’t exactly afford it and it seemed like a hassle — I should still get to have some comics-related fun). I make no secret of my love for AdHouse. I love the diversity of books AdHouse publishes — even if they’re not all going to be to my taste, I know they’re going to be intriguing and original. Publisher Chris Pitzer just obviously loves comics and that shows in the books he releases.

So yeah, I basically just went there to see Pitzer and pick up some AdHouse books and to drop off some copies of Magic Bullet #2 for distribution in Richmond (the people behind the registration table looked at me a bit strangely when I asked if there was a freebie table, then eyed the copies suspiciously. It’s a comic newspaper! It’s cool!).

I tried to hand-sell Remake to two different people. The first young teenage boy wearing a Nightmare Before Christmas hoodie, so I figured he was the target audience for this comic. But he seemed a little put-off by my insistence and ran off with his friend. Then we tried to sell it to a young woman by telling her “It’s like Scott Pilgrim!” After she informed us she didn’t like Scott Pilgrim, I said “It’s better than Scott Pilgrim!” I failed there, too. (It’s not like there was anything in it for me — it’s not my comic. I just like Remake. Sadly, Remake Special wasn’t ready for this show).

I wandered the rest of the show a bit, but it wasn’t that big (about what I expected) and mostly various back issues. Since I just cleaned out a bunch of comics and I’m not a collector anymore, there wasn’t anything in particular I was looking for. But I like shows like this. I liked the few people who actually came in costume. After all, I grew up here, and while Richmond is a different and cooler place than it used to be (or at least, that’s my sense of it), I also know it’s not always easy to find where you fit. If there’s a sense that other people like what you do, that can go along way.

Would I go out of my way to go to this show again? Probably not, but it worked out nicely that I got to go.