From: [s a campbell] at [larc.nasa.gov] (Steve Campbell)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc,rec.arts.comics.marketplace,alt.comics.alternative
Subject: CON Report - Primitives at GEC
Date: 28 Oct 1994 17:25:06 GMT

SpareTime Studios GEC Con Report

We flew in the face of adversity by going to the GEC Philadelphia
Spectacular in the first place.  We had heard many negative things about
GEC, but since it was the only show we could get to, that’s where we
went.  

When we arrived Friday morning, it took a while to find someone with a map
showing the location of all the artists in artists’ alley.  When we got
squared away we set up our display.  We discovered that Chris Moeller
(Shadow Empires) was two tables down from us.  Chris is a really nice guy
who does some awesome work.  He told yours truly that his next SE project
would probably be with Kitchen Sink, as Dark Horse seems uninterested in a
sequel to SE:  Faith Conquers.  Too bad for them.  Stupid me, I could have
asked for a sketch from one of my favorites but was too caught up in the
moment to think of it.  Sandwiched between us was Golden Realm Unlimited
represented by Daphne Lage who was pushing her book Tall Tales.  Poy Yee,
also from GRU was there with copies of Reevers.  Also met Matt Wagner
before the show opened and he was mobbed.  He signed five books for me and
sketched a Grendel head in my Comico Grendel #1.  Very nice guy at a
(usually) very crowded table.

Then the show began.  We got some good attention on Friday which was
actually our best day, selling-wise.  We met Johanna Draper, a
net-frequenteer and had a nice chat.  She later sent Brian Saner-Lamken
over to us to interview us for his comic-shop newsletter (Fat Jacks
Comicrypt in Philly).  Larry traded an issue of Primitives for a
(promised) review so watch this space for Johanna’s comments.  Right
Johanna?  Steve Lieber was also in attendance and we got to finally put a
face with his posts.  His excellent custom-built Hawk-Man figure was an
attention getter (not to mention Steve’s impressive body of work.)  We
also got some time in front of the COMX-TV camera.  If anybody out there
gets it on their cable system, you’ll have to tell us how we looked seeing
as we do not have access to it at this time.  The guys at ComicBase
software asked if they could use the cover of Primitives in their CD-ROM
comic-book data base.  We said yes.  Steve at Steve’s Comic Relief
(Philly) was very helpful and very enthusiastic about his Primitives
retailer promo-pack.  Steve at Claude’s Comics (Hatboro, PA) was also very
supportive.  Watch for his Small Press Expo coming up soon.

Both Wayne and Larry were busy all weekend.  Wayne did a brisk sketch
business and had copies of his work on the back-up story called Darkness
Chronicles in Storm Quest #2 published by Caliber Press.  Larry was kept
busy giving portfolio reviews and selling original art (his first).  I
also gave my first portfolio reviews.  It was a very different experience,
at least for Larry and I, to be on the “other side” of the table.  We
thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and are looking forward to doing it again. 

Without fail, everybody was rudely kicked out of the building at five
minutes after the closing-hour gong.  No one pulled guns or nightsticks on
us but we expected it.  The Con seemed pretty disorganized and everybody
in charge seemed pretty pissed-off most of the time.  But we had a good
time getting Primitives out to the general public.  We had several people
come back after reading Primitives the day before and tell us how much
they liked it, so we were happy.  A lot of people picked up Primitives
flyers both from the freebie tables and our alley location, so to those
800 or so people, thanks for taking a look.  To the 50 or so people who
actually traded the $2.50 for the book, we hope you enjoyed it, we
certainly enjoyed selling it to you!

We always get inspired when we all get together and this con was no
exception.  Primitives #3 should be interesting as it contains some
surprises for the characters that were generated at the show.  It seems
that our effort on Primitives has inspired some of our friends to also
create their own books so SpareTime Studios may have another title or two
in the near future.  Larry, Wayne and I have our sights set on issue 2
(due out in April ‘95) and an appearance at the Heroes Con in Charlotte,
NC in June ‘95.

Primitives #1 is in the newest Advance Comics and Previews.  WE think
you’ll enjoy it but we’re kind of biased that way.

Steve Campbell
Larry Merrill
Wayne A. Wong
STS