The Comic–Con Dispatch

Friends, this last month has been bonkers busy.

Between running a kickstarter, San Diego Comic-con, and the National Cartoonists Society Conference, I’ve been racing from one event to another and haven’t had a real chance to take stock of anything, so if you’ll indulge me I’m going to try and wrap my head around all of it.

Come along for the re-cap ride…

For those of us who live and work in geek culture, Comic-con International is the place to be in late July. Held every year in San Diego since 1970, the event has grown during its many decades from a comic book dealers convention focused on the art and artists who make the comics, to the world’s preeminent pop-culture convention where movie stars and celebrities go to stir up their fan-bases.

In between it all are the authors, publishers, producers, vendors, cosplayers, journalists, fans, and everyone else – hawking their wares, making connections, and generally having a good time. Any and all fandoms are welcome at SDCC for the five-day pop-culture party.

I wasn’t planning on going this year but when our big 75th Anniversary Peanuts book The Essential Peanuts was nominated for an Eisner for Best Publication Design (woot!), I found a good excuse to go and when Comic-con asked us to do a panel about it, that sealed the deal.

I moderated a panel with author Mark Evanier, designer Chip Kidd, and editor Charlie Kochman. This was actually the third panel we’ve done together since the book came out last year and most likely our last so it was nice to get together again. It’s always fun to chat about our mutual love of Schulz and Peanuts and the attendees shared our enthusiasm.

The Comic-con panel was not recorded, but another of our panels from earlier this year was. This was for The National Cartoonists Society Virtual Book Club where I interviewed Mark and Charlie about the book for our NCS members, it’s a great conversation and we share some fun stories about the making of the book. So when you’ve got some time and interest you can watch if below.

Speaking of the National Cartoonists Society, the NCS had a good showing at Comic-con and I joined my fellow cartoonists for a retrospective panel celebrating 80 years of the NCS.

And then at the Eisner Awards Friday night this happened…

Many folks worked very hard to make this book, so it was very rewarding to see it get recognized and is a true testament to how much people continue to love Schulz and Peanuts (it IS the greatest comic strip of all time, after all).

Chip and Shawn went home with the fancy awards but I was happy to place an Eisner award sticker on the book which now sits proudly alongside two other winners in my office: Charles M. Schulz the Art & Life of the Peanuts Creator in 100 Objects which won for Best Comics Related Book in 2023, and Celebrating Snoopy which won for Best Archival Collection in 2018.

Each award is a tribute to Schulz and his tremendous body of work, but I’d be lying if I wasn’t proud of my role as editor who helped shape those books.

Like I said at the top, I was not expecting to go to Comic-con but I’m glad I did. Every year it gets a little more crowded and this year was no exception – I think the show might be back to its pre-pandemic levels of attendance (it certainly felt that way on the floor). The show is big and loud and crowded and overwhelming but it certainly has its charms.

My favorite aspects are walking through Small Press to see what new comics creators are there and catching up with old friends who still have the fortitude to exhibit in the madhouse (god love ‘em).

I’m happy to have found a good niche going down for work when it needs me to and popping a squat at the National Cartoonists Society booth to sell and sign books if I want to.

Writing this recap got me nostalgic for the good old days when I used to table in Small Press, stayed at the local hostel, and lived on Ginger Ale and Chex Mix for five days. It was exhausting and fun in the way comic shows were back then and I almost miss them.

Almost.

Ten days later I hopped another plane and headed to Columbus, Ohio, for another comics conference: The National Cartoonists Society Annual Reubens Award Weekend.

As a proud member of the NCS and part of the board, I was especially excited for this year’s conference since it marked the 80th Anniversary and we had a truckload of exciting things planned. On top of that, it was a mini-family reunion as family members converged on Columbus to join in the fun.

Columbus is home to a lot of great things but for our purposes its crown jewel is the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum the world’s premiere institution for comics and cartoon art. Housed on The Ohio State University campus it is THE place to visit if you are a fan of the 9th Art and with beautiful galleries, extensive archives, and lush lecture halls, it was the perfect place to host our NCS festivities.

In between the day’s programming you could steal a moment to walk through the galleries and see amazing artwork from comics luminaries. Here are some random shots I took…

The core difference between SDCC and this conference is that the NCS gathering is peer-to-peer; it’s a professional style development conference with share-outs, lectures, and an emphasis on learning from other members. Whether it’s Jim Davis giving a talk about how he works on Garfield, or a live podcast episode of Comic Lab interviewing webcomics cartoonists, leave your imposter syndrome at the door (always easier said than done), grab your lanyard, and start talking shop with your fellow cartoonist.

It was especially fun to bump into cartoonists whose work I’ve long admired but only just met at the conference. The NCS creates a warm and welcoming environment for everyone and it was on full display.

Like SDCC – who hosts the Eisner Awards – the NCS hosts the Reuben Awards, which is a black-tie banquet event where honors and awards are given to members. It’s an evening to dress to the nines and celebrate.

There are Silver Divisional Reuben awards for outstanding work in a number of categories and there is also the big Cartoonist of the Year Reuben Award (named and design by cartoonist Rube Goldberg). This year’s nominees was a murderer’s row of cartooning talent: Dave (Loose Parts) Blazek, Tauhid (Crabgrass) Bondia, Will (Wallace the Brave) Henry, Dav (Dog Man) Pilkey, Dana (Phoebe and Her Unicorn) Simpson, Mark (Lio) Tatulli, Raina (Cartoonists Club) Telgemeier. Here’s a look at the cover of the program featuring caricatures of each by another Reuben honoree, Ed Steckley…

Other highlights of the night included one of my cartooning heroes Jeff Smith, creator of Bone and Columbus native, honored with the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award and Mark Tatulli took home the Reuben for Cartoonist of the Year…

The following day there was a public facing event, the Cartoonist Showcase where we had the opportunity to sell our books to the public – a mini-comic-con if you will.

Though there was nothing mini about this since Scholastic Books was sponsoring the kids programming for their authors, headlined by Dav Pilkey and Raina Telgemeier. I was exhibiting in this space and got to see first-hand what their level of star power brings through the door…

This line was just to get in the auditorium since something like 900 tickets were sold. Myself and the other kid-lit authors in the lobby shared our work with eager kids and their parents. It was kind of a nuts pitching my book to this overwhelming crowd and it felt like speed-dating with 8-year-olds.

During the down time I snuck into the auditorium to see Jamar’s presentation for his excellent Scholastic series Leon the Extraordinary. It was impressive to see the Scholastic apparatus at work and I’ll have more to share about this in another post.

The Reubens weekend was very fulfilling and very different from Comic-con. I’m a late-comer attending the Reubens, this was only my fourth time. For years I did not attend the conference because I didn’t think the expense was worth it, particularly since there was no way for me to make that money back selling books to the public like a regular Comic-con style convention offered.

But I was short-sighted and in recent years have come to see what the conference is really about: connecting with your peers for real conversation about our shared profession and passion. It’s a chance to come together and celebrate an art form and its history we fell in love with when we were young and now actively contribute to. To be in a room full of your idols and relate to them as peers is pretty unique and the NCS offers that in a very fulfilling way.

You never know what cool cats you’ll run into…

Thanks for following me along on this comic convention journey. I’m hanging up the lanyards until the next one rolls around…

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