Going to a con<b>ference</b>
I've registered to go to an academic conference on the subject of "Queers & Comics". It's in midtown New York City, May 7-8, put on by the Center for LGBTQ Studies. I've never been to something like this, so I'm not entirely sure what to expect. I assume in some ways it'll be a little like a comics convention – but no dealers, artist tables, or people in costumes being sexually harassed – just lots of panels and workshops and a bit of what-not. No program yet, but the sample topics they list:
Has anyone been to something like this? If so, any tips or suggestions of what to bring (I'll be traveling light, to avoid checked-baggage and taxi expenses), what to do, what not to do ... ? I'm thinking of having a t-shirt made that will make me more identifiable than my (more-flattering-than-accurate) official portrait. Don't know if it'd be worth having business cards made?
- This is What I Look Like: Creating Queer Characters of Color
- Trans Visibility in Imagined Worlds
- Political Graphic Journalism/Editorial Comics
- Drawing Out Queerness: Artists & Scholars in Conversation
- Queer Memoir
- Queer Comics, Health and Dis/Ability
Alison Bechdel and Howard Cruse will be giving keynote presentations. Should be interesting, and something of an adventure, with some opportunities for some god-I-suck-at-it networking.
Has anyone been to something like this? If so, any tips or suggestions of what to bring (I'll be traveling light, to avoid checked-baggage and taxi expenses), what to do, what not to do ... ? I'm thinking of having a t-shirt made that will make me more identifiable than my (more-flattering-than-accurate) official portrait. Don't know if it'd be worth having business cards made?
Comments
I "know" Howard on Facebook (we've conversed in comments, and he even "liked" a drawing I posted) and I bought (by mail) the original art of one of his "Wendel" episodes, so I'll certainly introduce myself if I have the chance. Bringing my original printing of Stuck Rubber Baby for him to sign is worth considering.
There's a guy working on a documentary about the history of gay porn comix who asked a while back to interview me, and he's going to be there. I'd already declined to do anything on-camera (it wouldn't go well) but he'd suggested audio-only and I'd supply him with art to show instead. So ... maybe that'll happen.
I've also ordered 100 business cards, that read in part:
Jason A. Quest
pornographer, heretic, fantasist
writer-artist-colorist-letterer
I ordered the business cards from vistaprint.com. After extensive research (I clicked the first result after googling "cheap business cards") it seemed like a good enough deal. If you select the "use your complete design" option, they have a CMYK Photoshop template you can download, add stuff to, then upload. I used my favorite lettering font, and color's free so I included the logos for JAQrabbit Tales, Holy Comics, and Neverpedia.
But I'm still going to have to choose on Thursday morning between "Porn This Way: Male Sexuality in Queer Comics", "Queer Memoir", and a fantasy/sci-fi panel; and "Pioneers of Queer Men's Comics", "Queer Non-Fiction", and "Publishing and Self-Publishing" on Friday morning ... and both of those examples aren't counting simultaneous panels I'm OK with missing. Meanwhile there's another time slot where I might just go out and look up at the Empire State Building instead.
I'm not really complaining, though. I can tell that they tried to put unlike panels on at the same time (e.g. muscle-fetish manga vs. comics for LGBT youth, women's sexuality vs. Samuel Delany), and there's no way they could make the schedule work for everyone.
I have an 8-page mini-comic laid out, consisting of individual pages and pin-ups from the Tales that I've illustrated. I need to stay late at the day-job tomorrow to print some copies on a decent printer. I have no idea how many I'll make.
To save money and time, and to make it easier to schlep between Newark and the Y on Manhattan, I'm flying with just a carry-on (and the tablet as a "personal item"). One pair of jeans should last me three days, with fresh undies and shirts to keep me fresh. A couple books to be autographed. Carefully selected TSA-approved personal items. I've tested packing everything (except the minis and tablet) into my shoulder bag, and it looks like it'll work. I spent two months backpacking Europe when I was 20, so this should be easy, right?
The Y's wifi blocks access to this site, however.
I stayed at the YMCA in Midtown about a mile and a half from the conference venue (CUNY's Graduate Center, kitty-corner from the Empire State Building), which was the only place in Manhattan for under $100/night. A small room with a spartan bed and a little desk, with bathroom and showers down the hall. A diverse crowd, heavy on young overseas tourists, some of whom were comfortable walking to/from the showers in just a towel.
There was a pre-conference kick-off party Wednesday night, at one of New York's leather bars, which opened "early" (7-10pm) for it. I got there about an hour after it started, and the place was already packed (only part of the bar was open). There was a drink-and-draw thing going on, which I've enjoyed doing a few times other places, but there was no way for me to get a decent view of the models, so that part was a bust. And other than that, it was a your basic loud, dark, crowded bar, which made it impractical to try introducing myself to people (not already knowing anyone there "in real life"). Kind of a bad start for me.
But the conference itself was great. I went to panels on: male sexuality in queer comics, publishing and self-publishing, web comics, serialized strips, and queer male identity. I learned stuff at all of them, though to be honest they were sometimes frustrating, because the questions posed to panelists by the moderators were things I wanted to talk about too. They all had time for questions at the end, but I would've preferred more discussion than just two-way question/answer sessions.
There were also presentations which were pretty much just one-way (OK for those topics):
- An introduction and interview (via translator) with Gengoroh Tagame, who is pretty much the dean of masculine gay porn (i.e. not yaoi) in Japan, though very little of his work has been published in America. (Fanta recently released a big volume of it.)
- For the first time ever, all three editors of the long-running Gay Comix/Gay Comics (Howard Cruse, Robert Triptow, Andy Mangels) plus the original publisher (Denis Kitchen) got together and talked about the history (and possible future) of the defunct anthology. Quite a few of the past contributors were there, and they each got to speak a little about it.
- Howard Cruse and Alison Bechdel did a joint presentation about sequential-storytelling techniques, and each gave a great keynote presentation about their career (hers was over-capacity for the auditorium, on account of it being open to the public and her being mega-famous these days).
I managed to introduce myself to a number of people, a few of whom I could already count as fans of my comics. Without realizing who he was at first, I found myself in a conversation with Denis Kitchen. I said hello to Howard Cruse, explaining that I'd bought the original pages for his next-to-last Wendel strip. I sat next to Gerard Donelan at a panel, and asked him to sign one of the collections of his strips from the 1980s. After seeing Roberta Gregory all over the place I got up the nerve to introduce myself. I explained in person to Ivan Velez that my Facebook post about the pre-party was in no way intended as a criticism, but was about me not being able to handle crowded, noisy bars. Andy Mangels noticed me drawing on my tablet waiting for Alison's presentation and asked me about it afterward. I thanked Zan Christiansen in person for being the first to put my work in print with Anything That Loves. And so on. I became a little more "real" to people in the queer part of the industry (and vice versa).There was a table for participants to put free stuff, mostly postcards, flyers, bookmarks, buttons, and other promotional items. I put my short stack of 25 mini-comics there, and they didn't last the first day. Turns out I didn't have much use for the business cards.
There were a couple parts of the conference I had to miss. One was a comix reading on Saturday afternoon, beginning around the time I needed to leave for the airport. The other was an outing to see the Broadway musical adaptation of Fun Home, which I also couldn't stick around for (or afford, or even get a ticket).
There were a few occasions between sessions when the crowd got a bit much for me and I had to retreat to the restroom to calm myself. (There was no "men's room" or "women's room" in the conference area: both of them were designated "all-gender" as a gesture of inclusion for trans participants, which I thought was cool.) But for the most part I held up OK. I was actually pretty comfortable on the streets of NY, though I definitely preferred wandering Central Park on Saturday morning. (It is nearly impossible to get lost in the numbered grid of Manhattan, except that it is nearly impossible not to get lost in the Ramble of Central Park. Little wonder it has a long night-time cruising history.) There's a place near the conference center that sells slices of cheese pizza for 99¢, which helped make up for the high cost of pretty much everything else.
The conference was both motivational and depressing. It was full of encouragement to make comix, but also reminders of all years I wasted and the opportunities missed not making comix. For example, I remember dreaming of having something of mine in Gay Comics... which stopped publication in 1998. People talked about selling comics in gay bookstores, and I remember buying them there ... but they largely don't exist anymore. I could've been part of that history of the 1990s and 2000s ... but wasn't. I'm running hard to catch up, but I know I never can.
Better late than never, of course. I'm having fun, and trying my fucking damnedest to create things that only I can create, and that may possibly inspire someone else like I've been inspired. This conference has given me ideas, maybe some connections, and a kick in the seat to help me do that.