STAPLE (Austin Independent Media Expo) '18
HO-LY SHIT!
What a great friggin’ “con” (er… EXPO) this was!!!
If you read my previous blog entry, you have some idea of how fed-up we’ve been getting with conventional “comic” cons…
After Phoenix “Comic” “Fest” this year, I was so put-off by the current pop-culture focus of contemporary cons (and not just PCF, but many others in the same vein leading up to it) that the very night of its last day I decided to apply to a bunch of alternative, indie “cons”. One that I applied to on a whim was STAPLE. Registration had already closed, and tables were assigned, but I figured: What the heck? Might as well get on the waitlist, right?
Well, about three weeks ago I received an email from a character called “Uncle Staple” informing my that they had a table available after all.
We had by this time known full-well that we had gotten into SPX—which just so happens to be the weekend following STAPLE—and had everything new on-track to show for it, but this meant that we had to have it all done a full week earlier than anticipated if we wanted to show our new stuff too!
Well, only I could make it to the expo anyway, so only my side-project needed to be done a week early, really.
Bit the bullet; pulled it off!
And boy am I glad I did!
STAPLE (like SPX) is everything “Comic Cons” are not:
(Virtually…) no cosplay.
(Virtually) no celebrities.
No generic merch tables.
And people were looking for, buying, and reading… BOOKS!
The crowd and the vendors were all fabulous, and we will absolutely not hesitate to show again at STAPLE next year!
Great job, “Uncle Staple”! (His name’s actually Chris.)
(And I met several folks that will also be at SPX this weekend, and they all concurred that, sales-wise, it’s like 10x what STAPLE was, so, CHEERS to STAPLE, and CHEERS to SPX!!!)