Thanks to everyone who stopped by my table at Rose City Comic Con this past weekend and chatted or bought books. It was a good show, and the From the Gutters panel went really well.
Yet, of all the good times had, one thing--or more importantly, one person--really stands out.
For my money, the little girl who came to the show dressed as It Girl was the highlight of the convention. If not my career.
Her name is Melanie*, and her favorite comic is It Girl and the Atomics . She asked her mother to make her the costume, and her mother kindly complied. The whole family came down to the convention, including Melanie's younger sister, who was cosplaying as Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony .
I can't imagine I'll ever receive a bigger compliment than this one. When I cast back to when I was Melanie's age, and to what comics and cartoons and everything meant to me, and how the stuff I read back then sparked my imagination, I can think of no greater accomplishment than to pass on that kind of excitement to a child through my work.
Most days, it seems like comics fandom and professionals alike spend the majority of time complaining about what bothers them instead of celebrating the things that excite them. It drives me nuts. If we put as much energy into spreading the word about the good as we do promoting the bad, we'd all be a lot healthier.
Melanie is the best reminder of why I make comics. She reminds me why I read comics. If it's not the same for you, you might want to consider another field. Even the stuff that maybe isn't for her right now, hopefully when she's older her experience with It Girl will eventually lead her to A Boy and a Girl and then maybe 12 Reasons Why I Love Her and a life-long relationship with comics and reading in general.
She wasn't just the star of my show, either. An hour didn't go by on Saturday or Sunday when someone--including people I had never met before--didn't come by and ask me if I had seen the tiny It Girl running around. Her enthusiasm was contagious.
* I changed Melanie's name because, when I met her, it didn't occur to me that i might write this post. Hopefully she and her parents won't mind my writing about this encounter.