Another year of San Diego Comics Convention coming to a close, and yet again I am missing the action this year. I was there back in 2008, and the pure energy of the environment is just amazing. From the moment my wife and I left the hotel at Chula Vista, the cosplay fans were everywhere. The crowd began their gathering on Wednesday morning, lining up at the door, and by 11pm, there were still activities all over the area. The next day when the main event began, it was insanity.

A lot of people have mixed feelings about the con, simply because over the years, Hollywood has taken over the event with their heavy advertisements and promotional panels. While it is fun for some audiences, others felt they are taking away what the con is really about -the comics. As an audience, I have some guilty pleasure in attending panels like Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible sing-a-long blog, and various screenings. However, as an artist, I also recall my main focus was to try portfolio reviews, attend useful panels with companies I like to work for/with or simply I like, and see what is out there in the comics world (the artists alley).

I can relate to the mixed feelings. This is a main stream event. Companies like Marvel and DC wants to make money and they want to push their products. And for others, while there are such huge amount of fans here, why not use the opportunity to jump in and promote yours? Hell, I dropped off a couple of  my “Guernica” volume 1 at various companies’ booth. This is where you find the doorway to work for the big guns, and if you don’t want to, you don’t have to be here. Go be the audience instead. But the problem is, I don’t quite like being an audience either. I am sure not that many people find themselves in this dilemma. But I do. Cause I am the type that doesn’t easily fit in anywhere.

I think the day I started working on my comics/manga; it is the day my life was doomed. There was a huge debate on forums and across internet blogs about westerners’ manga. You probably have heard or participated with it a few years ago. And I am not about to open up that debate again. But I recognize right from the beginning that my work doesn’t really fit in. When I approach manga publishing companies, they say my work is not typical manga (which means it doesn’t fit into the type of manga they publish, aka. gearing towards a certain age and have a certain stylistic look, and not saying that my stuff is good enough either). And when I approach comics companies, they say my work is manga and they are not interested in publishing this type of work or from a local western artist making them. Strange enough, I am not western even though I live here in the States. Comics don’t make that much money and it is risky to hire or take on someone that doesn’t have a market for it. I understand that fully, but I am not willing to sacrifice something that means a lot to me. In a product design class I took, I learned about market research and awareness of trend. I wished I could do what I learned, but I couldn’t.

As I am following newsrama, ICV2, and various comics news sources about what’s going on at SDCC, I am disappointed with a lot of things. Same old marketing strategy with some companies tells you that they are undermining the audiences ability to grow. Just because one product makes money, they are dishing out similar stuff (for e.g. vampire genre). Honestly, I understand this is pop culture and what is popular is a stereotype one form or another, but must we draw all the zombies with muscular bodies (looks like everyone on this planet go to the gym 3 times a week)? How about some variety? An old man zombie without teeth so it can’t bite? And what about those fancy western perspective of samurai? Must all asian girl looks like Bai Ling? I know she is pretty, but if everyone looks like that, that’s called an insult! And since the not-so-powerful or good looking superheroes genre is becoming hip, all of a sudden, everyone is making them. Magical high schoolers with the undead and sword wielding chicks are being published left right and center to the point you can’t tell them apart anymore. Nerdy kids with superpower and/or falling in love with unattainable dream girl ideas are not that new either, yet the teens love it, so we will make more.  You belong to the system/institution or you don’t. That’s the formula. And I found myself not able to fit in anywhere.

With all that said, I am not exempted from the stereotypes I mentioned above. I am aware of things in my work that is not that great. I am trying to be better as I work through the pages. And I am trying to put out something new. The question is: “Who recognizes it? Who the hell cares? and How does it relate to anyone?” In the mass market of entertainment, even if I have answers worthy of any sort of appreciation, more than likely, I will probably continue to go unnoticed.

(Btw, I have to thank Andrew, the one and only person, who subscribes with a recurring $1 fee to this manga (that equates to 67 cents through paypal). When I finish the first case and collect into a book, you will receive a free copy! And I am not accusing anyone who didn’t contribute. I do appreciate everyone’s readership and continued following of my work. That is a kind of reward itself.)

Talk about money, Comicpress is charging money for their new version. I have read some blogs talking bad about it. But I am all for it. The problem of internet is how we have been conditioned to get everything(almost) for free. No one knows the time and passion a developer, an artist, a designer spent to put out software, a comic, or a tutorial. Hence the whole piracy thing has been so huge. I attended a couple of lectures that talked about cultural differences. Someone said that people from eastern culture gain status and pride when they show off what they could afford to buy, and in that way, they are more likely to purchase what they want. Whereas, the western culture is more about what advantage one can get, therefore, free stuff and discount prices are more favorable. That might sound a bit prejudice and needs to be examined further. But it certainly has some evidence to back  that up.  For example, OneManga, a top Google site, is finally closing. But with billions of pages a month and with millions of unique visitors, that said something about taking something without giving. And again, being honest with myself, I am one of those readers sometimes. So there goes the theory of the east west cultural differences.

So what is this post really about? Is it my bitterness about the industry and how I am not getting money for my time and getting my passion sucked out from overworking? Or is it my frustration with the world and their system? Maybe it  is a little bit of everything. But I am more curious about how we live in it, aware of the system, refuse to and/or couldn’t change anything about it. Everyday we are influenced by the system- advertisements, living style, peers, and cultural influences. We are bombarded by information. It is so hard to step out of it, and even if we try, we might not able to do it. I wanted to see things new. Excuse my melodrama, but like Adam looking at the world for the first time. To be with people not because it is part of a networking strategy but because I am excited with our similar interests. To see the hero in a person because he/she wants to be a good person,  not because s/he saved the world. Where is the story that excites me? It doesn’t have to be real, like from the news. I long for the excitement from reading a good story. Not from stereotypes from big companies that want to numb the minds of another generation. Not from deep philosophers with their elite theory either. I want hearts. Is it so much to ask?

I believe in free content. I have been making webcomics for years and I never care for making pennies per hit at wirepop. However, it is frustrating to only able to update once a week (or twice when I get lucky). So to move the story along, I have to do the unthinkable. Ha! A Donation Button. Wait, wait, I have a Subscription button too. Ok, ok! I know this is sounding like a fund drive on the radio. But a poor guy just trying to make a life changing decision with his comics rather than working 3 jobs and giving it out for free. So if you have a heart, maybe you can help me decide if I can really do it. I am not asking you to pay gazillion. It’s just $1 in your own free will a month. If the money generated by you, the readers, are enough for me to quit one job, I promise to update 3 times a week or more to make everyone happy. And if not, a dollar out of your pocket a month equals to what? A bag of chips from the vending machine? And when I say free will, I mean it. This is not a subscription fee or you get nothing thing-E, even though the button say subscribe. You won’t need to pay a dime if you don’t want to. The content will still be free. The subscribe button allows me to charge in a recurring manner, so I am using it to free you from my annoying reminder of donation a month rambling. This is what you say: “I like this comics/manga, and it deserves a dollar, since I keep coming back to read it”.  And if you don’t like the recurring thing, you can always Donate a large sum of money from some unknown country like those junk mail I receive day and night. Just click Donate! After all, what is the greatest nation? DONATION!

And my clever readers, you might have notice all those fancy buttons all over the place. Yep, I am making this serious. I wish I have the power like Stephen Colbert, but I don’t. And I am not crazy enough to have my name on NASA space station toilet. But let’s see how many people can vote me to the top! We will call this a social science experiment.

Formerly known as Kakkoi Con, now M.A.C. (Minneapolis Anime Convention), was held at Double Tree Hotel in Minneapolis this past weekend. I love convention. Beside the activities like gaming, panels, and cosplay, I think it’s the sheer energy from fans that gets me excited. And having two cons in Minneapolis this year is just pure ecstasy. However, I do have a few complains about this con:

1) With all good intention, they do need better organizing skills. You have a screening room with no projection screen. C’mon people, you’re in a hotel. A blank white bed sheet would have worked magic. But instead, you got wall paper and lines running through the projection. Plus, someone could have raised the brightness of the projector. I do have to say that the volunteers for the con have been doing a good job checking in with the machine, updating the anime. And since cons are mostly run by volunteers, we got to give them the credits. And so the blame must fall somewhere else.  And another thing, having a list of what anime will be shown would have attract more people or give the con goers a better idea when to go in to sample anime. One room that was jammed with people at Anime Detour was the AMV room. Why isn’t there one?

2) With the entire first day, there wasn’t a list on the door to tell you what panel is being held and at what time. Let me tell you, even though con goers got the schedule, it’s always good to have a list outside, so that they don’t have to check with their map every time.

3)What’s up with that schedule list? It’s listed in alphabetical order instead of classifying the events in day and time. I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to flip pages back and forth to re-read what I just marked down and rechecking the time. And if you have an artist alley, do indicate that on the list for respect.

Now the good parts:

1) Content. Although this con is relatively small in comparison with Anime Detour, it does have some great panels going. Chris Ayres and Tiffany Grant’s panels on directing and voice acting were very informative and very entertaining. Tiffany sure did her research when she presented the case against bootlegging and piracy. And with that being said, everyone should stop pirating. It is killing the industry. Companies like Geneon and Funimation are closing because of this. Piracy doesn’t just affect the US companies but Japan as well. Less and less anime are being made because they cannot export them to the US. As the Japan industry shrinks, voice actors will have less work, licensing companies will import less and jack up their prices to survive. While the pirating sites might still able to get some manga to scan and anime to sub, they would eventually get less and less as the Japan industry slows down. In the end, fans like us who support the industry for so long will be the one who cause it to fall and we will be the one who suffer.

2) Unlike other big cons, the smaller turned out was adantageous for the fans. No long line up for any panels and dance party, and a more intimate setting for Q&A. The variety show (Who’s line is it anyway?)  by some of the guests was hilarious. They have done a great job. I still can’t get over how Kid Dynamite interpretation of one line got filtered down to Richard Townsend. My stomach hurt.

3) Nice location. It has accessibility to other things like food and movies (right across the street). Friendly staff and plenty of parking space. Although I am not so sure for those who use public transportation. But with where it is at, it is definitely safe for the under-dress cosplay fans for sure. Normal humans just don’t really get it, ya know.

Here are some pics:

Believe it or not, that’s Inuyasha in the front. Where’s you hair?

I missed most of the cosplay competition, but I did caught the tail end of the award ceremony. Some great costume for sure.

There was one panel at the end of Anime Detour that was very interesting. And that is the feed back from the con goers what to improve with the organization. There is an awesome idea with the organization to broaden out the con not just as an event but a year round supportive system. I hope people who are interested in the anime manga culture will go to their site and give ideas to them. The industry doesn’t lack enthusiasts like us, nor do these organizations lack money. Ideas would generate a much bigger and prosperous community if we all do our share and participate.

Missing 3 days for the con got one of my cat very angry. She was totally ready to do her Vader thing as soon as I got home.