Dublin Comic and Toy Mart

Emmett

Hello there,
I'm the organiser of the Dublin Comic and Toy Marts. The last one was on in August and I'm planning the next one as I write this. I was just wondering if any of ye came to the last one and if so what'd you think of it? I'd love to hear what you'd like from the next one and any thoughts you may have on how to improve the event.
The last one was a huge success and as a dealer I had the best day of any con I've sold at.....but I have BIG plans for these shows and want to improve the event with each one. Hope to see you all at the next one!

This sounds cool. Heard nothing about it though. Were was it held ? were are you planning to hold it ?

Emmett

The mart is held every 4 months in Wynn's Hotel right in the centre of Dublin city. The next one will be early December. I'm surprised you didn't hear anything about the last one. Forbidden Planet were very good for giving out the flyers and displaying the posters, I also had a guy going around Dublin with a sandwich board displaying the poster. I had a colour ad in Comics International and a colour pic and write up the Star newspaper, mentions on the radio etc.
Still, I'll be promoting this one even harder

Must have been abducted by Aliens. Will go to the next one.

jared almasy

sounds great, ill pop into the next one for sure. never heard about the previous ones though, those aliens *shakes fist at sky

Emmett

Do you mind me asking where you get your comics? I suspect that some comic shops are purposely not displaying the flyers and posters. I don't know why, it's in their best interests to attend and promote the events. New readers are more likely to come to one of these heavily promoted shows than walk into a comic shop.

jared almasy

not at all, i get mine from sub city, forbidden planet and a little place i call 2nd home in france. but other than that i get it all off the internewt.

ill tell all i know about this comic book thing, it deserves some success

][cEMAN**

New readers are more likely to come to one of these heavily promoted shows than walk into a comic shop.

Don't know about that. Depends on the mentality of the new reader. A lot of people just get turned off by the fact that people give reading comics a bad name. They might find that picking something up from their local newsagent would be easiest for them. Considering then a convention might not be something they would feel comfortable at. Might think it's full of elitists or strange people.

I'd rather there wasn't an image of comic readers like this *twitch*, because I can assure you we're all *twitch* perfectly normal, and I myself *twitch* am perfectly normal and in full mental health nomatter what anyone says *twitch**twitch*

Would love to go to this but it's too far away for me unfortunately. We don't get many conventions where I live, as the closest real shop would be in Belfast. We have a small franchise (think it's Ace comics) shop in the town which is more about models than about books.

Fysh

' wrote:

[cEMAN**']Don't know about that. Depends on the mentality of the new reader. A lot of people just get turned off by the fact that people give reading comics a bad name. They might find that picking something up from their local newsagent would be easiest for them. Considering then a convention might not be something they would feel comfortable at. Might think it's full of elitists or strange people.

I agree, and think this applies to conventions in general, not just comic ones. In theory, a con is a great place to learn about whatever fandom you're into - in practice, there's loads of people who know a whole bunch about all sorts of things and they probably would quite happily introduce you to their fandom. The problem is that they're more likely either trying to sell you something (off-putting, if you're new to the field and therefore trying to find out about stuff before buying anything) or fighting their way to see/get an autograph from Whatever Famous Guest Author Is Attending.

Plus the fact that cons don't have a proportional representation of the fandom's population, meaning you get more of the obsessed fans in one area than usual - I'm not saying that it's a bad thing, just that it can be worrying to, eg, see the bloke who made that Tron outfit wandering round the place if you haven't first met a bunch of less obsessed people who share your hobby. Given the general preconceptions about fandoms like comics and sci-fi, seeing the more devout fans around the place can lead to the incorrect impression that to be a fan, you *have* to be that obsessed.

That said...if time allows, I'll try and get up to Dublin for this.

][cEMAN**

Hehehe why not have a "leave your costume at home" policy

lucius fox

Hey Emmet, saw your posting. I generally check out all 3 shops in Dublin. And I saw your poster in Forbidden Planet & 3rd Place had 2 posters in the window but it was them who gave me a flyer for it. I did'nt see any in Sub-City.

Fysh

' wrote:

[cEMAN**']Hehehe why not have a "leave your costume at home" policy

True - A friend of mine, despite my best advice to the contrary, spent a month making a Star Wars Stormtrooper costume, and then travelled from Southern Spain to London to watch the premiere of Episode one. He was convinced loads of people would do the same, but he was the only one. Silly git.

It's a fine balance - on the one hand, you want a con to be somewhere that hardcore fans feel comfortable and happy to show their enthusiasm (eg by wearing costumes or what have you) but on the other hand if you want casual or new readers to feel comfortable, you have to make sure they're not overwhelmed by the sometimes baffling antics of the hardcore fans.

Personally, I would only go to a con in costume if:
a)I could pick a costume/character to dress as that wouldn't irritate me after a while,
b)I was familiar with the con and some of the people there from previous trips

I'm more likely to try for the "looks normal/unthreatening and yet knows useful info about fandoms" role than the "he's dressed as <character>, I bet he'd be a good source of info on <fandom name>" role...to each their own, I guess.

Emmett

Funny you should mention the costume aspect of conventions....I've been thinking about having an after con party this time where everyone would be encouraged to wear either a costume or an item of comic related clothing. (I had some models dressed up last time and they thought it was great craic. ) It may mean having to charge an entrance fee if I have to hire a DJ etc. Anyone here be up for something like that?

lucius fox

Not on your life mate, I think a party would be a great idea.If it was not a costume one. I think that it would alienate random joe public who your trying to attract.
Because the day I go out with a ruby quartz vizor or a cape and utiliy belt is the day I realise that this is no longer my hobbie but my lifestyle. And that is never going to happen. I think comics should be appreciated for what they are. Like it or not they are not a social outlet. They can't be used in group activiies. And to be quite honest some people might not get who the other person is. And there are people who would take it one step further. While in costume they could adopt personality traits. Therefore someone dressed as wolverine could be going around being gruff. And other people might not get it. Or worse someone dressed as Spider Jerusalem might just go around screaming crazy ass stuff. Lots of people may find it a bit insulting. Lot's of people would definatly find it bizarre and I would just find it embarrising.