This past weekend, I took part in the inaugural edition of JewCE, or Jewish Comics Experience. This show was put on by Fabrice Sapolsky (creator of Spider-Man Noir) and Dr, Miriam Mora of the Center for Jewish History here in NYC. There was a preview night on Saturday and a full day convention on Sunday.
I heard rumblings about this convention early on and I emailed to take part as soon as I could. I consider myself to be very fortunate to have taken part in this freshman convention that celebrates Jews, comics, Jews in comics, etc. There’s also an amazing exhibit in the CJH’s museum that you should check out.
Given the current state of the world and the massive rise in antisemitism, this convention is sorely needed.
And it was a BLAST!
First of all, given the con itself, it was small. 20-30 creators, some vendors, and plenty of panels. I estimate 400-500 attendees (going by some conversations overheard by my table), if not more. But everyone was making sales. What helps? First of all, having tons of great comics and creators. Secondly, not having a freaking toy mart between the creators and the attendees. This means this was MUCH MORE a book focused and art focused con than many out there. It may be a niche con, but it definitely brought out plenty of enthusiastic comic book fans! There were a handful of big names, mainly for panels, but it still brought people out on a cold November weekend.
Also, the convention organizers treated us creators well. Most importantly, THEY FED US! We had a green room *and* lunch vouchers for the kosher food truck outside. Do you know how rare that is for conventions to do so? Green rooms at big cons are usually for big names…and they sure as hell don’t give lunch vouchers. Dr. Mora also checked in with everyone and probably bought stuff from everyone too (I saw her carrying PILES of books!).
It was also great catching up with friends like Paul Axel and Neil Kleid (who won the first ever JewCE Best Writer award Saturday night) and others I only talk to online, as well as non-creator friends who came out to support. In addition, one of my mom’s best friends and her son came all the way to support, as did an aunt and three cousins!
Oh, and I didn’t even get to my sales yet. Remember how I had a bad Baltimore Comic Con this year?
Let me put it like this. I made, between the preview night and all day Sunday, more sales and profit at JewCE than I did at Baltimore this year! It’s amazing what a shift of audience and atmosphere will do!
Oh, and Dr. Mora put a copy of American Dreams issue 1 into a display case of Jewish superhero comics for the exhibit!
So JewCE was an amazing convention and I hope to be back for the next installment!
As for the next convention? That’s up in the air, but we’ll see!