Genghis Con

Genghis Con this weekend!

2011-11-23T14:39:00.000-08:00

Hey Friends, Fans, Freaks, and Followers, Genghis Con 2011 is just a scan few minutes away. Been meaning to update, but the last few weeks have been a whirlwind of madness. Awesome, awesome madness. SO, here's the news and links to some stuff we think is important, so let's get to the hype.

Firstly: big CONGRATS to Joyce Brabner and Justin Coulter, the organizer and artist of the Harvey Pekar Memorial Statue for achieving their Kickstarter goal. Which means that the statue will be built, but just because they met their goal, doesn't mean you can't still be a part of this awesome thing, get in on those awesome incentives, by donating even more money to the cause! It's an awesome awesome thing for the city and Harvey Pekar's legacy, and comics in general, but independent comics specifically.

Secondly, big thanks to the boys at the Comics Are GO! podcast, for having John G and Kevin Czap on to rap about Genghis Con, check out the Genghis Con special edition (posted on 11/11/11). Everybody had a great time, and I think we even said some halfway intelligent things about comics and the show! Though, engineer extraordinaire Matt Hess may not have said anything... he can be mysterious. At any rate, it's a fun podcast to listen to while you're drawing into the wee hours of the night.

I also want to add a note, especially for the out-of-towners coming in from parts unknown to attend Genghis Con at The Beachland, there are a plethora of shops on Waterloo to consider while you're here in the neighborhood. After you've had your mind blown by all the awesome exhibitors at Genghis Con, starting way down by East 156th is Arts Collinwood, The Head Shop and Cloud 9 (which I think is new-ish) ... right next door to the Beachland is the record store run by a cat named Vinyl (that's not slang, it's an actual cat!), Music Saves, and Native Cleveland, a store that sells little pieces of the actual city you can buy, then down a ways at E, 160th is the nostalgic nerdtopia Star Pop, packed to the gills with toys and stuff of yesteryear, then just little further is Blue Arrow Recordst and their boutique. If you've never been to Blue Arrow it's worth it just to check out the floor alone (it's made of record sleeves), but ON that floor they have an awesome selection of weird old underground comix and magazines and tons of the most oddball paperbacks and pulps, oh... and records! Waterloo is definitely a perfect place to spend the afternoon knocking out all your X-Mas shopping and walking off that T-Giving Feast.

Lastly, we wanted to link to the updated info about Carol & John's Comics big Black Friday Midnight Madness Sale/Party. If you're in town Friday night before the con, it's definitely a great thing to get into. They have a ton of independent comics they've got marked down to a buck, just thousands of comics. It's a pretty good time to get together and nerd out on some comics too. It's a pretty fun time! Kung Fu Bob will probably be playing cartoon music!

Okay, everybody, have a good holiday! Be thankful, eat food, and gear up in anticipation for the best Saturday of November! I'll probably be posting again before the show, so stay tuned!

Genghis Con 2011 Hypemobile

2011-11-07T21:52:00.000-08:00

Another awesome poster for this year's show, this time by Kevin Fagan! A lot of Kevin's work looks like he's a complete and total acid casualty, but he's really not. In real life he's the most square and normal, average, everyday Cleveland Schmoe. That's why he's one of our heroes here at G.C. HQ.

Hey, but shout out to Frank Santoro over at The Comics Journal and Kevin Czap for writing that great Cleveland Comics Scene Report.

Big thanks to Mike SanGiacomo for the mention in this past Friday's Plain Dealer, you can check out the piece HERE. Check out some of Mike's comics, Tales of The Starlight Drive-In!

More updates coming in the next week or so. Stay tuned!

Genghis Con 2011 News!

2011-11-02T14:40:00.000-07:00

GENGHIS CON RAPIDLY APPROACHES! Saturday, November 26th, 2011 is just a few short weeks away!

Here's the poster drawn by John G, this year referencing the current climate of Protests and Occupations that are happening all over the country (and the world). Occupy Wallstreet in New York, since it's inception, has been a constant source of activity and inspiration, while Occupy Oakland has ramped up really hard over the last few weeks culminating with a General Strike as of TODAY. Occupy Cleveland itself appears to be working with The City, and Cleveland's Police.

At any rate, this poster is in the tradition of referencing current events in the same way John G's Genghis Con 2009 poster was a reaction to the police brutality in Pittsburgh during a G20 summit. Last year John G's poster was a shout out about Chilean Miners stuck in that mine.

With that, this year, our THIRD Genghis Con, is looking to be the biggest and best yet. We'll get a bunch of updates up shortly, but for now we have one announcement and a couple links to include in this blog post.

• Firstly, the announcement. On the one hand: the show this year will be moving up an hour to 11AM to 5PM, so it will be opening and closing earlier. On the other hand: THE BAR WILL BE OPEN! Huzzah!

• Genghis Con itself now has a facebook fan page, here: Genghis Con Cleveland and there's also a facebook event page, here: Genghis Con 2011 and we also have a twitter feed here: @thegenghiscon

• One of our co-conspirators and the artist responsible for this GC2011 Flyer, Kevin Czapiewski currently has an awesome comix art exhibit (titled Czap!) hanging at Blackbird Baking Company in Lakewood. The show hangs until December 4th (which will give our out of town visitors the opportunity to stop by the Blackbird and check it out while experiencing some of their amazing breads or pastries (feel free to email us if you would like recommendations))- if you're IN town haven't seen it or had any Blackbird in your life, you're assuredly missing out.

• No link to the event just yet, but we'd like to mention that Carol & John's Comic Book Shop will be having their annual Black Friday Midnight Madness Sale from 7pm to Midnight on Friday, November 25th, which is really just a huge party at the store. If you're in from out of town a night early, this party is bananas!

• The popular comics podcast COMICS ARE GO! will be having a Genghis Con Roundtable show in the coming weeks, but we assure you, with nearly 100 past episodes in the bank, at least some of them are worth listening to: CHECK THEM OUT HERE! We highly recommend the Gary Dumm special edition and the Hellboy special edition, but also any update with Mike Sangiacomo and if you figure out which one is a DERF interview, let us know because that one was awesome.

Thanks for checking us out, we look forward to seeing you all on the 26th at The Beachland Ballroom! Keep checking back for updates until then!

Genghis Con 2011, November 26th at The Beachland Ballroom

2011-08-17T08:58:00.000-07:00

The Small Press Comic Convention, Genghis Con, returns to Cleveland on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, November 26th, 2011, from noon to 6 pm at the Beachland Ballroom at 15711 Waterloo Road Cleveland, OH 44110. This is the third year for the convention, which will draw artists, writers, cartoonists, and many other independent comics champions from all over the Mid-West and beyond.

In November of 2009, the founders of Genghis Con set out to establish a Small Press and Alternative Print Media Convention in Cleveland that served as a showcase and converging point for the talent and craftspeople of the region that exists between Michigan, Western Pennsylvania, and all over Ohio. Focusing on the art and language of comics and visual storytelling was the priority. What happened at The Beachland Ballroom that Thanksgiving weekend was a raging success, and everyone that came, exhibitors and attendees alike, had a great time.

In 2010, Genghis Con proved that the success of the debut event wasn't a fluke. Again, people came from all over the map to meet at The Beachland and engage each other with an open exchange of artwork, narratives, and ideas, as well as to sell, buy, and trade the mostly self-published, independent comics and zines, as well as other forms of print media and artwork, that were the focus of the afternoon.

This November, in 2011, for the third year the Genghis Con organizers are excited and committed to repeating all the things that made the first two conventions so successful, but there are some plans in motion for making this year the best Genghis Con yet. At this point, the objective of the organizers is to continue this convention as an annual tradition for the city of Cleveland so that everyone knows that every Thanksgiving weekend, every year, Genghis Con will be happening. Keep an eye on thegenghiscon.com for further announcements as they start to roll out leading up to November 26th.

Further information, and a growing list of guests and exhibitors will be posted as we start to fill this year's roster, and book the guests.

Anyone interested in exhibiting, please email genghisconcleveland@gmail.com, space is limited, but it's still early (as of this posting). We're mostly focused on independent, DIY, alternative comics and cartoonists that do graphic narratives and sequential art, but we're also open to writers, printmakers, zinesters, small press publishers, and practitioners of other forms of independent print media. The show is All Ages and family friendly, so please keep that in mind.

Kevin Czap!

2011-08-01T10:46:00.000-07:00

Flier for Genghis Con 2011 by Cleveland small press overlord Kevin Czapiewski!

Kevin is the Iron Fist behind the comics anthology PUPPYTEETH (which is on sale right now, so do your shelves a favor and order them up, immediately), and the creator of scrolling webcomic, Spoilers. He also teaches The Art of Comics, rights about comics on The Comics Cube. Overall, this kid is dominating!

Getting stoked for Genghis Con 2011, Saturday November 26th, at The Beachland Ballroom!

Genghis Con 2011, Only 6 Months Away!

2011-05-09T16:13:00.000-07:00

Genghis Con 2011, Saturday November 26th, 2011, Noon to 6pm.
Beachland Ballroom, 15711 Waterloo, Cleveland, Ohio.

Genghis Con 2010 Press Release!

2010-11-23T07:35:00.000-08:00

UNDERGROUND SMALL PRESS EXPLOSION ROCKS CLEVELAND

The small press comic convention, Genghis Con, is returning to Cleveland on Saturday November 27th from noon to 6 pm at the Beachland Ballroom at 15711 Waterloo Road Cleveland, OH 44110. This is the second year for the independent press extravaganza which is both comic book convention and art show. Visitors to the show will get to meet graphic artists from around the Midwest who use sequential art as their primary means to tell a story. Admission is $5.00.

Further information and a list of creators can be found at the show’s website http://www.thegenghiscon.com/.

This year’s show will feature as many as fifty comic creators including local artists Derf, whose “The City” strip appears weekly in papers across the country and Gary Dumm, and Greg Budgett who worked closely as artists for the late Harvey Pekar. Many of the artists attending this year were excited to get back to the show after last year’s success.

The creators attending Genghis Con have worked at many different levels from professionally published work to photocopied zines. “There is such an incredible diversity of talent working in small press comic publishing,” says one of the organizers, Scott Rudge. “They are telling stories that are truly original and their work is often quite amazing yet it may never be read by more than a handful of people. We started Genghis Con to try to change that.”

Last year’s convention was such an incredible success because both attendees and creators had the opportunity to interact in a way not possible at a normal comic convention. One of the early innovations instituted by the organizers was to provide table space to the creators at no charge. Rudge believes this changed the dynamic by taking the presure off the artists to “make back their table fee.” This breaks down a huge barrier between the artists and the public.

“The Beachland Ballroom has been an amazing partner in this project. When we first thought of doing this show, we didn’t think about any other location and when we approached them, they were very enthusiastic about the idea. Thanks to their generosity, we are able to hold our costs down,” says Rudge. “We are not doing this show to make money, we are happy to break even. We are just very excited to give people the opportunity to interact with these amazing creators.”

One of the most popular features of the show last year was the four page “mini-comic” put together by each of the artists. This comic is free of charge and gives each attendee a sample of the kind of work a particular creator does. When they leave, each attendee will have an anthology of that year’s show in their collection of these comics.

“Last year it was very encouraging to see people walking out of the convention with a significant stack of amazingly original reading material for which they paid very little,” says Rudge. “I know it sounds ridiculous in light of the consumer onslaught people face on Thanksgiving weekend, but you can find amazing, unique, original and affordable gifts at this show.”

For more information contact Scott Rudge at Astound Comics, 440 835-8055 or e-mail at astoundpop@gmail.com.

Ganghis Con 2010 poster by Greg Budgett and Gary and Laura Dumm!

2010-11-08T19:35:00.000-08:00

Genghis Con is happening Saturday November 27th from noon to six at The Beachland Ballroom at 15711 Waterloo over in Collinwood!

This piece is an awesome sequel to the poster this team did for last year's show, also featuring The Khan and Genghis Connie! This year we're set in the Siegel and Shuster's attic, where The Khan has found a pristine mint copy of Action Comics #1. Too badd Connie shot it, that comic sold for $1,000,000.00 earlier this year!

Big thanks to Greg and Gary! They will be at the show again this year! Definitely make it a point to stop by and say hi, and check out their new prints and offerings!

GENGHIS CON 2010

2010-10-17T17:36:00.000-07:00

The small press, independent print media, underground comix exposition GENGHIS CON is back for year two in 2010, at The Beachland Ballroom, in Cleveland Ohio. We're taking over the same date, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, this year it's November 27th, from noon to 6pm.

Last year we had over 40 exhibitors holding down tables and ringing bells left and right. This year we're bringing back some familiar faces, and introducing all new young bloods. Comickers, cartoonists, printmakers, and zinesters of all kinds, from all over the region!

Stay Tuned for further information coming soon!

R.I.P. Harvey Pekar 1939-2010

2010-07-14T15:10:00.000-07:00

From frequent collaborator Gary Dumm's Facebook page:

"I don't get on Facebook much, but with the passing of my friend and collaborator Harvey Pekar I thought I'd say something here. As irascible and curmudgeonly as Harvey might have truthfully appeared in the pages of American Splendor and certainly somewhat in his daily life NOT recorded there, I can only say that in 30 plus years of knowing and dealing with him there was much more.

He was, first of all, without fail a generous and helpful friend to me, whenever possible finding work that I could do either with him or not. Our working together at first was somewhat cautious, as Greg Budgett and I found that Harvey knew what he wanted and that was ALL that he wanted - we'd sometimes "deviate" particularly pictorially from Harvey's vision. But we hit a rhythm and an understanding, and that's why I'm proud to say that my art brought Harvey and his stories to life in almost every issue of American Splendor published. I "got" Harvey early on, realizing and appreciating that his quasi-reportorial writings about his life was almost zen in approach (although that appraisal Harvey would only laugh off). And so American Splendor became an integral part of my artistic life.

I am so sorry for his passing, especially for his wife Joyce and daughter Danielle. We have lost a great talent, but they have lost so much more. Laura's and my thoughts are with them. I will miss talking with him and even hearing him kvetch about whatever: editors, publishers etc. So long, Harvey...like a Chekov from Cleveland, some episodes and memories of you are there for the ages to read. I know that I'll never forget you."

Genghis Con 2009 - Photos #1

2010-01-29T15:34:00.000-08:00

Genghis Con Promotional Part 3

2009-11-21T16:06:00.000-08:00

ONE WEEK FROM TODAY is GENGHIS CON!

Here's our third poster for the show, line art by Andy MacDonald, with colors by John G.

We've set up a Facebook Event for the show, so if you're into that kinda thing, and want to get updates that way, feel free to check that out. Also, big thanks to The Comics Reporter!

Here's a detail shot of Andy's intense lines:

Genghis Con Promotional Part 2

2009-11-13T16:03:00.000-08:00

Our second poster for Genghis Con, drawn by Greg Budgett, Gary Dumm, colored by Laura Dumm!

We'd also like to thank Mike Sangiacomo at the Plain Dealer for the sweet mention in the paper. Here's a link: Comic Con Slated in Cleveland After Thanksgiving!

Genghis Con 2009 - Press Release #1

2009-10-22T10:41:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Scott Rudge
Telephone: (440) 835-8055
E-Mail: astoundcomics@gmail.com
Website: www.thegenghiscon.com

GENGHIS CON CELEBRATES RICHES OF MIDWEST INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING
Comic Show Features the Unknown Work of Local Graphic Storytellers

You won’t find Superman, expensive back issues or fading Hollywood celebrities at Genghis Con, a comic book convention organized to showcase the work of independent artists and writers from the Midwest. The event will be held at the Beachland Ballroom on Saturday, November 28, 2009 from 12:00 noon to 6:00 pm. The convention will feature the talent of approximately 50 graphic storytellers from around the Midwest whose work does not fit into the normal perception of what a comic book should be.

For 70 years the part of the country known as the “rust belt” has provided the world with an incredible abundance of creative talent in the art of telling stories with pictures. This form of communication has reached its pinnacle of popularity in the form of the beloved comic book. Many of the biggest names in comics today hail from the Midwest.

Comic readers are familiar with such Ohio natives as Brian Bendis, Brian Vaughn, Fred Van Lente, Harvey Pekar and Jeff Smith. These and many others from around the Great Lakes are the modern personalities shaping graphic storytelling as we know it today. The common thread through each of these current and rising stars of the industry is they began their careers creating and publishing their own material.

Like their famous brethren, the participants of Genghis Con use skill, imagination and craftsmanship to create engaging, original graphic storytelling art. Their work, however, remains largely unpublished outside of the creator’s own trips to the local copy center. Genghis Con exists to bring this creative talent together in one place and to provide a venue for interaction with potential readers who may not have any other opportunity to see this work.

The organizers of Genghis Con are committed to creating an event which is unique in many ways. Early in the planning stages, the convention organizers decided to break most of the rules of a normal comic convention. These changes include eliminating the dealer’s room and the endless rows of fading TV celebrities. Perhaps the most radical difference is participants will not be charged for table space as they are at other comic conventions. The organizers feel this will free the artists from feeling the pressure to “make up their costs” and allow them to focus on promoting their work.

"We are not doing this to make money,” says Scott Rudge, one of the Genghis Con organizers and owner of Astound Comics in Westlake, Ohio. “We want the creators to use the money they save on renting space to offer inexpensive copies of their work. This benefits both the artist and the audience in a way not seen at a typical comic con. We want those attending the convention to feel comfortable interacting meaningfully with the creators and we hope to do that by making the communication of ideas as inexpensive as possible.”

To further break down the barriers between the artists and readers, Genghis Con attendees will be able to build their own comic book containing the work of each artist at the show. This book will be included at no additional charge with normal admission of $5.00.

“We are looking for creators who use a comic book style format to tell their stories, but we also have accepted some ‘zine and poster artists,” says Rudge. “While we may have some of the next generation of mainstream stars displaying their work, we are also looking forward to offering the work of those who have no interest in promoting their material beyond the desire to simply tell a story.”

The call is out for artists wishing to participate in Genghis Con. Artists are welcome to submit samples of their work for consideration. The organizers of Genghis Con will be accepting submissions until November 15^th. For complete details and submission guidelines, creators should go to the event website, www.thegenghiscon.com.

Genghis Con Promotional Part 1

2009-10-05T11:03:00.000-07:00

Here's the Genghis Con poster by John G.
Magenta Wolf. BMX. Riot Police.

Check the links under the "Exhibitors/Guests" section on the right for frequent updates.

More news to come!

Genghis Con is Happening

2009-09-25T10:52:00.000-07:00

Genghis Con is a Small Press Comic Convention being held on Saturday November 28th at The Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland. The intent is to bring together the wealth of individuals from inside the Detroit-Columbus-Pittsburgh region, and beyond, that are actively involved in all types of alternative print media. This will be a very close knit convention with no more than 50 exhibitors.

We've lined up some great guests so far, but we are currently looking for more. We’re looking for anybody that makes their own comics, zines, posters, or other types of alternative print media. If you’re interested in exhibiting, or need any further information, please email genghisconcleveland@yahoo.com or call Astound Comics 440-835-8055 for any further information.