Sharing My Story

(I interrupt my Campus Crusade account with
a more immediate report of my life)

How can on sum up an experience like a modern
Comic Book convention that swells to the size of a
small city over a four day period? How can one
describe the ebb and flow of surging crowds that
are in such a hurry to go--where? The Comic Con
International: San Diego is a cultural phenomenon
that acts both as a barometer of popular culture
and an influence of that culture.

This weekend (July 24-27, 2008) I attended the
39th San Diego Comic-Con. I attended with several
purposes. Most central is my involvement in the
Christian Comic Arts Society. This time we extended
our small press table for the 12th year. We were
flanked on each side by representatives of other
spiritual traditions, Diablo Publishing and Necroscope.
Curious passersby surreptitiously snapped digital
photos of this seemingly odd confluence of soulish
persuasions. Our tracts and other freebies found
ready acceptance and flew off the table. Also our
book sales were much better than last year. Numerous
Christian believers who stopped by were encouraged
by what they saw. Even Superman who claimed to be
a Baptist stopped by for a visit. It was his 70th
anniversary. He didn't look a day over 40.

We also had a CCAS sponsored "Spirituality in Comics"
panel. We make efforts to diversity our panelists and
our move in that different this year was Holly Golightly,
the happy and bright red-haired wiccan, who has written
Sabrina the Teen aged Witch. This panel perhaps covered
familiar territory but it did provide food for thought for
those unaccustomed to thinking in terms of the deeper
nature of popular media.

Saturday CCAS sponsored our first open forum get together
of Christian fans and creators. We didn't know what to
expect but there was a good turn out of mostly young
people (and rightly so) where introductions were made
with a brief summary of CCAS history followed by an
unstructured time of visiting. This could very well become
another CCAS convention tradition.

The next morning we had our traditional Sunday chapel
service. Robert Luedke, writer/artist of the Eye Witness
graphic novel series, gave an excellent devotional that
ended up challenging the audience to make comics,
graphic novels, artwork, costume design, sculpture and
other creative projects for next year's convention. Kevin
Yong video tapped the session as well as the Spirituality
in Comics panel the day before. This was followed by a panel
lead by Leo Partible that discussed trends and happenings
with the Christian comics field. On the panel were Luedke,
Robert Flores, Sergio Cariello, Clint Johnson and Jerrell
Conner. This was likewise a very good panel with the
participants grappling with issues of how to do comics
from the heart of a Christian believer.

As with all conventions the four days slipped away into
the files of memory and lots of good and not so good
digital photos. Overall this was a very encouraging
experience for everyone.

(This is my short convention report--a longer one
should follow in the not too distance future.)