This past weekend, the StarWarp Concepts crew rolled into Brooklyn for the second annual Pow Con. So, how’d it go? Well…it could’ve gone better…
Having launched last year at a Brooklyn-based hotel, Pow Con this year expanded to the Brooklyn Expo Center, a glass-paneled gathering place in the fashionable neighborhood called Greenpoint. If the weather hadn’t been so lousy—it rained all day Saturday, sometimes heavily—the view outside might’ve been really nice.
As you can see below, we had a two-table setup in artists’ alley. And since this seemed to be more of a comic-related con, I focused the merchandise being offered to mainly comics, graphic novels, and copies of the X-Men: The Chaos Engine novel trilogy I wrote in the early 2000s—complete with a homemade Cosmic Cube to catch the eye of potential buyers! (Hey, you have to be inventive when it comes to trying to recoup your con expenses.)
Our first sale came about a half hour after the doors opened, but sales overall would be few and far between; at times there seemed to be more vendors than attendees. Maybe the rain chased away a lot of folks, or maybe everybody was over at the New York Boat Show, at the Javits Center (I kid).
Around the time of the first sale, the sweet location we’d snagged became a mixed blessing with regard to the booth diagonally across from us, because that’s where the deejays (whaaat?) were located to serenade us all with almost eight uninterrupted hours (minus panel announcements) of loud, pounding, conversation-killing club music. Imagine being stuck in an endless loop of the rave scene from the first Blade movie—only without the blood sprinklers and vampires—with your seat right in front of the speakers. (And I like Pump Panel’s remix of New Order’s “Confusion.”) But…yeah. Well, at least they were having a good time.
Not that everything was dire, mind you—the rain clouds parted long enough for a rainbow to form high above the streets of Brooklyn! And the people were great, too! Our next-door neighborhood was an extremely talented artist named Sha-Nee Williams, whose work you should definitely give a look-see. Lee Whitley, cohost of the YouTube series The Nerdy Life Show, stopped by to chat about what we do here at ’Warp Central, though the musical accompaniment made it difficult to go into any real depth. And I got into a discussion with Eric Tapper of the digital comic distribution company GlobalComix about the possibility of SWC’s comics joining their growing ranks of titles.
Toward the end of the day, a large crowd gathered around the SWC booth. Unfortunately, they weren’t there to check out our wares, but to attend a raffle drawing and win prizes!
“Bet this is the most people you’ve had at your table all day, huh?” a member of the horde asked with a laugh. I smiled and shrugged. He was right…if you overlook the fact that everyone there is looking in the opposite direction! And once all the prizes were given away, the crowd quickly dispersed.
That was when I happened to notice the wad of packing newspaper that had fallen out of one of the boxes of books during setup and lay on the floor all day under the table. When I picked it up, I was surprised to find it was damp. The heating in the expo center hadn’t kept the cold, rainy air outside from seeping into the building, particularly across the tiling under my feet. I’d thought it odd when I noticed fliers and book covers on the tables starting to curl at corners, but when I ran my hands over every box I’d stored underneath, the dampness was confirmed.
Well, after the low sales and the daylong aural barrage, that was the final indicator it was time to pack up and head home; we wouldn’t be back for day two. After all, I couldn’t leave all my stuff in there and run the risk of damaging the books. So with a heavy sigh, the crew and I tore down the setup and headed to White Castle for some much-needed comfort food. (All right, it’s my idea of comfort food, but still.) And so our excursion to Pow Con 2020 came to an end.
Bottom line? Pow Con is an enthusiastically run show, in a great location (as long as it’s held on dry, sunny days, I suppose), but between the soft sales and the blaring music it’s just not a venue for us. But we wish you nothing but continued success, Pow Con, and thanks for letting us check you out!
