Went to a comic con in Portland and spotted something wild about the crowd

I was at the Portland Retro Comic Con last Saturday and wandered through the artist alley. What caught my eye was how many fans were carrying stacks of the same 3 indie comics instead of the big DC or Marvel stuff. One guy had like 15 copies of this small press book called "Lucky Dog" which I guess is about a groomer? lol. It made me wonder if people are just burned out on the mainstream or if indie comics are actually getting that much better. Has anyone else seen this shift at their local shows?

2 comments

2 Comments

james_singh77h ago

15 copies of Lucky Dog? Sounds like that guy was either starting his own small press cult or he's the one grooming the dog, haha. I'm all for people getting excited about indie stuff but that's a weird amount of a book about a groomer.

the_jason7h ago

Wait, was that the one at the convention center a couple weeks ago? I was there too and saw the exact same thing with "Lucky Dog" at like three different tables. It blew my mind because people were genuinely excited about it, not just grabbing it for the cover art or a variant gimmick. I overheard a couple folks talking about how the story actually made them cry, which is pretty high praise for a small press book about a dog groomer haha. Honestly, I think a lot of fans are just tired of the same rebooted Batman and X-Men stories every month. The indie scene feels more personal right now, like creators are actually telling stories they care about instead of hitting corporate checkpoints. It's a good problem to have if comic shops are selling out of stuff like that.