Hickory Con Fun
by Matt Starnes
Last Saturday Sketch Charlotte members Tom, John, Herc, Diego, and myself made the 45 minute drive to Hickory, NC. Never heard of Hickory? Well, it is most known for furniture. Yep, furniture. They make and sell a ton of furniture. We decided to add comic books to Hickory’s fame.
The convention organizers Tim and Eddie were nice and had Sketch Charlotte set up in a nice spot near the middle of the con. We were told the convention would draw about 500 to 600 people. The consensus among the artists, writers, and retailers I spoke with estimated less than those numbers but we had a great time.
Hickory Con was our first con as a group so it was practice run. Things we need for next time are: a banner, business cards, and a group bio sheet so people can find out more about us.
Here goes a shout out to 803 studios and artist Buddy Price.
About half the floor was devoted to Naruto Card gaming. The rest of the con was heavy on golden and silver age comics. There were a few creators and studios and even some newer comics being sold but not a lot.
I feel the convention was a good bonding experience for us. A special thanks to Herc for driving the group to the con. We had a blast joking in the car.
I hope we can go to many more cons in the future.
Here’s a link to Time Tunnel Comics http://www.timetunnelcomics.com/ and the Hickory Con http://www.hickorycon.com/. It looks like there will be another Hickory Con Saturday, March 31.
Upcoming conventions: Greenville, SC in October and Charlotte, NC in November.
Do you know of any more upcoming conventions? Let us know.