Author: Alex Ayala

Want to check out Houston’s premier indie comic con again this year! Don’t miss out, as we present to you our first outdoor show at the Esplanade at Navigation in east downtown. Doing an outdoor event presents us with the opportunity to present the craft of indie comics to a wider audience. Because of this we are able to make the event for free for everybody wanting to visit.

Also, because we are working with another nonprofit, we could pass on the savings to our vendors. This will be our test run to see whether doing an outdoor show is worth doing for next year. At the moment we’ve maxed out on all the spots if you were interested in vending with us, but either way, plan to come out and enjoy the show. As much as we wanted to do panels at the event, we just didn’t have the space for it (this would not be an issue if we did a two-since we’d have the entire venue to ourselves the next time around).

Come out and lend these local artists your support, all the while checking out what’s going on in the indie comic’s world. Of course we’ll have other artists and creative vendors at our show, so you can’t miss out.

As we stroll through 2024, we begin to see more conventions supporting the independent comic creator. Shows like Bedrock City Mini Con, Eastern Rim, and the return of Staple! gives us hope that the demand for stories from a new and unique perspective is thriving. Not only are some of these artists breaking into the industry, but they those flourishing from the work that they do. These kind of things are not unheard of, there are several successful adaptions from independent comic creators. Everything from Kickass, The Boys, Paper Girls, Invincible, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and The Walking Dead just to mention a few, have proven that the entertainment industry is always thirsty for a fresh perspective.

But reality seems to hit harder when we see the local guys that are closer to home bang on the Hollywood drum. We see the likes of Benn Dunn –creator of Antarctic Press– who sold the rights to his comic “Warrior Nun” to Netflix, where they produced two solid seasons (we hear that a third season being discussed on a different platform). Now we have the likes of Scott Chitwood under Red 5 Comics, with a film adaption of their comic “Afterburn”, which is being played by A-list actors such as David Bautista and Samuel L. Jackson. This comes to show us all that it pays to persevere in this game and although these achievements are nothing to balk at, it shines a new light of inspiration to all the creators out there making new worlds worth diving into.

Speaking of shining a light, Comic Indie Con is proud to have an event for 2024! There was an enormous amount of positive feedback at the show, with some artists even asking if we would be open to doing a two-day show. And although we don’t have immediate plans for this, we will definitely be keeping our options open in the future. For now, we would love to bring back the same indie energy we had going from 2023, and we hope to bring in a fresher taste for all things indie in 2024! Although our focus is indie comics, by no means are we isolating other fantastic independent works. We hope to bring in local indie board game creators, indie novelists, and especially some crafty indie artists and their awesome merch!

Don’t miss out this year! Be sure to mark your calendars! This year we will be at Silver Street Studios on Saturday, September 21st, at 10 am.

Let’s help Comic Indie Con run another year for 2024!

Everything we do at this show is out of pocket, which means there is no outside funding of any kind. It is a labor of love. We need your help to make this a regular event. There are so many plans to turn this into a monster event, but it all requires funding.

We help local comic creators get seen with events like this. By donating, you are helping local talent grow!

With your help we can not only run the event for another year, but have additional programs within the event.

Bid now to show your support!

Ever since the pandemic, many cons have been in hiatus while others have taken interesting approaches such as going virtual. Nevertheless, creativity has continued churning and our indie artists have been busy crafting amazing stories. We not only want to be the voice for these artists who use comics as their choice of medium to tell their stories, but we strive to build a community where creativity continues to thrive. Here in Houston, we are a tapestry of cultures woven together to bring forth something unseen anywhere else, and the creatives here have proven their worth by not only achieving a name for theirselves, but also by winning prestigious awards (such as the Will Eisner Award).

What we hope to bring together at this year’s show will be much more refined and focused on the indie comics being produced. As a group of storytellers our aim is to entertain, whether it be through action, comedy, horror or sci-fi, or whatever the genre. We not only want to bring forth something unique, but we want to bring it with an unfiltered character that big publishers sometimes strip away. If you’re looking for inspiration or education, come check out our panels directly from the indie artists themselves. This year we’ll have games, music, panel discussions, competitions and more. We invite you all to come check out the best indie comics that Houston has to offer!

We look forward to seeing you this year, where Comic Indie Con will be hosted at Silver Street Studios on Saturday December 2nd from 10am till 6pm.