Q&A: Trickster Hits Comic-Con
What Slamdance is to Sundance, Trickster will be to Comic-Con. At least that’s what we’re thinking. Part pop-up gallery, part retail store, part DIY idea lab, Trickster is the indie comic’s answer to that behemoth of all comic book conventions, Comic-Con. Created by Scott Morse and Ted Mathot, two Pixar story artists who are also independent cartoonists, Trickster–which runs concurrent to Comic-Con just down the street–is where collectors and creators can converge in a more intimate space to celebrate the little guy as well as learn from those who are making it big. From free “Printing Your Book” workshops and live music to cocktails and ticketed symposiums featuring “Hell Boy” creator Mike Mignola and “Watchmen” co-creator Dave Gibbons, Trickster sounds like it really could be the next big small thing. I asked Morse about the inspiration for Trickster, what he hopes it achieves and why the heck does anyone still care about comic books anyway?
When did the idea first strike you to branch out and create Trickster? Do you see it more as an indie-driven complement or competition to Comic-Con?
TR!CKSTER was born from a Facebook page entitled “Creator-Con” which has generated a lively discussion amongst comics professionals and fans over the past two years. The general feeling was that professionals who create and own their own work, along with their fanbase, were looking for a venue to readily and prominently promote their work. This venue would theoretically be a place where artists, storytellers, and fans could communicate in an atmosphere of casual conversation while still being able to have their work available–a place where ONLY their work was the focus.
We thought about all of the comments and devised TR!CKSTER not as a convention but as a store mixed with a gallery and a symposia workshop area. We were lucky enough to score a venue with a full restaurant liquor license and music permit, and suddenly we found ourselves with a unique setting where we could turn a “work trip” into more of a vacation with work involved. As such, and as a venue celebrating the process of creating and core creators working in various storytelling media, we view TR!CKSTER as more of a unique compliment to the San Diego Comic Con than competition. Many of the participants at TR!CKSTER have booths on the convention center floor as well. TR!CKSTER will offer a chance for people to find like-minded work focused in one central location, with the professionals behind the work enjoying a cocktail and engaging in conversation.
Why the name Trickster?
We really wanted a moniker that would embody the themes and ideas behind the “do-it-yourself” movement and creating and owning your own work. Throughout the world’s legends, mythologies, folktales and religions you find the unique quantity of the “trickster” archetype, a character that walks the thin line between the gods and man. “Tricksters” have no allegiance to anyone but themselves, unless it benefits themselves to form an allegiance. They’re focused and driven on a singular path of self-reward, walking a distinct path to a distinct goal. Any artist can relate to this: self-satisfaction and being true to yourself almost always generates a more intimate and meaningful piece of work than something created by committee. We want to empower potential artists and storytellers, and working storytellers, to grab the bull by the horns and drive your own cart.
What’s missing from the mainstream Comic-Con experience that Trickster offers? What do you hope to achieve?
Honestly, we hope to achieve a good time. We’re hoping to create an inviting and friendly environment with unique commodities in art, books, workshops, and entertainment–things that will help inspire people to want to create things themselves and continue to feed the world’s need for unique voices in cultural arts and storytelling, be it comics, film, music, comedy, or what have you.
What is the relevance of comic books in the digital age?
I think storytelling in the comics medium is relevant in ANY age just by its inherent structure: a marriage of prose and visuals that work together to tell a unique story. Whether it’s delivered to an audience digitally or as a physical object to collect and cherish and own and share is the trick. I think there’s a sense of connection and ownership with a physical object–a book–that a digital download of the same material doesn’t deliver. There’s an important part of the storytelling process in the design and execution and choices over physical properties like paper stock and ink. They add to a sense of time and place and are more readily incorporated into the memory of the story being read or told for the first time. They become part of a nostalgic event.
What are the biggest trends in comic books today?
Comics tend to fall into at least two camps: popular or franchise work; and personal, creator-owned work. There are trends in each camp but the biggest change I’ve seen embraced over the past few years is the movement to longer form, finite storytelling vs. episodic periodical storytelling. In the latter you tend to deal with characters that need to last and survive through multiple experiences. In that scenario you have an ingredient of characters that have limited sets of “stakes” in the plotlines, characters that by their nature cannot be allowed to “change” or develop without a “revamp,” a “reboot,” or a “re-imagining.” So those trends become prominent for the survival of franchise characters. “Character” is sacrificed in some or most instances in favor of plot dynamics. It’s not “bad” per se, it’s just a different animal in storytelling, and a trend that’s trackable and undeniable.
Do you see Hollywood as helping or hurting the independent comic illustrator/creator?
Hollywood offers a set of tools to tell stories in a different medium than comics. Whether the stories in question, the characters in question, are ripe for translating to a different medium is the real question. Hollywood doesn’t “hurt” comics or illustrators. The creators are people with the capacity of making choices–whether they make the right choices for their particular stories is what helps them or hurts them, I think. Some things just work as a comic and require a great deal of change, modification, and adaption to work for film mechanics. And the issue of franchise characters comes up again: are stories more or less relatable or watchable if a character goes through a grounded “gettable” character arc or if a character never “learns” and is simply plugged into new situations? I think both are valid, but many comics aren’t translatable to film because they’re limited in scope or their scope is TOO broad. In the end, for me, it’s about the creators of these stories making the right decisions for their work.
Any advice for those who aspire to have a financially sustainable career in comic books?
Work at telling stories, work at listening to others tell stories, pay attention to everything around you as far as technique, theory, and method, and be confident in your “voice.” Be prepared to not make any money, but be overly prepared to do the best work you can. Finish a project and move on to the next … don’t dwell on redoing what you’ve done, but learn from what you’ve done. And stick to it!
TR!CKSTER goes on Tuesday, July 19 – Sunday, July 24 @ San Diego Wine & Culinary Center, 200 Harbor Drive, Ste 120, San Diego, CA 92101. Free daily admission; $35 for each symposium.
More info: www.trickstertrickster.com
Lifestyle writer Mar Yvette is on a mission to bring you the best people, places, and products to make your life pop!
I’s about time the little guy gets his day – Comi-Con is overrated filled with posers and too many celebrities hawking their stuff – its’ about the comics and the art not the fame. Good work Trickster!