Breanna Kulkin
Exhibitors feature comics, zines, prints, shirts and more.
“Every year it's a different set of exhibitors,” said illustrator and designer Sequoia Bostick. “We have a couple of big names and then we also have some people who are just starting out, which is nice to have that mixture.”
Held on Thanksgiving weekend, the convention has been a fixture in Cleveland’s art scene to buy, browse, discuss and learn about independent art since 2009. And it keeps growing.
“There was no Cleveland-based comic convention that was about comics or small press, independent comics,” said co-creator John G, a Cleveland-based illustrator and comic maker.. “A lot of the shows were more dealer-centric pop culture things where people were more celebrating mainstream commercial stuff, so Scott [Rudge] and I would always talk about how this would be a great place to do a show.”
Following the success of convention workshops last year, Genghis Con has been hosting a series of workshops leading up to the event at the Community Arts Center, and will feature workshops at the convention itself.
“One of our workshops is specifically for kids, it's going to be drawing anime and it's really cool because I believe we have a young artist actually running that workshop,” Bostick said. “But all of the rest of the workshops are free and open to the public and they'll be things that range from writing your own zine story to coming up with new characters.”
Bostick, who first attended the convention while studying at the Cleveland Institute of Art in 2013, is now an organizer of Genghis Con.
“The small press community, and this is something that I've kind of discovered since I started making comics on my own, there's a zine or comics community everywhere…They're a really unique breed of artists, I think. It's just cool that you're able to kind of come up with your own stories or come up with your own content, and be able to share that content with other people,” said Bostick.
Beyond zines, comics and prints, the convention will also feature a game room hosted by Superscript Comics and Games where attendees can play Dungeons and Dragons, and roleplaying and board games.
“It's really cool if you really like art, if you really like comics. It's really cool if you're a big fan of some of our exhibitors, you can be able to meet them in person,” Bostick said. “And also it's just bringing a community together.”
The convention will run from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Pivot Art Center. Information about workshops, exhibitors and more can be found here.
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