I attended the Fluke convention in Athens, Georgia this past weekend. For those who are unfamiliar with Fluke…it’s a small convention held upstairs in Tasty World in downtown Athens. Consisiting of nothing but independant and self-published comic creators, Fluke was definately a thrill. About 25-35 comic creators set up their tables with their art and comics (comix). Among the guests were Top Shelf’s Andy Runtun (of Owly fame) and J Chris Campbell (of, well, the bizarre). Most were local or from surrounding states. The great thing about this convention was it was small and intimate. There were no comic dealers selling their back-issues of superhero comics. Their were no costumes. No dealers selling action figures. And especially, and thankfully, no manga or anime (except for one creator).

There were only comics by people like you and I. There were even comics for a penny! The intimate setting was a great way to talk to the creators, and even stand there reading their books. There weren’t any distractions.

And there was a good turn-out. The people there seemed genuinely interested in the self-published books. These are readers who want something more than your usual superhero style of storytelling.

Now don’t get me wrong…I love me some Dragoncon and superhero titles. But it was nice to be able to enjoy something different and more personal. Sure, there were obviously some artists there who threw their books together on folded typing paper. But that was almost the beauty of it. The artists could create their own comics the way they wanted to. There was even a little girl sitting with her comic-creator father who drew her own comics and sold them. According to her dad, her comics sold better than his!

So next year, for something a little different, and more real and intimate, take a trip to Athens, Georgia and experience a con like no other (in Georgia at least). You won’t be disappointed.

6 Responses to “Fluke 2008”

  1. Rich Says:
    April 14th, 2008 at 12:37 pm

    I had a great time too, and now have a whole stack of stuff to read. SWEET.

  2. freakengine Says:
    April 15th, 2008 at 1:30 am

    WHAT?! No Costumes??? How can you even call that a con?

    ;)

    NO, RLY.

  3. Marco Milone Says:
    April 15th, 2008 at 5:25 am

    Nice!

  4. Patrick Dean (a FLUKE organizer) Says:
    April 15th, 2008 at 9:54 am

    Concerning the costumes, you’re wrong. I saw several folks dressed up in Jeffery Brown costumes and one guy carrying a rag who did a dead on Joe Matt.

    Thanks for enjoying FLUKE. It’s nice to get positive feedback on this show. Every year we expect to barely break even and it’s nice when people show up and have first-timers leave feeling like they went to a microscopic version of SPX held in a bar down in the South.

  5. peatmuppet Says:
    April 15th, 2008 at 9:59 pm

    For those who are unfamiliar with him, Patrick Dean does a wonderful comic/’zine called Big Deal which collects his strips throughout the years. I grabbed #6 from him and loved every bit of it. Bizarre and funny as heck! And I enjoyed discussing the Athens music scene with him. Great guy. I look forward to seeing him at Fluke next year.

  6. satanstaint Says:
    April 30th, 2008 at 11:55 am

    Comics are for overweight or underwieght guys who never get laid, right? ;)

    ~st

    (I’ll be a Fluker next year, definitely. )

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