Photo by OnceandFutureLaura. Used under a Creative Commons license.
GeekGirl Con‘s time had come. Women have had panels devoted to them here and there — with, for the most part, the same topics, the same panelists, and, alas, the same problematic moments — at behemoth geek convergences like Comic-Con International for years. Could they have a convention of their own? Would it be a success?
After the past weekend’s GeekGirl Con, we now know: Yes and yes! I wrote about GeekGirl Con for Publishers Weekly before it began. In my interview with her, the convention’s public relations person Kiri Callaghan said they were expected a turnout of 1000 attendees. They did better than that — the convention sold out, with 1600 attendees, not counting guests. [Update: The number is now estimated at 2000 attendees a day, according to GeekGirl Con president Erica McGillivray.]
I was lucky enough to be a last-minute addition as a guest (though I had already planned to go), and was on a panel with Rachel Edidin from Dark Horse and Mariah Huehner from IDW and Conlan Press. We talked about what it’s like to be women in the comics industry, which is so often fraught with debates about sexism and representation. Our panel replaced one that had been canceled and people were still trickling into registration at the start of it, but thanks to some tweeting by Rachel, Mariah, and me and some re-Tweeting courtesy of Gail Simone, we got a nice little audience who seemed interested in what we had to say.
Among them was Heidi Alayne, who asked for us to review her portfolio. We advised her to start posting her lovely comic Summoned Creature as a web comic to start building an audience. This was the first indication to me of what GeekGirl Con proved to be all about: Doing It Yourself.
The exhibitors, the panels, the seminars, and the workshops all centered on this theme of being active, whether it was making your own jewelry or your own comic; whether it was writing books, movies, and TV shows or analyzing them — or dressing up like characters from them. The fans at GeekGirl Con were more engaged than any I’ve encountered. They weren’t there to collect free swag or make deals. They were there to be active in their community and have fun.
Mateo made some new friends.
The environment was a joyful one. Children in costume ran in the courtyard and played in the aisles during the Geeks Raising Geeks panel. Mateo followed Batgirl around (the same Batgirl who famously asked Dan Didio a question), played with Stormtroopers and Mandalorian mercenaries, as well as with other kids. Gail Simone asked to look at his Fisher-Price Batgirl, which is a moment that all of her fans can only wish they had. At the Geeks Raising Geeks panel, the panelists showed that geek moms are essential in nurturing the next generation of geeks.
I hope the spirit of the convention can be carried into New York Comic Con, into WonderCon, right on to Comic-Con International. It showed that geek girls aren’t rare, aren’t novelties, aren’t eye candy; they are integral part of the community — and they just may have a thing or two to teach those who are still stuck in a boys’ club mindset.
[...] Impossibilities It’s the Geek Girls’ World “GeekGirl Con‘s time had come. Women have had panels thrown to them here and there — [...]
[...] more about our GeekGirl Con adventure, read my write-up at my [...]
love your writing! you are ahead of your time, so naturally many people will challenge you. Keep up the excellent writing, so refreshing, so courageous.