🌈 Memory Lane Recap: Panel 1 Calgary Comic Arts Festival

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Hello again!

Panel one left 5th year thank you cards in their care packages for all vendors, but Achiru has photo evidence to prove they've actually had 6 events in total. We suppose they didn't count the first one since they weren't fully registered as an association at that time yet.

The Myth of Eros and Psyche was still in the process of being printed at this time. Achiru had a demo copy, double-sided postcards, bookmarks and mousepads. The mousepads were popular at this time. The yellow flowers were added by Achiru's mom, who insisted that it would bring life to the table. She took this photo.

The Myth of Eros and Psyche is finally in print!!! Clearly this was when Achiru's signature business outfit emerged, along with the first two volumes of the Mann and Lucky Channel. Achiru's mother passed away shortly after the first event, so she added her own yellow bouquet in her memory.

Achiru was experimenting with lots of different products this year, including small hardcover artbooks and coasters. Both products have since been discontinued, as they were too high a price point to keep making.

This was Matt's first time having a table to himself! He was still working on the concept of Quest for Hire, but did a few short one-shot comics to boost his confidence to prove to his ego that he CAN do it.

And lo-and-behold, the first issue of Quest for Hire emerged after the pandemic. Next to Matt is James, our colour flatter for this series. We had lots of fun signing a ton of copies! Matt also began to embrace his wacky side instead of trying to smile like a normal person.

Achiru brought waaaay too much stuff at her table coming back from social isolation. We have twelve volumes of the Mann and Lucky Channel now! Despite the low sales, she was really happy to be tabling again regardless as a way to celebrate all her hard work with the local comic community.

Matt has stickers and business cards now! AND a finished story arc! It was really cool to see kids return with their parents to pick up the next two issues. We will be announcing on social media sometime near the end of the month when the remaining issues will be available to order online.

Being at the NYC Rainbow Book Fair helped Achiru figure out what authors were doing right at literary events. Simplifying her table display to focus on explaining the contents of each book helped with sales. Not everyone is going to pick up and read the summary on the back, so make it visible as they walk on by! The art only does so much to capture interest when you are selling a story.

On a final note, Achiru hopes what you take away from this recap is to persevere through whatever obstacles present themselves along the way. There will be losses, detours, and things that won't go the way your ego would like, ever. For example, Achiru didn't plan to forget her mailing list clipboard at home, or forget to charge the credit machine the night before. Thankfully since set up was an hour before the event began and most people didn't arrive until noon, she had just enough time to charge the machine by the time the first sale needed it (it takes at least 2 hours to power up; crazy), and drive back to get her clipboard and pick up her friend who had a car breakdown the day before, all while not being able to sleep. As people, our jobs are to simply show up and be who we want to keep being.

We hope you enjoyed this little trip down memory lane and to continue to bear witness to our book making journeys!

Cheers,

Matt and Achiru

ACHIRU.COM

🌈 Memory Lane Recap: Panel 1 Calgary Comic Arts Festival

ACHIRU.COM

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(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ Comic and Zine Market ✧ Art Gallery of Alberta ✧