ALLEYCON: A Case Study on Starting Your Own COMIC-CON

Photos by Joseph Chung and Argus Paul Estabrook

Korea is far from being the mecca of comic-cons, but a small group of expats in Gwangju, a city 160 miles south of Seoul is hoping to put their city on the map. Now in its second year, the Gwangju city Alleycon brought together over 200 attendees this past weekend at Kwangju Women’s University to do what fanboys and girls do best. There were video games, Magic the Gathering, Dungeons and Dragon, model Gundams, drawing sessions, erotic origami paper folding, a book swap, cosplay costumes, and even an author and artist Q&A session via Skype with guests including Myke Cole, Robin Hobb, John Hemry, Lar DeSouza, Brooke Stephenson, Ryan Estrada, and Gwangju’s own Jen Lee. For a fledgling con only in its second year, there was literally something for everyone.

Members of the organizing team of Alleycon, which calls itself the Grey Council, sit outside for a quick break. / Joseph Chung

The first Alleycon was held inside a local downtown restaurant, The First Alleyway, the birthplace and namesake of Alleycon. As I sat down inside the restaurant with Alleycon’s event director Jordan VanHartingsveldt, he quickly pointed to a table proudly exclaiming, “This is where it all started at that table right over there!“ The restaurant was a popular hangout spot among the close-knit expat community of Gwangju, and already a gathering spot for all sorts of geekery; to host their first con there seemed like the right thing to do. “Mike Simning, one of the co-owners of the restaurant… he was one of the people who were in on these kinds of things. When we talked about creating our own con, he was like, “No man, we gotta do this. I asked, ”Can we use the Alleyway?” “Yeah!” “But it’s like, we’ll have 60 people in here and that would take up your entire restaurant.” “And? We’ll close it down for the day. That’s why I own this place!”

Alleycon goers retreat back to socialize and eat at The Alleyway after the close of the convention. The Alleyway is the birthplace and namesake of Alleycon. / Joseph Chung

The event turned out to be a smashing success with over 80 attendees taking up every space inside the crowded restaurant. At one point they started turning people away, which was when VanHartingsveldt and the rest of the organizing team, which calls itself the Grey Council realized they had to move out of the restaurant. One of the members on the council happened to be a professor at the local women’s university and put in a request to lease space at the university. When their request was quickly granted, they knew they had their venue.

Nancy Harcar (center), the marketing director of Alleycon and a professor at the university pose with students who are volunteering for the day. / Joseph Chung

Next came the sponsors. As Nancy Harcar, the marketing director explained, “My goal was to make sure that if somebody paid 20,000 won (about 20 USD) for registration, I wanted their registration to be paid off with stuff they get.” To that effect, along with The First Alleyway, the team reached out to as many other vendors as possible to see if they would be interested in getting involved in some way. “Bocabeer gave us 4,000 won off a draft beer with food. Alleyway gave us 2,000 won off a drink or food. Sammy’s Kitchen, which is a Greek restaurant in this area – it’s really good – they gave us two free house wines or a Greek salad. So the sponsors gave us coupons for the bags for everybody and they also donated prizes for the cosplay contests.” Other event sponsors included the local Lotte Cinema, Korea MacPC Guys (an expat run computer repair team,) Pedro’s House (a local guesthouse,) and What The Book (an expat owned bookstore in Itaewon, Seoul) among others.

The Grey Council knew that if they were going to be serious about starting their own comic-con, they’d have to go big or go home. With that in mind, they also began sending messages to various authors and artists to see if they would be interested in participating as guest speakers. It wasn’t an easy proposition; with many of the prospective speakers halfway around the world, any interview would have to be done online via Skype at an inconvenient time. Surprisingly, the team was met with many favorable responses with Myke Cole and John Hemry returning as guest speakers. Along with those who participated via Skype, there were a few local authors who were able to attend this year in person, including Steven Ward, author of the “Coffeeist Manifesto” and Ryan Estrada, author of “Learn to Read Korean in 15 Minutes.”

Ryan Estrada, author of the “Learn to Read Korean in 15 Minutes” short comic was also in attendance manning a “pay what you want” booth. / Argus Paul Estabrook

So what is Alleycon about? It would be easy to think that all of this was about bringing together liked minded folks for a celebration of geek culture, but Alleycon wasn’t without a cause. “Everything that we did at this event, all the money that we’ve made – the silent auctions and all that stuff, it’s all going to charity,” explained VanHartingsveldt. Specifically, the main beneficiary of the event is “Adopt a Child for Christmas,” a program, which aims to surprise children at local orphanages with, gifts for Christmas. Last year, Adopt a Child was able to provide 400 gifts at the local orphanages, but this year, VanHartingsveldt, who also manages the program, is aiming to double that – providing gifts for basically all the orphans in Gwangju.

Jordan VanHartingsveldt, the event director of Alleycon and program manager of “Adopt a Child for Christmas,” which is supported by funds raised at Alleycon. / Argus Paul Estabrook

Starting your own comic-con is no easy task and as one would expect, there are many challenges to overcome. For the organizing team of Alleycon, many of those challenges came in the form of logistics such as finding available resources for things like t-shirt printers and button makers, but with the help of other team members, were able to find what they needed. For those looking to start their own comic-con, VanHartingsveldt had this advice: “Surround yourself with people you trust, people who crave success as much as you do… I want you to see something. Look at all the groups of people (at the Alleyway) just sitting around and stuff. You can walk around, and shake hands with everyone in this place.”