Spring into Comics! impressions

Rarely can you find anything to do for $10 a person, not to mention getting the kids in for free, right? Well, every trip around the sun for the last seven trips, Jonathan Beckner from Snake Eyes Comics in Knoxville, TN has put together a convention called Spring into Comics! the entire family can attend affordably. This year, like every year before, I made the trip back to Knoxville to attend. This year, bigger and better than the year before, was a huge success! Let's figure out why!

Location

This convention, years ago, started as most do: in the back part of a hotel. Back then, Jonathan had vendors, cosplay, and crafts for families and friends to meet, have some fun, and celebrate comics. Following the success, Spring into Comics! has moved to a local event center to accommodate the growing size. This year, the entire main area was all convention. The flow has never been better. Parking was painless, check-in was easy, and the smiling faces as you enter made the vibes right from the beginning.

Vendors

There were more than 120 tables filled and over 70 vendors in attendance. Each one had something a little different, since most of the vendors had standalone stores themselves, traveled for cons, or were locals wanting to sell some comics or figures. There were also many artists, authors, pencillers, and more! Some of the highlights of the event were Level-Up (cards, DnD, and more), SJI Drawings (a 16-year-old artist of all things Spider-Man), Utopia Toys (figures and more), Token Game Tavern/Space Bar/BitBurger (local hangout spot and burger joint), and Alex Osborne (Polar Destroyer comic series).

Guests

A really cool part of conventions is meeting creators and artists who have impacted the landscape of different mediums and genres. This year, Spring into Comics! had a comic-lovers dream lineup (and a superstar Star Wars guest). These included Jae Lee (Superman, Sentry), Brad Simpson (Feral, Stray Dogs, Invisible Man), Mike Decarlo (Batman: Death in the Family, Legion of Super-heroes, Tales of the Teen Titans), Mike Kunkel (look him up, he was a lot of our childhoods), and more! For some icing on the cake, they got Timothy Zahn! Zahn is the mind behind Grand Admiral Thrawn (the Thrawn Trilogy in Legends and the Thrawn series in canon), the Icarus Series, the Dragonback series, and so much more!

I had a chance to sit down with Mr. Zahn and talk Star Wars with him. When asked, "When you are having to work from stories like Thrawn Alliances, that you're having to rework into a comic book... What's the process of how you work with the artists? How do you trim things down?"

He responded, "I will take the original manuscript, chop out all of the 'he said' and description, then put whatever description I need to into the comic for the artist to know. I just keep the dialogue, trim that back where needed and such. Then I give my ideas to the artist, the artist takes that and does what he or she sees is best, 'cause they're the artist. They know how to do this better than I do. And then it runs through the editorial process. I get the rough sketches, so I see where everything is supposed to be. Then I got some semifinal stuff, and then the final. So I'm involved in the whole whole process and they'll have comments."

When asked about Anakin Skywalker and Thrawn's working relationship, he said, "I don't remember having any problems with it. I mean, I'd seen Anakin in, obviously, the movies and the Clone Wars series. I had a fairly good sense of how he would react [to Thrawn], how he would do things. He is certainly something of a control freak. But Thrawn likes to be in charge too. I remember getting a couple of questions from Lucasfilm with the final manuscript saying, 'Why is Vader putting up with him?' And the answer is threefold. Or at least, twofold. One, the Emperor obviously still has use for Thrawn. This is not an admiral Admiral Ozzel situation. The Emperor wants him (Thrawn) alive. But also, even though Vader does not consider himself Anakin, that's the Jedi." Zahn talks from Vader's perspective here, "'That's not me. I've got those memories...' And Vader has seen Thrawn pull rabbits out of hats before. So he will be patient; he'll give him more slack. 'What's he going to pull out this time?  Yeah. I can always kill him' But let's see what he's got going. Maybe it'll be interesting.' I love that. So, yeah, it was fun to do. I mean, that's why Vader puts up with him; because he has seen him in action." We want to thank Mr. Zahn for his time!

During the two-day event, there was also a live podcast recording from Lisa and Brad Gullickson, hosts of the Comic Book Couples Counseling show. They talked with Jonathan about the show and more!

The guests were a lot of fun to chat with throughout my time at the event. Each one had a different reason to get into comics, but all of the guests were there to celebrate comics.

Reason to Exist

The "why" of things always interests me. Why would someone who runs a store go out of his way to create a convention and take on all of the responsibility? Well, Jonathan wanted to do this to celebrate the arts. All of the arts. While comics are a centerpiece, all art is welcome. It's why he goes out of his way to include cosplay, local artists and painters, and even teamed up with a small theater called Central Cinema. The theater actually did a showing of The Empire Strikes Back with Timothy Zahn there to give a talk. The combination of so much art is not only inclusive, it's purposeful. While you might only read Hellboy, meeting the artist behind Stray might get you into an entirely new genre. A special reason to create and take on this project.

End of Day

Spring into Comics! might not be the biggest convention out there, but the vibes are fun and the cost is affordable. My friend took his step-daughter to the con, and not only did she get in for free, but she came home with a bag full of free stuff from all of the vendors. Coloring books, candy, toys, and much more! If you're in the area, be sure to check out Spring into Comics! in 2027!