Courtesy of sonomacountygazette.com

The biggest surprise was how quickly it all came together.

It was only September of last year when Connie Williams, teacher-librarian at Petaluma High School, read an article about the annual San Diego Comic-Con from a library journal and wondered why the Bay Area didn’t have a convention of its own. While not an avid reader of comic books, Williams has many students who are, and she values comics as both a literary and visual learning device. Deciding to try to organize a comic convention here in Sonoma County, she called Nathan Libcap, a librarian at Casa Grande High School; Kate Keaton, then the teen section’s librarian at the Petaluma branch of Sonoma County Library, and Joseph Cochrane, the Petaluma library’s branch manager, to see if they wanted to help.

They were glad to. In fact, everyone was glad to help – Copperfield’s Books, Outer Planes Comics and Games, Brian’s Comics, local professional comic creators and even amateur comic creators attending Casa Grande and Petaluma high jumped at the chance to participate in the convention. “There is nobody who has not said ‘This is a fantastic idea,’” said Williams. “It just took [on] a life of its own.”

Four months later, LumaCon, the Bay Area’s first-ever comic convention, was held on Saturday, Jan. 17, at Herzog Hall in the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds. The focus was on literary skills, featuring both professional and up-and-coming comic creators and illustrators. Volunteers, mostly high school students, ran the convention, setting up the events and asking for donations at the front desk. The majority of the 1500 attendees were kids and teens.

LumaCon had a table for arts and crafts, large blank posters to draw on, an “artist’s alley” that featured both professional and high school artists who gladly drew pictures for anyone who asked, a section that sold baked goods and a makeshift auditorium.

Guests included Stephan Pastis, creator of the popular newspaper strip “Pearls Before Swine,” Paige Braddock, current creative director at the Peanuts Studio and creator of the long-running comic “Jane’s World,” and Thomas Yates, famed comics illustrator and current artist on the long-running newspaper strip “Prince Valliant.” Independent creators included Maia Kobabe, creator and publisher of “Thief’s Tale,” and Alexis E. Fajardo, creator of “Kid Beowulf.”

Brent Anderson, artist on the critically praised comic series “Astro City” was also slated to appear, but couldn’t attend because of a family emergency.

LumaCon’s many events included a live action role-play (LARP), an all-ages cosplay competition that wrapped up the con, and several panels where guests would talk about their experiences. Braddock appeared with Eisner award winner Brian Fies and Leapfrog art director Michael Stribling to talk about their inspirations, their careers and give advice to burgeoning creators about getting started, chief of which was “don’t get discouraged.” Kobabe, Fajardo, blog creator Kim West and Sean Fahey, founder of Black Jack Press, also had their own panel on the risks and rewards of creating and selling their own works. Kobabe related how all her comics were printed out at home and hand-stitched together. Pastis had a panel all to himself, where he spoke of the trials and tribulations of writing a daily news strip and his experiences meeting with his personal idols and famous cartoonists such as Bill Watterson and Charles M. Schulz. There was also a panel on the non-profit Star Wars Museum Rancho Obi-Wan and the life and works of cartoonist Richard Thompson.

Many who attended LumaCon considered it a success. Dan Radovic, owner of Outer Planes, was pleased to see how many kids attended, as attracting youth was one of the main points of the convention.