What it's like being an Oz Comic-Con Creator
- Patrick Lyne
- 5 hours ago
- 3 min read
For exhibitors, Oz Comic-Con is more than just an expo. As one of Australia’s biggest pop culture conventions, it’s a major platform for small Australian creators to get their name heard and to connect with the community.
With 400 exhibitors ranging from artists and authors to commercial retailers and celebrity guests, the event saw 30,000 attendees participating in events and buying fandom merchandise.
The biggest allure of Comic-Con was the Artist Alley where local, interstate, and international artists made their home for the weekend.
Also sharing the space was a small handful of novel authors and comic book artists.
For creators, local conventions are one of the prime ways they get recognition, and according to them, the sales they receive sometimes eclipse their usual all-year round profits.
Comic-Con regulars would likely recognise a few faces, but while some exhibitors may be veterans, attending was a first for author Roy V. Marshan.
Marshan was promoting the release of his debut dystopian novel Deprivation.
He has been writing since he was a kid, and after a stint in writing short stories, he was able to publish his first novel a few weeks ago. But breaking into the industry in current times isn’t easy.
“With the growth of AI, things are changing rapidly and it’s a lot harder to get your name out there,” he told me.
Events like Comic-Con help creators like Marshan gain recognition.
“It’s definitely tougher, but there’s still space for new authors. It’s still possible to get your book out there and be at one of these events. It’s fun and there’s definitely a crowd for it.”
A source of support in the Australian writing scene is the speculative fiction collective and publisher, Meridian Australis, who had a booth not far from Marshan.
Established in 2023, Meridian Australis has worked to uplift Australian writers. Their booth had a variety of books they had published, which ranged from anthologies and short story collections to novels.
“The traditionally-published market is getting increasingly competitive,” says author Thomas K. Slee.
“They’re taking fewer and fewer risks. But there are many more options for getting your work out there on your own. The same thing happened to music about fifteen years ago, where you could release your own music and organise your own tours without a big label behind you.”
It was also Slee’s first time attending Comic-Con on behalf of Meridian Australis.
“There’s so many crazy costumes, and everyone looks like they’re having a great time. It’s been really nice talking to people and seeing them interested in our work.”
But novel authors aren’t the only ones trying to find a name for themselves in today’s market. True to its name, Oz Comic-Con was sporting an alley of comic book creators, with one booth dedicated to Australian comic book publisher Gestalt Publishing.
Trev Wood, who has been making comics for twenty years, operated the stall
He had a professional career in media before starting his comic book journey as an independent webcomic creator, before being picked up by Gestalt Publishing.
“I loved it, but you’re so dependent on so many people. I was finding that really challenging,” Wood said.
“It’s so much easier to create, but so much harder to find an audience(...) It’s never been easier to create something, but will people discover you in the noise?”
Next to Wood was Gestalt Publishing founder Wolfgang Bylsma, who spoke about some of the difficulties of being a comic book creator.
“It’s making people see comic books as a valid form of literary expression. There’s still some prejudice against it. For our first few years we’ve published, teachers and librarians weren’t embracing it as an artform. ‘You need to read real books.’ These are real books. But in the past decade or so, there has been far more acceptance,” Bylsma said.
Oz Comic-Con has carved out a home for Australian creators and has been running consistently since 2012.
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