Welcome to ACES WEEKLY Volume 64, Week Two!

Friends, I've just been to a very comics-reader-friendly comic show in Texas - and by that I mean not the huge kind of event I often find myself attending, where things linked to comics and other things totally unlinked are preponderant. This show was designed to max on comics in a way that harked back to days when comic cons were mainly about comics, before they segued into becoming bigger and more wide-ranging pop culture events that effectively diluted the strength of appeal that comics previously had at such shows.  At the Texas show there there were still displays of the many peripherals of comics and merchandise that are irremovably connected to the market now, plus some stalls of things unrelated to comics, but they were marginal to the main. Major industry figures like Jae Lee, Mike Grell, and Nancy Collins, were there, alongside newer talents and indie creators in a great mix that was more like a local arts fayre than a convention.  It was the handiwork of a dedicated comics aficionado named Jerry Shafer, who works hard every year to make it happen in the face of recurring struggles that need overcoming.  I've mentioned before in these pieces I write about how comics inspires more passion and dedication from its readers and artists than almost any other entertainment, but that passion reaches a higher level when it involves great organizational effort and money-juggling to evoke a past that most in the comics world have accepted won't come back.  But that's the power of comics for you - it keeps you doing something good that you might have second thoughts about doing if you were a little saner. Of course, at Aces Weekly, we know all about that, too... : )  Stay safe, all!

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