Bmore Nerdy

Posted on Tuesday, August 17th, 2010 at 1:28 pm

Chances are, if you’re reading this blog, you’re probably into comics, art, music, blogging and the internet.  And, also just as likely, you’re living in Maryland.

Well, you’re in luck, as there’s an upcoming convention that is aiming for you, dear reader! That convention is called Intervention, and it is set for it’s debut event September 10th through 12th at the Hilton Washington DC/Rockville.

To get to the nuts and bolts of Intervention, and how it came to be, I recently interviewed the convention’s head, Onezumi Hartstein about the inaugural show, what she expects to deliver to fans, and what she feels about the rumored “clash” between Intervention and the like-minded Small Press Expo, also in Rockville that weekend.  I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Onezumi for a number of years now, and I can say her work ethic and want to bring only the best to fans is second to none, and I feel like it will be especially on display at Intervention.

Before you read, a full disclosure – one of the featured events for Intervention is Super Art Fight, a show/organization I am a member of.

Q: First things first – for our readers unfamiliar with you and your works, what is your name, and what do you do?

I’m Onezumi Hartstein. You can call me Oni because it’s easier. I write and draw Stupid and Insane Defenders Against Chaos at Onezumi.com , I blog at Onezumiverse.com, and I just started my own creator-focused art and technology convention called Intervention.

Q: Obviously, all big journeys start with a single step – what was the first convention you ever worked at, and what brought you there?

Hmm…this is a hard one since it’s been many conventions ago. I believe it was Katsucon 2006. They needed some help organizing the webcomics section, and figured that I’d be the person to ask. I’m infamous for getting work done on time and I know a huge number of other webcomics.

Q: When did you decide to make the transition to working behind the scenes?

I don’t think I ever really formally decided; I was drafted! I do think though that I’ve always had the notion I would get involved with cons—I always loved them when I was younger. Some of my earliest encouragement to keep on going with my art was from people I met at cons, so I find it natural to continue that tradition and encourage the next group of artists.

Q: And after all that, why did you decide it was the time to start a convention of your own?

I wanted to start my own event back in 2003 when I first started touring in support of my comic. It has always been a goal of mine. The positive effects that creativity can have on people are clear to me. Art, comics. and technology were always there for me when I was growing up in the poor area of Pittsburgh. It is the main reason I made it through college. A lot of the libraries and free art programs I used are now gone.

At first, I got involved with a lot of other events. I found that there are a lot of really nice conventions out there. I have much love for all of my friends running those events. Still, none of them do things exactly the way I envisioned. Most conventions are focused on publishers or large companies. Intervention is meant to compliment those cons by focusing on independent people who use the Internet as the primary way to distribute their work. Other conventions have been gracious enough to have us for years now. It just seemed like a natural progression to start an event focusing on this underground scene. We are focusing on webcomics and other such self published creatives because we believe that they are the future.

Q: For people who have never been to a convention before, what should they expect from Intervention?

We have educational panels that will teach you how to become a creator, panels where you can see behind the scenes with your favorite creator, and panels that are just plain fun. Attendees are able to get involved with our programming and suggest panels and meetups of their own. We have 2 goth/industrial dance parties, Cosplay Burlesque, and Molly Crabapple will host Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School. It’s a burlesque-themed life drawing class. We also have two game rooms sponsored by Foam Brain Games. We also have a video room, which will be showing some great independent films as well as Internet videos.

Q: In the same regard, what can hardened convention veterans expect from Intervention that other conventions haven’t given them?

We ended up having the largest percentage of female creators in attendance that I have seen in my entire career. We believe in community, listening to what people want, and giving it to them. We went looking for cool things that we feel should get the spotlight rather than what everyone else was doing. We also have low cost WordPress/ComicPress workshops available where you can study with one of the ComicPress devs for a few hours before you go back to the party. You will not leave that workshop without a functioning website, or a better looking one.

We also focused on getting creators who really enjoy meeting and talking with their fans. Everyone who’s at Intervention wanted to be a part of this con and are really working hard to make it a success.

Q: Any particular events you’d like to spotlight (aside from Super Art Fight, of course…)

Ah! See, I was going to say Super Art Fight but you beat me to the punch! Ben Bova, Bill Holbrook, and Rob Balder will be premiering their new Webcomic, Duel in the Somme at Intervention. Molly Crabapple will be running a full Dr. Sketchy’s Anti Art School, and Fred Gallagher of Megatokyo will be with us to coincide with his new book release.

Q: In this economy, the world of conventions is a strange sort – while the worlds of comics, anime, etc. face struggles financially, conventions are growing – as someone running your own convention, why do you think that is?

Conventions are a great value. It’s a lot cheaper and easier to hang out with us for 3 days than to go to Hawaii – plus you get to meet new friends who like the same things that you do and take home some new ideas to make your own life better. Everyone likes meeting awesome people and having fun, so that will always have value. When you are at a convention you are a part of a community. It’s refreshing in times like today when we are constantly on the run and rarely get a chance to say hello to our neighbor.

Q: In the case of PAX (Penny Arcade’s yearly gaming expo), we’ve seen their show grow to have a second event, one for each coast – are there such plans for aggressive expansion for Intervention?

Probably. It’s hard to judge things now before the first event has taken place—but the feedback we’ve received so far is incredible. We’ve actually been asked by people when we’ll be starting an event on the west coast—so the demand appears to be there.

Q: Intervention has been the topic of discussion, given it’s close proximity to, and shared weekend with the venerable Small Press Expo – are you worried that the two conventions will conflict? What can you say to fans who may be on the fence?

Neither con knew the other was going to be scheduled for the same weekend. When we signed our contract we believed they were going to be happening during their traditional end of September/early October timeframe. A week after we signed the contract they announced their new date, which was 2 weeks earlier than normal for them. It seems we both signed our contracts at the same time.

There is a crossover between the cons, but in many ways Intervention and SPX appear to be the Yin and Yang of focus and programming. I have heard that a lot of people are attending both events. Considering that the cons are also physically located only a few miles from each other, this is a very easy thing to do. In some cases very large cons have had areas spread out this far just for their own events.

The method for the cons is also somewhat different. Intervention is a 24 hour con starting on Friday the 10th. Many of our events take place after 5PM. SPX Starts on Saturday the 11th and most of their events take place before 5PM. The separation between the programming of both events seems to have ended up being very natural. SPX has always been very print comics heavy. We are focused on the Internet and technology as a publishing method. It seems that both events will benefit by this huge Comics-palooza weekend.

Q: Once the dust settles, and Intervention is in the history books, what’s the number one thing you’re looking forward to doing?

We are going to Disney World. Seriously. Aside from that, Stupid and Insane Defenders Against Chaos volume 1 will be released while we start planning Intervention 2011.

Oh, and I’ll get some sleep—I miss that concept.

Filed in: Across the Net.