Legendary comic book writer, artist, publisher and activist, Neal Adams, writes,

A friendly open letter to all comic book convention promoters.

My family and I are everlastingly grateful for you guys and all your contributions to the comic book industry.

I would like to make one little suggestion.

Bags. Bags that can carry prints, toys and comic books.

Let me explain. We know how important actors and media people can be to a comic con and so we treat them always very well and indeed they absorb the attention of the comic book promoters, and for very good reasons. As for the dealers and the artists in artist's alley, well, we can pretty much take care of ourselves. No extra babysitting and special "stuff" is needed.

There is one thing that would help. As customers and attendees (often they are newbies. They have never been to a comic con.)

If they are handed bags at the door… then their natural thought process is going to be, "Oh, this is great. If I buy something I can put it right in here."

If they do not get bags at the door "placed in their hands", then they think they are taking a tour of the zoo to see the animals, if you know what I mean. They walk around and look and even if they buy something, for the most part, they don't have a bag to put it in.

Prints and toys are wrapped in plastic and simply not easy to carry. An inexpensive cloth or plastic bag that can carry their treasures is the simplest, most positive thing that promoters can do for the attendees, for the vendors and for the artists who hope to sell sketches or drawings or sketchbooks or whatever. For these people, bags can make the difference between a successful convention and a disappointing convention.

It seems like a simple thing, but at the end of the day you will have the grateful appreciation of vendors and artists alike. Some enlightened conventions even run ads on their bags and sell ad space so as to cut their costs down to nothing for these bags.

You know me. I have seen the difference between not having bags and having bags so if I could give just one piece of advice, I highly suggest and recommend handing bags to attendees "as they walk in the door." Not simply leaving them on the table for people to notice, but to actually put these bags into people's hands. (Perhaps with promotional material inside.)

Thank you for your patience and attention and have a great year.

Neal Adams