PRESS RELEASE
This July, writer Paul Cornell (Doctor Who), artist Marika Cresta (Doctor Aphra), and AHOY Comics will present a fantastic and funny satire of the comic book industry and its biggest conventions. CON & ON is a brand new five-part tragi-comedy which follows a fictional but all-too-familiar ensemble cast of pros and fans down through the decades of America’s most colossal comic book convention: the Vista Al Mar Comics Festival on the California coast. The series debuts on July 12, 2023, ahead of Comic-Con International.
CON & ON is the story of five different years in the life of the Festival—one year per issue, spanning three decades—from the points of view of a diverse bunch of desperate people whose lives revolve around this greatest show on Earth. Meet close friends Eddie and Deja, aspiring young comics talents whose ambitions threaten to tear them apart; Anthony, Don & Finn, brilliant, boozy and bombastic British creators; and all of the crusty veteran editors, forgotten TV stars, and enthusiastic fans who make the convention experience something to revisit year after year.
“CON & ON is the romance of every big convention, the bittersweet journey through time and success, the highs and the lows and the silliness,” said writer Paul Cornell. “It’s the story of every fan and every pro and everyone who’s just trying to make a buck in the midst of extremity. Through the narratives of our large cast of characters we see, in miniature, the story of the last few decades of modern comics: how some things have changed and how some things have stayed exactly the damn same.”
“CON & ON is the real mirror of the panorama of conventions,” said artist Marika Cresta. “Anyone who has ever lived in this comics world will surely find themselves in one of the many characters who animate this story and make it feel alive and unexpectedly real. I loved working on it because it’s a world I live in and I’m passionate about the idea of being able to depict it, both in its positive and negative aspects!”
“I’ve never read a comic quite like CON & ON,” said series editor Tom Peyer. “Paul and Marika expertly balance the pomp and spectacle of a huge convention with small, intimate moments among flesh-and-blood people you’ll be glad to know.”
CON & ON will be published monthly by AHOY Comics and available in stores on July 12, 2022.
