Emerald City Comic-Con 2015, Day One: ‘Rawr!’

The floor of Emerald City Comic-Con was filled with wanna be comic writers and artists. Many proudly displayed their first works, preciously printed, and for sale. The writers and artists sat near displays of their books, looking down at pads and sketching, or talking among themselves. They rarely looked up, and unless initiated by an attendee, didn’t engage in conversation beyond whispers to a friend at the table.

Except, at least in my experience, Hannah McGill. So I’m writing about her book, Rawr!

Rawr! ostensibly focuses on dinosaurs. It isn’t a story, but a series of black-and-white vignettes that feature cute little snippets of Hannah’s take on Jurassic Park and other dinosaury things. My favorite is ‘Kafka’s Jurassic Park‘ where G. samsasaurus awakes as a call center operator. For a Millennial hoping to be an artist, there is no more horrible reality than your art career deteriorating into that of a call center operator.

The artwork is simple, but enjoyable. Clean lines and clear perspectives. The scenes don’t make you guess at what’s going on. The text is lean, but clever. McGill even finds a way to introduce words like cladistics (look it up) in a meaningful way. It is clear she loves dinosaurs for more than their malleable exteriors that she morphs from frightening and other worldly, into cute, accessible and educational.

As with all things transmedia, the book, which McGill reluctantly handed me (and let me keep after I reminded her the only way for a reviewer to review a book was to have the book), is also mostly on the web. McGill offers her art on the website first. The Rawr! book/zine is actually a re-conceptualized and contextualize printed blog. A riff on her social stream. A hardcopy RSS feed. Sketches turned into vignette. Digital vignettes transformed into ink and paper, staple and snark.

McGill is not only an artist but a social entrepreneur, touting her vision on Facebook and Twitter, allowing people to subscribe to her Tumblr stream. She also has bags and full color art for sale. According to her twitter feed, she made her investment back on Friday of the Con. Saturday and Sunday were gravy. All this despite the crap location of her booth.

Rawr! is children’s literature with a wink. I’ve already written more words than McGill did for the book. But that’s OK, she isn’t writing great literature—she is creating a fun little franchise, and I don’t mean that in a belittling way. McGill isn’t just an artist, she is an entrepreneur. At her tablet on a narrow dark side street of Emerald City Comic-con McGill was building relationships, creating a following.

“H.,” which is McGill’s chosen representation of first name, can attribute her success to engagement—something her fellow Emerald City ComicConians could learn from. The Internet and self-service have unleashed the possibilities for success in ways that artists of previous generations could not imagine. McGill may write about pre-history, but she is actually presaging the future of the arts.

Save the artist, save the world.