It’s the first two-day show in Virginia in at least 25 years, so we thought we should find out what’s behind it. To do that, we talked to the man behind it, Brett Carreras.

Brett Carreras started Brett’s Comic Pile as an online business in 2002. In 2006, he partnered the retail store Velocity Comics, and together they opened what he calls “one of the largest and most diverse comic stores in the state.” For his portion of it, he only sells three products: comic book supplies, the Toon Tumblers line of comic book glasses from Popfun Merchandising, and back issue comic books. His business partner on the retail level, Patrick Godfrey, sells the other new material, including new comics.

“We try to have over 100,000 books in retail inventory, which we pull from a warehouse of almost 1,000,000 books which is located eight blocks away,” he said. “The retail store works out well, because it is basically on the VCU campus, and is on the same block as the IllustrationSchool, and across the street from one of the main dormitories.”

His comic-selling experience isn’t limited to the past seven years, though. He’s a veteran of the show circuit.

“I started setting up at comic shows when I was 12 years old. My favorite comic store, which was primarily a science fiction bookstore, got crushed under the weight of a big box retailer that opened a few miles away. I was a very passionate comic fan, and when they knew they were going to close, they didn’t have the heart to tell me but arranged to sell their entire backstock of comics to my father who gave it to me for Christmas (approximately four long boxes),” he said. “So I had a lot of comics, but no more retail comic store to shop at. Other stores required a ride from a family member who thought it was ridiculous for a kid to want more comics when he already had a ‘pile’ of them. Instead they encouraged me to sell what I didn’t want to afford what I did want. The rest, as they say, is history.”

Brett’s Comic Pile specializes in comics from the 1960s to the present.

“We have been slowly steering our inventory towards Bronze Age comics form the 1970s. In Richmond, this seems to be one of the key growth arenas for back issue comics, since most books, even in great shape, can be had for an affordable sum.”

The Virginia Comic-Con originated as the Chesterfield Comic Collector’s Club, which was founded 22 years ago by Guy Rose, who is still the show’s co-owner.

“He is one of the most friendly collectors of comics that I know. He loved running the show, but asked me to assist in promotion. It evolved from being a “club” to a regional seasonal comic book show,” Carreras said.

“We decided to change the name of the convention when we decided to move to a new arena. We were consistently selling out of our original space by keeping fan interest high, and vendor set-up cost low. We moved to our current location, re-branded the show, and began growing our mailing list, he said.

“As the show is still 100% funded by basically two comic book collectors (Guy and me), it was important to begin growing our mailing and customer list. I brought my list of clients to the table, as well as beginning to use a website, moving locations, offering discounted admissions if people signed up for our mailing lists, and once a year we would try to bring in comic book professionals so the fans in the area could meet some of the wonderful folks who help to create this medium that we love!”

So, they had a long-running, successful, small show, but what made them decide to expand it to two days at this point?

“I regularly walk around our one-day shows, which are held seasonally, and ask vendors what we can do to improve the show. We heard from a bunch of folks that they felt the one-day shows seemed strong, but they really enjoyed was the extra level of promotion that we did for the larger November shows,” he said.

“The next step was basically an act of lunacy on my part. When Guy and I were looking at available show dates, we noticed that we really ‘owned’ the weekend before Thanksgiving. We have had our show that weekend for the last several years, with very few date conflicts from other shows close by. I love going to comic shows. I really do. The tough thing is I saw a direct lack of having a large two-day regional sized show in the area. All of the shows around here are either massive, amazing shows, or smaller shows, with ours being the largest in the state,” he said.

“I wanted to see what would happen if we threw a bit more energy into an event. We tentatively got clearance from the CrownePlaza to grow the show, but it was important for us to do it right. You can’t just have a successful one-day show and say, ‘Okay, now it is two days!’ It doesn’t double your attendance, it dilutes both days. I knew that I never want the stress of running a huge show, I just wanted us to have the best darned comic show this fabulous state has seen in a long time. As soon as Mr. Hama agreed to be the guest of honor, and after tapping the amazingly talented Tsunami-Studios to be guests, I knew the rest would fall into place. The hardest thing recently has been telling seriously talented artists that we simply have no more room. We have been booked out for months, which is a great feeling.”

As he alluded to, the show’s Guest of Honor is writer-artist-editor Larry Hama. Carreras said the very first thing he did after making the decision to expand the show to two days was email Hama.

“We wanted a huge fan-favorite name to be a part of this show, one that had a bit of cross-over appeal in other arms of pop-culture, but who makes rare comic book convention appearances. Seriously, without Mr. Hama, there would be no two-day show. Also all of our creators are so excellent, none of them charged us an appearance fee. How cool is that?” he said.

To this point, he said the show has come together fairly smoothly, in spite of itself.

“Most creators jumped on board without hesitation when I asked them (especially Tsunami Studios, and the folks that worked on the first generation of my favorite Marvel comic, the Exiles crew of Mark McKenna, Jim Calafiore, and Mike McKone).”

He pointed out that this will be the third November show in a row that the Tsunami crew has been to, likewise for Dead Irons and Army of Darkness scribe James Kuhoric.

Since Richmond is a day's drive or less from just about anywhere on the eastern seaboard and a good chunk of the mid-west, we put it to him bluntly: What's going to make this show worth driving for? He seemed ready for the question.

“I like to say we are the east-coasts’ most convenient comic book show. We are at the intersection of I-64 and I-95, we have an Amtrak station less than three miles from the show, and Richmond has several discount airlines that operate in and out of Richmond. In fact, round-trip airfare from New York to Richmond is less than $149! Do you love comics? Why not come to the show? Why should you stop by? Adult admission is only $10 for the whole weekend, we have a special variant of Witchblade #132 being given away free to the first 1,000 paid admissions! We have two of the finest charities setting up, the Hero Initiative, and the Wieringo Scholarship! We will have CGC at the show, Chris Claremont, Chuck Dixon, Larry Hama and more! It’s free for children, students, military, and the press,” he said. “Are you travelling down the East Coast to visit family for Thanksgiving? Stop by our show on the way. Why not?”

In recent years, while the big conventions have attracted a lot of press, there's been a pretty strong following for the mid-size shows. Carreras mentioned the conventions in Charlotte and Baltimore as examples of shows he likes.

“It is important for me to be quite clear about this: I love Charlotte and Baltimore. I mean it, looooove those two shows. I look forward to these shows all year. Just ask Marc and Shelton. They run two great shows, and have my undying support. Now, I will also say, I  never want my show to be as big as those shows. They are great at what they do, but my head is spinning right now trying to put on a killer 10,000 square foot show. What those guys do blows my mind. The logistics would keep me up at night losing what’s left of my hair,” he said. “Perhaps telling you what my show has is by telling you what it doesn’t have. We don’t have video games, DVDs, swords, t-shirts, wrestlers, movie stars or karaoke. What we do have is one of the best creator line-ups a show this size has had in a long time. The closest thing to it was the spectacular Baltimore Comic-Con I attended in 1999 while I was still in college at Loyola, before it became awesomely huge.”
So, what’s his goal for this show?

“I want the vendors and artists to tell people ‘Hey, those guys in Richmond really love comics!’ I hope I can get as many people as possible to help me and Guy raise awareness of this show. Tell your Facebook and Myspace friends about it! Do your holiday shopping at our show and beat the post-Thanksgiving madness. I want everyone to have a great, affordable time, and remember that people in Richmond truly love comics, because I think if they show up, they will have a great time!”

For the full guest list, exhibitor list, schedule of panel discussions, or more information, visit the show's website.