Little Fish Comic Book Studio on El Cajon Boulevard likes to think of itself as an ambassador for comic books. You can find out what that means on Friday when the studio holds a Comic Savvy.
Comic book culture exists in San Diego for more than the five days of Comic-Con. That’s what Alonso Nunez executive director of Little Fish Comic Book Studio wants people to experience. To that purpose he runs something called Comic Savvy.
“We are going to have free comics, plenty of comics to rifle through, grab some stuff, we’re going have donuts, sugar to make it through the evening, and plenty of lively discussion about comic books, the new ‘Star Wars’ film if you want and whatever else you want to discuss that’s about pop culture related.”
Friday’s Comic Savvy is an open house that runs from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. It’s free and all ages are welcome. Guests are encouraged to bring their own work if they would like feedback from instructors. Or just come to hang out with other geeks savvy about pop culture.
“What can people expect from a Little Fish Comic Savvy? It’s a great gathering of fans professionals, dorks, geeks, dweebs and the like,” said Matt Dunford, president of Little Fish. “If you are a social outcast it feels like talking to people in person instead of being berated for your beliefs on the internet which happens still, come to this and meet other like-minded people.
Like Nunez, Dunford insists that comic book culture in San Diego exists the 360 days outside of Comic-Con.
“I believe San Diego has the best comics culture around,” Dunford said. “There is always something going on. Anyone who follows me on Facebook or Instagram knows I am at some sort of event every single night with some new comic creator, with the art community, with the writers, with the movies, with different things. Always something here that’s being created, that’s being cultivated it’s not just Comic-Con five days of the year.”
The studio space has a large classroom space surrounded by a library of comics and manga to inspire kids and older students. But Nunez wanted it to be more than just a studio space or classroom.
“I always knew that there needed to be a community aspect involved that it couldn’t just be classes that it had to be in essence an ambassadorship for comic books,” Nunez said. “San Diego Comic-Con is here. It’s huge, and people love it. And I think that people would access comics throughout the year if they knew how or they knew what that meant. Whether that is as a fan or as an artist, or a volunteer and I think Little Fish does supply that much needed resource.”
Dunford said comics speak to readers in a specific way: “It’s very much that storytelling component combined with the illustrated component and combined together creates a very accessible medium. So that way it becomes entertaining because it is controlled at your pace. Some movies or video games or TV shows people can’t keep up with. They go, ‘What happened?’ With a comic page you are going at your own pace. You control the pace and you choose to read it on your phone or whatever format suits you best.”
If you love comics you will find kindred spirits at Friday’s Comic Savvy. And if you want to know more about comics or the process by which they are created you can find the right people to talk to at Little Fish.
Little Fish Comic Book Studio is located at 6822-B El Cajon Blvd.
