In Cleveland Thanksgiving weekend?  A new comic book convention sees it’s first outing Saturday, November 28 at the Beachland Ballroom from noon until 6pm.

The Beachland, home of some of the coolest live music in the city, will host “Genghis Con,” a collection of about 50 independent writers and artists from the tri-state area.

The guest list is evolving but so far includes DERF, Gary Dumm, John Gritty, Sean McArdle, Greg Budgett and Andy MacDonald.

Scott Rudge, owner of Astound Comics in Westlake, is the promoter of the event.  His goal is a show where people wouldn’t be distracted by comic dealers’ rooms and “aging TV celebrities” hawking autographs for big bucks.  To me that’s part of the fun of such events.

Admission will be $5, and creators will not be charged to set up tables.

“We’re not doing this to make money,” Rudge said. “Our goal is to break even. We want the creators to use the money they save to offer inexpensive copies of their work.”

This new convention is being creative in it’s promotion:

“We’re asking each artist to create a four-pager (mini comic), which can be reduced and put on a single page,” he said. “The artists will sign their work and give out the pages at their tables. We will give a cover for the work, so that people can collect all the pages and create a little souvenir anthology book.”

Artists interested in submitting samples for consideration have until Sunday, Nov. 15. For details, go to thegenghiscon.com or call Rudge at 440-835-8055.