Among the tables of artwork and crowds of people, there is talent to be seen and money to be made at the Fluke mini-comics festival.

 “[The festival] is a local art scene,” said Patrick Dean, who took over co-organizing the event in its second year. “There are a lot of really talented artists here, and a lot of them do comics.”

Patrons of the festival will receive a free copy of the 2010 Fluke anthology which includes this panel by local artist Drew Weing.

The six-hour long showcase gathers a wide range of local artists, local comic-fans and interested out-of-towners. 

In particular, Fluke draws a large chunk of its attendance from the students and professors of the Savannah College of Art and Design sequential art program.

When the festival began, though, nine years ago, the matter of attendance was very much a variable.

“[At first], 70 people showed up and it slowly grew from there,” Dean said of his first year as organizer. “They showed up, so we decided to keep doing it.”

 Now in its ninth year, Fluke has developed a reputation as a viable marketplace for new work and a great meeting place for the comic-book faithful.

“It’s a lot of fun to actually go with other people and make [and discuss] comics,” said David Mack, the local artist who designed Fluke’s publicity art this year. “It’s nice — it’s kind of a common ground.”

The mini-comics themselves are all non-professional, ranging from the well-produced to the weird: one year, a trader sold homemade work that was no bigger than a thumbnail.

As a sort of open-air, indoor tradeshow, the festival is often little more organized than a large group of tables where people set-up displays of their own work, ready to sell to anyone who wanders curiously by.

In addition, those who pay the price of admission — $5 — get their very own homegrown work: an anthology written by Dean and inked by a group of local artists. The easygoing, casual atmosphere is a large part of Fluke’s attitude, Dean said, and it helps that the event is one of the few of its kind.

“For the most part, there’s not very much in the Southeast where you can do this,” he said. “The thing with mini-comics culture is that people are just excited to have any kind of community.”

Having finally outgrown Tasty World, their venue since the beginning, Fluke will move to Ciné. 

This year, the projected attendees will be the usual mix of comic makers, comic students and comic teachers, including SCAD’s Chris Schweizer and those in his class who have been encouraged to attend.

The possibility of money-making is very real, although Dean stresses that most who sell their wares only break even.

However, Bizarro Wuxtry’s Devlin Thompson is also an annual fixture — not just because he’s one of the events co-organizers, but because his downtown comic store sponsors the festival.

As a businessman, Thompson picks from the variety of mini-comics, buying them up and re-selling them at his store.

As each work is typically minimally-priced, the profit to be made is slim. But the opportunity at exposure is crucial. Along with the day-long interaction with other comic fans is that chance: to get the word out there.

Fluke, in its uniqueness, offers that consistently.

 “It’s a great place to meet local artists who are interested in the same things,” Mack said. “One of the things that’s cool about Fluke is it gives people who don’t have a lot of  money a chance to show their work to people.”

When: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday

Where: Ciné

Price: $5