As I’m sure many of you are at least vaguely aware, the pop culture juggernaut that is San Diego Comic-Con took place this weekend.

You’ve no doubt seen the trending stories about movie trailers, TV pilots, and other big multimedia announcements, and, if you’re actually primarily interested in the “comic” aspect of Comic-Con, you most likely saw a lot of announcements about new creative teams, new books, and exciting new directions and storylines.

If nothing else, you may have browsed through galleries full of pictures of clever and creative cosplayers.

I’ve never managed to make it out to Comic-Con myself – I spent most of my weekend engaged in exciting activities like mowing the lawn – though one day I hope to, both as a fan and, in my role as President and Publisher of OpenDoor Comics, an industry professional.

While I’ve got the fan part down, I’m still a long way from being an industry professional, given the place that ODC currently occupies in the industry, which is to say none.

I continue to work on that part – much of my time over the weekend that didn’t involve cutting grass to an HOA-approved height was devoted to marketing strategies and the development of a media kit – but I can’t help wondering if I’m directing my efforts correctly.

So far my approach has been, to use a weird metaphor, to treat this site like an egg.  Over time, with proper attention, it will go on to become a chicken.  The idea being that I’ve essentially launched a no-frills site (laid the egg), and now I’m focusing on getting the word out that it exists in the hope that creators will begin posting their comics (sit on the egg), which will help to develop the site into something more fully-featured (become a chicken).

I can’t help but wonder, though, if instead of saying, “Hey, here’s an egg!  Come sit on it to help it hatch!” I should focus on developing the features and say, “Hey, here’s a chicken!  Come…do…chicken…things?”  …okay, I should probably start moving away from the metaphor, but I think you get the idea.

But that’s the question, particularly as I think about my Comic-Con ambitions:  Which should come first, the chicken, or the egg?

Do I keep trying to get the word out and hope that pioneering souls will find the vision and mission compelling enough to sign up to help me develop the site into the platform, the community, I want it to become, or do I focus my time, effort, and money* on development and try to build the platform first?

I’m sure there’s probably some sort of approach in the middle that I can take, and really, that’s likely to be how things turn out, but it will never be exactly in the middle, as one approach will require more focus than the other.

Regardless of which way I go, it’s unlikely the path I follow will bring me to San Diego anytime soon, but I will, no doubt, begin establish a presence at conventions that are bit closer to home, but when I go to those cons, will I be cosplaying as a chicken or an egg?

*Developing the features I want will not be cheep.  …I’m so sorry.