The guy at a Denver con in 2019 handed me a beat up copy of a comic I never heard of and said give it 10 pages
I was at a small table at the Denver con killing time before a panel and this older guy waved me over to his longbox. He pulled out a worn indie book, said give it 10 pages, and if I hated it just hand it back. I ended up reading the whole thing standing right there and we talked for maybe 20 minutes about the artist's panel layout. His name was Ray and I still think about how he didn't try to sell me anything, he just wanted someone to read it. That little nudge got me into a whole section of comics I'd never have grabbed on my own. Anyone got a book someone handed them like that, just out of the blue?
Man, this is such a real thing. People hand you stuff all the time and it lands way harder than anything you pick yourself, a song on a mixtape, a book off a friend's shelf, a random flyer someone shoves in your hand at a show. There's something about no money being on the line that makes you actually pay attention. Ray sounds like the kind of guy every con needs at least one of.