If you aren’t burned out on reading about Comic-Con: International, here’s an interesting post by two Comic-Con first timers.
Author and editor Henry Jenkins sums up the experience of Comic-Con near perfectly:
“So there are things that you would have killed to get to in any other context that you pass up because there’s so much going on at once. You can’t get to it all.”
– Matt Price
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Fans could leave their remembrances of artist Michael Turner at the Aspen Comics booth.
From Friday’s The Oklahoman:
By Matthew Price
WORD BALLOONS
SAN DIEGO — There were complaints about the ongoing Hollywoodization of Comic-Con from some quarters, but nobody can deny the spotlight Hollywood can shine. For example, the clear buzz book of this year’s Comic-Con International was the 20-year-old “Watchmen.”
Why? Most likely it has something to do with the Zack Snyder-directed motion picture set to hit in March.
Sure, Alan Moore has disavowed having anything to do with the film, but comics fans are still hoping it remains true to Moore’s vision. Artist Dave Gibbons seems happy enough with the process. Fans packed in line to see “Watchmen” footage in one of the toughest-to-get-in panels of the entire convention.
Reaction was mostly positive, though some said it didn’t show much beyond the already released trailer. Others, however, had tears in their eyes.
The book is obviously selling — in fact, some on the show floor were selling the always-in-print graphic novel for over its cover price. According to the Web site icv2.com, DC Comics has ordered another 200,000 copies of the graphic novel.
Fans at the show also paid tribute to favorite Michael Turner, who died in June of complications from bone cancer. He was 37. His company, Aspen Comics, paid tribute to Turner at the show by giving out buttons with Michael Turner’s printed signature that read: Remembered always.
Aspen also asked fans to sign guestbooks with their remembrances and thoughts about Turner. Turner was known to constantly visit with and sign autographs for fans, even when his health was failing. It was a nice and fitting tribute to a comic-book creator known as much for his kindness, courage and generosity as his artwork.
While Hollywood has made definite inroads into the show — causing some dealers to say they won’t return — it’s still a great place to find cool stuff old and new. First appearances of cool characters like Spider-Man and Supergirl, new and interesting graphic novels like Alex Robinson’s “Too Cool to be Forgotten” and The Apocalipstix” by Ray Fawkes and Cameron Stewart, and yes, trailers and promotions for movies and television shows all merge into a crowded, but exciting, five-day experience like no other.
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Miss out on Titan Books at Comic-Con? The publisher has some cool titles coming out, including “Watching the Watchmen” by Dave Gibbons, “The Watchmen Film Companion,” “The Spirit: The Movie Visual Companion,” and more. Get the highlights at http://comiccon.titanbooks.com/.
– Matt Price
SAN DIEGO — Alex Robinson, Josh Howard, Dave Dwonch, Ryan Dunlavey, Fred Van Lente and Bobby Crosby talked to NewsOK.com at Comic-Con International.
Oni Press booth at Comic-Con International.
Over at Newsarama, get a full rundown of the Oni Press panel at Comic-Con International. Oni is one of my favorite publishers, on a personal note, and I’m excited about their lineup. From the article:
(Oni’s James Lucas) Jones also said Oni is working on a “new floppy comics initiative” that will debut next spring with several color monthly series. Those series include Stumptown, the Greg Rucka-written private investigator series that was announced in San Diego last year; Resurrection, which ends its black and white run with issue #6 and starts up again next year in color; and a new title called Bad Medicine by Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir. Jones said the initiative would include a few other books they weren’t ready to announce.
A few comics that aren’t out yet from Oni are already in the process of becoming movies: “Billy Smoke,” written by B. Clay Moore, and the fantasy-comedy “The Return of King Doug.”
– Matt Price
Back from San Diego and back at work. I didn’t get to write up everything I wanted to live and on the floor, but I’ll post anything I can share my take on in future Nerdage installments.
It was a fun show, and saw a lot of great people out there. It gets to be a bit much around Saturday, as those reading my “Con fatigue” post can tell!
This was my first time to attempt blogging, photos and video all at San Diego. In previous years I had attended, and returned back to write 2-3 stories for the newspaper about it. This way required a lot more effort to get articles up quickly. Overall, I’m not sure about the impact — with 5,000 outlets covering Comic-Con, I wonder if I’m better off trying to contextualize fewer things than writing more posts about more things. In any case, I have some time to figure it out! The next convention I’m planning on attending isn’t until Wizard World Texas, which is both much smaller and much closer to home. I am pretty re-energized about comics in general, however.
– Matt Price
Castle Grayskull at Comic-Con International in San Diego.
SAN DIEGO — At Comic-Con, Mattel announced a Web site for sales to collectors of exclusive figures, including a new line of “Masters of the Universe Classics” figures. A new figure will be available every month, starting with He-Man in October. The Web site is www.mattycollector.com.
– Matt Price
Batman at the Sony Online Entertainment Booth at Comic-Con International in San Diego.
Newsarama has the a rundown with DC’s executive editor Dan DiDio about a huge Comic Con International announcement: Neil “Sandman” Gaiman will write a two-part “Batman” storyline, with art by Andy Kubert.
The story, called “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?” is an homage to “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow,” the Alan Moore story that ended the “Silver Age” run of the character.
The issues are due out in January.
– Matt Price
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