Was SDCC 2018 relevant for comic books?

26 JULY 2018

Yesterday at my comic shop, someone who's never been to SDCC told me he heard it's returning to its roots as a comic book convention. It seemed he'd heard of the pervasive calm defining this year's Con - and that he assumed comics would flood back in where Hollywood retreated.

Is that true? I don't think so. It could happen. But right now SDCC is sustaining the same low simmer of comic book content as the last few years. Obviously there were some great spotlight panels (very sorry I missed Emil Ferris) and of course, Drawn and Quarterly, Oni, Fantagraphics, Boom, Dark Horse and all the other usual suspects showed up with their trades. But let's be honest - you'll see those same publishers at many other Cons. So is San Diego Comic-Con still a magnet for comic book readers and collectors?

Apparently so - at least according to some vendors:

• Alison from Drawn and Quarterly said yes, business was good. "We really like coming to San Diego become we see fans who come year after year. Sometimes they don't buy books all year and then stock up here, so they're really happy we're still here." They were selling a lot of Woman World by Aminder Dhaliwal and Berlin by Jason Lutes, but also books by Jillian Tamaki, Adrian Tomine, Tom Guald and others. 

• The all-woman Kymera Press also said they were selling well, particularly their Pet Noir and Mary Shelley Presents titles.  

• Chronicle Books was in their 12th year of being at SDCC. They reported good sales, particularly having "great success with our Game of Thrones Tarot deck, which is a real deck with 78 cards, licensed from HBO." (Arya is the Death card, obviously.) They were also selling a lot of A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, produced in tandem with the John Oliver show.

• Dan from Skybound said they sold a lot of The Walking Dead four piece sets (they had bloody and color versions) and the Die Die Die figure sets. But comic books are still a big seller. "There's 100% interest. Comic books will always be a thing at San Diego. Skybound has everything - superhero, horror, true crime, action - just show up and ask someone what we've got."

• Tomorrow's Publishing, which has books and magazines for pop culture enthusiasts and comic collectors, said they were selling a lot of Comic Book Implosion, which explores how DC almost went out of business in 1978. Their new pop culture magazine Retro Fan was also popular. They felt pretty secure about the future of comics at SDCC.

• Comic Pop Collectibles reported brisk business by Friday morning. "We've had good business so far - our sales are better than last year. We had a strong Wednesday and a good Thursday." Their top sellers were more recent books and vintage toys, like an Argentina Batman utility belt from the 1960s ($300) and a Japanese Batman book and record set ($100.)

• Emily Silva from Fantagraphics said they were selling a lot of My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris. "San Diego Comic-Con is still a magnet for comic book readers and indie comic fans but you have to search a little more. The true comic fans still find us and find their niche comic creators and so SDCC is fulfilling its purpose that way."

• Joe from the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund said they went through Deadpool books quickly but sold well across the board. If you're not familiar with CBLDF, they help protect embattled books, fighting censorship and fighting for freedom of speech in comics. They were also confident about the number of readers coming to the Con: "San Diego Comic-Con is definitely still a community for comic fans."

So - yes, people are still buying comics at SDCC. But so many vendors mentioned collectibles as their top sellers that I wondered if most comic fans get their books elsewhere (comic shops, Amazon, Comixology) and spend their San Diego dollars on figurines and rare items.

We also had a few comic book announcements.

Remember Cherry, the dirty comic book you had to hide from your mom? It's back! Or it will be very soon. Technically I found this out a few weeks ago but I'm sharing it now.

Also not technically announced at SDCC but rather in the letters column of the new Saga: your favorite interplanetary family is going on hiatus for a year so Staples and Waid can "creatively recharge." But they also said they want Saga to hit 100 issues and we're only in the 50s, so it sounds like you can count on their return.

You may recall the Locke and Key kerfuffle at SDCC years ago when the pilot screened and it looked like we were getting a TV show based on the comics - and then we didn't. Well, the show is officially with Netflix now. Between that and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and all the other comic shows - will Netflix return to wow us at SDCC 2019? I'd say yes.

Marvel is bringing out digital comics for Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and Daughters of the Dragon. 

Very exciting: George Takei is doing a graphic novel memoir based on his time in a Japanese American internment camp. How timely.

Gail Simone is moving over to Catalyst Prime Universe of Lion Forge Comics. Which means... I guess we don't know yet.

Uncanny X-Men is coming back in November. Marvel is also bringing out a six issue run of The Vision from Chelsea Cain and a massive 24-issue Star Wars epic arc.

Also on the Star Wars front: IDW will spook up your Halloween with Tales From Vader's Castle, which will offer weekly horror stories from people like Robert Hack and Francesco Francavilla. So here for it.

Dan Parent is drawing all 6 issues of the Batman '66 Archie run and bringing out the third hardcover of the magnificent Die Kitty Die with Fernando Ruiz.

DC is getting psychological. As Kelly Sue DeConnick moves to Aquaman, her run will examine his roots and relationship with his mother; we're also going to delve into Joker's childhood in Justice League.

Grant Morrison is taking over The Green Lantern and steering it into space cop territory. He's also writing VR experiences for Magic Leap, who is partnering with MadeFire for mixed reality comics.

If you were curious what it will cost to subscribe to DC Universe, it's $7.99 a month. I feel like people are getting tired of shelling out for Netflix, Crunchy Roll, Hulu, etc, which add up collectively - so DC will have to make it worth our while.

Vertigo will supposedly revive itself with a Sandman sequel that will be more like the original, exploring how Dream influences real people's lives. Other titles include the Mexican-themed Border Town, Hex Wives and American Carnage, which looks at crime and white supremacy.

Jaime Hernandez is going to continue doing Love and Rockets stories about Maggie and Hopey's pasts, including more stand-alone Hopey stories. Fantagraphics also brought out a beautiful big Studio Edition hardcover of his work, if you missed it.

Scott Snyder calls The Batman Who Laughs the "darkest, scariest Batman story I've ever done." In addition to the Three Jokers and Batman/Joker: Deadly Duo books, DC seems to be sticking with what they know.






I think if you're a hardcore comic nerd, you already know that San Diego Comic-Con isn't #1 on that front anymore. Other Cons deliver more titles, newer talent, more innovative work. But SDCC does still offer a basic level of panels, back issues, signings and discounted trades - and you can still end up carrying home bags of plunder if you look hard enough.

Comic nerds and Comic-Con

26 JUNE 2016

Heidi MacDonald is in Publishers Weekly, talking about how San Diego Comic-Con is "evolving." Unlike other articles that ponder is Comic-Con still about comic books? or the ever-popular headline Hollywood glitters at Comic-Con, her article actually shares some changes you can expect to see in the comics section this year.


For those of you who just set foot on Planet Con for the first time, the show used to look quite different. It really was a comics convention, with aisles of back issues and artists signing their work and comic book nerds frantically pawing through boxes to find their Silver Age dream. Today that aspect is still there - but it's much smaller, as if some nefarious studio head pointed a shrink ray at it and said, "We'll be taking over from here." That's why when you step onto the Exhibit Hall floor, you'll find the biggest crowds swarming through the middle section carnival of movie-themed exclusives and trailers and merchandise, and then over toward the right, more spacious aisles of comic publishers. Where depressingly, you can often see some top artists and writers sitting behind their tables looking bemused as attendees pass them by.

Full disclosure: I didn't witness the glory days that were seriously comic-centric. By my arrival in 2002, Hollywood already had its celluloid claws firmly in the convention center. It wasn't as dominant as today, though. I remember my then-girlfriend being stunned in 2003 that Angelina Jolie was there to promote Tomb Raider. (Now it's more surprising when a major star doesn't show up.) And the attendees weighted more heavily on the comic book nerd end of the scale - they looked different, they bought different things, they went to different panels. I could have an excellent discussion in any bar about Love and Rockets or Action Girl Comics.

That is no longer the case. I don't begrudge you new fans. (Well, sometimes I do, like the Google employees who scoffed at Grant Morrison's panel last year because they were impatient for the Pixar panel to start. SDCC etiquette: if you sit through a panel you don't like to get a good seat in the panel you do, at least be respectful.) However, it is disquieting when smaller pubs pack up and leave SDCC because they just can't afford to come anymore. True, we comic nerds are soaking up their great work at Cons like Emerald City but I fear a day when SDCC is all big publishing houses displaying the same books I can see at Barnes and Noble.

Enough of my melancholic ramblings. Here's what the article said:

• DC will roll out its usual bombast and glory, and this year that will include a Wonder Woman temple of worship and a whole lot of promotion for Young Animal, the Gerard Way-headed new imprint. The Suicide Squad cast will show up too. Wait, does that mean DC comics and DC movies will commingle? Yes: "This year's DC booth will showcase the integration of the studio DC Entertainment, its publishing division." 

• Top Shelf won't be in its normal spot; it was acquired by IDW and will be part of their booth. They promise "amazing things" so don't skip it. And yes, John Lewis will be back at the Con for those of you still inspired by last year's Bloody Sunday reenactment.

• Drawn & Quarterly calls exhibiting at San Diego "incredibly taxing" and points out that the marketing benefits aren't what they used to be; that sending 1 author can make more sense than setting up an entire staffed booth.

• NBM is gone, saying "It's too hard to stand out" and that their literary graphic novels aren't what attendees are looking for. In contrast, their YA sister company Papercutz will be afoot - and they'll offer both the 1st volume of Jessica Abel's new SF series and a free 96-page anthology. But they've scaled back too, saying "We'll just have our major books there this year."

Just a few tidbits, but enough to convey that yes, the comics aisles have become the shrinking polar ice cap of the Con. Which isn't terribly surprising, given how many people - artists and writers who earn their daily living via comics - tell me that other Cons are far more profitable for them. (And often more emotionally gratifying, as they connect with a higher number of passionate comic readers there.)


One thing I like about CCI: they are committed to comic book culture. I think some people blame them for SDCC's Hollywood invasion when in fact they're just trying to accommodate fan interests and balance their economic survival with their cultural mission. Their focus on comic art galleries, a possible museum and other comic channels shows that San Diego Comic-Con still values comics. But the influence of fan spending and attention still has a direct impact on who shows up each year.

My comic book picks for Emerald City Comicon

4 MARCH 2017

Comics have always been the beating heart of Emerald City Comicon and this year we've had a lot on that front already: Image's announcements and Shelly Bond's new imprint at IDW, just to name a few. But when it comes to actually finding the next comics that are going to ignite your world, it's easy to miss the buried treasure scattered throughout the show floor and Artist's Alley. There's just too much to distract you.

Here are the comics I recommend picking up at Emerald City:


Maze of Games - booth 204

Not brand new, but still worth discovering if you haven't yet: an interactive graphic novel where 2 teenagers need to navigate mazes of monsters and puzzles to find their way home.

The Life and Legend of Wallace Wood, vol. 1 - Fantagraphics - booth 210

A visually beautiful exploration of Wallace Wood and his work. (This is actually a repackaged coffee table version of an earlier book, so look closely.)

My Favorite Thing is Monsters - Fantagraphics - booth 210

If you're sick of bland comics and graphic novels, pick up this sketchbook dedicated to solving a murder mystery.  Emil Ferris has created something stunning, both in the art and the writing. I can't recommend this enough.

Bait - booth 2110

8 short stories from Chuck Palahniuk, with black and white drawings (for you to color) from Joelle Jones, Duncan Fegredo and other artists.

Die Kitty Die - X-10 in Artist's Alley

Top Archie artists/writers Dan Parent and Fernando Ruiz bring you one of my favorite new comics: a sexy witch who's also a comic character who's dodging murder attempts by her sales-hungry comics publisher. Yes, the cover is by Darwyn Cooke.

The Untamed - booth 1515

Not new but worth discovering: a fantasy adventure that works on multiple levels.

Knight Errant - booth 1604

Jennifer Doyle collects her webcomic series here in this drama about "gender, religion and revenge" - all of which features some ridiculously pretty art.

Yes, Roya - booth 212

Spike Trotman, who brought you the wonder that is Smut Peddler, really delivers here in an erotica comic about a young cartoonist who gets involved with a femdom couple in 1960's California. You'll note I said erotica; you've been warned if naked drawings make you take to your fainting couch.

Bandette, vol. 3 - Dark Horse

Colleen Coover and Paul Tobin keep serving up the adventures of an adorable Parisian cat burglar and the heists she gets into. Great chaser after you've read or watched something heavy.

Haddon Hall, Filmish, Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, Dali - booth 1308

This British publisher has an incredible array of graphic novels. Haddon Hall goes over the early years of David Bowie; Filmish is an entertaining cinematic history; Ghost Stories collects 4 spooky stories by my beloved Victorian writer MR James; Dali is a visual bio that really does his art credit. They also have Lovecraft anthologies, The King in Yellow, a graphic novel about Agatha Christie and well, you get the idea - this booth is the place to feed the literary carnivore that is your brain.

What's been catching your eye? What have you been buying?

Bruce Timm announces The Killing Joke movie

10 JULY 2015




Something pretty major happened at the end of the world premiere of Justice League: Gods and Monsters. Bruce Timm casually dropped a bombshell that he's doing an animated feature of The Killing Joke - and that it will be at San Diego Comic-Con 2016.

I know today was historic for several reasons, not the last of which was Hall H and the surprise Star Wars symphony all Hall H attendees were led to - but this is life-altering news for comic book fans.

Pre-reg just got that much more urgent.

The SDCC Daily

25 JUNE 2015



In a few hours, we'll have Thursday programming to read obsessively over and over. In the meantime, what did we find out today?


The new Muppets series will be in 6A on Saturday at 3 pm; Once Upon a Time will be in Ballroom 20 at 10 on Saturday. We'll also have Muppets-themed trolleys and Muppets and Once Upon A Time pedicabs.

Another panel that should be very popular: Mobilizing Fandoms for Charity on Saturday at 11 in 14C. This will be a discussion on how various fandoms can contribute to charities, on local, individual and global levels.

Funko dropped its 8th wave. We also got this Legend of Zelda figure. And it looks like you can take home a Stan Lee action figure after all, if you have 300 burning a hole in your pocket.

Do you want a free Star Wars button? Stop by The Ninjabot at Small Press table L-08.

The Nerdist podcast guests were announced: Peter Capaldi and Ben Kingsley. And speaking of Nerdist, they're bringing their horror film The Hive to SDCC.

DC is bringing 10 variants and a whole lot of Convergence panels, as well as spotlight panels for Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo and Grant Morrison. First-timers, this will give you an idea of the scale of the Exhibit Hall: the DC booth alone is 4,500 square feet. That's bigger than the average house.

Also doing SDCC in a big way is VIZ Media, with tons of exclusives and swag, and Sailor Moon and Shonen Jump panels in addition to the previously mentioned Ultraman.

Sideshow Collectibles is throwing a party Friday night at SDCC; tickets are on sale now. Only after you buy tickets will you find out where the party is. I don't know if they just haven't booked a venue yet or if they're that afraid of crazed collectors.

Treyarch hints at Black Ops III Zombies coming to SDCC.

Scream Factory and Shout! Factory will be dazzling you again at booth #4118 with free photo ops with a range of backdrops, including My Little Pony and Power Rangers; a Kaiju Scavenger Hunt; a My Little Pony Costume Contest with Amex gift cards as prizes, appearances by the Power Rangers and Samantha Newark, who voiced Jem and Jerrica in Jem and the Holograms.

We have dates for San Diego Comic-Con 2016: 20-24 July.

And finally, a Nerd HQ reminder: tickets will go up for sale very soon and they will go immediately. If this is important to you - and there are a lot of great conversations to attend this year - you'll want to stay on top of this.


As for tomorrow - those of you who landed in the Thursday/Sunday split might be feeling morose over all the great Friday and Saturday panels that have been announced. But I think tomorrow's programming announcement will completely turn that around. Stay tuned.

The SDCC Daily

14 JUNE 2015

So here we are mid-weekend - and under 2 weeks from finding out panel programming. What have we learned?

Let's start with what will undoubtedly be one of the most popular comic books at the Con: Doctor Who goes to SDCC 2015 and discovers a monster lurking in the background of cosplayers' photos. From Titan.

The Good Dinosaur replaced 99% of its voice cast, after recording dialogue. Why? The movie has been "dismantled and completely reimagined." It's still set to open in November, but I can't imagine this points to a panel for us.

Drawn & Quarterly is bringing Jillian Tamaki, Michael DeForge, Peter Bagge, Marc Bell, and Anders Nilsen to SDCC. If you're wondering about titles, I feel safe in predicting that this 776-page collection will be there.

It looks like the Star Wars VR is still being tested, but it seems like we might see some of it at SDCC. 

DeviantArt has withdrawn its sponsorship of Artist's Alley due to a rebranding and launching an app. This could have tangible repercussions, as it leaves CCI only a limited window of time to find a replacement; in the past DeviantArt has provided carpeting, padded seats, signage and display screens.

Aspen Comics is holding a panel that include a fall preview; attendees will get a panel-exclusive variant copy of Critter #1. By visiting their booth #2321, attendees can pick up the "Art of BDI: Volume One" as well as new Aspen Comics t-shirts and a string-back tote bag. There will also be exclusive hardcover editions of "Michael Turner presents: Aspen the Extended Edition" by Geoff Johns and Michael Turner and "Damsels in Excess" by Vince Hernandez and Mirka Andolfo.

 

Lego is bringing this 203-piece of Throne of Ultron set.

 

 

 

It looks like we definitely won't be seeing the Tales From the Dark Side reboot pilot; it was rejected by the CW due to concerns over its format. (Apparently CW is okay with airing a show that portrays Nostradamus as a young hipster psychic at French court, but an anthology series is just too much.) Luckily a bunch of other networks have swooped in - those being Syfy, MTV, VH1 and Hulu, though I feel like this would be best served on HBO, FX or Showtime. Maybe Joe Hill will screen it for us at the Con the way he screened the rejected Locke and Key pilot. (Though I doubt it.)

 

And of course as announced earlier, SuicideGirls: The Blackheart Burlesque will perform at House of Blues on Thursday, 9 July - and I will be giving away 2 free tickets. Email me with "I have a black heart" as the subject line to enter the contest.

The SDCC Daily

10 JUNE 2015

 

This was quite a day, between the Exhibit Hall maps dropping, Warner Bros and Star Wars. But a few other things came our way...


We got our first look at the new X-Files. At least that's what Twitter says, but I thought Gillian Anderson was restoring her red hair for the role.

Licensing Expo 2015, which is the least appealing name of any convention ever, had a bunch of good reveals that might whet your appetite for SDCC - from the Batmobile under lights to Wonder Woman costume details.

From yesterday, a haughty-looking Alfred Pennyworth to add to your Wayne Manor diorama.

Whether or not you've climbed on the Archie train in the last two years - or maybe you climbed on and got off after Afterlife's long hiatus - one of the most talked-about comics this summer is the new Archie title from Mark Waid and Fiona Staples. Today we got a look at both variant covers and they look just as spectacular as you'd expect anything from Fiona Staples to look. We'll also get a Mega Man sketch variant and a Dark Circle poster.

If you really liked Adult Swim's Meatwad Full Dome 3D Experience at the Con last year, it's now morphed into a free app called The Virtual Brainload.

Do you have any nerd friends in China? Consider buying them some DVDs at SDCC if you can get them to them; China has banned 38 popular manga and anime titles as part of their crackdown on offensive online content. Black Butler, High School of the Dead, Death Note and Attack on Titan are a few of the titles. Numerous video streaming sites have already been warned by the Ministry of Culture.

 

Mattel is bringing you these HALO-themed blasters.

In the category of things we want to see at SDCC: bath bombs that dissolve to reveal Pokémon characters, My Neighbor Tortoro characters and tiny Disney princesses. You can't get these at Lush. These Firefly cards are also pretty cool.


I think today proved that Comic-Con season is on. Strap yourself in for the ride.

Going to SDCC as an indie comics creator

9 JUNE 2015

People outside the comic book world think of Marvel and DC when they think of comic conventions – if they think of them at all. Yet anyone who goes to San Diego Comic-Con or any other convention knows that indie creators and small press publishers are some of the most exciting aspects of the Con. This is where you can find work that’s often more fresh and creative than anything filling the shelves of your comic shop on Wednesdays. And because Comic-Con is a natural meeting ground for comic fans and the creators who are trying to get their work noticed, it’s a dream of many indies to just get in the door – something that’s gotten harder and harder each year.

Someone who did just that for SDCC 2015 is Chase Cunningham, co-creator of a comics universe called The Cynja. Inspired by his two daughters, Cunningham collaborated with partner Heather C. Dahl and illustrator Shirow Di Rosso on the series. As techies and parents, the three formed the perfect creative team to develop The Cynja – a character who helps kids understand online dangers as they navigate apps and virtual environments in their digital lives. From the book:

 

Hidden deep inside our planet’s virtual world, lurking in the darkened cyber alleys of our digital neighborhoods, a new generation of bad guys has risen. Zombies, worms, botnets – all threaten our happiness and future. But there is hope. A lone warrior battles this new sinister cyber evil. He is the Cynsei. 

The Cynsei is trying to keep us safe. But the guardian of all things noble in cyberspace cannot fight alone. His enemies are too numerous. If the Internet is to escape falling into darkness, the Cynsei needs help. But who would be brave enough to travel into the depths of malicious networks? 

A Cynja, that’s who.

After releasing their first graphic novel last year, the team now publishes The Cynja as a weekly web comic in English and Dutch, along with activity books, blog, subscription newsletter and children's workshops. The series has been so successful that it’s been recognized by PBS NewsHour, the Guardian, Children's Book Review, HelpNet Security, PC Magazine, the National Press Foundation and the former inspector general for the NSA. That's some serious prestige.

Recently they were selected by a panel of judges to be a featured small press publisher at Comic-Con. I talked to Chase today about how The Cynja came about and what it’s like to be facing San Diego Comic-Con for the first time.

What can you tell me about The Cynja? What motivated it?

The real idea behind the Cynja came from my partner Heather and I looking at the industry and seeing an absolute lack of material for kids to get interested in cyberspace.  We started talking about doing something cool for kids to get them interested in cyber security and shortly thereafter the character of The Cynja was born. We’re motivated by trying to educate the next generation about the benefits of cyberspace while also providing real knowledge about the science and math that really make the magic of the Internet work.  

When we use the Internet, each of us enters a virtual world where forces of immense magnitude battle for power. Like ancient myths and tales of fantasy and science fiction, this cyber darkness is filled with a new generation of monsters—zombies, worms, botnets and more – but these monsters are real.

How are you participating at SDCC this year? Have you been to SDCC before?

This is our first year at SDCC.  We entered a contest for small publishers that had thousands of entries and we were lucky enough to be selected.  We are truly blessed and extremely excited to be coming to a venue like Comic-Con.

What challenges did you have in 1) creating the comic book and ) getting to SDCC?

Probably the hardest thing was figuring out how to go about publishing the comic and not going broke doing it. It is not cheap to self-publish. But it’s worth it after it all settles out.  

How are you marketing your book?

We have active campaigns going through sites like Twitter, FaceBook, and other social media channels. But we also have our own Circle of Cynjas who are members of our forum who are basically all about the Cynja. We talk with them regularly and they help us spread the message about being cyber smart and cyber safe.  

What advice do you have for indie comic creators?

If you have an idea and a dream, then don’t hinder yourself by thinking, “It might not go anywhere” or “Who will want to read this?”  If you like it and you think it is a cool concept, odds are someone else will as well. The only other thing I can say is to just fight for your cause, whatever that may be, and watch like-minded people flock to you.  

To me, writing a book or comic is one of the best ways we can really leave our mark on the future. That tome will be around long after we are gone and it can speak to someone across the span of time if we do it right.

You can find out more about The Cynja on Twitter at @TheCynja - and of course you can visit them in the Small Press section at Comic-Con.

 

 

 

The SDCC Daily

8 JUNE 2016

 

                                                                  

Marvel dominated the news of the day, but we found out a few other things.

Warner Bros. is releasing Justice League: Gods and Monsters on VOD  on 8 July - Preview Night. Fingers crossed this is a free screening for SDCC attendees.

Marvel officially won't be in Hall H - well, according to Deadline. I do give this more credence than James Gunn's Facebook chat but I still think we'll have other Marvel panels. First-timers, here's what you should know: Hall H holds 6,500 people. It has the biggest, splashiest Hollywood panels, inspires the longest campouts, and is indeed considered where much of the Comic-Con magic happens. But its panels are only open to 6,500 people out of 130,000 so the absence of one panel is not going to impact most attendees. There will still be plenty of Marvel toys and panels for fans to soak up.
 
Ghostbusters fans will like these: a slimed Dr. Venkman from Funko and a Stay Puft bottle opener and slimed logo pizza cutter from Diamond Select. You can see more Funko toys here.

                                                                  From Dead Central

Entertainment Earth is bringing this Penny Dreadful exclusive: Victor Frankenstein's journal. I was kind of hoping for a stamp of Vanessa's scorpion sigil but I'll take it.

Halo fans will get a limited edition Mega Bloks collector set at the Con - and at first glance, it looks pretty spiffy.

Yes, please: Mike Allred has co-created a new Vertigo series, which will be announced at SDCC.

Film geeks may or may not care about this: Quentin Tarantino shot his latest project, The Hateful Eight, in high-res, wide image 70mm format - Ultra Panavision 70 format, which supposedly was last used in 1966. Now he's installing film projects and anamorphic lenses in 50 theatres so we can see the movie as it's meant to be seen, and people who've seen film footage report being dazzled. (According to Hollywood Reporter, Star Wars anthology film Rogue One will also be shot in Ultra Panavision.) What does this mean for SDCC? That any Tarantino panel will 1) be packed and 2) possibly involve some interesting extra measures.

Oh and finally - don't forget that CCI's Toucan blog will be counting down to SDCC with daily tips.  Today's was what to bring. By and large, it was a decent list although I was baffled by the suggestion to bring boxes, packing tape, labels and other shipping material. That's ... cumbersome. To keep it simple, just hit up a Fed Ex or UPS in the convention center or surrounding hotels and they'll supply all that for you at very minimal cost. It's really not very expensive. For instance, I shipped a huge box of books to myself from ECCC for $25 and several boxes of books and action figures home from SDCC for $45. Completely worth it.

We'll see what tomorrow brings.

A salute for SDCC special guest Raina Telgemeier

14 APRIL 2015



If you're like a lot of nerds, libraries may have played a sacred role in your childhood - the place where you read so many weird/adult books that the librarian talked to your mom; the place where you ate lunch in middle school after getting bullied in the cafeteria; the place where you got to read the graphic novels your allowance wouldn't cover and your parents wouldn't buy you. Libraries are an amazing part of our universe, right?

So it's always depressing and irritating to find out about the people trying to drive certain books out of library walls - shutting down public access to knowledge and entertainment, essentially. Now the American Library Association has released its list of the books that make cranky people make phone calls (or emails). And what do you know, they tend to be: YA novels, graphic novels and books by people of color. Sometimes all three.

If you're a comic fan, a few of these probably sit on your bookshelf - and if you've been paying attention to SDCC2015 special guests, you'll definitely recognize one of these names.

1. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
2. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
3. And Tango Makes Three - Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
4. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
5. It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
6. Saga by Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples
7. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
8. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
9. A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard
10. Drama by Raina Telgemeier

That's right, SDCC special guest Raina Telgemeier is among the ranks of the subversive. I haven't read her book Drama (though I plan to immediately) but Amazon describes it as "a diverse set of characters that humorously explores friendship, crushes and all-around drama!" So you can see why it would be a huge threat.

Possibly this is news to some, but comic books have always been targeted for censorship - hence the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Efforts at silencing have come from other cultures, political groups and of course, Concerned Parents. But there's quite a difference between picking out your own kid's reading material and trying to stop anyone in a library jurisdiction from reading a specific book. So this is a report worth paying attention to, especially in this regard:

"The lack of diverse books for young readers continues to fuel concern. Over the past 12 months the library community has fostered conversations and fueled a groundswell toward activism to address the lack of diversity reflected in children's literature - both in content and among writers and illustrators."

Yikes.

At any rate, we know we have an inspiring creator (one of many) in our midst this July. Let's hope there will be some good panels on fighting censorship and fostering diversity - which is just another word for humanity, remember! - in comics. And let's all hope people of all ages get even more exciting books and graphic novels in the future.

Summer comic book news from IDW & Dark Horse

1 APRIL 2015

                                                           Courtesy of IDW

Happy New Comic Day! Let's look into the future and discuss the tantalizing announcements we got from Dark Horse and IDW at ECCC last weekend. Because they're bringing all of the below your way this summer and fall.

From IDW, we have a collection of titles coming out in July:

• A 4-issue adaptation of The Shrinking Man from CEO Ted Adams. Yes, this is from Richard Matheson's novel where a man shrinks slowly after encountering a mysterious cloud.
• A 4-part Onyx from IDW chief creative officer Chris Ryall and Locke & Key artist Gabriel Rodriguez. A female warrior arrives on Earth to "either save the planet or destroy it." You'll get to see Onyx #0 as a bonus story in some IDW May titles.
• A miniseries of Godzilla in Hell in which the biggest beast of them all visits the fiery underworld and presumably goes through an SDCC badge sale. The creative team will rotate for all 5 issues.
• String Divers about “a squad of androids who are shrunken down to complete world-saving missions.” This is also written by Chris Ryall, with artwork by Nelson Daniel.

 

 

Not to be outdone, Dark Horse is publishing 10 new series this summer. Each one comes with a vivid description from the Dark Horse site that I feel absolutely must be shared.

• Barb Wire about a bounty hunter once played by Pamela Anderson in a film. "The hunting is stupid good and the bounties are hella big - if Barb lives long enough to collect!" I feel like that sums it up pretty accurately. Out in July.

• King Tiger is described as "Blood, death, and fire - the darkest kind of magic” in which Tiger needs to battle "an unthinkable supernatural obscenity." Out in August.

 

• Conspiracy thriller Negative Space starts with writer's block, a suicide note and involves a terrible corporation and “ancient underwater creatures who feed off our strongest and most base emotions.” I bet this writer has a fascinating backstory. On sale in July.

• The Tomorrows kicks off in July and sounds more like a documentary from the future than fiction: "Everything everyone ever posted online has been weaponized against them. The reign of the Corporation is quickly becoming as absolute as it is brutal - unless the Tomorrows can stop it." Curt Pires is the scribe, with a different artist every issue. Out in July.

 

• Death Head also comes out in July and will center around a family who go on a camping trip and discover “an abandoned village hiding an ancient evil” and a villain called “The Plague Doctor.” This sounds like it would make an excellent horror movie.

• Then we have Zodiac Starforce out in August about "an elite group of teenage girls with magical powers who have sworn to protect our planet against dark creatures - as long as they can get out of class!” Oh, and there are "mean-girl minions." So like a supernatural Pretty Little Liars, I'm guessing.

 

• Adam.3, also out in August, has "a futuristic island paradise populated by talking animals and monitored by orbiting control satellites." The talking animals are turned into aliens by actual alien invaders; a battle to save the island ensues. I just realized how much I wish Dali was alive and making comic books. From the brain of Scott Kolins.

• Power Cubed, which launches in September, is about a kid who gets some “matter-reinterpreting technology" on his 18th birthday. A government agent and a "bumbling Nazi scientist" are involved. Wait, aren't bumbling characters supposed to be lovable?

• Jumping to October, we’ll have The Steam Man, which brings us an Old West peopled by robots, Martians, killer apes and vampires. Delightfully zany or tired and gimmicky? It probably depends on the execution. Which will come from Mark Miller, Joe Lansdale, and Piotr Kowalski.

• Toward the end of the year - not exactly summer - we'll get Eric Powell partnering with illustrator Stephanie Buscema for Chimichanga: Sorrow of the World's Worst Face. "Wrinkle's Traveling Circus's most adorable bearded girl and her savory-named beast are back."

And if you didn't hear today, we're also getting two Wonder Woman books this fall - from Jill Thompson and Grant Morrison. Wonder Woman: Earth One will be out in November with pretty art by Yanick Paquette and some of those subversive bondage themes that lurked in old WW comics. Jill Thompson's Wonder Woman: The Very Selfish Princess is out in September. The art in each looks gorgeous.

So many comic books!

More comic books are coming to TV

27 FEBRUARY 2015

We comic book fans and our nerdly dollars have been making TV executives salivate for a while now. Obviously The Walking Dead is a comic book show juggernaut; we also have Gotham, The Strain, Agents of SHIELD, Arrow, Peggy Carter, iZombie, Constantine and others. Looking into the future, comic book TV gets even more intense. How many of these will show up at SDCC? Probably quite a few. 


Netflix has 4 Marvel-based shows focusing on Daredevil, Iron Fist, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones.

Preacher is coming to AMC, Outcast to Cinemax and of course Titans has landed at TNT. 

Powers is debuting 10 March on the PlayStation network.

The Archie universe will allegedly come to TV in Riverdale.


And in just the last few days, we've found out that:

The Flash/Arrow spinoff coming next season is going to feature Caity Lotz, Brandon Routh, Victor Garber and Wentworth Miller.

A Lucifer pilot has been ordered.

Sex Criminals is being adapted as a series for Universal TV. 

Supergirl has gotten a series commitment and firmed up casting.


It's worth noting these shows aren't always successful; does anyone even remember Witchblade? So it's a safe bet that some of the above will probably sputter into obsolescence fairly quickly.

And of course there are the shows that aren't made. For many fans, that's Sandman and Y The Last Man. Personally I'd sell my grandmother to get a intensely morbid live action adaptation of Death Note on cable and I'm leaning that way as well for the Wicked + Divine. But it's inescapable that TV executives feel safer betting on the basics: superheroes and zombies.

Regardless, SDCC's TV panels should look pretty interesting this year - and it'll make it harder for attendees to complain that it's more about Hollywood than comic books. Actually it'll be about both.