The Comics Reporter

March 28, 2013

Go, Look: Craig Carlson

posted 11:55 pm PST | Permalink

Festivals Extra: WonderCon Launches Today

I remain semi-fascinated by the fact that the traditional Spring show WonderCon has just sort of decamped to southern California for a couple of years as a result of a kind of rambling dispute with convention infrastructure officials in its traditional home, San Francisco. A lot of the reaction to that bit of news depends on seeing one side or another as acting in bad faith: that city and convention center officials in San Francisco should in the interest of basic reason be much more solicitous of WonderCon's needs, or, conversely, that WonderCon engineered the whole thing in order to get a convention going in Anaheim. I don't think either stance reflects the truth. I think the first is a strategic choice and the second is Comic-Con strongest play in response. In fact, I hope things work out for Comic-Con to stay in Anaheim, whether by adding a fourth show, by keeping WonderCon where it is this weekend for the near-future, or by keeping the Anaheim show and revamping APE into a broader convention. I don't think they have any plans in any direction; I'm just talking about my personal preference: it would be nice to be able to count on a big mainstream-oriented Southern California show, and one hopes this might even in the long term trigger an alt-show of some kind in LA proper. But with WonderCon, the thing is I think CCI's collective skill-set is such that they're the best people to put a convention on in Anaheim the Spring before a summer movie season, and that unlike many of the other candidates for putting on a show of that size and scope they remain comics-interested, so that should remain a core of such a show. Los Angeles is also super-convenient in a way that San Francisco is not, which in the years to come will be a bigger and bigger deal.

Anyhow, for comics fans that might want to spend a day over there -- not Saturday, which is apparently sold out -- or have already purchased tickets, I'd recommend the traditional Quick Draw! panel, the Jeff Smith spotlight and Smith's panel with Terry Moore. I'd attend the Elfquest anniversary panel, too, although whether or not you go to that one I imagine is already something you know walking in the doors. Jeff Smith is there promoting this Fall's RASL color hardcover, and he's a friendly, articulate panel presence that tends to speak his mind. Oh, and I also enjoy the comics made by the writer Jeff Parker, who will be talking to Pat Loika along with the talented artists Gabriel Hardman. There are Comics Arts Conference presentations, which can be dry for a lot of people but are usually fun for the subject matter of individual presentations and the fact that they tend to feature folks that you don't see on a lot of other panels. I'd enjoy hearing other views on Matt Kindt, for instance.

My personal memory of WonderCon in San Francisco is that it's a strong show to see original art and to buy from the dealers that specialize in that work, but in Anaheim I'm not as certain.

posted 11:50 pm PST | Permalink

Go, Look: Lucky (The Tumblr Version)

posted 9:30 pm PST | Permalink

Assembled, Zipped, Transferred And Downloaded: News From Digital

By Tom Spurgeon

* Jeff Parker will write a digital comics effort focused on the Batman from the 1960s television show Batman. That seems like it should be an interesting test of what kind of impact a well-known, accessible comic with some broader marketing muscle behind it can have digitally. Jonathan Case will provide art; Michael Allred will do covers. I like all of those creators, and while I like the idea of 1960s Batman more than I ever like sitting through more than a few minutes of the television show, I think that'd be a fun milieu to explore.

* this site will note elsewhere it's the cartoonist Kevin Huizenga's birthday. He has a lot of the Bona work up on-line and offers up an intriguing digital profile generally if you poke around.

* I'm still sort of totally fascinated by how content-aggressive Marvel's overall digital strategy seems to be, if only glimpsed through things like their regular discounting of serial comics event series and other things that might relate to their ongoing "story." It's sort of like stumbling across some TV show you meant to watch but didn't quite get to, for the price of a couple of coffees.

* I wonder if that's the model, if we're not seeing a model now, for all that there are additional models to come. That would be, roughly: 1) new mainstream comics at prices equivalent to the books on the stands; 2) heavy and aggressive discounting of material in some sort of strategic way if possible to drive people to new material; 3) big chunks of material offered at an even more aggressive price point from the publishers themselves, although that one is still in development. That seems like a working strategy moving forward, at least in the short terms as consumption habits continue to evolve. It's not going to be a really evangelistic strategy if it stays that way, or at least not one with the ability to catch fire. I always sort of suspected that to stay away from 99 cents as a standard comic-book price point, despite the howls that this had to be the way to do it, might end up being a strength for at least the short-term: it allows for discounting strategies, and it doesn't lock the publishers into a lower price point moving forward. I'm sure other disagree with all of that, in strident terms.

* I like the site enough to do a "go look" on it sooner rather than later, but I thought it was interesting how Matt Huynh presented his comics work there.

* finally: Gary Tyrrell, whose blog is like an actually good version of this column posted every single damn day, has a couple of fine posts about webcomics people enjoying massive success through crowdfunding here and here.

posted 9:00 pm PST | Permalink

If I Were In Anaheim, I’d Go To This

posted 8:30 pm PST | Permalink

Go, Look: Plume

posted 7:00 pm PST | Permalink

Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* Gavin Jasper and Chris Sims take a look at a recent DC Comics videogame tie-in comics, Injustice: Gods Among Us. I actually read an issue of the comic in question and found it intriguing in the sense that the videogame audience is an audience DC is very, very much interested in bringing on board.

* Kiel Phegley talks to Jim Rugg. You know, you saw those two guys talking in a bar and you'd think it was a meeting of the Young Republicans Club. Those are two upstanding young men, with respectable haircuts.

* so I guess this find a comic book shop feature on the CBR home page is new. I like comic book shops.

* Sean T. Collins on Cold Heat.

* this fascinating-looking book is apparently out now, although it may not be officially out-out until it debuts first at MoCCA and then at TCAF.

* there's a bunch of cool-looking Chris Ware art here. Couldn't tell you exactly what the hell that is, though. Ditto this, except the art part.

* comics that react directly to pop culture is the most underrated legacy of comics on-line.

* finally, Richard Sala makes great characters.

posted 6:00 pm PST | Permalink

Happy 47th Birthday, Dan Wright!