Home > Out and About Collective Memory: Comic-Con International 2006 posted July 29, 2006
What follows are links to some of the best coverage of Comic-Con International 2006, which took place July 20-23 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Due to the overwhelming number of personal diaries and news stories and PR erupting from the show, this collective memory will be more selective in nature than the usual linkathon. To keep the focus on comics, I'm leaning heavily on established sources.
Additionally, some notes of mine about the show follow the links.
Buzz Books
Above and beyond books I simply liked (Jackass, the new Greg Irons book, the Buenaventura Press books, etc.) here's a list of some good books that seemed to enjoyed a combination of selling well (or selling out) and people talking to me about them.
* Lost Girls (Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie; Top Shelf)
* Krayons Ego (Various)
* Castle Waiting (Linda Medley; Fantagraphics Books)
* Dear John -- The Alex Toth Doodle Book (John Hitchcock, Octopus Press)
* How to Draw Comics Plus a Guidebook to The Center For Cartoon Studies (Kevin Huizenga, CCS)
*****
Publishing News Stories That Interested Me
* Marvel announces very little, preferring to wait until Chicago.
* Jeff Smith's Captain Marvel project still on track at DC, says Dan Didio. Is this the last creator above the title, free-reins project DC has planned for a while?
* Oni uses a couple of high-profile license announcements (Stephen Colbert; My Name is Earl) to grab a bit of the spotlight
* Fantagraphics is signed up for a series of books collecting Bill Mauldin's work
* Still no word from Andrews McMeel as to next all-in-one project, as candidates start to slip away (Dick Tracy to IDW; another big-name strip rumored to go with a comics company). The earliest the next project could come out is Christmas 2007 at this point. Could it be they're waiting for For Better or For Worse?
*****
Convention News
* Size of show leads to temporary shut-down of on-line and on-site registration on Saturday.
* Show receives general administrative high marks despite size; complaints at during-show panel focus on dissemination of information and (this is usually the case) a potential lack of attention to services for the disabled.
* Size of show increases speculation about a potential move or a move to spread the show throughout the town.
* At the same time, both local press and the Mayor's office show more support for the show than perhaps ever.
* Small Press in Flux? If you look at Kelly Sue DeConnick's con reports, it indicates that selling out of a book and sharing a room may not be enough to remain profitable while having a table at the show; Eric Knisley at HellCar, on the other hand; had a very profitable year through his table.
*****
One Last Note to Myself
In 2003 I went to the press room once to leave brochures for a book that was about to come out. It was totally empty, as if it had never been used. I went to the press room once this year and it was totally packed, with a curtain to keep people from staring in.
