A Few Brief Notes About CCI 2009

* the Con has begun to roll out its impressive programming schedule. There's a lot of good stuff in there. It seems like a lot of panels may have gone from 90 minutes to 60 minutes, but maybe that's my imagination. I prefer 60-minute panels in all but a few cases, actually.

* Eisner Awards Administrator Jackie Estrada sent out a press release yesterday saying that the "title sponsor" of this year's program is the THQ video game Darksiders, and that Baby Tattoo will be sponsoring the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award.

* the last few years I've gone through and separated out the comics material, but thanks to the renewed prevalence of comic books based on TV shows and movies this is nearly impossible. So instead I'll run a top 20 panel picks the Monday or Tuesday before the show. Feel free to use their category tags to make your own list.

* a bunch of you have written in that people seem pretty nutty and fixated on Comic-Con this year, even more so than in previous years. I agree, it's like a three-week event now. Crazy. I'm not sure why that is... I have some thoughts I'll share in an essay that should roll out while I'm in attendance, but I'd be lying if I said I have it figured out. I'm lucky to have a lot of things on my plate personally and professionally right now, but once I begged my way off of a really cool panel that would have required me to do a ton of research just to fake expertise on par with the other panelists, none of my workload has anything to do with Comic-Con. I guess I have to pack and find batteries for my Flip camera thing. I mean, I understand why certain company and professional people might be stressed out and crushed, but I'm confused when it comes to most folks treating CCI like it's an extended missionary posting. It's standing around looking at comics, watching Denethor on the Fringe panel (or whatever), drinking G&T's and talking to people for five days. Let's all look forward to having fun at the show, and maybe remind ourselves that Jack Kirby could have created a couple of publishing lines' worth of concepts and characters between right now and the doors opening on Preview Night the 22nd.

* I'm not sure what the exact point is of this article about the San Diego Con's appeal, because it drifts a bit and offers up at least a pair of protective caveats, but that the great con's success has something to do with honoring certain kinds of relationships sounds like pandering nonsense to me. I'm sure Patricia Heaton woke up the other day and thought, "I want to honor the relationships between performers and audience. How can I make this happen?" She's going for the publicity it will provide her show, and well she should. People two and three years ago had better theories, all referencing that bottom line: Comic-Con attendees are general opinion leaders, they make for mostly supportive and respectful and intelligent and grateful crowds, and it's an easy event for a lot of people to add because of its timing on the calendar and its proximity to LA. Here's another theory: the Comic-Con people put on a really effective, well-run show. Fast forward to 2009 and I don't think anything's changed except the Comic-Con folks are even better at running this show and more people want to do it because it's now been demonstrably successful as a PR wedge.

* side note, same article: television shows with a devoted fanbase is NOT its own genre, unless the marketing people get to define what genres are now. The real answer is that all genres of TV should be welcome just as all genres of comics are.
 
posted 8:00 am PST | Permalink
 

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