Comic-Con International 2008 Begins Today At San Diego’s Convention Center



The 2008 version of Comic-Con International, the largest gathering of comics industry professionals as well as thousands of folks from related media, gets underway this morning in downtown San Diego. The convention was sold out in advance, and has not even guaranteed late-arriving professional and media registration.

This site will run a full report on the show at its conclusion, and will supplement that piece with a running "BTUS" that will land on its usual Tuesday slot with the major publishing-news announcements, the occasional news brief including Eisner results on Saturday, as well as anything else that screams for stand-alone coverage between now and then. And, of course, we'll put together a collective memory .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) with your links.

While I'm still able to resist doing so, I'm going to avoid wall-to-wall breathless coverage of my feelings about the show and endless, banal text-from-the-floor updates. It's a big, crazy, pop-culture show and my saying so 100 times doesn't make it any more true than my reporting once next week. (Although believe me, in all likelihood I'll be on board with that stuff by next year.) Oh, and I'm also hoping for a wrap-up interview about convention issues by the end of next week, and if not, we'll try to get something along those lines up as soon as possible. We may wait for attendance results before that happens.

For supplementary coverage, I recommend sites such as The Beat, Comic Book Resources and Newsarama. I wouldn't know where to send you to hear people's random thoughts via Twitter or any of those technologies. Sorry!

Among the stories to keep an eye on:

* How will the convention function under its first before-con sell-out conditions? What kind of flexibility will they have to accommodate last-minute attempts to goose the guest list by exhibitors, press or professionals showing up in person? Will there be any fire safety and capacity concerns?

* Can Friday's Eisner Awards repeat last year's entertaining show? Does that red carpet in the link just now really exist? Why is it so short? Will anyone have the kind of breakout year that marks their arrival in the first rank of popular and well-regarded American comic book creators, as was the case last year with Ed Brubaker? Which one of the other magazines will win the award in the category with this site as a nominee?

* Will Marvel and DC announce future projects or major talent moves at this year's show? Was the dearth of such announcements at the Wizard show in Chicago related to that show specifically, or is the Big Convention Announcement a publicity ploy no longer in favor with those publishers in the social networking era?

* How well-attended will the Hyatt's bar scene be in light of its owner's public financial support for measures against same-sex marriage? Will it be packed or super-packed?

* IDW and Darwyn Cooke announced a series of graphic novel adaptations of Donald Westlake's Parker books on Wednesday night; Image pre-announced their making Robert Kirkman a partner. Will other publishers not Marvel or DC follow suit and use the publicity platform provided by CCI in that way? Is that even possible now?

* Will there be another breakout alt-comics book like last year's Fletcher Hanks collection from Fantagraphics? With their bookstore distribution commitments, can publishers like that even have breakout books at a convention anymore? How will the smaller art comics publishers do?
 
posted 8:25 am PST | Permalink
 

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