Random Thoughts Department

Analysis and commentary I'll likely regret later:

* In a way, I'm impressed if Wizard World: Texas really did break into five figures attendance-wise, as a) no one's figured out how to do a Fall show yet, and b) that division of Wizard's business has been operating without its main organizers since they were let go after Wizard World: Chicago. Drawing 50 percent of projected crowds is never a good thing, but a) those are old-regime projections and new-regime attendance figures and b) Wizard has always overestimated attendance in its relentlessly laughable pre-show hype so if we were to hold that standard as an expectation, every Wizard con has been a crushing failure.

* You know, the convention division of Wizard Entertainment sure ain't healthy. The loss of momentum it used to stake a place in the comics convention business seemingly at odds with the slow, tidal shift in comics represented by manga's rise and the success of comics in bookstores can be traced through its abortive attempt to find a place in the Southeast to hold a show and all the way back to getting snaked by Reed Exhibitions on putting up a New York show, a move that seemed at one point the inevitable Next Big Step for the superhero-focused company. But the situation sure ain't hopeless, either. Not yet. When you fail to do really fundamental things to support your events, like make a focused effort to lock into place local and regional press coverage, there's always a chance to set things onto firmer ground by ensuring such things get done. The key for Wizard will be not getting caught up in having the biggest conventions around, and stabilizing each stop as a worthwhile regional show. Another key: pressing their advantage as a better overall place for comics retailers, a notion that was all the talk in 2005.

* DC hires Sue Pohja into Rich Johnson's vacated position. I think this may give DC a full hand when it comes to a restructured sales and marketing division of which efforts to overhaul and refocus began about 22 months ago. What jumped out at me, though, when reading ICv2.com's mini-inquiry in their article as to how exactly how Pohja would be working with "toys and collectibles" is how this kind of promotion plays to her displayed bookstore strengths in any way. Could DC's retaining certain non-comics parts of their business within their walls and not elsewhere in the Time Warner empire ultimately hinder publishing specialists?

* I think I support the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists' effort to crack down on the use of editorial cartoons by bloggers. I sure hope the AAEC shares my take on "fair use," though, or I'm likely to butt heads with them. But yeah, running an editorial cartoon to just run an editorial cartoon or to run an editorial cartoon as an illustration for an article about, for instance, an issue shared by cartoon and article, those things aren't really covered.

* I can't find a way to spin Platinum naming former Top Cow and Wizard mainstay and current Hero Initiative head honcho Jim McLauchlin as Editor-In-Chief of its on-line and print comic books division into snark without dredging up now-standard material about its phantom comics production as the publisher that pursued movie deals without the hassle of actually making comics. Even though I can't imagine I'll personally care for a lot of the material that results, for some strange reason I find myself wanting Platinum to publish rather than not to publish. And with that goal in mind, McLauchlin's a more than solid choice.

* I did, however, puke something yellow onto my arm when I saw that McLauchlin's 13 years in the business makes him a "longtime industry vet." I haven't felt old quite like that since someone mentioned Joyce Hyser is 48. Thanks, Milton!
 
posted 1:17 am PST | Permalink
 

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