The Never-Ending, Four-Color Festival: Cons, Shows, Events



By Tom Spurgeon

* just about everything in comics is focused on Comic-Con International, which begins two weeks from today. The updates are coming hard and heavy at the site, such as the beginning of the programming which went up the same day this was posted. As always, I'll be keeping a strip-mined comics programming list here for me to look at when I'm in San Diego. Take it for what you will. I'm on there a few times, two moderating gigs and a sit-on-a-panel one.

* that doesn't mean there aren't shows between now and then; here's one in Louisville. Louisville's a fun city, with interesting regional cuisine.

* Heidi MacDonald notes a tightening up of press credentials at the New York Comic-Con. I know people have fun at that show and it's very popular, but it almost seems designed to not interest me in the slightest. And I adore going to New York. But anyway, I'm totally behind all the shows having more realistic press-pass policies, because that's something that gets abused to death by tons of folks.

* MacDonald also digs up a story on what looks like random badge checks at San Diego. I've said this a bunch of times, but that makes total sense to me. The fact that the badges sell out more quickly every year makes the badges more and more valuable in a way they're going to want to protect against a market for fake badges. I liked the wackiness of the loose-with-badges years, too, but I don't begrudge this at all. I hope their enforcement goes as smoothly as possible.

* I'm not sure if this is new or not, but I guess the shuttle service at San Diego is way more extensive than it used to be and the buses run 24 hours to some locations now. Speaking of San Diego, I guess some of the major movie studios are sitting this one out. I feel bad for anyone that made plans on the certainty of seeing one thing or another when that thing doesn't show up. It makes sense that studios would reconsider these efforts, though, given the hit-and-miss success of hyping movies there.

* no one had more fun than Will Eisner at comics shows.

* probably the most interesting story of the last couple of weeks is the announcement of an "old-timey" comics convention in San Diego this October to celebrate Comic-Con's past and the fan culture from which it spawned. Original SDCCers Mark Evanier and Jackie Estrada are among the guests. I'm all for comics shows, and this sounds like one with a directed purpose that could be very fun for those interested and those that were there.

* don't be alarmed, but SPX is less than three months away.

* I don't read the Bleeding Cool site as much as I probably should, but this is an awesome post stringing together a bunch of the weirder hiring-type notices related to San Diego's forthcoming Comic-Con. Good work on that one.

* finally, Paul Gravett reports on the 2012 edition of Kapow!
 
posted 11:00 am PST | Permalink
 

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