The Never-Ending, Four-Color Festival: News On Cons, Shows & Major Events

By Tom Spurgeon

* so why hasn't there been a decision from Comic-Con International yet on where they're holding future versions of the Big Show? David Glanzer tells CR it's because of the late-period addition to the original proposals, which meant for additional time taken in reviewing those additions. "I guess the easy answer is we're in the home stretch," the con's promotional and publicity point man says, although he declined to make any prediction regarding timing. "My expectation is that an answer will come before the show. Again we're not tied to a time-line, but I know that we are hoping for a decision sometime before Comic-Con." Comic-Con International starts exactly four weeks from today.

* this weekend there's a one-day indy show in Sacramento with a bunch of guests I know, a small show in Knoxville where I recognize none of the guests and maybe one or two shows more like the Knoxville event than the Sacramento event sprinkled around the rest of North America. We're basically in the period between the early summer shows (primarily the ones in Charlotte and Florida) and the juggernaut that is Comic-Con International in late July.

* this weekend also sees the ALA Annual conference in Washington, DC, with folks like Gene Luen Yang and Raina Telgemeier in attendance. Basically, all our nice people plus Leigh Walton. I'll try to make a separate post of ALA appearances and put it up tomorrow.

* there is also something called the New Haven Summer Comics Fest, but I'm having a hard time finding an official site. Some of those in attendance have put up a lot of information, though.

* Chris Butcher recaps TCAF 2010. He makes official they'll be going annual for the foreseeable future. That's awesome. I hope to attend a future edition of this first-class show in a first-class city.

* CCI announced a bunch of news-update type stuff this week, things like where to catch the new bus route shuttles during the day (in front of the Omni) and more places to pick up certain types of badges.

* as Comic-Con gets closer, I expect there to be some fan pushback against what it likely to be a number of announcements about television shows and movies being promoted through Comic-Con International that aren't working genre areas these fans are comfortable claiming for comics. For me, a movie like Avatar and a television show like Glee have the same amount of crossover interest with comics: none. Your comics may have vampires and werewolves in them but my comics have aging local talk show hosts and southern California post-punk culture in them. I don't understand why your interests are more legitimate than mine when it comes to claiming the "-plus" part of "comics-plus." The truth is Comic-Con has always had non-comics elements and they're certainly not going to stop having them now that there's a huge demand for what Comic-Con can do for such properties. I invite you to join me on the ground of the show in ignoring all of that stuff and focusing on the comics. I very much doubt Jane Lynch will get between us and Emile Bravo's spotlight panel. And if she does, she better get out of the way.

* but yeah, expect a lot of this kind of thing. And expect coverage of stars promoting material at Comic-Con to include commentary on Comic-Con as a unique opportunity for such promotion. More generally, a news.google search indicates we're at the beginning of pre-show hype from the standpoint of the film and television people. This piece points out that two naturals for promotion at the event, the HBO show Game Of Thrones and the forthcoming JJ Abrams network show Undercovers, seeming naturals for the event, are skipping it.

* the reported cross-promotion between the San Diego Padres and Comic-Con does not exist.

* I would love it if comics in the cultural/social sense would accept the challenge of competing with a bunch of dopey TV shows and movies by throwing down the gauntlet and doing everything they do at San Diego better and with greater vigor -- as opposed to the current, popular plan of vaguely bitching about not being loved enough while standing around a hotel bar complaining about the entities actually throwing parties. We have the smartest and funniest and most talented creators, we have by far the best art form going in terms of consistently intriguing and entertaining output, and we have enough of a head start scene-wise we should be able to work San Diego much better than the various show-biz latecomers. In other words, the comics part of the convention should still be the best part of the convention.

* in more personal news, my Comic-Con moderating schedule is shaping up. I haven't received confirmation from the con folks yet and they haven't returned by most recent e-mail inquiry, but I believe I'm at least verbally committed to playing Wink Martindale at: a best of/worst of manga panel, an International Graphic Novels panel with a demented and awesome guest list, the comic strip reprint panel, spotlights for Gabrielle Bell and James Sturm.

* finally, you can access the latest issue of Comic-Con magazine here; there's a long WonderCon report festooned with photos, including those of all the TV/Movie folks I totally missed.
 
posted 10:00 am PST | Permalink
 

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