I had a new perspective on the convention this year, because I served as a volunteer for the first time. I've always thought it was a friendly, well-run show, and if anything it looks even more so from the inside. As a volunteer I helped at the registration desk, ran a few errands around the convention center, manned the Spider-Man bouncy room available for kids in a corner of the hall (fun), and spent a few hours on Saturday helping manage the huge lines waiting to purchase one-day passes (not fun).
That cut down on my panel attendance a little bit, but I still caught at least a couple on each of the three days. Friday started with a bang with "The Transition From Print to Online Comics" with Mark Waid and Jeff Smith, moderated by Tom Spurgeon. I think I've said it before, but it bears repeating: Mark Waid is one of the smartest people in comics. He has forgotten more than most of us will ever know about traditional print comics, and his Thrillbent website has been an ongoing experiment in finding a workable format for creating (and making money from) digital comics. Jeff Smith has been actively working on a digital original comic called Tuki, despite a strong inclination towards traditional print comics. They're both great storytellers, and funny, so it was an enjoyable, informative hour that seemed to end too soon.
"The Image Writers" was hosted by the "Brett and Matt Love Comics!" podcasters, and included Matt Fraction (Sex Criminals), Kelly Sue DeConnick (Pretty Deadly), Justin Jordan (Spread), and Bryan JL Glass (Mice Templar). They were all enthusiastic about publishing with Image, though they had different stories about how they got there. I've seen Fraction and Deconnick on panels before, but never together. Being married definitely changes the dynamic: they had a tendency to comment on each other, finish each other's sentences, etc. Some of the things they talked about: Fraction and artist Chip Zdarsky never expected Sex Criminals to be a hit, so they had to change course to take the story past the fifth issue. DeConnick worried that she wasn't revealing enough in early issues of Pretty Deadly, but was talked down by artist Emma Ríos. And she knew she needed an editor, so she hired one! Glass said that Mice Templar was only intended to be a short series when he co-created it with artist Michael Avon Oeming. But his world-building created a much larger story, which has now gone on for over 30 issues.
Saturday I mainly attended the annual Megapanel (a two-hour in depth panel covering a different theme every year):
Comics Regulation, Comics Censorship: Past and Present
Writer Craig Fischer teams up with a cadre of expert commentators to examine those moments when political and public outrage over the content of comic books disrupted the body politic. A discussion of the recent South Carolina Fun Home controversy, where legislators in the House of Representatives tried to reduce state funding to the College of Charleston as a penalty for using Alison Bechdel’s lesbian-themed graphic novel in a campus program. Dr. Consuela Francis, a comics scholar and professor in the English Department at the College of Charleston, and Christopher Brook, the Legal Director of North Carolina’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Then we’ll reconsider one of the most controversial figures in comics’ history: Dr. Fredric Wertham, author of 1954’s Seduction of the Innocent (published 60 years ago) and outspoken critic of what he considered the negative effects of comics on children. We’ll be joined via video by Dr. Bart Beaty (the author of Fredric Wertham and the Critique of Mass Culture [2005]) and Dr. Carol Tilley (the author of an article about distortions in Wertham’s research) to chart the latest developments in “Wertham Studies.”
Finally, Craig will conduct a career-spanning interview with legendary industry figure Denis Kitchen. We’ll zero in on the censorship hassles Kitchen tackled as a publisher and distributor of underground comix, on his role in the founding of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund in 1986, and on his involvement in the CBLDF’s highest profile case, the conviction of artist Mike Diana for obscenity in 1994 (20 years ago).
Fascinating as always, and with a special geographic import for me, since I now work in South Carolina.
I also popped in briefly to "Breaking Into Comics as Writers" with Ivan Brandon, Frank Barbiere, Van Jensen, and Matt Kindt, moderated by Heidi MacDonald (from The Beat).
Sunday featured "TMNT: An Hour With Kevin Eastman" with Cap Blackard (of the Nerdy Show). Eastman was funny and down to earth, despite having lines 200 people long for signings all weekend. Hannah Means Shannon wrote a very complete summary of the session at Bleeding Cool.
Later "A Comics Journalism Roundtable" had Tom Spurgeon (of Comics Reporter), Heidi McDonald (of The Beat), and Chris Sims (of Comics Alliance) discussing the state of comics journalism, moderated by Tom Heintjes (of Hogan's Alley). The main thing they all agreed on was that the comics industry is becoming too large for any single website to cover it completely. McDonald noted that she has felt increasing pressure to cover new comics projects, especially Kickstarters.
The final session of the con was "Teaching Comics Series - The Foundation of a Sequential Art Education," which dealt with the question of how to teach comics in schools, at Junior High, High School, or even younger. The panel included Craig Fisher and Steve Saffel (editor at Titan Books). It was a lively discussion. I missed the first part of it, but it had centered around issues of censorship and age-appropriateness by the end. There were a number of teachers and a librarian (me) participating in the Q&A.
Finally, the annual shopping haul, all for $5 apiece:
30 Days of Night Vol. 3: Run, Alice, Run [the last collection from the recent ongoing]
Demo by Brian Wood & Becky Cloonan [the Vertigo compilation of the original series]
Hack/Slash Omnibus [2 volumes]
The Walking Dead 100 Project
Vertigo Visions by Alisa Kwitney [Vertigo Comics art book]
Good as Lily by Derek Kirk Kim & Jesse Hamm
Happy! by Grant Morrison & Darick Robertson
Sex Criminals Vol. 1: One Weird Trick
Kill Shakespeare Vol. 3: The Tide of Blood
Ted McKeever's Miniature Jesus
Roger Langridge's Snarked! Vol. 1
Popeye Vol. 1 [IDW]
Silver by Stephan Franck is a new B&W series described as "Pulp Adventure Supernatural." The creator did such a good job selling the book that I bought one from him; he drew a nice sketch inside.
I got Sex Criminals signed by Fraction & Zdarsky. Roger Langridge signed & did a little sketch in Snarked! and Popeye.
I also got some memorable sketches. Roger Langridge drew Popeye; Gilbert Hernandez did a profile view of Luba in just a few pencil strokes; Dean Trippe made a detailed ink rendering of Robin from his story "Something Terrible;" and Joe Eisma drew Jade from Morning Glories in ink.
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Sounds like fun, Mark. Glad you had a good time.