General Impressions
The emphasis on film and television, in some ways, had little effect on what I actually do, or should be doing, professionally, at the convention. Mainly it's a logistical nuisance. How the colonization of film and television this year affected comics sales and what was making its debut this year is another matter entirely: to me, it seemed as if there were fewer small-press/alternative/mini comics making their big debut at the con this year overall, most likely due to the economy. It also seems like many books that would have premiered at Comic-Con in the past, such as R. Crumb's
The Book of Genesis, are now going to be released in October/November, which are big months for bookstore publishing.
- I suppose I could complain about the film and television network booths that all but cut off Artists' Alley, but honestly, there's not much more to do there other than catch the occasional veteran comics artist, such as Ramona Fradon, and buy more Colleen Coover art. It's been a long time since Comic-Con has been a place for discovering unpublished or undistributed artists; there are now other, and better, conventions for that.
- I saw/was in physical proximity to/hung out with people who had seen/had close proximity to a number of non-comics celebrities this year. (Since there are so many more attending, it stands to reason.)
That said, the skeeziest people I had to deal with this year weren't comics fans at all, but rather Hollywood bottom-feeders leaning creepily into my personal space and asking me what comics I thought should be adapted into films. Ugh.
Panels
On the comics side of things, the fact that Comic-Con has the ability to draw many of the talented cartoonists from all over the world can be a boon in that it can make for some productive discussions (if only people had the time and the interest to sift through the media blitz to read about/listen to/watch them). Given my workload and the laws of time and space, I was only able to attend two panels this year, but they both were well worth it.
- The first was the Graphic Novels panel, moderated by Tom Spurgeon and featuring Seth, Jason Lutes, Gene Yang, Derek Kirk Kim, Lewis Trondheim and a tardy Bryan Lee O'Malley. Though the panelists touched on matters such as how the changes in the format of comics has opened up narrative opportunities, the highlight of the panel was when Jason Lutes explained that working with major publishers such as Hyperion involves more extensive editing than what is usual in independent comics, even down to the structure of the story, which, with some exceptions,[1] he viewed positively, and Seth adamantly opposing such editing as contrary to the artist's personal vision. Through the intervention of other panelists, Seth softened his position to allow that feedback from other cartoonists could be helpful, but railed against, to paraphrase, the institutionalization of editing.
- Douglas Wolk moderated the One Panel Panel, in which cartoonists Larry Marder (Beanworld), Charles Vess (Sandman, Rose) and Michael Allred (Madman) accessibly explained the how and why of "one panel" of their work (really, a full page from Marder, a pin-up by Vess, and the one-panel-long issue of Madman Atomic Comics #9. The most amusing anecdote came from Vess, who explained that, in the '80s, a factual error made by the editors of Amazing Heroes in the caption to his Swimsuit Special pin-up drawing led to a correction from new comics writer Neil Gaiman, which led to the two meeting and talking at Comic-Con, which led to their collaboration on "A Midsummer's Night's Dream" in Sandman #19, which won a World Fantasy Award.[2] (He also had a rather funny story about Roy Thomas, and how, based on the latter's wordy comics writing, was able to pick him out as the biggest talker in a room.)
Costumes
As someone who likes to look at what costumes people are wearing generally (Halloween is my favorite holiday), it seemed to me that there were a lot of ladies dressed like the '40s version of the Silk Specter, to the point where that costume outnumbered any of the others from the
Watchmen film. My theory is that they liked the pin-up/retro aspect of it, and also that many ladies just like to wear sexy costumes.
Summary
The most depressing work-related conversation I had: On the next-to-last day of the con, I gave my number to another critic, explaining that the one thing I felt I really didn't get to do at the con was to talk in-depth with anyone about comics themselves. He agreed. [3]
Notes:
[1] Lutes, who is affiliated with the Center for Cartoon Studies, gave this negative example of big-book-publisher editing: on the Amelia Earhart book he is laying out/thumbnailing, Hyperion forbade him to depict people smoking, even though that was a factual period detail, saying that would make it unmarketable.
[2] Vess relates this anecdote more fully in his interview in
Prince of Stories: The Many Worlds of Neil Gaiman.
[3] It looks like Tom Spurgeon independently had a similar sentiment:
http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/why_the_success_of_comics_conventions_isnt_necessarily_a_good_thing/Image credits:
Photos © Kristy Valenti 2009
Kristy Valenti currently works for The Comics Journal and Fantagraphics Books, Inc.
Uncharted Territory is © Kristy Valenti, 2008
