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Back in the day, the Wednesday of San Diego was an opportunity for industry networking and business — first as a retailer trade show, and, briefly, as ProCon, a professionals only conference. Both these events stopped in the 90s, but now there’s a new opportunity to get some grounding in the business before the consumer show begins. Milton Griepp’s previous afternoon conferences before the New York Comic-Con have been an opportunity to hear hard facts and exchange ideas…now he’s presenting a one-day conference in San Diego, to be held on Wednesday, July 22nd, prior to Preview Night. And in the spirit of disclosure, the conference is being co-sponsored by The Beat and PW Comics Week. We know you already have too much to do at San Diego, but this promises to be very informative, so please consider attending.

Pop culture publishing and consulting company ICv2 has announced that it will host the ICv2 Comics and Media Conference: Building Connections on Wednesday, July 22nd, in conjunction with San Diego Comic-Con International.

“Comics are increasingly the raw material for films, TV shows, and videogames and vice versa, and San Diego is where that all comes together,” ICv2 President Milton Griepp said. “We wanted to create a conference where writers and artists; publishers; producers of films, TV shows, and videogames; agents and managers; licensing pros; retailers; and librarians and educators can all come together to talk about what’s happening and about how to expand this incredibly productive cross-fertilization.”

The ICv2 Comics and Media Conference, a ticketed half-day event, will be held at the San Diego Marriott, next to the San Diego Convention Center, on Wednesday afternoon, July 22nd, from 1 to 5 p.m., just before Preview Night at Comic-Con. Comic-Con is assisting with promotion and logistics for the event.

Confirmed speakers and panelists include film, TV, and comics writer Jeph Loeb, who will deliver the keynote address for the event; Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, who will participate in the discussion of Comics after Hollywood; and businesspeople from the worlds of comics, film, TV, and videogames, with more speakers still being added.

Confirmed Sessions:

Keynote Address
Comics and Media Case Studies
Comics and the IP Life Cycle
Comics after Hollywood

Confirmed Speakers, Panelists, Moderators:

Nick Barrucci, Dynamite Entertainment
Robin Brenner, author, librarian
Milton Griepp, ICv2
Matt Hawkins, Top Cow
Rick Jacobs, Circle of Confusion
Jeff Katz, American Original
Jeph Loeb, writer for film, TV, and comics
Tom Mclean, writer for Variety, Animation
Mike Mignola, writer, artist, creator of Hellboy
Joe Nozemack, Oni Press

PW Comics Week and The Beat by Heidi MacDonald, two publications of Publisher’s Weekly, have signed on to sponsor the conference.

The Beat

The Beat by Heidi MacDonald is a news blog of comics culture in which MacDonald delivers her own brand of coverage on the world of comics.

PW Comics Week

Every week PW Comics Week reports on comics & graphic novel publishing bringing our readers business trends, artist, publisher profiles & retail information. It also delves into top stories and a release schedule of not-to-be missed titles.

ICv2

ICv2 covers the business world of comics and graphic novels, specialty DVDs, tabletop games, and movie and TV licensed products on its Website, ICv2.com, and in its magazine, the ICv2 Insider’s Guide.

For more information, click here. To register, click here.

1 COMMENT

  1. I think this is a fantastic idea, and much like what I used to live for in Comic-Con, retailer days of old, but coming up with an extra $99 at this late notice (I’m sure the info’s been out for a while, it just never reached me) is just impossible. I hope they do it again next year, and maybe even at some other, smaller cons. It’s a shame, because even though I love Comic Con, and always look forward to seeing my comic pals in an environment where people do want to talk about comics, I often find that it’s become to big for me to even find half of them, let alone spend any real time chatting. I’m hoping when the con program comes out, I’ll be able to mark off events that I can hit and still do some of that networking.