Conventions

There's comics action in Austin, TX this weekend as well with STAPLE, which lasts all weekend and has now morphed into an Independent Media Expo, kicking off just before SXSW. Comics Guests include Steve Niles, Bernie Wrightson and James O'Barr. Here's a schedule and some highlights:

Time to break in those shoes and hydrate -- big con season is back starting today with the Emerald City Comic Con. The tribe has already gathered, if our twitter feed is any indication, and a plethora of exclusives and signings will be available. ECCC, as it's known, has definitely become one of the finest regional cons on the circuit and we expect to hear a lot of news as everyone explains what they did on their winter vacation.

As the lamentwitterations filter over the land, the results of this year's Hoteloween are being discovered. And while the lucky ones who got their first hotel choice smile to themselves, the tweets of the homeless fill the air.

Diamond will once again be holding its annual retailer summit at C2E2 this year, from Wednesday, April 24 to Friday, April 26. The event is only open to retailers and a few industry professionalss but the schedule includes breakfast, dinners and, of course, a hearty lunch. The full schedule can be viewed here.

That's right, even if you weren't on the internet at 12:00:00 pm pst ON THE DOT, there are still excellent hotels available right now. Many are on the shuttle root, many are name brand resorts.

By all accounts last weekend's inaugural Wizard World Portland show was a success. Steve Duin has a glowing report:

A sign that the UK creative scene are eager both for conventions and the opportunity to queue, exhibitor tables for Leeds Thought Bubble Convention...

§ Graphic Classics is still turning out themed comics anthologies, and their new one is Native American Classics: Graphic Classics Volume 24, for which they hired as many actual Native American creators as possible:

If you're into writers of the past and present or cartoonists of the future, here's your chance to help honor someone in either category. Both the Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing -- which recognizes comics writers past and present -- and the Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award -- which recognizes a new artist who is, uh, promising -- are open for nominations. Both awards and finalists are chosen by juries, but they accept nominees.

As we noted the other day, Brian Michael Bendis is a newly announced guest at this year's San Diego Comic-Con, and it's a very rare convention appearance for him. On his Tumblr he was asked if he'd be doing any other cons and his answer was pretty blunt:

The technical causes of the heartache and frustration experienced by those hoping to register for this year's CCI: San Diego were enough for the CCI folks to issue the following statement:

Everyone hit go, complain, spinning wheel, white room, waiting list, unfair, people got in ahead of me, don't refresh!, crying, spinning wheel, oh god you hit refresh no why oh god no, why isn't there a lottery, Comic-Con sucks, hooray this is going to be the best week of my life, etc etc etc.