Conventions

If you like nerdcore music, you'll enjoy Rock Comic Con, on Friday, 10/14, a concert featuring genre mainstays Paul and Storm, Kirby Krackle and H2Awesome!. Tickets are $12, and the show throws down at Tobacco Road, 355 W. 41st street, not too far from the Javits Center.

This weekend's GeekGirl Con in Seattle sounds like it was a big success; both Saturday and Sunday sold out, and while the above news report doesn't make it look like it was sardine-land, maybe selling out before you get to that point is not a bad idea. Gail Simone has a lengthy write-up that deserves to be read in full; the idea of a female-run and female-centric convention seems to be fairly emblematic of the time and place we find ourselves in, and it sounds like the programming, in particular, was noteworthy:

Speaking of LA comic-cons, Wizard World has tweeted an update about its postponed LA show.

And to think I almost didn't go to the Baltimore Comic-Con. Like many I was feeling pretty conned out, but in the end the idea of a short road trip to an always relaxing show -- and covering the Harveys -- won out, so I was off on a road trip with Ed Catto of Bonfire Agency and Captain Action fame, and Josh Frankel, founder of new publisher Zip Comics. Beginning as it did at 7:30 am, the trip down was a coffee-driven affair, as we discussed our various endeavors and ideas for improvements and prognostications for the future. While all three of us are born optimists, the current uncertainties and question marks left any real attempts at planning akin to spitting into the wind. Future cloudy; ask again later.

It seems that everyone has discovered that the Baltimore Comic-Con is one of the friendliest and most star-studded comics shows on the circuit. We don't have figures of magnitude yet, but pre-sales and attendance this year are WAY up. While the crowds on Saturday were always brisk, when we arrived at noon today it was difficult to get into the show floor past giant lines for Jeff Smith, David Finch, and (of course) Stan Lee. Reportedly there was a giant line that wrapped around the block to get in this morning before the show opened. Or as one exhibitor told us, "At 9:30 when they let in the VIP badge holders I thought 'Good crowd.' At 10 when everyone got in, I was 'Oh my god.'"

So, this weekend in Anaheim (home of Disneyland), the D23 Expo is taking place. Dedicated to All Things Disney, this show will feature Marvel Comics for the first time, with appearances by Joe Quesada, Kevin Feige, and Marvel creators. Joe Quesada will be hosting a panel on Sunday, at 10:15 AM. I hope someone pulls a "Batgirl" and questions Mr. Quesada about the "legends" of Marvel, and how Marvel honors their contributions to Marvel's legacy. Given the concentrated nature of the fan-fest at "The Happiest Place on Earth", it is very unlikely. So I'll ask them here!

The East Coast comics shindig known as the Balitimore Comic-Con takes places this weekend at the Baltimore Comvention Center; highlights include the Harvey awards tomorrow night emcee'd by Scott Kurtz, and an appearance by Stan Lee. The complete guest list is here; it includes people like Jeff Smith, Adam Hughes, Amanda Conner, Geof Darrow, Nick Spencer and so on. In other words, it's a fantastic place to hang out, maybe buy a sketch look at some comics. There's also a costume contest on Saturday, a complete slate of programming. If you've always wanted to attend a REAL comic book convention with the emphasis on comics and the people who make them...this is the joint. The Beat will be there for all the fun, just walking around and saying hi. Please feel free to say hi back!

While there have been occasional attempts at establishing a Chicago alt.comix show to equal those in Toronto, New York, Portland and so on, none of them have really gained significant purchase -- despite Chicago being one of the original stops** on the Spirits of Independence tour that launched the entire indie comics show experience. The Printers Row Lit Fair has served as a high-end event to spotlight some great cartoonists; and the recent Windy City Con was another attempt from a slightly more middle ground. CHicago has a great legacy of underground/alt/indie cartoonists, so it's a fertile territory to till. And now there's CAKE -- the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo, to be held next June 16-17 at Columbia College’s Ludington Building. The festival plans to feature over 100 exhibitors along with a two-day program of signings, panels, workshops and lectures.

by Brady Russell -- For the Philadelphia Alternative Comic-Con this past Sunday in The Rotunda, it rained. It rained like it wanted to wash the show away. Sometimes it was a hammering downpour. The kind of rain where, even if you got a lift there in a taxi, you'd still get soaked running from the curb to the door. Still, the rain wasn't all bad. Last year's PACC was scorching hot. I can't imagine what it must have been like to stay in that room for 7 hours in 2010. This year, it wasn't nearly so hot, but everyone came in the door saying they couldn't touch anything until they dried off.

Anyone in the LA area who is bummed over the postponed Wizard World LA show scheduled for September 24-25 should be aware that Power-Con is still on for those dates. This small two-day fan show is focused on Thundercats, He-Man and She-Ra. It's a small show but sounds like a swell afternoon if you're into 80 animation. More info:

“So, let’s say you are a comic (book/web/novel) creator, and you do small shows (Stump/Spx/Mocca/TCAF/local cons). Let’s say. Let’s say that tomorrow, the point of those shows went from whatever they currently are, to “let’s make comics creators a lot of money.” So instead of fundraising, enriching the artform, etc., it was just “exhibitors at our show need to make $$$”. What changes would need to happen? If you are a creator, what behaviours by shows do you feel are costing you money? Answer freely, it won’t affect exhibiting at my show.”

Yesterday's revelation that the Wizard World LA convention has been postponed -- only five weeks away from its original Sept. 24-25 dates -- was just the latest strange twist in the last real outpost of Con Wars: the SoCal market of LA, Anaheim and Los Angeles. As detailed in this CBR piece from May, three cons in a three month period -- WWLA in September, the Long Beach Comic-Con in October and the new Comikaze event in November -- left an already tough market swamped.