Conventions

At Image's Creator-Owned panel, Image did what Image does best - original books by independent creators. Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard will be releasing a series of original graphic novels called Album.

Manga publisher Viz has just announced VizManga.com, a digital comics site which immediately went live during the con. Viz's wide variety of manga titles are now available there in an array of digital formats, with first chapters available free, and first volumes available at 40% off for the first month.

Showing, not telling, as I post selected photos from around the Web.

Here are the biographies of the 2011 inductees into the Will Eisner Comic Awards Hall of Fame, found at: http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_11halloffame.php

All around the world, everyone is pacting with Stan Lee! From Japanese jpop sensation Yoshiki to Pamela Anderson to Boom! Studios to Morgan Spurlock, everyone had done it becuase it's so fun! The legendary Man is the king of pacting -- he's got deals in place with just about every entity out there.

And now you can win your OWN chance to pact with Stan Lee via MTV, which is holding a talent search for creators to work with lee on a NEW series, THE SEEKERS.

MTV Geek, the news site/comics portal is announcing their new comics content this morning, including The Seekers. Other new comics properties include SEPTEMBER MOURNING with M Lazar, a music/comics hybrid. And also two more tarditional webcomics: Divination, written by Eisner nominee Val Staples and Gina Iorio and illustrated by Julia Laud, and Department P.U.L.P. by Tony Lee and Dan Boultwood.

Hooray we are here at the Eisners! It's festive and glamourous here at the Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton. Bill Morisson comes out thanking everyone for coming out out joking that thry have 52 awards to give out, this year called "First issues." Haha!

Well, the second full day of Comic-Con is coming to an end, and there's been lots of amazing stuff announced! I've diligently sat deep in Stately Beat Manor, watching the news feeds, so you don't have to! Read on!

In an effort to compete with the huge ad-supported pirated manga aggregator sites, the Japanese Digital Comics Association has announced that this August they will be unveiling Jmanga.com, a new English-language digital manga site with free content.

This year's con is wilder than ever -- everywhere you look there's a parade or a circus breaking out. IGN has some kind of incredibly annoying and loud installation right by the Hilton Gaslamp; Marvel's Monster trucks are roaming down Harbor Ave., loud as a jet fighter. We haven't been on the floor since Preview Night -- preferring to skulk in the alley ways and panel rooms of Old Con. One of the big changes this year is the use of wristbands for exhibitors. This has cracked down on the people who would just borrow an exhibitor's badge to get in early or stay late. It's one of those little perks that rule benders have been taking advantage of for years -- and it's about to end.

Crack open the spinach cans, because he's back! Popeye the Sailor is getting his own comic coming out from IDW Publishing. The Popeye ongoing series will be an all-ages book suitable for children, featuring all the classic Popeye characters and go on sale in 2012.

As the temperature outside hits 312 degrees Kelvin, I sit here in the cool subterranean basements deep in Stately Beat Manor, keeping watch over the reportage coming east from San Diego. While scanning the umpteenth cosplay photo, I got to thinking... perhaps our readers would care to look behind the curtain and see how we actually conglomerate the myriad data feeds which stream into our data center.

Tonight's Eisner Award ceremony will be a bit different: the con has hired a producer to help tighten up the show and keep things moving along. Previous Eisner Award ceremony, although a much loved comics tradition, have been, shall we say...lengthy. The new producer, who has a background in television and live events, is familiar with live awards shows and plays. According to con spokesman David Glanzer, there won't be monumental changes, but "by tightening things up, we'll see thigns run a littlr smoother, and hopefully help make it the event that people really do want to attend." Plans call for some trimming from the obituaries and other staging elements that will cut as much as a half hour from the show.