Conventions

Seven amazing comics retailers were nominated for the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer award, including stores from all over the United States. We have personal knowledge of many of these retailers and can testify that they all exemplify the passion and love of comics that is the heartbeat of the industry The winner will be announced tonight at the Eisner Awards.

Since Uncanny X-Men just got renumbered - oh, I'm sorry, "ended" and "restarted" - today's X-Men panel was pretty sure to bring interesting news. It's been pretty clear for the last few weeks that Marvel's big push this convention was probably going to be X-Men, which makes sense, since the line has been losing visibility for years, overtaken by the various Avengers. And now, with a successful new X-Men movie under their belt, the time must have looked right. So what's up?

Today, DC's Vertigo imprint had its big panel of the convention. At it, Max Collins, creator of the graphic novel The Road to Perdition wil be doing a third (and last) graphic novel in the series for Vertigo entitled Return to Perdition.Ongoing series The Unwritten will be moving to an unusual twice a month format, with full numbered issues (32, 33, 34 etc) detailing the main plot alternating with decimal issues (32.5, 33.5, 34.5 and so on) exploring other characters and storylines in the same world. John Constantine's ongoing title Hellblazer will not end, despite the character's ventures into the mainstream DCU.

Star Wars Ruined Comic-Con!

Yesterday's ICv2 Conference on Comics, Media, and Digital kicked off Comic-Con with a look at the business side of things. Over at Publishers Weekly, Calvin Reid and I have a brief recap of some of the stats that Milton Griepp presented at his annual White Paper. Some quick hits: GN sales were up 3% so far in 2011 -- up more in bookstores, despite the Borders disaster, than in comics shops -- while periodical sales were down 8%. The peak of sales for comics and GNs was 2006-2007. Coincidentally that was also a peak year for manga sales, which has declined significantly yet again. But the rate of decline has stabilized.

I announced a new book yesterday! COW BOY, being published by good ol’ Archaia Entertainment. I’m writing, Chris Eliopoulos is drawing! Super-exciting, we’ve been working on it for a wnile. Me an’ Chris aren’t super-duper-megastars, so we figured doing an online announcement before the con started would be better than the weekend, when we could get drowned out by the massive announcements. So…yeah! Cool. In other news…

Folks have been lined up for a while to get into Comic-Con -- camp Twilight must be packing up about now, hopes and wishes high. Meanwhile, the regular line is about to start entering the hall. Earlier this morning, this is how the line looked -- we can't copy but click for the largest version which shows people lined up all the way around the marina.

Must pack. Must. Pack! Why do I never pack early? (Am an expert procrastinator.) Flight leaves at 8:30am! Several piles of clothes on bed! Nothing of use in suitcase! Am spending more time dancing and reorganizing clothes out of the laundry. There may have been some singing.

While Heidi slumbers after surviving yet another Preview Night, I am ensconced at Stately Beat Manor, monitoring the Internet for all sorts of info which might get eclipsed by the myriad millions of memes occurring this weekend.

It's Preview Night and the ICv2 Conference at San Diego Comic-Con, and while the big announcements are still being held back for the convention proper, news has begun to come out of San Diego in a trickle that will soon become a torrent.

Even as a prep day, Tuesday is now crammed with faces and activity. While inside the convention center, a massive Avengers display took shape at the Marvel booth, outside Tr!ckster made a sparkling debut, and a line of themed carnivals took shape along the railroad tracks. The big news outside the convention center was the soft opening for Tr!ckster, the comics-themed offsite event, showcasing independent comics creators. While it was still evolving -- prints and posters set up in front of industrial sized stoves -- the wares on display look sharp. The life drawing classes -- led by two gorgeous models -- were well attended, and the bar got a shake-down cruise. As Tr!ckster is held inside the San Diego Wine and Culinary Center, the wines are quality -- we enjoyed a stunning dry rose from the south of Italy last night.

Tom Brevoort believes in the satisfying chunk. Or in his case, "big, sizable, meaty chunks" of of story like those found in graphic novels. Marvel has significantly rejected the notion of creating original graphic novels over the years, with former E-i-C Joe Quesada continually saying they don't make economic sense. However, maybe they do make more reading sense for new readers in a world of tablets and Kindles. Marvel has announced a new line of Season One hardcover original graphic novels which will give modern readers a modern take on the origins of classic characters: