Conventions

As promised, here are more photos of Stumptown: the comics festival and the parties that just won't quit!

BY JEN VAUGHN - This past weekend, The Beat left the wet and mountainous regions of the East Coast for the wet and mountainous regions of the West Coast to revel in the majestic small press show that is Stumptown Comics Festival. Having recently moved from the Doubletree Hotel to the Oregon Convention Center, more artists and cartoonists would be to showcase their work for eager audiences.

Just in case you wanted MORE evidence of how horrible a comic-con without the comcis would be, here is a VIDEO of that disastrous Reality Rocks Expo we told you abut that featured scores of reality TV stars milling around a bleak, deserted LA Convention Center. Current TV's Ben Hoffman files a hilarious report that reveals just how much reality stars revel in their vapidity. All that is missing is a little cannibalism and you'd have an outtake from THE ROAD.

We had this bookmarked a while ago but it is finally final: The pedestrian bridge over Harbor Drive just outside the San Diego Convention Center has opened, just in time for Padres season -- and Comic-Con! Far from being a simple, utilitarian walkway to prevent pedestrians being hit by a car, trolley or train, the Harbor Drive Bridge is an ambitious structure that has already been nominated for design awards. At 550 feet, it's one of the longest self-anchored pedestrian suspension bridges in the world, and rising 25 feet in the air presents a soaring, nautical walkway that runs from Petco Park to the Bayfront Hilton, all suspended from a 130-ft high pylon.

So after months of hype and bluster, Kapow Comic Con 2011 came to London at the weekend. Promising San Diego in London (overpriced hotels, restaurants you can't get into and panels you can't get near;) at last there was the chance to see what all of the fuss was about.

It was another busy weekend for comics around the globe, as the MoCCA Fest in NYC saw indie crowds gathering to buy the latest literary comics. Meanwhile in London, it was the inaugural Kapow! festival, organized by Mark Millar and his friends. From all accounts, although the show sold and had a capped attendance of only around 5000 people, it did achieve some of that "Movie-con magic":

WonderCon? FUNdercon is more like it. Just this once, we decided to take time off at a show to chill and hang out with pals instead of running around like a maniac. Oh sure, we had our Henry Cavill sighting and late night Fix Comics talks. But the great thing about WonderCon is that you can walk the floor of the Moscone Center taking pictures of people in costumes, and buying sketchbooks from your favorite artists and watching exclusive trailer footage...and then run outside and eat or shop in a full-service, world class city, with ocean front views, tiki bar decadence and other exotic thrills a short ride ride away.

The main word yesterday here was BUSY. Everyone who thought this would be a more chill version of SDCC has found that yesterday, anyway, was more just a scaled down version of SDCC, with giant crowds and lines. But that's not a bad thing. Publishers and cartoonists were selling out of things left and right, and there was lots of buzz about comics. We'll have a fuller report later.

Comic fans care about the character or than a particular story. Be true to the characters and fans (in general) will be pleased.

Comic-Con is now like the state fair, as events in Orlando, Memphis, Rockford, WI, and Kansas City took place over the weekend.

On Thursday, March 17, Diamond hosted their "Dialogue with Diamond" panel as part of the Diamond Retailer Summit. Roger Fletcher, Diamond VP-Sales & Marketing, and Bill Schanes, VP-Purchasing, fielded questions and feedback from retailers. Before taking questions from retailers, some data from 2010 was presented.

Joe Field, inventor of Free Comic Book Day and owner of Flying Colors in Concord, has passed along a video called WonderCon 1988 Review, created as a promo tool to get more exhibitors and publishers to attend the '89 show -- then called the Wonderful World of Comics Convention. With next week's show being the 25th anniversary of the Bay Area confab, he's been posting several historical videos to his YouTube account, and this one will blow your mind with its vivid depiction of the primitive conditions our comics forefathers labored under. In addition to a younger version of Joe himself playing Anderson Cooper, you see younger Stan Lee, young Fabian Nicieza, young Tom De Falco, and several other young un's in local TV coverage of the 1987 event. Several interesting factoids emerge from the coverage.