Conventions

Everything you need to know about the future of comics, the death of the pamphlet, webcomics, and the Britisdh invasion of comics.

True believers will have a lot to see and do at Comic-con.

People...places...comics...Eisners...

First Comics is coming back in a relaunch led by co-founder Ken Levin and Larry Young.

Top Shelf has shared their signings and book debuts with us and here's the list: Debuts/Signings: -- Craig Thompson (redesigned Blankets Hardcover & Softcover) -- Kagan McLeod (Infinite Kung Fu) -- Nate Powell (Any Empire) -- Robert Venditti/Mike Huddleston (The Homeland Directive) -- Ray Friesen (Pirate Penguin vs Ninja Chicken) -- plus the new Okie Dokie Donuts (Story 1) -- plus the new League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: 1969

Artist John Higgins is a crucial member of the Watchmen team -- he colored the original and the remastered Absolute edition. To mark 25 years of Watchmen -- and his appearance as part of the con's year of the Brit -- Higgins is releasing a limited edition Watchmen portfolio exclusively for San Diego Comic-Con 2011.


Programming for PREVIEW NIGHT and Thursday is up! If there ain't something you like here then you are sick of life! Highlights later,

CCI has just released the exhibitor list and floor plan for this year's show. How you can figure out your escape route, and where to pose, and how long it will take to go from the Corey Feldman autographing session to buying a an exclusive Mini-Mate 7th Bounty Hunter from the left action figure. We've made our own EXCLUSIVE annotated map with some regions of note. Click to embiggen.

The con itself rolls out a couple of features, Fantagraphics announces some amazing debuts, and Casey/Johnny Storm/Lucas Lee/Jensen/Steve Rogers will be signing at the Marvel booth, most likely.

The day before San Diego Comic-Con really kicks off and the hours before Preview Night will once again be taken up with the Comics, Media, and Digital Conference run by Milton Griepp (And co-sponsored by the Beat). This year's event will include the 2011 White Paper with figures on sales, growth and other matters of vital import. Panels include Comics in Hollywood, Digital and Transmedia and the future of paper and digital -- registration information can be found here

At the time of her death in May, artist Jeffrey Catherine Jones was the subject of an upcoming documentary, Better Things. Director/producer Maria Cabardo writes to tell us that several minutes of footage will be shown at a panel at Comic-Con:

Since last we reported on Tr!ckster, the creator-driven pop-up/art gallery/store/wine bar that will be running all through Comic-Con, a lot has happened. We'll be spotlighting some of it in a future post, but right this minute they have just announced a special event for Friday, July 22nd: a benefit for the Japan Society Earthquake Relief Fund featuring an art gallery tribute to the films of Akira Kurosawa.