As usual the intrepid Jamie Coville went to the con and recorded some of the best panels. He also got audio of the Eisner Awards—fast forward to the Orlando Jones/ Michael Davis showdown or Jonathan Ross at the end for laughs— he also has audio of the panels here and the Eisners here. And pictures can be found here and here.
San Diego Comic Con 2015 (July 8 – 11) – 72 Photos
Comics Arts Conference: Scholars Lost and Found (47:14, 42.2mb)
On this panel was Carol Tilley and Brad Ricca. Brad start off talking about an academic paper done in 1942 by Paul Cassidy, who was also an artist at the Siegel and Shuster shop and was assisting/ghosting
Joe Shuster in drawing Superman comics. The paper was about the use of Ghost Artists. He conducted a questionnaire about the use of ghost artists in the industry and wrote about his own experience. Carol talked
about a few other early academic papers she’s come across. One from 1932 about kids reading Sunday Comic strips, 1933 on comic strips artists and their level of art training, 1938 on comics as children’s literature
and along the way also put together circulation figures of all Sunday Comic strips. The last two papers talked about was a 1942 one about Kids understanding editorial cartoons and a 1949 paper about comic book
sales figures between 1935 and 1949. It was done by Charles Cridland who was the treasurer of comic book publisher David Mckay. He reveals his own companies numbers and gives estimates for his competitors.
Kevin Nowlan Spotlight (48:38, 44.5mb)
Jai Nitz interviews Kevin Nowlan after he receives an Inkpot award. They talked about how they two met and their friendship, there was a slide show of Kevin’s work and discussed it. Among the topics discussed was
his attention to detail, his breaking into comics with a Dr. Strange fill in under Al Milgrom, working on Marvel Fanfare, his colouring work, the hate mail generated when he did Defenders in a different style,
Bruce Timm being influenced by him – which in turn was used for Batman: The Animated Series and other Bruce Tim cartoon series and movies, Nowlan inking Joe Quesada, a Batman story that was killed, his Superman
covers and a new Conan story they are doing together.
Skottie Young Spotlight (55:08, 50.4mb)
Moderating this panel was Jim Viscardi. Among the topics discussed were his desire to draw and when he wanted to do it for a living, his influences, his early non-comics jobs, his run on Human Torch, finding his
boundaries artistically, how drawing for animation changed his work, The Wizard of Oz, his favourite character to draw, the transition to writing, his upcoming creator owned book for Image, meeting Todd McFarlane
and doing a Spawn cover.
Comic Con How To: Art Thieft and the Law (51:29, 47.1mb)
On this panel was law professor Jack Lerner, Deviant Art’s Josh Wattles and creator DJ Welch. Josh Wattles announced that Deviant Art is very aware of Art Theft being a problem for its users and announced
Deviantart.com/arttheft as a new resource in how to combat it. They explained the differences between Art Theft, Plagiarism, Copyright Infringement,
Tracing, Copy/Mimicking, Appropriation, Fair Use and Resolving Disputes. DJ Welch talked about having his art used without his permission and how his fans were a big help in combating that. They also discussed
Tumblr. As requested, the Q&A portion of this panel was not recorded so that artists asking about their specific situations could speak freely.
Comics Journalism: It’s about Ethics in Comics Journalism (51:32, 47.1mb)
On the panel was Heidi MacDonald, Donna Dickens, James Viscardi, Casey Gilly, Joe Ilidge and Bret Schenker. The panel was moderated by Jeff Trexler. Jeff asked the question if neutral Comic reporting is dead?
The group spoke about doing news from a personal point of view vs a straight reporting of the facts. They also talked about social media controversies, if they have any limits to what they report on, the comments
they get from their readers and diversity in comics.
Will Eisner: The Champion of the Graphic Novel (51:11, 46.8mb)
This panel consisted of Paul Levitz, Jeff Smith, Sergio Aragonés, Denis Kitchen and Danny Fingeroth. Paul asked the group if Eisner’s series of Graphic Novels is a more important influence on the comics industry
than the Spirit, the group discussed Will’s desire for respect for both himself and the comics medium. They said Will treated everybody as equals. Jeff Smith told a few funny stories about Will, they also talked
about Burne Hogarth and answered questions about how Will’s Graphic Novels did when they first came out and the difficulty for the market to rack and sell them.
The Twisted Root of Comics (49:57, 45.7mb)
On the panel were Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson, Michael Uslan, Danny Fingeroth, Gerard Jones and Brad Ricca. Nicky had a slide show of pictures and the panellists jumped into identifying the places and people. The group
talked about how there was a political crack down on the ‘Spicy’ books which drove some of the publishers into doing comic books. At the same time pulp books publishers were also getting into comic books too.
Michael Uslan told a funny origin story of how Little Archie came about from a poker game among the publishers. They talked about how the early comic publishers knew each other, worked together and hung out
socially. They discussed how the titles of some of the pulps and spicy books were used for comics. Nicky said the Major wanted to originally do comic strip adaptations of children’s literature. They discussed how
the early Superman & Batman characters borrowed/swiped from pulp characters. Nicky explained why the Major used original material for New Fun. They debated among themselves about the Superman discovery story and
there is suspicion that the official story is not accurate. The group revealed information about The Major’s being forced out of what would become DC comics and it’s possible relation to Superman.
Bob Layton Spotlight (46:39, 42.7mb)
Bob Layton is interviewed by Michael Uslan. They first discussed their early friendship, Bob receiving a standing ovation at Hall H on an Iron Man panel, the group of comic creators to come out of Indiana and
contributed to Bobs CPL fanzine, which included Roger Stern, John Byrne, Roger Slifer, Steven Grant (who was in the audience) and others. They talked about the group also doing Charlton’s fanzine and then Bob being
Wally Wood’s assistant and later Dick Giordano’s. Bob spoke passionately about Dick and how he was a father figure to him and really helped him out when he was young. He also spoke of being there with Dick during
his last days. Michael Uslan told a story about how he met a young Sam Ramni at a comic convention that Bob put on in 1975. Bob told the story of how he broke into Marvel, how he went to DC and how he convinced
David Michelinie to come over to Marvel with him and work on Iron Man. Bob revealed that Iron Man was slated for cancelation and how he and David saved it from cancellation. The Demon in the Bottle story was brought
up. Bob also said what happened to inker Jack Able after his stroke affected him and his career. Valiant Comics and Future Comics were also discussed about.
MARCH with Congressman John Lewis (57:04, 52.2mb)
An introduction was done by Leigh Walton and on the panel was Congressman John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powel. After the introduction Lewis gave a powerful speech about getting into ‘good’ trouble. He spoke
about his youth raising chickens on a farm and preaching to them. He also spoke about the movement for equal rights, the fight against white and coloured only areas and called on the youth to learn the tactics
and use them towards non-violent progress. Andrew talked about his pestering John to write a comic. He revealed that he learned that Martin Luther King had edited the Martin Luther King comic that inspired this
comic. They discussed the success of getting March in schools and teachers using it to teach children this part of American history. There was also talk of the need for free post-secondary education, raising of
the minimum wage, removal of voting restrictions, the confederate flag and other topics. Nate spoke about them making the book as historically accurate as possible so that it couldn’t be challenged on that ground
in schools and said they were even able to fill in some gaps of history through the process of making this book. He spoke about their process of making this book and the effects it’s had on him and his kids.
Irwin Hansen Tribute (51:23, 47mb)
On this panel was Danny Fingeroth, Chelle Mayer, David Armstrong, Arie Kaplin, Michael Uslan and coming in late was Jim Salicrup. David started off about talking about a story about Irwin and Carmine Infantino.
The entire panel told their story about meeting Irwin for the first time. They dicussed his early work and creating Wildcat. A video of a Jules Feiffer interview regarding Irwin was played. David Armstrong explained
the mutual admiration Irwin and Tooth had for each other with Tooth saying Irwin was a major influence on him. The group also talked about Irwin getting into the Will Esiner Hall of Fame and receiving the Award at
New York Comic Con. Towards the end, the group shared stories of Irwin.
The Best and Worst Manga of 2015 (46:50, 42.8mb)
Moderated by Deb Aoki on the panel was David Brothers, Brigid Alverson, Eva Volin and Christopher Butcher. After introductions the group started with discussing their picks for the Best New Books for Kids and Teens,
Best New Books for Adults, Best Continuing Books for Kids and Best Continuing Books for Adults. They then discussed the Worst Manga for any age, Underrated but Great Manga, their most Anticipated New Manga and their
Most Wanted Manga.
The Annual Jack Kirby Tribute Panel (1:04:05, 58.6mb)
Mark Evanier, David J Spurlock, Marv Wolfman, Rob Liefeld and Paul S Levine discussed Jack Kirby. Mark started off with getting people in the audience to make their new announcements relating to Kirby’s work.
Mark then talked about the lawsuit being over and he, Jack’s family and he feels, Jack and Roz would be very happy with the settlement. Mark said he was at the first X-men movie with Stan Lee and stayed until the
very end and was very angry that Jack’s name was in very small type at the end of the film and has refused to watch Marvel films since. Mark also said that during his time of hearing Jacks version of events and
talking with many other people who were at Marvel at the time (Steve Ditko, Wally Wood, Dick Ayers, Stan Lee, etc..) he is convinced that Jack’s version of events is accurate and Jack was an honest man who wasn’t
trying to take credit for thing he did not do. Rob Liefeld talked about meeting Jack, his love of Jack and doing Phantom Force. Mark said Jack and Roz was very happy for the large amount of money they received from
Image for that work and it meant more to them than many tributes given to them in other non-monetary ways. Mark and David spoke of the mutual respect that Kirby and Wood had for each other and David confirmed Jack’s
honesty. David spoke about Wally Wood, saying he left around the same time Ditko did and felt Jack would have left too if he wasn’t blacklisted at DC and had a family to feed. Mark said Jack and Wood would keep in
touch after Wood left Marvel and encouraged him in his projects. Marv Wolfman talked about meeting Jack as a kid and his love of Kamandi. Everybody (Except Paul Levine) spoke about the one comic they thought that
best represented Jack Kirby. Rob in particular mentioned the Galactus Saga in Fantastic Four. He also told a story about how Jim Valentino, when the two had a studio together, ordered Rob to read FF 1 – 100, which
he did and was very thankful for. He said earlier in his career he was trying to draw like George Perez, but would later switch to Jack.
From Comics to Animation (55:32, 50.8mb)
Moderator Mark Waid talks with Jhonen Vasquez, Jill Thompson, Reginald Hudlin, Michael DeForge, Jerry Beck and eventually Lalo Alcaraz who came in a bit late. Jerry Beck talked a bit about the early relationship
between comics and animation going back to Windsor McKay. The group discussed how working in one field influenced their work in the other. Jill Thompson told us about the history of her Scary Godmother book first
being adapted into a play and then into animation. The group discussed dealing with decisions made from higher ups and how frustrating they are and Reginald talked about the view point from the executive position.
Reginald also spoke about how the Black Panther cartoon came about. Lalo spoke of his transition into animation and how he now had a new found appreciation for cartoonists. Jhonen said he taking Invader Zim back
into comics and it’s strange how people want the character to suddenly go ‘dark’ and be different than his animation personality. Regarding comics and animation Michael said what he liked about both formats. Jerry expressed that we are currently in a golden age for comic creators working in animation. Jill expressed that
because of new software, one doesn’t need to know as much about animation in order to create a cartoon. There was also an audience Q&A where the panel answered questions on working in other mediums, motion comics and
pitching projects.
Chip Zdarsky: A Life (47:24, 43.4mb)
Chip Zdarsky is interviewed by Juliette Capra. Among the topics of Chips career were talked about are his art school, his early self published books Monster Cops and Prison Funnies, his starting a studio with
Kagan Mcleod and Cameron Stewart, real people appearing in his comics and him appearing in Marvel comics, the letters page in Sex Criminals, Jughead, working within a shared universe, Sex Criminals #11 and the
random sketch covers, how Sex Criminals came about, Mark Waid made a surprise appearance to ask Chip what’s his favourite Justice Society of America character is, Chip’s dream project at Marvel, what he can get away
with while writing for Marvel, Sex Criminals translated into other languages, Comixology not being able to offer #3 because of Apple restrictions, his working for the National Post newspaper – particularly the
Todd Diamond video skits and running for Mayor of Toronto. There was constant laughter from the audience throughout this panel.
Pro vs. Fan Trivia Match (44:28, 40.7mb)
Moderated by Derek McCaw. The Fan side is Tom Galloway, Peter S. Svensson and David Oakes. The Pro side is Len Wein, Anthony Tollin and Mark Waid. The questions range from 1956 to 1985 and are about The Joker,
The Spectre, Hydra, The X-Men, Justice Society of America, Robin, Catwoman, Captain America, Shazam/Captain Marvel, Metamorpho, Dr. Fate and the Elongated Man.
Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards 2015 (July 10) – 91 Photos
2015 Will Eisner Awards (2:31:45, 138mb)
The 2015 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards was held in the Indigo Room at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront. The welcome was done by Jackie Estrada, Eisner Awards Administrator. Among the presenters were Bill and
Kayrne Morrison, Anina Bennett, Edward James Olmos, Shane West, Tara Ochs, Michael and Laura Allred, Katrina Law, Megan Hayes, J. Michael Trautmann, Kandyse McClure, Tahmoh Penikett, Orlando Jones,
Michael Davis, Scott McCloud, Jill Thompson, Raina Telgemeier, Dave Roman and Jonathan Ross. The Bill Finger Award was presented by Mark Evanier.
The Spirit of Comics Retailer Award was presented by Joe Ferrara. The Hall of Fame was presented by Sergio Aragonés. The Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award was presented by Ruth Clampett.
Maggie Thompson did the Memoriam. The Winners can be found at the
Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards page.
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