It’s become a kind of broken record, but this year’s San Diego Comic-con, like last year’s Comic-con, was dominated by the hype and marketing machines of the Hollywood film and TV studios. From the buzz generating around the release of Universal’s Scott Pilgrim film next month and, later this year, AMC’s Walking Dead, to a bulked-up lineup of superhero movies coming next year—DC’s Green Lantern and Marvel’s Thor and Captain America films—Comic-con has become the ultimate platform for hyping big budget film and TV projects, whether they’re based on comics or not.
Comic-con spokesperson David Glanzer said that while official numbers were still to be determined, attendance would likely be about 125,000 or 126,000. He said that the show organizers were pleased with the overall performance of this years event, “we think moving events to the Hilton Bayfront and the Marriott helped and that it may have been a little less congested in the convention center,” but he emphasized there was still a final review and debriefing to come. “There’s always something that can be improved.”
Security was also changed this year. Instead of relying on a single firm, Glanzer said, the show hired a consulting firm that used multiple security firms which, “kept any one firm from being stretched too thin and increased response time,” Glanzer said. And while Artists Alley appears to have been reconfigured, Glanzer said that the size of the section had not been reduced and that it was likely the number of tables had been increased.
The bottom line is that you have to see the San Diego Comic-con to believe it. While the floor can be jammed with fans, the controlled chaos has also spread to the giant halls that are used for TV and film media presentations and screenings. And when the long lines of fans—essentially stationed in holding areas along the wall and even on the outside terrace—start filing into these vast halls, it’s almost like watching a freight train go by as the line of people seems to stretch off endlessly into the distance.
But it wasn’t strictly movie talk at Comic-con, even though it sometimes seemed that way. In fact, the film/TV releases of Scott Pilgrim vs the World and Walking Dead hold particular interest for books. Both of these projects came out of independent publishing houses, Oni Press and Image Comics, respectively, and both seem likely to become as big as any recent pop culture phenomenon can get, and they’re dragging impressive book publishing programs right along with them. The Oni Press booth was mobbed all weekend as fans lined up to buy the just released final volume of the Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series; while the Image booth was selling just as many graphic novels out of a sizable section of the booth devoted entirely to Kirkman’s Walking Dead series. (And of course there’s more film action to come from both houses; Oni Press announced a first-look deal with CBS TV during the show).
Movies dominate Comic-con, but comics in both book and periodical format still manage to grab attention no matter the proliferation of Hollywood promotional events. While there were a few big publisher no-shows—Scholastic, S&S, and Houghton were not here—HarperCollins, Random House, Hachette, and Macmillan were, and there were small press publishers galore. Abrams ComicsArts announced new books by the late Harvey Pekar (Yiddishkayt: Jewish Vernacular and the New Land); Jerry Robinson: Ambassador of Comics, a major historical examination of Robinson, co-creator of Batman, and his work; and Hereville: How Mirka Got her Sword Back by Barry Deutsch, an impressive debut YA graphic novel from Abrams’ Amulet imprint. (Oddly enough, while Random House/Pantheon did not have any new adult graphic novels to announce, Pantheon editor Chip Kidd was at the Abrams booth previewing Shazam: The Glden Age of the World’s Mightiest Mortal, a 250-page, finely designed coffee table book on historic Captain Marvel merchandise/collectibles.)
Macmillan was strutting with eight Eisner Award nominations and eventually took home four Eisner Award winners. And its First Second graphic novel imprint was showing off galleys of Lewis & Clark, a graphic novel aimed at ages 12 and up that recreates the duo’s famous 19th-century expedition, the first of a series of historically focused graphic novels by the much-praised comics artist Nick Bertozzi. And there’s much more to come from First Second, including two popular and ongoing web comic serials that will be released as books in about year, Zahra’s Paradise, set in Iran; and Sailor Twain or the Mermaid in the Hudson, a 19th-century tale set along the Hudson River and created by First Second editorial director Mark Siegel, who happens to be a highly regarded cartoonist in his own right.
Independent and alternative comics publishers like Top Shelf, Fantagraphics, and Drawn & Quarterly, once considered almost hostile to manga, are now publishing (and selling) some of the most interesting and cutting-edge Japanese comics at the show. Fantagraphics brought the legendary Moto Hagio, considered the “mother of shojo" (young girl’s) manga, to Comic-con for the first time to show off A Drunken Dream and Other Stories; and D&Q announced plans to publish two semi-autobiographical books on war experiences by Shigeru Mizuki, one of the great figures in Japanese cartooning.
And there was of course much discussion of digital publishing and the future (or lack of future) of comics in print as comics publishers look to head off pirates and adapt to a digital publishing universe that seems focused on the iPad. At a huge hall packed with manga fans, Yen Press discontinued the print publication of Yen Plus, a 400 page monthly magazine it uses to serialize and introduce its manga titles, and launch an online version. The new online Yen Plus is available by subscription for $2.99 a month and gives fans access to the current issue and the previous month, after which back issues come down. No downloading just yet. A few fans around the hall grumbled, but Yen Press publishing director quickly added, unapologetically, ““Yes, we want to encourage you to buy our print editions.”
The question looming over all these discussions is when will the organizers make a decision about the future home of Comic-con. “There’s no real time table but the longer we take the more impact our decision will have on the other cities vying for us,” Glanzer said. “They’re getting requests from other shows and if they’re being forced to turn them away because of us that’s bad.”
Glanzer said, “we’re not trying to draw the process out. We still need to address some things and we want to make sure that we don’t exchange one problem for another. No matter where the show is there will always be challenges."
