Category: News

NYCC — The Stan and Jeff shows

  • News
  • February 24, 2007

The marquee event on Friday night was “Stan Lee: An American Icon,” an event that did not go off without a couple of hitches.

There was a total lack of security at the event. When Lee arrived he came in through the crowd and took the stage. As anticipated the room exploded in flashbulbs when Lee took the stage. People started working their way to the front to get a clearer shot and soon there was a crowd five or six people deep around the stage. There was no one from the convention security there to disperse this crowd and it took five minutes for volunteers to arrive and disperse the crowd. Lee was totally unprotected.

(more…)

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NYCC: Popcycle-Con Continues

  • News
  • February 24, 2007

While half of the 10001 zip code waits out in the cold, here’s what it’s doing to panel attendance inside the convention:

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This was the scene at the Slayer Tales with Xander, Kendra, and Drusilla panel as of 10:45 AM, 45 minutes into the panel. If I was Nicholas Brendon, Juliet Landau, Bianca Lawson, Diamond Select (the sponsors of this panel) or Dark Horse Comics, who are publishing the new Buffy The Vampire Slayer comic, I’d be ticked.

NYCC — Half-mile long lines in 20 degree temps

  • News
  • February 24, 2007

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If you were planning on coming to New York Comic Con today and you aren’t reading this from the line outside, you might want to consider turning around and going home. The convention staff is not letting anyone without exhibitor passes on the floor without standing in a line outside, in single digit wind temps.

If you got in line right at 10:00 AM, you won’t get in until after noon. That said, being in the line isn’t quite so bad because many high profile artists are stuck in the line as well. A person who identified themselves as a DC artist trying to get to a booth signing was told that his professional badge would not get him on the floor — “your day was yesterday.”

The line started at midnight Saturday morning and is currently half a mile long.  Despite the promoter’s promises of twice as much space it seems that the 2007 con is marred by the same problems of overselling that made the last show a living nightmare. New York State troopers have been called out and are handling crowd control. Fire marshals are threatening show closure.

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Ain’t I A Woman?

  • News
  • February 24, 2007

martha200-3734293For as long as there has been a comics’ press, people have been wondering why there aren’t more women reading comics. And often those people wondering are, themselves, women: Maggie Thompson (who in 1960 co-published Harbinger, one of the first comics-themed fanzines back), The Beat‘s Heidi MacDonald, Trina Robbins (whom I’ve loved since the days of underground comix), cat yronwode of Eclipse, among many others.

We stand on the shoulders of giants.

Yet, like these women, I read comics. In my case, I read superhero comics. And I loved them. For all that time, when I was a girl, then a young woman, then a woman, a wife, a mom, I loved them. I still do.

How can this be? Don’t women hate superhero comics? Don’t we hate mindless violence, shallow characterization, demeaning stereotypes? Don’t we crave emotional connection and involving storylines?

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Marvel NYCC Exclusives

  • News
  • February 24, 2007

Piles of stuff from the Marvel previews panels and various toys around. We’ll be splitting this up into two posts, one with spoilers. In no particular order:

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Matt Fraction and Barry Kitson have just been announced as the new creative team on The Champions. (more…)

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The coming of… Bananaman!

  • News
  • February 23, 2007

bananaman-5263894Here’s a hopeful contestant auditioning for the next season of the Stan Lee-hosted Who Wants to Be a Superhero?, hoping to stand out from the rest of the bunch. Banana detractors, beware!

Auditions are continuing throughout the New York Comic Con, so check back to see who else we digitally capture.

NYCC — News in brief

  • News
  • February 23, 2007

Everyone’s getting into the podcasting act! Jamal Igle (see pictorial) will be participating in a serial podcast called The Mighty Mighty Adventures of Earl-Wayne and Chuckchuk (come on, you know you want to tune in on the basis of the name alone), which should be fun as he has such a terrific voice. And an old friend from college, David Levin, tells me his company, Brainstorm, Inc., is getting ready to do daily comics videocasts next month. With so much multimedia centered around comics, oversaturation might be a concern, but nobody ever complains about too much movie and TV coverage.

And in case you missed this news item amid the pictorial, Rob Walton’s Ragmop has been collected. This is huge news to those of us with very fond memories of that title. Lots of new words and art, updating ending, the whole shebang. Must dash and find out more stuff!

NYCC — Early sightings

  • News
  • February 23, 2007

Annnnd we’re off!

A librarian friend of mine used to sigh that his job would be perfect "if it weren’t for the patrons."  One is tempted to say the same about a convention that’s only in the trade show stages — right now it’s very comfortable and easy to move around and seems pretty organized. But it also has the air of anticipatory set-up to it.  The comics industry works better when it’s inclusionary, and as nice as it is to meet and greet pros there’s just more excitement in the air when the fans add to the mix.  But let’s start with some photos, if the Javits Center wi-fi connection holds out:

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This is what you see from the entrance. (more…)

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