The iFanboy team got to the New York Comic Con around 6PM, 3 hours before closing, and got the general lay of the land.
So far there’s not much to report, but we’ll give you a little taste of what went down.
Ron and Josh attended the “DC Nation” panel, hosted by the always energetic Dan DiDio, along with Paul Dini and Keith Giffen, and DC publisher Bob Wayne. The panel turned out to be mostly about the upcoming Countdown series, the new weekly series to follow in the heels of the successful 52 weekly series. DiDio was tight lipped on a lot of details, but here’s what we know. The ship will be steered mainly by Dini. The first issue will be out May 9, and the cover price will be $2.99, as opposed to the $2.50 cover on 52. They went through a series of teasers, talking about who would be in the book, based on the following phrases:
Jimmy Olsen Must Die.
Mary Marvel – Seduction of the Innocent (catch that double meaning.)
The Hunt for Ray Palmer
And after that, we left because there were a lot of fans asking questions, and were getting made fun of by DiDio. But trust me, they deserved it.
Then it was back to the floor, and up the escalator to the Artist’s Alley, which is pretty cramped. We met some fellow podcasters, and met a bunch of the iFanboy community (you all flatter us, and thank you), and worked on shooting a great video.
Basically, the Con is worlds better than it was last year, but at this early stage, we’re scared for tomorrow. It’s still very small, and the aisles are cramped. It was full tonight, and tomorrow will very likely be insane. We’ve heard rumblings of bad crowd management, and some of the people we talked to weren’t too pleased about how things are shaping up. This certainly isn’t the same as San Diego. Still, there are many great creators around, and we’re going to be hunting them down as much as we can. If you’re at the show, please say hi, but make sure you tell us who you are!
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For the whole Countdown thing, it’d be really smart if they made it something like $2. Because I’m sorta getting tired of the weekly books thing, let alone paying an extra $.50 now ($.49 if you want to get technical). Cheap=people like.
that’s exactly what Ron said. $1.99 should be the price point. It’s like 4 high selling books a year.
The crowd booed when they announced that.
I figure I’ll wait for trade for Countdown as I do for 52.
But it’ll be weird for me…since…I haven’t done that to a Dini book before…it’ll feel weird.
I was the one who flipped the ‘Seduction of the Innocent’ Board 🙂
My comment ( to deserve that honor) was “It takes a real man to cry, but it takes a SUPER man to cry a lot.”
Now you have me scared for tomorrow! I’ll be attending the Con for the first time and I even managed to get my wife to accompany me. She hates crowds though! She’ll probably lose it after a while. Oh well, at least I’ll get to see some cool stuff. Hope to say hello to you guys as well.
As for the “always energetic” DiDio, I must be a complete Marvel zombie, because when I hear Quesada I think “always energetic” but when I hear DiDio I think “Kim Jong Il.”
Quality snob aside, do you ever sort of wish they’d switch back to newsprint for a few books? I like my $3 Civil Wars as much as the next man, but I’ll swallow a shotgun before I pay $3 a week.
If they didn’t overcolor books these days, I think comics on newsprint (or at least uncoated stock) typically look better. The GF and I were at Borders last night and we compared the TPB copy and the HC copy of V for Vendetta. The HC is on coated, heavier stock. The TPB is on your typical thick TPB uncoated stock. And that understated, washy coloring that they used for V looks much better, IMHO, on the newsprint.
So as far as comics these days go, if they cut down on the coloring, then switching back to the newsprint would look great. But this is me talking and I’m a fan of simplicity. Tell this to fans of Hitch of Finch or McNiven or the other creators of maxi-rendered comics.
Oh, and as good as Dini is, does anyone expect as much from Countdown as we have from 52? I’ve loved every ish of 52, but I can totally tell this is something that went down like this:
Paul DiDio: Holy moly! Look at the sales of 52! You can’t stop a speeding train! Let’s do another weekly book! Rucka? Waid? Morrison? Johns?
Collectively: Umm, we all just signed on to write Lost for the next sixteen seasons.
Didio: Well, hell, who else? Dini, you’re not working on Lost anymore, are you?
Dini: (Hangs head)
—-END SCENE
52 seemed like a big risk, both creatively and financially, and I think it paid off. But because of it’s success, Countdown is a bigger risk on both sides. Countdown has to be just as good or better–I hope it is, but I guess I’m very cautiously optimistic. Though I doubt we’ll have supporting characters in other books babbling “COUNTDOWN! COUNTDOWN! COUNTDOWN!”
I’ll pay someone for
An issue of X-Factor signed by Peter David
An issue of Checkmate signed by Greg Rucka
An issue of Annihilation signed by
Keith Giffen
New Avengers #27 signed by Alex Maleev
An issue of Civil War signed by Steve McNiven
An issue of Detective Comics signed by Paul Dini
If you’re planning on getting these yourself, grabbing an ish and getting it signed for me would rock. I’m willing to pay very well for any or all of the above, and if you can get any of them, send me an email at six gun.44@gmail.com to sort out payment and shipping.
Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
The Ifanboy Guys aren’t in Podcast Alley with a booth? I was hoping you guys would do a “summit-like” podcast with the folks from Around Comics and Comic Geek Speak! It would be a great crossover event!!!!
aww crap.
the Tiki
I looked for the iFanboys in podcast alley on Friday night and couldn’t find them. 🙁
I’m going back tomorrow.
I was just SO excited to get in this year!!!
And I saw Eric Wight!!!!
Lots of other people too . . . But Eric Wight!!!!
I was happy I ran into Josh and Ron while waiting to go in the DC Nation panel. Looking forward to the videocast, guys!
Hey everyone, we are not in the Podcast Alley area as we’re mobile and too hard to pin down into one place. But we did hang out there a bit today with the Around Comics guys who rule. Conor and I will be back tomorrow – look for us roaming the floors!!!
I didn’t see Eric Wright! damn!
I looked for the iFanboys in podcast alley on Friday night and couldn’t find them. 🙁
We’re not in podcast alley. We’re mobile. We did stop to rest in podcast alley for about 20 minutes today, though.
But we like it out on the floor. We like being in the mix.
WHO IS ERIC WRIGHT and/or WIGHT?!
WHO IS ERIC WRIGHT and/or WIGHT?!
Eric WIGHT is an artist doing a few different things at DC. He did some pages in Legion a few years ago, JLA #0, the recent Action Comics Annual, and just released his first manga “My Dead Girlfriend”. He’s got a really great throwback/retro style.
http://ewight.blogspot.com/ for his site.
did someone say “Seduction of the Innocent”? Double meaning? DC is treading some tricky waters, given its own history…
http://www.superdickery.com/seduction/1.html
(this series of pictures –totally unaltered comic panels as they were originally published — are SUCH a guilty pleasure…)