The iFanboy Letter Column – 02.25.2011

Friday means many things to many people. For some, Friday means it’s wing night. For others, Friday means cake. For yet more, Friday is just another day when you stumble out into the world, desperately groping around in the darkness for just a little human compassion.

At iFanboy, Friday means it’s letter column time.

You write. We answer. Very simple.

As always, if you want to have your e-mail read on the any of our shows or answered here, keep them coming – contact@ifanboy.com

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I started really getting into comics a little less than a year ago. I even got my girlfriend to join me in reading Hellboy, B.P.R.D., Chew, and The Walking Dead. We have decided to drive to C2E2 this year for our first convention. We live in Iowa and have been to Chicago quite a few times before. Do you have any advice for first time con attendees? Is there anything we should make sure to bring along with us?

Randy

What timely e-mailing! We’re coming up on March, or as we call it around here, Hell convention month! Emerald City Comic Con is next weekend, followed two weeks later by C2E2, followed two weeks later by Wonder Con.

But you, Randy, and your girlfriend are going to C2E2 is Chicago, so let’s focus on that one.

C2E2 is actually a really good large-ish sized starter convention. It’s a convention that gets a lot of big names because it’s in a city with a vibrant comic book community and being situated in the middle of the country means it’s easy to get to. So if you’re looking to meet creators whose work you admire, C2E2 is a great place to go.

My advice for a first time con attendee is simple: have fun and don’t get overwhelmed. I don’t know what C2E2 is going to be like this year because they are moving it to another section of the convention center. Last year they vastly over-estimated the size of the crowd that would attend and ended up with a floor that looked pretty empty most of the time. Being overwhelmed by the crowds last year was not a problem. The main thing to keep in mind is that there are a ton of things to see and do at comic conventions. There are creator signings, there are company and creator booths, there are toys on display, there are interesting panels, there are more things to see and more people to meet than you could possibly do over the course of a weekend. Don’t go too crazy trying to see and do too much. Don’t over-extend yourself and then have a bad time because you’re worried about missing out on a panel because you’re still in line for a sketch. Comics are fun. Conventions are fun. Have fun.

What should you bring? I did a segment on the video show last year on what to bring to San Diego Comic-Con, and while C2E2 is nowhere near as intensive as San Diego, there’s still some good advice in there. If you’re into that kind of thing, bring a sketch book. If your favorite artist is giving free or cheap sketches you’ll kick yourself if you don’t have something for them to draw in. Also bring some food and water along with you. I try to never buy food at the convention center because it tends to be wildly over-priced. But I do remember Ron, Hank the Intern, and I grabbed lunch at the convention center last year and the food was actually pretty good and was just over-priced rather than wildly over-priced.

I’ll say it again: just have fun. We like to bitch and moan about going to the cons, because let’s face it they are tiring, but the five or six cons we hit every year are among the five or six most fun weeks that we have every year.

Conor Kilpatrick

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If someone from a library came to you and ask what comics trades or graphic novels they should have, what would you recommend?

P.S. You’re not allowed to choose Watchmen!

Scott

Now, I know we’ve talked about this sort of question a lot in the past, but it’s been a while and it’s also been a while since we’ve addressed this question in the shape of what should be in libraries, I thought it would be a good time to answer this question again.

Before I get to my recommendations, I would like to take a moment for a bit of a public service message to promote comics in libraries. Many people don’t know that libraries across the country have graphic novels in their collections that you can borrow whenever you want and for FREE! I know, right? It’s amazing. Librarians across the country over the past 10 years have grown hip to the graphic novels and many libraries have built some great collections ranging from kids books to super hero books to indies. If you haven’t checked out your local library, I strongly encourage you to.

With that said, if a librarian came to me and asked me to recommend some comics for their collection, I could probably rattle of hundreds of titles. To avoid from me rambling, I’m simply going to provide the list of 5 recent comics I think comic libraries should have:

Ultimate Spider-Man – Any Volume – The definitive Spider-Man book of the past 10 years, I think any library simply must have at least one volume, if not all of them, to give their patrons their Spider-Man fix. Brian Michael Bendis and his combined creative teams of Mark Bagley, Stuart Immonen, David Lafuente and Sara Pichelli represent Marvel fabulously.

Richard Stark’s Parker: The Hunter and The Outfit – Darwyn Cooke’s adaptation of the classic Richard Stark novels are two books that would enhance any collection. With their book-like format and the source material already most likely already in the libraries’ collection, the Parker graphic novels are the perfect cross over book for adults looking for something familiar, yet different in terms of presentation.

Asterios Polyp – It may only be a couple of years old, but Dave Mazzucchelli’s Asterios Polyp has already cemented itself as one of the great works of our time. This personal reflection contains a story that would connect with adults both in its narrative as well as the philosophical questions presented by it.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – For the kids’ collection, Eric Shanower and Skottie Young’s adaptation of the L. Frank Baum Wizard of Oz books is both entertaining and dazzling to the eye. The library should be scheduling programs around the reading of these books to kids on a regular basis. Guaranteed they can’t keep these books on the shelves.

Echo – Terry Moore’s latest work is a wonderful, self contained action thriller with a touch of science fiction. Fans of The X-Files and that sort of genre would love it, as would teenagers (or so I believe). With the upcoming movie project in the works, it would be a great way to pull people into the library.

There’s five titles that I think would make any library’s collection better (and I didn’t pick Watchmen!). Of course I could suggest more, as could all of you, and ultimately it’s my hope that libraries carry every graphic novel and trade paperback, because the more books available to patrons, the better chance of the gospel of comics spreading a little wider.

Support your local library!

Ron Richards