Category Archives: Timely

2009 DC Archives Survey is Up

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The Comics Archives has posted their annual DC Archives Survey in which readers are asked to state what future collections they’d like to see. It’s not an official DC survey, but the surveyor does send the compiled information to DC.

If you’re at all interested in DC’s Archives line, or the new DC Classics Library line of hardcovers, you should seriously consider filling it out.

I put in my annual suggestion for more Golden Age Flash archives. Most of the run from 1942-1949 has never, ever been reprinted — not even the first appearances of the Thinker, Shade, Thorn or Turtle. The material that has appeared in the two archive volumes so far mainly has the Flash fighting gangsters. Super-villains haven’t even shown up yet!

Wizard World on the Way Out?

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Chicago Comic-Con is running this weekend. Yes, Chicago Comic-Con, not Wizard World Chicago as it’s been called for most of this decade.

And that name change brings up all kinds of questions.

Back in 1997, Wizard bought the Chicago Comicon, at its time the comic book convention in the country after Comic-Con International in San Diego. They renamed it Wizard World Chicago and started building a series of conventions across the country. At its height there were five shows in Chicago, Los Angeles, Texas, Philadelphia, and (briefly) Boston.

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Then in January 2009, Wizard dropped a bomb: citing the economy, Wizard World Texas and Wizard World Los Angeles were being canceled. People planning for WWTX at least got fair notice, but WWLA had been scheduled for March, just two months away. They insisted that WWLA was merely “postponed,” but made no indication of when the show might return.

That left two: Wizard World Philadelphia in June and Wizard World Chicago in August.

Rebuilding and Rebranding

Over the next few months, though, something odd happened: the convention series started growing again, as Wizard owner Gareb Shamus bought Big Apple Con, then bought Paradise Toronto Comicon. Neither show was rebranded as a Wizard World event, and Wizard quietly started referring to WWC as “Chicago Comic-Con.” And then they launched Anaheim Comic-Con.

So now there are again five conventions under the umbrella, but only one, Philadelphia, still has the Wizard World name. Chances are pretty good that they’ll rename it by next June…or possibly cancel it the way they dropped WWLA.

Whither the Wizards?

The obvious question is: why?

Well, Wizard World has acquired a bit of a bad reputation. Maybe they’re rebranding in hopes of escaping that.

Or maybe they want to give the shows a more local feel, rather than corporate.

Or maybe it’s something else. Judging by the announcements, it’s not Wizard Entertainment that’s been buying and launching these new shows — it’s Gareb Shamus. I wonder whether he might be planning to sell off Wizard and keep the conventions, or otherwise split the cons and the magazine into separate companies.

Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

Update (August 11): After reading this article on “Comic-Con” vs. “Comic Con” vs. “Comicon,” I’ve gone back and tried to make sure I have the official spellings for each convention.

New Heroes Speedster Trained in the Jedi Arts

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It took the TV series Heroes three seasons to introduce a speedster. Daphne Millbrook was a major character during the “Villains” arc (Volume 3), playing against both Hiro Nakamura and Matt Parkman, and had a smaller role in “Fugitives” (Volume 4). I won’t spoil “Fugitives” for the two people out there who haven’t seen it and want to, but she’s not coming back this season.

This year’s Heroes panel at Comic-Con introduced a new group of players for the upcoming arc, “Redemption” (Volume 5): a traveling carnival made up of people who have super-powers, hiding in plain sight. (Everyone’s making comparisons to Carnivale, but I can’t help but think of Payne’s carnival in Girl Genius.) Among them is Edgar, a knife-thrower played by Ray Park, best known as Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. He also appears as Snake Eyes in the live-action G.I. Joe movie opening this weekend.

Edgar is described as “a speedster with a mission.” Footage played at the panel showed him using his power not for running, but for combat agility as he fought power-magnet Peter Petrelli.

Appropriately enough, the actor kept moving throughout the panel, making it hard for Katie to snap a photo of him that was in focus.

Covering San Diego (2009)

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In a few days I’ll be off to Comic-Con International in San Diego. It’ll be my 20th year attending the con. Now I feel old.

Anyway, I’ll be posting about my experiences at the con in several places:

Here’s a list of my past convention reports and photos, including San Diego 2003–2008, Wizard World Los Angeles 2007–2008, and WonderCon 2008–2009. I’m also almost done with the Convention Tips list, which should wrap up Wednesday morning.

Thoughts on the Anaheim Comic-Con Announcement

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Anaheim Comic-Con LogoEver since Wizard canceled Wizard World Los Angeles back in January, just two months before the event, they’ve claimed that the show was not actually canceled, but merely “postponed” (as opposed to WWTX, which was canceled outright). They can probably stop claiming that now that they’ve announced Anaheim Comic-Con, launching April 16-18, 2010.

In the six months since Wizard World canceled half their convention slate, the owners of New York Comic-Con have announced a new Chicago-area show, C2E2, launching next April 16-18 (does that date sound familiar?), and a group of former Wizard staffers have put together Long Beach Comic-Con, starting October 2-4, to take the place of the missing WWLA. Wizard, meanwhile, has renamed Wizard World Chicago as Chicago Comic-Con (its original name before they bought it a decade(?) ago), bought Big Apple Con, and bought Paradise Toronto Con. Or, to be more precise, Gareb Shamus, owner of Wizard, has bought them.

Immediately obvious:

  • Anaheim Comic Con replaces Wizard World Los Angeles on the WW slate.
  • Shamus is downplaying the Wizard World brand name for the convention circuit.
  • Whether intentional or not, Anaheim Comic Con is scheduled to maximize damage to their primary Chicago competitor.

Making some Magic

Wizard.Six months ago it looked like the LA/Orange County area wouldn’t have any big conventions for a while (aside from being 2-3 hours from San Diego). Now there are two. The timing (April) is far enough from both San Diego (July) and Long Beach (October) that it won’t feel like overkill to hit all three. It’s even far enough from WonderCon (usually February or Early March) that it might be worth hitting both.

And I did have fun at WWLA last year and the year before.

And yet… Continue reading →