The City that Loves you Back

Ok folks, I just got back from Wizard World and I desperately need to crash. There's a lot of stuff I want to talk about ... but that'll have to wait until after I've had some sleep. So check back here for cool stuff and nifty links. Oh, and there are new vote incentives, so check 'em out and vote!

Ok, so Wizard World was quite nifty. I met many cool people, not the least of which were the guys on either side of me: Michael Langdale who's a really slick artist, and Pat Olliffe who's penciled Spider-Girl among many other series. Also Hung out with Eva Hopkins of Fear of Flight, her fine friends, and the exceptionally fine folks representing Lulu Publishing. I also got to talk with Brad Guigar of Greystone Inn. Gino Finocchiaro, a man of many talents, stoped by and talked with us for a while. There were of course, many others we (Larom and I) met, and of course we hung out with Jennie and her pirate chum Nigel.

Ok, so I think that's all the links and names I need to drop ... if I've forgotten someone I appologize. So, on to recounting the actual convention itself! On the whole it was pretty cool. I didn't get to experience as much of it as I might have liked being behind the table most of the weekend and all. But It was lots of fun none the less. Obviously I got to talk with a a lot of really cool people, though I managed to miss Straczynski. I do have to say however that Philly seemed ... tame ... in comparison to my experiences at Otakon the last two years. Many things could be construed from this observation. Not the least of which is that anime fans are more fanatical on average than comic book fans. But honestly Otakon is just plain bigger which would explain the difference in chaos levels. Yet it was still pretty freakin' sweet. Though I suppose I could have added a lot to the chaos/fanatic factor if I had gone with Nigel and his friends to the fetish party. But I think I can live without that kind of phrenetics.

It also has come to my attention that for someone who does comics I read very few outside of the webcomic world. This is an irony that I just can't quite overlook. It's not to say that I am not aware of comics, and for someone who doesn't read most of them I feel rather well informed as to the goings on within the stories themselves. No expert, or even throughly well versed by any means. But considering I've never read any of the Batman series or really anything Marvel or DC or ... well you get the idea. In fact, the only series I've ever followed closely were the Cyberforce comics quite a few years ago, and all the varrious works Phil Foglio has put out. Of course, with Phil now doing his comics online the total count of my paper-reading comics is zilch. That is not to say that there isn't a lot out there worth reading, or that I don't find the stories/characters/concepts interesting. By all acounts, Sandman is a great series, and I came across several intriguing concepts at Philly (some of which I'll give you the run down on once I finish reading them). So the question becomes ... why don't I read more print comics? In part I think it's because they're so many of them that I don't know what's good and what's not worth my time. And 95% of the time I can't sample a series without laying down cash. And even if I do find something I like they go on for dozens and dozens of issues, or have been going on for dozens and dozens of issues. This, as any collector will tell you, can add up. Some of it is very much worth it. But when all you have is the cover art and possible hearsay to go on it makes finding the worthwhile stuff ... somewhat difficult. What's the solution? I dunno. Foglio put his comic online because he hopes to use giving the comic away for free to entice people to buy his very nice print volumes. Most webcomics ultimately fall into this pattern. Baen books has an online library full of their publications that you can read for free. And they've found that the books they have online sell better. People can sample without any cost to them and if they like what they see they'll put money down to own their own copy. Ownership is a fantastic thing. People like owning stuff, they like being able to call it "mine." Maybe print comics should do the same kind of thing: offer a portion of their series (maybe just an issue or two) free online so people can puruse before buying. It certainly wouldn't be the first time the idea was suggested. But that might not be a commercially viable move. I don't know. All I do know is that I don't seem to read many print comics and that just maybe I should....

Welcome to the Comedity. Don't step on the Penguin.
Garth (Monday - June 6, 2005) -00:26:21