Post by boomvavavoom on Aug 18, 2004 15:00:04 GMT 1
This past weekend, I attended the Wizard World Chicago convention for what seemed like the thousandth time. Okay, so to be fair, it’s under ten, but more than five. Your Manga Minute’s Married Man and his wife hit the City of the Winds on Friday night, and attended the show for the full day on Saturday. I thought I’d give some impressions of the atmosphere of the show and follow that up with some of the free manga to be had. Then, I’ll be back later in the week with some new reviews and more of the “If You Like” game.
Big Vendors: The two most obvious manga presences had to be Tokyopop (with a huge booth, a wall of books, giveaways, and courteous staffers) and DC (who had a CMX section that echoed their individual stands for DCU, Vertigo, Wildstorm, and the like). Once again, Tokyopop pulled off their annual mammoth publicity coup by giving out their pimpin’ huge bags. Everybody knows where to get the bags, and if they don’t, they stop those of use who have them and ask. Honestly, if you do any serious shopping for anything at Wizard World, you have the Tokyopop bag. They also had two distinct Sneaks previews books; CMX had a free preview as well.
FUNimation had a nice-looking booth there to promote their library of anime, including the Dragon Ball franchise, Fullmetal Alchemist (replete with statue!) and more. Unfortunately, the overall presence of the big companies was softer this year. Mattel was doing a fine job pushing the Teen Titans, which is certainly anime-influenced, but the pure stuff was in shorter supply.
Big Stories: Bob Wayne vs. Brian Michael Bendis. 9http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16535) A simple exchange of words had become gladiatorial combat in twelve hours. Just like a good fight in the lunchroom at junior high; by the last bell, it’s ninja warfare with flamethrowers and Sho Koshugi.
Big Sale: I kept an eye out for what merchandise seemed to be dominating, and far and away, the most stocked item at booths was . . . Star Wars figures. Seriously. Star Wars figures were everywhere this year. I suppose it’s the wind-up for the DVD release and next year’s last gasp final film, but it seemed disproportionate versus the amount of demand. I was also surprised to see knuckleheads paying $45 or more for the Phoenix from Marvel Legends VI when the line has barely touched retail yet.
Big Speech: For Saturday, the two huge panels (being that they were in the larger of the convention center’s two halls) were the Kevin Smith Q&A, which I didn’t attend, and the Joss Whedon one, which I did. Whedon’s a funny, disarmingly charming guy. Work proceeds apace on Serenity, the Firefly feature, and a presentation for the Buffy animated series is in the works. There will likely also be a Serenity comic from Dark Horse. He did not answer when asked, “What happens to a toad when it gets hit by lightning?”
Big Money: I made good use of my Tokyopop bag. Between the wife and myself, we bought a small army of figures, including offerings from DC Direct (the latest Legion), the Buffy line, Hellboy, Lord of the Rings (Shelob, and not over-priced), and more. I also finished my Baxter run of New Titans. Becky also did something extremely nice when she won a chance to buy the exclusive Mattel Batman Unmasking. While I was interviewing someone for an assignment, Becky went over and picked it up for me. She proudly presented it to me later; that was swell.
CMX Preview: The CMX preview packs in looks at several impending series. Among these are Swan, Land of the Blindfolded, From Eroica with Love, Phantom Thief Jeanne, Mushashi #9 and Gals! The preview was produced in the authentic page-direction format. Up front is a note from editorial indicating that the imprint plans to be faithful to the original versions, with some translators being hand-picked by the original creators.
For those who doubted that DC as a parent company would stick with racier content, here’s some exact wording from the Eroica description: “Dorian, openly gay, is decadent, hedonistic, and flamboyant – a rebel who openly flouts the conventions of European society.” I recall a few people bashing DC over the books sight unseen, even though this is the same company that brings us Vertigo. I’d say that all indicators point to faithful renditions and fine production values.
Tokyopop Sneaks: Tokyopop previewed an enormous amount of manga in their free volumes. I’ve already talked about Psychic Academy here, and I’ll do more on Eerie Queerie before too long. It’s sufficient to say off-hand that they’ll be doing more storming of the sales charts with a wide array of appealing product.
newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16680
Big Vendors: The two most obvious manga presences had to be Tokyopop (with a huge booth, a wall of books, giveaways, and courteous staffers) and DC (who had a CMX section that echoed their individual stands for DCU, Vertigo, Wildstorm, and the like). Once again, Tokyopop pulled off their annual mammoth publicity coup by giving out their pimpin’ huge bags. Everybody knows where to get the bags, and if they don’t, they stop those of use who have them and ask. Honestly, if you do any serious shopping for anything at Wizard World, you have the Tokyopop bag. They also had two distinct Sneaks previews books; CMX had a free preview as well.
FUNimation had a nice-looking booth there to promote their library of anime, including the Dragon Ball franchise, Fullmetal Alchemist (replete with statue!) and more. Unfortunately, the overall presence of the big companies was softer this year. Mattel was doing a fine job pushing the Teen Titans, which is certainly anime-influenced, but the pure stuff was in shorter supply.
Big Stories: Bob Wayne vs. Brian Michael Bendis. 9http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16535) A simple exchange of words had become gladiatorial combat in twelve hours. Just like a good fight in the lunchroom at junior high; by the last bell, it’s ninja warfare with flamethrowers and Sho Koshugi.
Big Sale: I kept an eye out for what merchandise seemed to be dominating, and far and away, the most stocked item at booths was . . . Star Wars figures. Seriously. Star Wars figures were everywhere this year. I suppose it’s the wind-up for the DVD release and next year’s last gasp final film, but it seemed disproportionate versus the amount of demand. I was also surprised to see knuckleheads paying $45 or more for the Phoenix from Marvel Legends VI when the line has barely touched retail yet.
Big Speech: For Saturday, the two huge panels (being that they were in the larger of the convention center’s two halls) were the Kevin Smith Q&A, which I didn’t attend, and the Joss Whedon one, which I did. Whedon’s a funny, disarmingly charming guy. Work proceeds apace on Serenity, the Firefly feature, and a presentation for the Buffy animated series is in the works. There will likely also be a Serenity comic from Dark Horse. He did not answer when asked, “What happens to a toad when it gets hit by lightning?”
Big Money: I made good use of my Tokyopop bag. Between the wife and myself, we bought a small army of figures, including offerings from DC Direct (the latest Legion), the Buffy line, Hellboy, Lord of the Rings (Shelob, and not over-priced), and more. I also finished my Baxter run of New Titans. Becky also did something extremely nice when she won a chance to buy the exclusive Mattel Batman Unmasking. While I was interviewing someone for an assignment, Becky went over and picked it up for me. She proudly presented it to me later; that was swell.
CMX Preview: The CMX preview packs in looks at several impending series. Among these are Swan, Land of the Blindfolded, From Eroica with Love, Phantom Thief Jeanne, Mushashi #9 and Gals! The preview was produced in the authentic page-direction format. Up front is a note from editorial indicating that the imprint plans to be faithful to the original versions, with some translators being hand-picked by the original creators.
For those who doubted that DC as a parent company would stick with racier content, here’s some exact wording from the Eroica description: “Dorian, openly gay, is decadent, hedonistic, and flamboyant – a rebel who openly flouts the conventions of European society.” I recall a few people bashing DC over the books sight unseen, even though this is the same company that brings us Vertigo. I’d say that all indicators point to faithful renditions and fine production values.
Tokyopop Sneaks: Tokyopop previewed an enormous amount of manga in their free volumes. I’ve already talked about Psychic Academy here, and I’ll do more on Eerie Queerie before too long. It’s sufficient to say off-hand that they’ll be doing more storming of the sales charts with a wide array of appealing product.
newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16680