2. It's easily 100 times funnier than that Seinfeld/Gates commercial.
Diamond Previews order code SEP084142E.
Reason #3 to Buy the LNC Trade from IDW
3. No crossovers. No angst. No pointless deaths. No kidding.
Diamond Previews order code SEP084142E.
Reason #5 to buy the LNC Trade from IDW
5. Kurt Busiek's one thing, but how many people get the coveted ANN Busiek recommendation?
Diamond Previews order code SEP084142E.
"Love and Capes is warm, witty, clever andlighthearted without being empty-- there's real, satisfying emotion underlying the comedy. It's one of a very few comics my wife tries to steal from me so she can read it first."
Kurt Busiek
Astro City, Superman, Trinity
"Damn straight it is. And what do you mean, 'tries to'?"
Ann Busiek
Reason #6 to buy the LNC Trade from IDW
Diamond Previews order code SEP084142E.
The Castle Perilous
Anyway, the shop requested it, and I was glad to help out. And, if you own a shop and one of these would help you order and move some more Love and Capes, give me a shout and maybe we can figure something out.
Reason #7 to buy the LNC Trade from IDW
Gail Simone says, "A book full of rare delights--bright, lively art, a fun and clever story told with perfect pacing…Thom's doing great work on an irreplaceable book."
Diamond Previews order code SEP084142E.
Luthor, You Treacherous Snake!
Thought you might like to see the third and final Bobble Fish, along with his brothers. And a certain bald scientist who may or may not have something to do with them. And, if you'd like, click and embiggen, Super Fool!
How Did I Not Hear of this Before?
Man, I want to see this!
Betterizing San Diego
Yesterday, I had lunch with Roger Price and his lovely wife (who made me a great scarf). We were talking about San Diego Comic-Con, and how the show is growing and changing. We got on the subject of what to do to improve the show, and I had an idea that Rog said was decent. I could try to present it to the show, but that's a lot of effort to go through. So, I now present my two and a half ideas to improve Comic-Con. And if they want to give me a booth for life, I'm fine with that.
But first, a paragraph of my general feelings on the show: I've complained at times about the show, praised it at others, and have now come to the conclusion that I'm past all of that. The show is the show, it's the biggest show in terms of size and importance to the industry, and as long as I'm in the industry, I have to be there. So move to Vegas or LA or stay in San Diego…whatever. I'll still be there. Whatever the show does, I'll deal with it. I think I've got some ideas that can improve the show, but past that, I'd rather invest my intellectual capital in figuring out who the Last Cylon is. The show can be a bear to do, but I also landed some significant work out of it and had some good fun with some great friends. As long as it's somewhere, I'll be there.
Idea #1: Disneyize. Okay, I'm just barely old enough to remember the days of the "A" ticket and "B" ticket and so on. Cooler rides had rarer tickets, as I recall. Maybe it's time to do that for panels. You get an all-week membership, and you get, say, five A tickets, ten B tickets and fifteen C tickets. A one-day pass gets you one A, two B and five C. (Numbers are just example here.) A tickets are for the big media panels, B are for the smaller, and C are for the meeting rooms. You commodotize the panels. So now, people have to pick and choose what panels they go to, but they get to choose. It's not a perfect solution, but it will alleviate crowds and lines, and even solve that "sweep the room or don't" issue. If you don't have a ticket for the next panel, you have to go.
And let people trade their tickets, too. No harm in that. Give different combos to Pros and Exhibitors and Media. Heck, maybe do the same for Media and give them a press section so they don't overrun the area for the fans. Only 50 press members per panel, and let them decide who goes where. And, as an exhibitor myself, occasionally there is a panel, usually featuring Eliza Dushku, that I want to see. If there were a way that I didn't have to wait in a two-hour line to go to it, maybe I could catch a panel for the first time in five years.
Is it perfect? No. Will it cause much complaining? Sure. But the situation will need to change, and I think this allows the fan to have the most control over the end result, maybe even spend more time on the floor and possibly buy my book. (Nothing wrong with enlightened self-interest.)
Idea #2: Four-Day passes and Pros get different color badges. This was the big mistake in 2008. People who buy a full membership are not pros, so they shouldn't have the same color holder as the pros. As a guy looking for work and trying to find an individual in a mass of humanity, the fact that I know that Joe Editor would have a pro badge, and not a 4-day badge makes scanning for that person so much easier.
Wow, that one was simple.
Idea #2.5: New Layout. I read a lot about people saying "there should be a retailer section, a Hollywood section and so on." I'm not positive about this, hence the half-ness of this idea, but I think something like concentric circles might work better.
Here's a counter-intuitive example. A couple years ago at the NYC show, artist alley was on a second level, and you had to walk through that area to reach the media guests. The artist alley area was too small, admittedly, but artists who complained about it missed one of the best parts: People who want to see the Cheerleader from Heroes have to walk past your booth to get there. As an exhibitor, things that cause people to have to go by my booth are good things. From a crowd control point of view, it helps disperse the crowds.
As of Friday, I wouldn't even try to go to all the TV and Movie Booths at San Diego. It was just too crowded. As a result, I never saw almost half the convention just because of the mass of people. Maybe if the outer ring were Studios, with an inner ring of comic companies, another of retailers, and Artist Alley at the center. So if NBC is at the north end, Disney at the south, and you want to go from one to the other, you'll cut through the companies and the artists to get to the other side, rather than wade through Lucasfilm, Fox and whatever else. People will go new places, and hopefully discover new things.
Oh, and handle this, too.
Okay, that's all I've got. Take it for what it's worth.
That's Why He's Here
If you've read the blog with any regularity, you know I'm a James Taylor fan. Well, no his new album, Covers, is available for pre-order on Amazon