Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

So yeah, “minor” surgery is still surgery, and coupled with a drug industry and medical profession that takes “side effects” a bit too casually, I missed the entire NY Comic Con. The whole damn thing. The PopCultureShock party, too, which pisses me off the most, actually, as I was hoping to meet up with some people I hadn’t seen in a while as well as putting some faces to blogs I enjoy.

Ugh.

Anybody out there who did attend the party? I can live vicariously through your feedback!

I spent most of the past week laid up in bed, periodically hobbling around the apartment to take a break from marathon sessions on my rarely used Xbox: Destroy All Humans!, Just Cause and Fable: The Lost Chapters. Not a single comic book tie-in among them, although throughout Fable I was thinking what a great license it would be to adapt for comics. It features a pretty solid storyline that’s ripe for embellishment, especially since the main character is so malleable, by design, but driven towards his destiny by forces beyond his control, that much of the subtext takes place in the player’s head.

I wonder if the rights are available and how ridiculously expensive they might be?

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My surgery went well, and other than passing out on the way home, presumably from the combination of Valium and hunger — head back, mouth open, wife yelling for help kind of passing out! — I’m feeling pretty good now. Relatively speaking.

My 9:30am appointment got pushed back to 11:15am, so my wife and I walked across town to the Javits Center to pick up my Press Pass and get the lay of the land. We couldn’t get past security and on to the Convention Floor itself, but we got a good look at things from the entrance and I took a few pictures before they told me to put the camera away.

There were about a dozen or so pros registering and a couple of other people down in the Press Room, but the only person I recognized was Heidi MacDonald who arrived as we were leaving. I’ve still yet to meet her in person, but will hopefully rectify that at some point during the Con.

I doubt I’ll be back on my feet before Saturday, so it looks like I’ll only be able to catch the latter part of that day’s session and/or Sunday. I’m still going to the PCS After-Party, though, even if I need a cane and a bottle of Motrin!

I haven’t been nearly as enthuastic about this year’s NY Comic Con as I was about last year’s, but that’s primarily because last year’s was so exhausting, my level of direct participation this year is drastically reduced, and I stupidly scheduled some minor surgery for tomorrow without realizing it was the day before the Con.

Despite dragging my feet, my press registration has been secured (Thanks, Phoenix!) and as long as all goes smoothly tomorrow and I’m on my feet as expected by Friday, here’s what I’m hoping to catch this weekend:

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23

10:30AM – 11:30AM
Kids Comics: The Category Waiting to Explode

Nice to see they picked up this theme again this year, though it’s too bad that it’s scheduled during the trade-only portion of the show. Of course, considering the majority of the audience for my similar panel last year consisted of retailers and a couple of pros, it makes sense, I guess. Glad to see Jimmy Gownley in the mix, too, as Amelia Rules! is an excellent comic deserving of much more attention.

1:30PM – 2:30PM
Graphic Novels: Direct Distribution or Book Wholesalers?

Last year’s version of this panel was incredibly informative and woefully underattended by publishers and professionals. It’s a little disappointing to see the distributor representation on the panel isn’t as strong as it was last year, though.

2:30PM – 3:30PM
Capturing Female Readers: The Fastest Growing Audience for Comics
Comics Bloggers: Rewriting the Rules of Tastemaking and Trade Influence

Tough call here, as I’d love to see both, but I’m currently leaning towards the “Female Readers” panel as I figure the bloggers will post the details of their own panel. I am curious to hear what MediaBistro’s Ron Hogan has to say, though.

4:30PM – 5:30PM
MARVEL: World War Hulk

I’ve really been enjoying “Planet Hulk”, and considering it was Greg Pak himself who convinced me to try it out during his appearance at last year’s NYCC, this should be a fun panel.

6:30PM – 7:30PM
Mothers & Daughters: Female Graphic Novelists and the Family

If I’m not completely burned out, I may check this out out as it has the makings of a candid, insightful session.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24

12:30PM – 1:30PM
Don’t Quit Your Day Job! The Truth About Breaking Into Comics

I believe this is the panel Rich Johnston has been added to, which should make for an interesting discussion.

2:00PM – 3:00PM
The Black Panel

Terrible name, but interesting lineup makes this a must-see.

6:00PM – 7:00PM
Who Reads Graphic Novels? Who Doesn’t!

Intriguing line-up here.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25

2:00PM – 3:00PM
NYCC Comics School: Writing Under Pressure

Another intriguing line-up.

And, of course, don’t forget Saturday night’s PopCultureShock’s After-Party!

Reading is fundamental. Read what you like; don’t waste your time reading bad comics out of habit!

My weekly look at select comic books being released Wednesday, 2/21/07. The full shipping list, as always, is available at ComicList.

[NOTE: Not all of these titles will actually arrive in all stores. If your LCBS offers a pre-ordering service, be sure to take advantage of it. If not, find another one; or try Khepri.com or MidtownComics.com]

I’m finally caught up on my post-Busiek Conan reading and am happy to see that Truman has taken the baton relatively cleanly and is running forward with it. If I wasn’t a hard-won fan of the series, I’d probably consider waiting for the trades at this point, but there’s something to be said for consistently entertaining serial adventures at a time where that’s increasingly difficult to come by.

DC COMICS
Brave And The Bold Cvr A #1, $2.99
Helmet Of Fate Black Alice #1, $2.99
Robin #159, $2.99

The Big Two need a solid team-up book, featuring done-in-one (or two, at the most) stories that pair up their handful of A-list characters with an assortment of B- and C-list characters and send them on continuity-free adventures. Marvel Team-Up was nowhere near to being that book, but hopefully Brave and the Bold will be. *** Damn Helmet of Fate sucked me in via a completely irrational affection for Dr. Fate and while none of the stories have been terribly compelling so far, they’ve been solid enough to keep me onboard until the main series launches. *** I’ve enjoyed Adam Beechen’s OYL take on Robin, and I’ve been hoping for a long while that Geoff Johns would step aside and let someone else take over Teen Titans, so having Beechen on both is a promising turn of events that will hopefully result in some meaningful character development for Tim Drake over the next year or two.

FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS
Heartbreak Soup Palomar Vol 1 TPB, $14.95
Maggie The Mechanic Locas Vol 1 TPB, $14.95

I’ve wanted to get into Love & Rockets and Los. Bros Hernandez for a long time now, so maybe these will be the gateway collections that finally make it happen.

GINGKO PRESS
Burning New York Graffiti NYC TPB (resolicited), $39.95

This is a pricey tome but it looks interesting and Gingko did right by me last time I picked up a couple of their books. Still, yet another non-comic book in the comic book section of the list. Seriously, how’s that work?

HARPER COLLINS PUBLISHERS
Reinventing Comics TPB (Harper Collins Ed), $22.95

I’m about halfway through Scott McCloud’s Making Comics and it is an amazing piece of work, absolutely essential reading for anyone creating or writing about comic books. Based on that, and the equally essential Understanding Comics, I’m going to have to finally stop procrastinating and check out Reinventing Comics.

MARVEL COMICS
Annihilation Book 1 HC, $29.99
Civil War 1 For 75 Turner Sketch Var #7 (Of 7), AR
Immortal Iron Fist #3, $2.99
Legion Of Monsters Werewolf By Night #1, $2.99
Powers #23, $2.95

I’ve seen so many positive reviews for Annihilation, and coupled with the fact that Quesada admitted that he didn’t hype it too much because it wasn’t his cup of tea, my interest is piqued. Not sure about the Hardcover only collecting half of the saga, but I might pick up the eventual TPBs if I like what I see when I flip through them. *** So, what does it take to get a 1-for-75 variant cover? Assume the average retailer is paying approx. $1.46/copy for the regular issue, so that’s approx. a $109.50 investment for each variant copy, most of which will likely be flipped for at least half that much if not more on eBay, except for the major retailers who are ordering 300+ copies of the issue anyway, and can afford to price them lower. Retailers who give into this scheme in the name of superior customer service are ultimately harming themselves because Marvel and DC justify the continued use of variants as supplying the demand. So, who’s killing comics?

TULIP TREE PRESS
House Of Sugar GN, $10.00

Well, check this out! A book I’ve never heard of, and the publisher, Tulip Tree Press, has a nicely designed web site that turns up on the first page of a Google search for “House of Sugar“; detailed information and samples of the book (the WHOLE book, actually); and ordering and contact information for the creator and publisher. Imagine that! It does get a demerit, however, for its lack of availability on Amazon.

VIRGIN COMICS LLC
Devi Sp Extended Coll Ed #1 & #2, $6.99
Sadhu Sp Extended Coll Ed #1 & #2, $6.99
Snakewoman Sp Extended Coll Ed #1 & #2, $6.99
Walk-In #3, $2.99

Nice to see Virgin making their comics accessible by releasing these bumper editions of the first two issues, but their Web site makes no reference to them or why they seem to cost more than the two issues did individually. Is there extra content? Dunno. Too bad, too, as I might have been tempted into getting one or two of them, but lacking that info, it will now depend on them actually being on the shelves when I get to Midtown, quite likely for a large retailer, but what about those LCBS’ with tighter budgets and less experimental clientele? Missed opportunity, I think.