Thursday, February 03, 2005

Giving Emerald City ComicCon its due

The Seattle Times provides a lengthy preview of this weekend's Emerald City ComicCon, focusing on organizer Jim Demonakos, and regional creators like Peter Bagge, Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker and John Layman:
With 2,800 attendees last year, the Emerald City ComiCon was like Ant-Man compared to Galactus — that is, San Diego's Comic-Con International, the industry's biggie, which drew 87,000 people over four days in mid-July. But Bendis, echoing a complaint of Demonakos and others, says the San Diego convention's been overrun by movie studios. The Emerald City one is "much more interested in the comic aspect than whatever the studio is selling."

So look for writers and artists signing their work at tables and talking in panel discussions, and lots of dealers selling all manner of comic-related stuff; but not the kind of scenario Bagge recently witnessed at a convention, when grown men wept with joy at the official announcement of the next "Star Wars" flick's mere title.
In a sidebar, the creators also offer tips for convention attendees. Here's Layman, on book-signing etiquette:
"Don't ask them for an autograph on the way to the bathroom."