If one word could describe this year's San Diego Comic-Con International, held July 25-29, it would be "enormous": big books, big buzz, big business. This was, by all estimations, the biggest Con ever; Friday, Saturday and Sunday were all completely sold out, hotel rooms were impossible to score, the aisles of the San Diego Convention Center were clogged with fans, every nightspot in the city was awash with after parties every night, and the lines for the biggest panels were so long that even some of the panelists couldn't get in. Publishers sometimes seemed overwhelmed by the mobs of fans, but sales were great. As Diamond Book Distributor's Kuo-Yu Liang put it, "Everybody is cranky but happy." Comic-Con has become an event where Joss Whedon, Stan Lee, Jenna Jameson, Sarah Silverman, Cory Doctorow, Michael Cera and Katee Sackhoff can all be spotted at the same party. We are all nerds now.
What happened? Hollywood happened. The movie business has come to treat the comics business as its prime testing ground for blockbusters, and a third of the convention center was dominated by movie studios. Marvel was busily encouraging buzz for next year's Hulk and Iron Man movies—the publisher built anticipation for the latter by having a suit of armor hidden in a crate in its booth until unveiling it on Saturday. Vendors at the show were giving change in dollar bills with a picture of the Joker pasted on, a clue for an alternate-reality game promoting the forthcoming Batman movie, The Dark Knight. Bestselling novelist/comics writer Neil Gaiman, all but an alumnus of comics these days, was promoting his involvement in a slew of forthcoming films, including Stardust, Beowulf,Coraline and (perhaps) Death. Writer/director/actor Ed Burns announced Dock Walloper, a film proposal that he's adapting into a comic with artist Jimmy Palmiotti and Virgin Comics'; Virgin's Guy Richie project, The Gamekeeper, is also becoming a movie, and Virgin’s forthcoming Mike Carey-written title The Stranded is a coproduction with the Sci-Fi Channel.
A packed Warner Brothers panel announced the cast and March 2009 release date of the much anticipated film adaptation of Alan Moore’s superhero epic, Watchmen (with an oversized Dave Gibbons-drawn poster to promote it), and previewed the movie based on Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber's graphic novel, Whiteout—Lieber, sitting in the Artist's Alley area that was a bit smaller this year, joked that he was the only person at the convention promoting both a $40-million movie and a photocopied minicomic. In the movies-to-comics direction, Boom! Studios—which made waves by announcing that its new editor-in-chief is star DC writer Mark Waid—has acquired the license for comics based on The Godfather.
If it's not film, it's other media—comics publishers are trying hard to reach out beyond the traditional comics audience. Neil Young, for instance, is collaborating with writer Joshua Dysart on a Vertigo graphic novel based on Young's album Greendale; WildStorm will be publishing a book collecting the online Heroes comics. Oni is launching a new imprint, Slaughterhouse, overseen by crime novelist Karin Slaughter, which will focus on original graphic novels with scripts by established prose novelists.
Under the circumstances, announcements about plain old print comics, by creators best known for cartooning, were relatively thin. Still, there were a few big ones: Marvel unveiled the four creative teams for the thrice-monthly Amazing Spider-Man; DC announced that Grant Morrison and J.G. Jones will be writing and drawing next summer's Final Crisis; and Minx, DC’s new imprint for teen girls, revealed its slate of upcoming books. At the panel that reunited the seven founders of Image Comics for the first time in a long time, it was officially announced that Rob Liefeld will once again be publishing through Image, and that he was brought back to the fold by Walking Dead/Invincible writer Robert Kirkman. First Second reveled in Gene Luen Yang's Best Graphic Album prize from the Eisner Awards, and announced that it will be collecting Paul Pope's previously self-published sci-fi epic THB, just in time for the announcement of Pope winning a Best Writer/Artist Eisner.
Other featured guests at the show were having a big weekend, too. Warren Ellis debuted his prose novel, Crooked Little Vein, had three new titles released by Avatar and announced that he and Simone Bianchi are taking over Marvel's Astonishing X-Men when Joss Whedon and John Cassaday leave. Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez, celebrating the 25th anniversary of their independent comics classic, Love & Rockets, had a small boatload of freshly released books—a new oversized issue of L&R, new paperback collections of their early work, Gilbert's new graphic novel, Chance in Hell (all from Fantagraphics), and the first issue of Gilbert's Speak of the Devil (from Dark Horse).
Even the art-comics imprints at the show were aiming big. Cartoon Books launched Jeff Smith's new project, RASL, with the world's biggest minicomic (printed 11"x17", with a six-page story). Sunday Press debuted its tabloid-size Sundays with Walt and Skeezix hardcover; Fantagraphics sold out of its pile of an oversized reprint of Krazy Kat daily strips; Buenaventura Press dropped jaws with Elvis Studio's 24-foot-long comic strip/book project Elvis Road.
SDCC typically is cautious about releasing final attendance figures, but SDCC spokesperson David Glanzer said he expected attendance was likely to match the 120,000 that attended last year and, noting three sell-out days—a Comic-con first, also said final attendance figures, “could perhaps be more.” In a phone interview Glanzer said that despite some “bugs to iron out,” show organizers were pleased with this year’s show. Acknowledging the record crowds, he said, “You hate to have turn people away,” adding, “Would we love to have more space? Absolutely.” He was dubious of the notion of adding another full day and said the show is considering a variety of solutions to the space crunch. “Nothing is off the table,” he said, including venues away from the convention center.
The buzzword for next year's show, though, might well be "digital"—more than a few publishers are trying to get their electronic ducks in a row and consolidate mobile content. DC held a party to launch the impressive interface for its Zuda Web comics imprint, even though it doesn't actually have any creators yet. Dark Horse, meanwhile, announced that it's partnering with MySpace to revive its Dark Horse Presents series as a monthly online comics anthology, whose first installment includes Joss Whedon's “Sugarshock” and Gerard Way's "The Umbrella Academy." Now that the convention—which has just extended its contract with San Diego through 2013—essentially has no more room to expand in attendance or physical size, its exhibitors may be trying to figure out the best way to get small.
