Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by Steve Bennett of Super-Fly Comics and Games in Yellow Springs, Ohio.  This week, Bennett explains why he owes Mark Waid dinner.

I wish I could have been in Chicago last week for C2E2.  I attended last year's with the rest of the guys from Super-Fly Comics & Games and had a grand time, as you can read for yourself (see "Confessions of a Comic Book Guy--Best. Time. Ever.").  But this year work obligations conspired against me and I had to experience it the old fashioned way; sitting at home reading news reports hot off of the Internet.

There was a lot of news from Marvel and DC but with convention season just getting started naturally there weren't any big announcements from either publisher.  I was more interested to hear the news from the First Comics panel... until I heard the news; maybe it's my fault for having unrealistic expectations but I really was hoping for something more substantial than collections of Zen Intergalactic Ninja and a new title called Frickin' Butt-Kickin' Zombie Ants.

For me the big announcement was the one that made a headline on USA Today Website, "Mark Waid makes a bold digital move with Thrillbent website."  I've been an admirer of Waid's work for decades and that admiration has only grown with his personal commitment to digital comics; you can't be much more "personal" or "committed" than selling all of your comics to fund your plans.  I wish I could have been there so I could have been one of those retailers he was hoping to talk to during C2E2 about how digital and print comics could work together.  That and the fact I kind of owe Mark Waid dinner.

Well, not just him, I also owe dinner to Kurt Busiek, Tom Grummett, Stuart Immomen, Karl Kesel, George Perez, and the late, great Mike Wieringo.  It was the year 2000 and they had just started their creator-owned imprint Gorilla Comics (published by Image Comics), and at Mid-Ohio Con they invited a group of retailers to a very nice Italian restaurant to help promote their upcoming slate of titles (Empire, Section Zero, Shockrockets, Tellos, etc.).  I was working for Dark Star Books at the time and somehow, I've forgotten exactly how, I was invited.  I remember it being a lovely family style Italian meal; we laughed, talked and ate... and a couple of weeks later it became clear the financing just wasn't there and Gorilla Comics folded having only published a handful of comics.  I had always felt more than a little bad about eating his food under those circumstances.  So, Mark, next time I see you, dinner's on me, OK?

In past columns I've mentioned the Hero Complex section of the Los Angeles Times, which does a solid job of reporting on the areas where comic books, science fiction and fantasy run smack dab into big-time entertainment.  It's a valuable source, but that still didn't prepare me for this ad that appeared in Justice League International #8.  There's nothing wrong with it of course, and I'm sure DC Comics appreciated the ad dollars... I just don't know if enough comic book readers will check out their site to justify the expense.

One thing I really should have made clear in last week's column about the competing comic-centric cartoon blocks (see "Confessions of a Comic Book Guy--DC Nation Vs. Marvel Universe") is they aren't competing head to head Saturday mornings.  Cartoon Network's DC Nation runs on Saturday mornings while Disney XD's Marvel Universe is on Sundays, giving fans a much needed break.  There's a whole generation of kids who won't have to choose between shows or constantly flip back and back forth between channels the way I used to have to back in ancient times back when there wasn't even a VCR, let alone a DVR.

And I really should have mentioned that right after DC Nation there's The Hub's The Aquabats!  Super Show!, the creation of Christian Jacobs and Scott Schultz (also creators of the Nick Jr. series Yo Gabba Gabba!) and Jason deVilliers which is based on Jacobs real-life rock band The Aquabats.  The fictional Aquabats are a group of superhero musicians who like to have fun as much as they like to fight monsters and the resulting combination of silly comedy and over the top action should remind adult viewers (depending on the age of the adult) of either the 1960's Batman TV series or the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.  There are regular breaks from the action in the form of commercial parodies and cartoons, one a continuing serial featuring an animated version of the Aquabats.  It's an enormous amount of fun.

And, finally, Disney is making Iron Man 3 with a Chinese partner (see "Marvel to Shoot 'Iron Man 3' in China"); I wonder how long until Radioactive Man becomes a member of The Avengers.

The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.