Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by retailer Steve Bennett of Super-Fly Comics and Games in
I won’t be attending Comic-Con this year; well to absolutely honest I must confess I’ve never attended a San Diego Comic-Con, though not from any lack of desire. I’ve always wanted to go but as a fan and neophyte writer I always had to plead poverty, and when I became a retailer I could never justify the expense or time away from work. And now that I’ve reached what I like to call the summing up portion of my life, I find that I’ve never been further west than
But of course I’ll be closely monitoring it via the Internet and not just at the usual suspect news Websites; so far online reportage from both Variety and
But where others see a problem I see an opportunity. Next year they should take advantage of the high school revenge fantasies of the attendees by having the cast of The Hills pilloried (a pillory being a device used for punishment by humiliation; kind of like stocks but with more opportunity for physical abuse) for three days in a high foot traffic area. If at the end of this period any of them can walk away they should be allowed to return to their undeserved, over privileged lives, but if they can’t, they’d be forced to move to the
The first Con reports are starting to come in, and I’m seeing the same strange status quo that’s been at work for years;
No one is a bigger fan of the television oeuvre of the show’s creator Stephen J. Cannell (though I’ve got to admit personally I’d prefer seeing an adaptation of Tenspeed & Brownshoe) than me but I again have to question whether the market can support yet another licensed title, no matter how good the execution is -- and it had better be good if it’s going to equal Scott Kurtz’s wonderful “homage” to the property Truth, Justin and the American Way.
I read with interest comments made by Diane Nelson, President of Warner Premiere and Thomas Gewecke, President of Warner Bros. Digital Distribution over on Newsarama concerning DC’s “digital strategy,” specifically their “Motion Comics” initiative. I also read them with extreme difficulty because they were overloaded with corporate jargon to the point of incomprehensibility. But if I’m allowed to extrapolate, they seem to be saying DC has zero interest in putting their library of titles online. Instead they’ve created a product aimed at people who never have and probably never will read comics, but might be willing to “experience” them, if it’s close to experiences they’re already had (TV, movies, music, etc.).
As someone who believes that comics as a medium is already perfect, it’s a bit disturbing thinking about misguided attempts to “improve” them, but then Motion Comics aren’t intended for us or our customers. I hate to keep using loved ones as anecdotal evidence but, hey, it works; I was just in
She’s 25, a registered nurse who doesn’t watch broadcast TV and is into Web comics and playing World of Warcraft; Motion Comics were intended for people like her who should be reading comics on a regular basis but aren’t. And if the Watchmen Motion Comic can tap into the incredible word of mouth the trailer is generating to generate interest in the actual graphic novel, I really can’t see a downside.
And thanks to Bob Schaefer of Dragon’s Lair Comics & Fantasy for reminding me of
The opinions expressed in this Talk Back coumn are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
