February
22 Ready to Bite

Without having had a chance to catch up on the reading materials picked up at WonderCon, its time to wing back East for the heavily anticipated inaugural New York Comic-Con. This is a show that pretty much anyone associated with comics is watching, and the big publishers are definitely bringing out the stars with long lists of writers and artists set to appear.

The con's programming schedule is meaty, interesting and very focused on publishing. Part of that is likely comes from the show being organized by Book Expo presenters Reed Exhibitions (a sister company to Reed Business Information, which owns Variety). Another part is that a lot of larger Hollywood companies are waiting to see how this first show is attended and received before they invest in flying out stars and directors for panels and booths.

Preceding the con itself is the ICV2 Graphic Novel Conference on Thursday afternoon, which will explore the graphic novel, manga, anime and, of course, comics market with a quartet of sessions. Admission to this event is separate from the trade-only half-day Friday at the con, and a number of people in the biz have balked at the $179 admission price.

Friday's trade events are similar, with focuses on retailing, licensing, distributing and a State of the Industry panel with top reps from Diamond, DC, Marvel, Archie and TOKYOPOP. Then the con swings into full fan-mode and should be a good time. The weather has been decent for this time of year by New York standards (i.e., cold but little chance of a blizzard), and time will tell if the masses will turn out for this event, and whether they're locals in for a day or people traveling and staying over in Manhattan hotels.

There will be updates to this blog during the show as much as possible, though a recent laptop mishap means access to the net will not be as convenient as expected.