June
19
WWPA and Heroes Con: Two sides of the con coin
Two big East Coast shows were held over the past weekend: Wizard World Philadelphia and Heroes Con in Charlotte, N.C. Both shows seemed to be well-attended and people had a good time.
As you’d expect, WWPA was more superhero-centric, with Marvel and DC showing up in force to announce various upcoming projects and changes in their current lineup of comics. A lot of the Marvel and DC announcements were mirrored at Heroes Con, though WW seemed to be the bigger platform for this particular type of news.
The Marvel corner was spearheaded by editor in chief Joe Quesada and writer Brian Michael Bendis. Bendis announced he’s renewed his exclusive with Marvel and will be writing a series called Ultimate Origins. But most of the attention was on changes in the Spider-Man titles. First, Marvel announced that it would end Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Sensational Spider-Man and all other secondary, in-continuity titles. In their place, the flagship title, Amazing Spider-Man, will be published three times a month. Also, J. Michael Straczynski’s swan song Spidey story, “One More Day,” will be followed by “Brand New Day,” an image for which showed Spidey with a gun of some kind. Big changes are promised – with rumor focusing on some kind of major reboot that undoes Peter’s marriage to Mary Jane and de-ages the character to his teen years. Quesada has long said that he dislikes the marriage because it takes away the soap opera aspect that made Spider-Man so successful in the 1960s. He denied, however, that MJ was going to be killed off, as too many of Spidey’s supporting cast has met unfortunate ends.
DC’s charge was lead by sales VP Bob Wayne, who broke the news (with Dan Didio chiming in via cell phone from Charlotte) that the Flash was getting a relaunch. The current series, Flash: Fastest Man Alive, will end with issue #13 after getting a very poor reception both creatively and sales wise. Replacing it will be a special called All-Flash, after which the series will resume the numbering from the previous series and be written by fan-favorite Mark Waid. DC also will be adding two new Countdown-related books: Countdown to Adventure and Countdown to Mystery. The former will feature a lead series starring Adam Strange, Animal Man and Starfire continuing their partnership from 52 and a backup series starring Forerunner. The latter will feature Steve Gerber’s Doctor Fate series and a backup series starring Eclipso. A new team, Challengers of the Beyond, will appear in several series and is comprised of Donna Troy, Kyle Raynor and Jason Todd. They’ll appear in Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer.
“Heroes” star Hayden Panettiere was the honorary queen of this nerd prom, talking about the upcoming second season show and comparing her character to South Park’s Kenny for all the damage she suffers.
Fan and pro reaction on various blogs was positive, but not overwhelmingly so.
A bit further south, Heroes Con held its 26th annual show. By all accounts, this is a more diverse, comics-centric show. This show devotes a decent size chunk of its floor to Indie Island and there was more of a focus on cartoonists and webcomics. High-profile guests were actual comics creators, like Michael Golden, Paul Hornschemeier, Jerry Robinson, Peter David, Matt Fraction, Jeff Parker, Eric Powell and Jim Mahfood. Rosario Dawson provided a touch of movie glamour, talking about her comic (and soon-to-be feature film) "Occult Crimes Taskforce." There’s something charming about seeing a successful actress walk around the con like any other fan …
Not surprisingly, the show drew rave reviews from fans and pros, who all seemed to find the show enjoyable and relaxing.
These are both regional shows that are mostly going to draw in people from the surrounding areas, leaving the decisions about which show to attend a problem only for publishers, talent and exhibitors. It would be nice if these shows didn’t clash schedule-wise, though the intricacies of booking in-demand facilities can limit (often in a severe way) which dates a particular con can snag. Still, a little space in there would be nice; if one of these shows could move to May, you’d have a nice solid schedule between the New York Comic-Con (moving to April dates next year), WWPA and Heroes Con. Even then, East Coasters may feel a bit of fatigue from the schedule – and that’s the last thing anyone wants before tackling the monster bash in San Diego.
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