It’s possible that the surprise of this year’s San Diego Comic-Con was the complete lack of additional information given out by Marvel about Marvel NOW! at any of its panels; although we’re still months away from the roll-out of that new wave of branding, the fact that it’s been announced and seemed to be something to get fans excited suggested that it would be something Marvel could capitalize on at the convention. Instead, the comic arm of the company seemed to fade into the background, eclipsed by the movie panel’s confirmation of long-standing rumors of Ant-Man footage and Guardians of The Galaxy as the studio’s second 2014 movie, as well as DC’s two surprise announcements of the return of Sandman and a Django Unchained comic, as well as the swath of Image Comics announcements.

The cynic in me, recovering from the surprise lack of NOW! news, snarked that it made sense, because why waste announcements at a comic convention when there will always be USA Today pieces available? But that in itself feels oddly telling, and not just about Marvel’s current intentions. After all, DC announced two projects that would have sizable mainstream crossover potential at the con, instead of in some news outlet, which seems like a shift in policy considering the media news blitz for… well, everything to do with the New 52, really. With Sandman still at least twelve months away, that announcement came as a massive surprise – and, still, feels like “the news” of the con – in large part because, let’s face it, who actually spills something that big at a comic convention anymore?

Part of me wonders if both the Sandman and Django announcements were calculated risks for DC; big enough that, even if they were announced at SDCC, they would be picked up by mainstream media outlets even without exclusivity, as opposed to superhero news that may be less unlikely to appear as “news” to anyone without the promise of “You’ll have it first, and everyone will be linking to you.” Plus, by announcing it at SDCC, DC manages to appear more fan-friendly and reclaim some fandom buzz in a year that’s been particularly unkind to the company.

Marvel, though; while there are plenty of benefits to keeping mum on Marvel NOW! for, well, now – Not least of which is the fact that the books are going to roll out over the next few months, and so this way they get to theoretically extend the initial excitement as new titles/teams are announced – the lack of NOW! news feels like a mistake. By concentrating on Avengers vs. X-Men spin-offs like AvX: Consequences, A-Babies vs. X-Babies and even A+X, Marvel NOW! faded into the background in terms of awareness, even as Marvel’s publishing arm in general seemed to fade into the background when compared with what the movie arm was getting up to this weekend.

I don’t know. Am I overthinking things? Was Marvel right to hold back on Marvel NOW! announcements at San Diego?

Pity the poor Batman cosplayer in this room:

(It’s from Scott Snyder’s Twitter, taken during a DC panel at SDCC yesterday.)

For those not at Comic-Con, there’s always the Internet. In addition to keeping up with the news here, Top Shelf has created Cyber-Con, a sale of digital releases relating to creators and books at SDCC:

The biggest comic-book event of the year has arrived, and Top Shelf is celebrating like never before. Comic-Con International is in San Diego tonight through Sunday, but you don’t have to be in San Diego to participate — all you need is a computer screen, tablet, or smartphone.

Today, we’re launching digital editions of our greatest new graphic novels. On top of that, from now through Sunday, July 15, we’re slashing prices on dozens of digital comics whose authors are appearing at Comic-Con — including some of our most beloved books.

Top Shelf digital comics are available in a variety of formats, including Comixology, Apple iBooks, iVerse Comics Plus, Google Play, Nook, Kobo, and more! They can be read on your computer, Apple iOS device, or Android device, as well as many e-readers.

There is some amazing stuff there for ridiculously good prices. Go see.

To everyone whose days are currently filled with San Diego Comic-Con thoughts: Maybe you should start thinking about next year’s con already.

Yes, you can already pre-register for SDCC 2013. It never ends.

Forget Twilight, Iron Man 3 or whatever else you might be looking forward to at Comic-Con International this year — there’s a new must-see panel. And it’s Larry King interviewing Peter Cullen, the long-time voice of Optimus Prime.

In the most bizarrely delightful news of the day, the 78-year-old former host of Larry King Live will be going one-on-one with Cullen as part of The Hub’s Transformers Prime panel, according to The New York Times. Of course, Larry King doesn’t have much (well, anything) to do with Transformers, but it appears The Hub wanted a host with a certain gravitas — the article reports that James Lipton of Inside the Actors Studio was also considered, but was out of the channel’s price range. The panel is set for 6 p.m. on Friday, July 13, in room 23ABC at the San Diego Convention Center. (The full slate of Thursday programming was announced today, more on that here.) Full panel description after the jump.

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First WonderCon is forced out of San Francisco by maintenance on the Moscone Center, and now New York Comic Con may be looking for a new home…?:

Events giants are waging a campaign to save the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York, which may be demolished under a plan proposed by New York governor Andrew Cuomo. A group of 21 events companies, including New York Comic Con and Bookexpo America organizer Reed Exhibitions, Freeman, National Retail Federation, and other companies doing business at the Javits recently sent a letter to Cuomo and 600 other state and city officials with the message that “Javits customers are adamant that the Javits Center remain open long term,” according to Crain’s New York Business.

What is the world coming to? And, maybe more importantly, which convention is going to be hit by this strange trend next? This is why someone needs to turn Donald Trump onto comics, I keep telling everyone…

And where will WonderCon be next year, having been forced to decamp to Anaheim from San Francisco this year…? CCI’s David Glanzer revealed what little he knew to ICv2:

Our plan has always been to return to San Francisco; we just don’t have dates at the Moscone Center yet. Moscone typically gives us dates six months out, and it’s hard to ask someone to plan their convention here and not have dates until six months before the show. So we have our fingers crossed that we might get dates earlier, but here we are—it’s already May—so the more time ticks by the more challenging it is. But we hope to get back to San Francisco.

Glanzer said that it’s up in the air whether or not a return to Anaheim would be considered if the Moscone Center wasn’t available. Sorry, Southern California… It looks like you might be stuck with just having the biggest comic and pop-culture convention of the year in your neighborhood, instead of having that one and its smaller sibling.

MorrisonCon, the Grant Morrison-curated mini-convention happening in Las Vegas this September, has announced half of its guest-list. Attendees to the Hard Rock Hotel event in the last weekend of the month will not only get to see Morrison in full flow, but also collaborators Frank Quitely, JH Williams III and Chris Burnham, as well as Morrison fans and acclaimed writers Gerard Way and Jonathan Hickman. With four more guests to be announced, it’s the kind of thing that makes you want to pay attention for the announcement of details on how to attend when they’re released on May 9 – Or, at least, wish that you could go if it wasn’t happening over your wife’s birthday (Curses on the timing!).

Will Wondercon return to the Bay Area, or stay in Southern California? Heidi MacDonald considers the evidence over at The Beat:

The Anaheim show was certainly fun and served the local market—perhaps especially for people who had gotten shut out of San Diego badges just a few days before—so a return to this location wouldn’t be a disaster. But it isn’t the Bay Area, where WonderCon is a local tradition, either.

Another possible venue: nearby San Jose, which has a good-sized facility. However, according to Glanzer, there might not be enough hotels and amenities for a WonderCon-sized fest there.

It’s ironic that after a yearlong quest to settle the San Diego Comic-Con’s home, the folks running both shows are now faced with another location dilemma.

While I don’t understand the Moscone Center’s seeming apathy towards Wondercon, I’d be sad to see both of CCI’s shows end up in Southern CA. The idea of San Jose becoming a con town for a weekend could work out surprisingly well, though, if the hotel thing can be worked out…

Apparently I blinked and missed the announcement of Marvel’s 2012 convention schedule:

As 2011 rocked, we here at Marvel.com are working on a jam-packed-ride for all the cosplayers, costumers & fans out there! We’re still working on the details, but expect more profiles, photo posts, and con recaps, plus much, much more!

For now, check out Marvel’s convention schedule:

Mar 16-18 – Wonderconin Anaheim, CA.
Apr 13-15 – C2E2in Chicago, IL
Jul 11-15 – San Diego Comic-Conin San Diego, CA
Oct 11-14 – New York Comic Conin New York, NY

First: I swear Wondercon gets earlier every year. Second: Doesn’t that seem a remarkably short list? I know that Marvel tends to keep the official corporate convention appearances at a minimum, but even so, this really seems like the company will be keeping a relative low profile this year. Third: No Disney Con? Or maybe that doesn’t as a convention appearance for some reason?

MorrisonCon is coming in fall 2012, apparently. What exactly that means, where it’s happening, and when, well, that remains to be revealed.

In a production from “the people behind Isotope Comics and iFanboy,” a new convention — clearly headlined by Grant Morrison — is scheduled for some point in fall 2012, billed as an “innovative new approach to comic conventions.” Confirmed guest so far? Well, Morrison, natch, along with “9 hand picked comic creator superstars.” As far as venue goes, San Francisco (or somewhere in the Bay Area) would be a reasonable guess, given the involvement of Isotope, but that would indeed just be a guess. There’s a Twitter account, too, but it has yet to tweet, in keeping with the somewhat mysterious vibe. Folks looking for more information can add themselves to the mailing list right here, and we’ll keep an eye on things and pass along more information as it comes.

If you’re planning on attending WonderCon 2012, registration is now officially open. Remember that it’s leaving the Bay Area this year due to construction at the Moscone Center, and moving about four hundred miles south to the Anaheim Convention Center. That venue happens to be directly across the street from Disneyland, which could be either an attraction or a deterrent, depending on your perspective and tolerance for mouse ear-adorned tourists.

Unlike its sister convention, Comic-Con International: San Diego (an big, big, big sister), there isn’t usually a huge rush on WonderCon tickets. Still, it’s steadily grown each year, and 2012 already has Matt Fraction, J. Michael Straczynski, Mike Mignola and Fiona Staples announced as special guests, so you may not want to snooze on this one.  WonderCon 2012 is scheduled for March 16-18.

Let’s all thank Image Comics for saving the Bay Area from being conventionless next year, with Wondercon making a temporary move to Anaheim for the year; the publisher has announced that it will be holding its own comic-con, Image Expo, at the Oakland Convention Center – the original home of Wondercon, before it moved to San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center – between February 24-26 next year.

Announced guests will include Image partners Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino, as well as Rob Liefeld and Whilce Portacio, with other creators present including: Joe Casey,  Jonathan Hickman and Brian K. Vaughan. Despite the name and the Image-creator-heavy guestlist, the publisher calls the event “a celebration of independent creativity in comics” and has opened the floor to “anyone who makes creator-owned comics.” More details as they become available, but I have to admit, I kind of want to go already.

(As an aside, when was the last time a publisher held their own convention, WizardWorld aside?)

How best to cut down on harrassment and bad behavior at comic book conventions? Peter David is wondering whether we need a convention bill of rights:

I think it would be an interesting idea to produce a list of simple, basic rights that everyone attending conventions–both pros and fans–should expect. I mean, you’d think that they would be common sense; things that people would just know. On the other hand, the 10 Commandments were pretty common sense too, when you think about it, so I figure if it’s good enough for God…

On his list, basics like “Treat others as you would want to be treated,” rules about signatures and just how many you can expect in one go, and a request not to fall asleep in the front rows of panels (Seriously, people: If you’re that tired, you should probably leave the convention and go and find a bed somewhere, if only for comfort’s sake). But there is something about the idea of a list of basic convention rights, isn’t there? All I’d want to be in there would be something about ensuring relatively reasonably priced food available somewhere for morons like myself who always forget to have a good enough breakfast that morning, but can’t bring myself to buy a microwaved burger for $9…

Flickr photo by Parka.

The news of the revival of Rob Liefeld’s Extreme Comics line – or Awesome Comics, if you remember that extremely short-lived revival around the turn of the century – has got me to thinking: What other defunct lines are left to bring back? This year, in addition to Extreme, we’ve seen announcements of the return of First Comics, Archie’s Red Circle characters (again!) and Valiant, as well as an actual, published, revival of Crossgen, via Marvel (Last year saw Dark Horse revive the Gold Key characters with the help of Jim Shooter, of course). So who’s left? The Malibu Ultraverse, of course, but Marvel has been claiming that that’s impossible due to mysterious contractual issues for some time now. Miracleman? Well, Marvel’s also working on that.

With IDW, Dynamite and Dark Horse all actively working to revive or reprint as many other familiar brands as possible, I find myself wondering: What are the remaining previously-successful comic brands or lines out there that aren’t in some stage or another or revival? What do people want to see again, and yet don’t seem to stand a chance just yet?

So, there I was, thinking that Marvel seemed to be displaying an entirely schizophrenic attitude towards the original graphic novel format as evidenced in today’s Digital House of Ideas panel at NYCC – wherein SVP Sales David Gabriel talked about the cost of the Castle OGN being “astronomical” and the reason we shouldn’t expect to see many OGNs coming from the publisher before going on to talk about the upcoming Season One line of hardcover graphic novels – and then it struck me: Season One isn’t a line of original graphic novels.

There is, I admit, very little to back me up on this idea right now, but almost since the announcement of Season One, various Marvel editorial bodies have talked about mysterious “ancillary revenue streams” that support the project. I’d assumed this meant some kind of Disney Store buy-in/publishing co-op for the project, but during the Digital House of Ideas panel, Gabriel mentioned what he called “a soft directive” for artists to draw panels that looked good on mobile digital devices, which made me wonder: Is Season One going to be serialized on some Disney outlet, digital or otherwise, before it’s released as a graphic novel?

This afternoon sees the opening of this year’s New York Comic-Con, meaning that we’re in for at least two-and-a-half days – Like anything big ever really happens on Sundays of cons, come on – of announcements and news and all manner of stories from the Big Two and all manner of indies (As you might expect, we’ll have all you need to know, including a live video stream, all over Newsarama over the next few days). Lucas has already picked his ten things-to-see over on the main site, but I’m curious: What are you looking for from the last big convention of 2011? Comment away, dear readers!

Who wouldn’t want their portfolio reviewed by the legendary Neal Adams? Well, this year, in order to have more time at the New York Comic Con for signing books or chatting with fans, Adams is hosting a special event just for those wishing to have the artist look at their work.

The Adams’ family sent Newsarama the following press release:

Neal Adams Portfolio Review Comic Con Breakfast

Comics Legend and artist on Batman, Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Deadman, Dark Horse Presents: Blood, and New Avengers 16.1 is giving a unique opportunity to aspiring comic artists looking for guidance from one of the industry’s greatest. On Saturday, October 15th at 7:00AM, three hours before doors open at the con, Adams is inviting artists to come to the historic Continuity Studios for a pre-convention breakfast and one-on-one professional portfolio review and lecture.

Adams, who won’t be doing portfolio reviews during the New York Comic Con, is offering limited spots for the price $300 per spot in an effort to gather a more focused group of aspiring artists from all levels while also creating a good atmosphere and unique experience in his own famed Continuity Studios.
For years Continuity had been the starting place that many of the comic industry’s most renowned talents. Now hopeful comic creators looking to make their break in the comic industry get to follow the path that many of the greats did before them.

While aspiring artists can get reviews from most any artist at a comic convention, Adams is well known for his portfolio reviews and such reviews have themselves been the launching pad for the careers of many artists and offer insight and techniques that are unparalleled in the comic book industry. Spots for the event are limited but if the demand is high enough a second day will be scheduled for Sunday.

To reserve your spot please contact Erica at Continuity (212) 869-4170 or email Kris at Kris@nealadams.com. Spaces are limited so reserve now.

FanExpo took place in Canada late last month. I’ve never attended myself but I know a lot of folks who have and although it takes place not too long after San Diego Comic-Con and right between Baltimore Comic Con and Dragon*Con, seems to be a pretty popular show. That being said,  Jenn, Emmy and Christine who make up The Dangerous Ladies had some interesting comments about DC’s marketing at that show via their Tumblr.

The post that sparked the thoughts on marketing was one titled “Didio & Me” where Jenn, a big DC fan, had this to say, “I had been at the DC table earlier and seen how sparse it was –– practically nothing. Just the big New 52 posters seen previously at SDCC, some white tables, the odd signing and freebies. Not even new freebies, mind, these were the same leftovers from SDCC 2009, things that actually said ‘coming in 2009, Batman and Robin!’ and stuff like that. Promotion-wise, the DC booth was a total bust. They had TV screens playing commercials for the Supernatural anime, for some reason, and the 52 commercial popped up on a cycle, but otherwise there was nothing.”

Bear in mind, this event took place on August 25, right before the relaunch and release of Justice League #1. The convention may not be a top priority for DC, especially just after SDCC, but freebies from 2009? Jenn and the others (who are the Bat-ladies above) actually spoke with Dan DiDio about this. “Last year, we had kind of ribbed Dan for the boring booth. He had promised us something really spectacular this year, so I teased him about the lackluster booth. Dan looked surprised — he hadn’t been in there yet, and didn’t know what was going on at the booth. So I told him, and expressed my surprise that DC wouldn’t capitalize on this weekend to really get people going for this new 52 thing. His response was that “Well, this is the last week of the old DCU. We’ll let it have its last hurrah before we start the new stuff next week.’” (more…)

TV Guide is producing another Comic-Con special edition issue focusing solely on relevant Warner Bros. content, which includes DC Comics and what The Source is calling “An exclusive look at three superhero costume re-designs by bestselling artist and DC Entertainment Co-Publisher Jim Lee, for DC Comics The New 52, the upcoming historic renumbering of the entire DC line of comic books with 52 first issues.”

The issue will also cover Batman: Year One, Young Justice, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Green Lantern: The Animated Series and take a look back at Smallville, which wrapped its 10 year run this past May. The issue will be available at the Warner Bros. booth (#4545) during the con (and on newsstands starting July 21), with four covers: The Big Bang Theory, Fringe, Chuck, The Vampire Diaries.