DC Comics once again did not have a traditional booth presence at a NYC convention. Like last year’s Superman celebration, DC went all in with Batman branding for their role and single panel at Special Edition: NYC.
When you walked into the con, you were greeted by eight cutouts of various iterations of Batman (gallery at the bottom of this post). They flanked the entrance way. This is the year of Batman and DC will not let you forget it.
I’ve lived my entire life in NJ and NYC. I’m used to massive conventions with thousands of people creating an unending traffic jam from morning until night for the duration of the event. There’s an energy a crowd that large brings, but it also makes it harder to actually have really personal interactions with guests, artists, and other exhibitors.
Special Edition: NYC, the newest fan convention to hit the Jacob Javits Center in NYC, finished its two day run last night. It was not the kind of convention you would expect in a venue that large and that’s a very good thing.
Dredd is one of the most successful comic book to film adaptations I’ve ever encountered. Sure, it’s not 100% faithful to the source material, but the tone, characters, and style are just right. Screenwriter Alex Garland spins some well-worn tropes for police/action films into something that feels unique, even when blatantly lifted from other sources.
The universe of Dredd is an interesting dystopia. There are no more courts. The police officers are referred to as judges because they capture, interrogate, and punish criminals on the spot. Judge Dredd is assigned a new trainee, Anderson, on an investigation into an apartment tower run by notorious criminal mastermind Ma-Ma. Anderson, who has possessed psychic abilities since she was a young girl, and Dredd get trapped by Ma-Ma’s high tech security and must fight their way to the top with their suspect to dispense justice.
With Amazon’s recent takeover of Comixology (the most popular digital comic book distribution system), there have been some major changes to the shopping experience; they’re not welcome changes, either. Lets start with the smaller story and work our way up from there.
Over the weekend, ComiXology updated for all Android devices. The payment options for in-app purchases are different. Before, you purchased everything using the Google Wallet system, connecting your Google account to your ComiXology account for easier shopping.
Gail Simone, creator of The Movement, watched and reblogged my Slipstream episode discussing The Movement on her Tumblr. Winning!
This week on Slipstream, we say goodbye to The Movement, one of the best new comics of 2013, and look forward to five great superhero films that could happen. Anything can happen, right? I mean, I know five is unlikely, but never say never.
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Comics can be a hard field to evaluate. A lot of serialized comics take a little time to warm up and become something truly outstanding. Others grab you right from the start and never gain enough audience share to continue to that next level.
Just to make things a little easier, for the first year of Sketchys for Comics, I’m not going to include continuing series. We’re limiting it to the calendar year 2013 even if it means excluding great series like Saga and MIND MGMT that really blew up after their first few issues. Webcomics and graphic novels will also be rewarded here.
Remember the three day update schedule? I need to get in the swing of two. And by need to get in the swing of two, I realized I have Geek Creation Show this weekend followed by immediately going into tech/dress rehearsals for a show I arranged live music for. It’s going to be a busy few weeks.
Meanwhile, Marvel announced last week that the new Ms. Marvel is a Muslim teenager from NJ with powers similar to Plastic Man–stretching her body to any shape she wants. I knew something big was coming at the NYCC Women of Marvel panel when they called for everyone who could to cosplay as Ms./Captain Marvel and show up. She-Hulk and Black Widow stole a lot of the attention at the panel, but Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (formerly Ms. Marvel) got the biggest stretch of time.
Marvel’s talked about the new Ms. Marvel’s powers. They’ve talked about the importance of her faith and family. But they haven’t addressed how being from Jersey City–a hop, skip, and a jump from me–impacts the character. Preston has a few suggestions, Peanuts style.