Posted in: Boom, Comics, Comics Publishers, Conventions, Current News, Dark Horse Comics, DC Comics, Dynamite, Events, Image, Marvel Comics, Pop Culture, san diego comic con | Tagged: eisner awards, san diego comic con, sdcc

Comic Book Industry Gossip From San Diego Comic-Con Bars: Part One

Here's the comic book industry gossip that reached me in London from the late night bard of Day One Proper of San Diego Comic-Con 2024.

Okay, as as attendees of San Diego Comic-Con drudge out to line up for the day, I've been rummaging through my inbox all day gathering up some of the comic book industry gossip that reached me in South West London from Day One Proper of San Diego Comic-Con 2024. Especially what was being discussed in the bars from the Hyatt through the Marriott, over to the Hilton Bayfront and up into the Omni. Because stuff went down. Though, unlike previous years, Dynamite Entertainment's Nick Barrucci did not knock over a massive but glass bowl in the centre of the Hyatt bar, smashing it into a thousand pieces. In fact I think they have now finally finished clearing up all those pieces.

Marvel catches a QR cold

The Marvel QR code bonus page situation blowing up on social media was also blowing up in the bars, with some folk are getting rather heated with the situation. While others seem to think it will apply to all Marvel titles. I'll probably do a deep dive into this over the weekend because there have been some… interesting people involved in stirring this all up.

The DC Absolut Universe

Oh yes, and everyone seemed to really like DC All In and the Absolute Universe as a marketing push, even if no one is entirely sure if the Absolute title's new take on DC Comics characters will hit like Authority or flop like Tangent. Those were the two comparisons plenty of folks were making. However, the DC Comics presentation at the Lunar Retailer Meeting had the problem of having to compete with an open bar and lots of people talking over and across their presentation. Image Comics got in first before the drink had flowed quite so much. It took Scott Snyder to go Jerry Maguire on the whole thing to get people's attention.

IDW, a grow, not a show

IDW having a very small booth at the show but a very big party afterwards caused lots of chatter, wondering if they had gotten their priorities right or wrong. Those in the party thought they'd got it very right indeed.

Not with a Boom but with a whimper

Boom people however, seemed rather frightened and nervous about what is to come. There was definite anger about Ross Richie's ebullient departure speech, talking about sunning himself on the pool, at the same time that a large percentage of Boom staff were told they were being made redundant. Oh and Jamie S Rich and Filip Sablik are not announcing their new publisher at the show. It's just everyone else that is.

Sour grapes of wrath

There has been disquiet from some comic book publishers regarding the nominations for the Eisner Awards this year. Bleeding Cool reported this earlier but some folk just noticed it. For the first time, it has been sponsored by Lunar Distribution rather than Diamond Distribution. Lunar has an exclusive deal with DC and Image Comics and does not distribute Marvel, IDW, Dark Horse, Dynamite, Boom and many others.  And the allegation from… let's be fair, certain aggrieved publishers, is that Lunar used their sponsor influence to get their pet publishers a few extra bumps on the nominee list. Image Comics received seventeen nominees, with eight more shared, and DC Comics had thirteen nominees also, with eight more shared. In previous years, publishers were able to lobby the Eisner Awards on behalf of certain books and creators, but it was considered an open playing field in that regard, and the results were usually balanced with, for the most part, one nominee per company per category. That is much less true now. Of course this could just be sour grapes on behalf of the likes of Marvel (five plus three shared), Dark Horse (four plus one shared) and Dynamite (bupkiss) and Boom (one, for cover artist). After all, IDW, who are distributed by Penguin Random House these days had received nine nominations plus four shared. Maybe it's just that DC Comics is three times as good as Marvel is these days. Or maybe Lunar has gone… All In. And whatever gets nominated, you can't influence the voters like that, who have free reign…

Turtle Eclipse of the San

The doubt seems to be spreading, looks like people like to complain, whatever. Doubt that IDW actually got 300,000 orders for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1. Dount that Hello Darkness got 55,000 for their #1. To which I say, you underestimate the power of variants, especially retailer exclusive variants. After all, as Bleeding Cool reported, just from their exclusive variants, SMZ at San Diego Comic-Con Booth #933 ordered 31,000 copies just for them.

Twisted Kickstarter

Then there were the creators comparing deals, with one contingent pushing for people to switch their Image Comics publishing deals to Kickstarter. The argument being that at Image Comics, you have to do your own marketing anyway, Kickstarter can expose you to a larger audience than the direct market comic shop, and what are you paying that Image per-book fee for, given that? The counterargument, also being made, is that no amount of money made makes up for the absolute hassle of mailing out books. Let alone getting discount printer rates through Image and easy access to European publishers who, almost as a matter of course, are happy to translate Image Comics titles for the US market and it's a really good way to get their attention.

Anything you hear tonight, feel free to let me in on it. I may try and make my way over again next summer…

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