Posted in: Comics | Tagged: boom, entertainment, Fox Home Entertainment, idw, image comics, jack kirby, Lost In Space, Lumberjanes, wondercon, Wondercon 2015

Previewing The Wondercon Floor With IDW, Boom, Fox Home Entertainment, And Image (Photogallery)

Published Fri, 03 Apr 2015 14:00:34 -0500

by Hannah Means Shannon

Last updated Mon, 06 Apr 2015 07:29:31 -0500

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I was fortunate to attend a new "experimental" program for Press preview of the main floor of WonderCon 2015 this morning, a program designed to allow key exhibitors who are fully set up already to meet and greet members of the press and talk about their plans for the show. Taking part today were IDW, Boom! Studios, Fox Home Entertainment, and Image Comics. Brett Gunnison was my group's very genial and helpful guide as we first arrived at IDW's booth, looking very fit and ready for con combat.

We were greeted there by Rosalind Morehead and Kahlil Schweitzer to talk about WonderCon 2015 for IDW. Their exclusives this con include a special cover for recently arrived title Jem and the Holograms, as well as Orphan Black, with signings for both books during the show.

IDW Games is also making a big splash at the end of their first year of engaging fans, bringing a prototype of the CHEW boardgame for fans to have a look at reminding us where it all started with the Kickstarter for Kill Shakespeare.

IDW's Artists Editions are getting a lot of love, and their own panel today at the con, including the newly arrived volume of Jack Kirby's work.

Rosalind Morehead also spoke about the kids' foil packs of comics that have become such a blockbuster on the mass market, and will hopefully be making their way into comic shops too. The reasoning behind them, she explained, is to shrink down Issue #1 of popular comics to a format that young children can handle with out finding the large, floppy pages of regular comics daunting. On sale at the con are Skylanders, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Avengers Assemble packs including stickers and a poster priced at 4 dollars.

WonderCon is also one of the first cons where Top Shelf's merger with IDW will be discussed, today in its own dedicated panel as well, and IDW have a new Top Shelf area at their booth displaying their fine books. Morehead said that IDW felt that they had been "missing this kind of book" in their lineup, and spoke very highly of the Top Shelf book God is Disappointed in You, which encouraged her to "finally read the Bible". I can agree with Rosalind–it's a fabulously funny book. IDW want Top Shelf to focus on making these books, she said, and IDW will be part of the "streamlining process" to make that possible and take the production weight off their hands.

When asked about her experience of WonderCon, Rosalind Morehead said she finds it a "walkable, easy show" with plenty of exclusives, which fans love, and commented that it's a strong "retail" show with a "fun atmosphere", particularly around Easter weekend with families attending. IDW have already been exhibiting at Long Beach Comic Expo, Emerald City Comic Con, and Phoenix Comic Con in 2015, but Wondercon is very much the lead up to SDCC, Kahlil Schweitzer added.

Moving along to Boom! Studios' booth, we were greeted by Mel Caylo and a tide of brightly colored titles waiting for the arrival of fans on the show floor in just a couple hours' time. Caylo described Boom! as catering to "every demographic", including both licensed and original content in their offerings. Boom! also have a couple of great variants this convention, including a special Bill & Ted's Most Triumphant Return cover featuring Shakespeare and a lavish early release of the Sleepy Hollow: Origins One-Shot that includes a cover taken from a photo of the actual actor who plays the headless horseman in the popular TV show, depicted reading a copy of the Sleepy Hollow comic with plenty of macabre humor.

There's also a lovely hardcover of HIT 1955 available at the convention, based on a "loosely true story" and followed by the new HIT 1957 story out right now. Additionally, Boom is making available copies of Bee & Puppycat Vol. 1, otherwise due out April 15th, since the book's creator is attending the show, and a really lavish hardcover of Adventure Time with Fionna and Cake, the "gender swap" series that has recently been announced as returning. It has a "die cut" cover, is silver gilded and is really a delightful thing for die-hard fans.

Boom are also giving fans a look a the first trade paperback of Lumberjanes, which just came out in shops, and comes out in bookstores next week, but is already their "highest pre-ordered trade in Boom's history", according to Caylo. Creators Shannon Watters and Noelle Stevenson will be on hand on Sunday to do a signing as well.

When asked about his view of WonderCon, Caylo said he sees it as the "little brother" of SDCC where Boom gets a chance to be "local" and they also see it as a good "hub" to talk to fellow publishers. I asked if he thought Boom would be swarmed on Easter Sunday by kids grabbing their all-ages comics, and he said that would most likely be the case. The timing of WonderCon around Easter does certainly make it a strongly family-oriented event.

Speaking next to Fox Home Entertainment, we were all struck immediately by seeing the massive life-sized Robot from Lost in Space in front of their booth. In fact, he was a fully restored original robot from the show being powered by original plug-in batteries and was brought to the show to celebrate the arrival of the 50th Anniversary Lost in Space Blueray coming out on September 15th, but currently launching in pre-sale this weekend. Fox are also celebrating the impending arrival of The Strain box set of Season 1, with a fabulously creepy bust included in the set, and the complete Sons of Anarchy set. The Strain set will arrive June 9th at 50 dollars and the Sons of Anarchy Set will be priced at 150 dollars.

When asked for more details about the 50th Anniversary Lost in Space set, Fox said that it will include a reading with surviving cast members of a script that was never filmed written by Bill Mumy in the 1980's, its first public airing, and "alternate versions of some episodes" depending on whether network aired or syndicated. Those alternate versions will even include 1960's television commercials that aired between segments of the show. The Bluray set will preserve the original 4:3 ratio of the show and present a complete series "at once", Fox said.

Our final stop in the tour was with Image Comics, who also had a rather glorious spread of books being set up for WonderCon. Kat Salazar spoke to us about the Image panels that will be running this weekend, including one on the "definition of creator-owned", one on sci-fi comics, and once on crime comics. They all sound rather tempting, I have to say, seeing the line-up of creators who are here to support their Image books including Becky Cloonan and Dustin Nguyen.

Image also have a pretty substantial slate of signings throughout the weekend, including Rick Remender, Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman, Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting, Matt Hawkins, Fred Van Lente and more. Exclusives for the show from Image will include the Low Vol. 1 Hardcover at 35 dollars and Black Science #13 at 5 dollars.

That was the official end of the really engaging tour for us ahead of Wondercon's opening doors, but I also got a chance to speak to David Glanzer, Director of Public Relations for Comic-Con International, which was definitely an added treat. Glanzer was certainly looking forward to the show and commented on the "diversity of content, guests, and exhibits" that Wondercon exemplifies, but also being a con where the "smaller guys can get more attention" out of the rush of the massive crowds of SDCC. At 60,000 people, Wondercon is still substantial but prides itself in a more "relaxed feel", Glanzer said, and even if the con grows, he hopes it'll preserve its "vibe".

[Brett Gunnison and David Glanzer at Wondercon this morning]

Glanzer said that he and the staff at Wondercon want to make it an event of the kind that they themselves would want to go to as fans, and they get so excited planning it that they feel they experience the show vicariously, even though when it happens, they have to focus on the work. I commented that it's like attending one's own wedding and not quite getting to enjoy it directly, but through the planning phases. Glanzer noted that the con has "grown" a bit this year, with a bigger floor, and that the main thing that determines the location of Wondercon is securing "dates", which is no easy thing. The timing is all and they've been "lucky" so far in getting the Anaheim Convention Center. But they are very grateful, he said, for the support they've received from the community in both Northern and Southern California.

As an "experiment", this early press-access tour was a wonderful experience for we press members, and hopefully it's given you readers a sense of what Wondercon has to offer this year, too. Special thanks to Michele Lew Peterson for coordinating it and to the exhibitors who took the time to speak with us.