Wondercon part 2
Feb. 12th, 2006 11:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwallaCouldn't convince my friend Armando to come along, since he was alrady headed to his mom's place.
Got there too late to catch the DC Crisis Counseling panel. Oh well.
Caught the end of the "Secret Origin of Good Readers" panel, which was about using comics to promote literacy, comics in libraries, comics in the classroom, etc. It was interesting, although the brief history of comics didn't tell me anything I didn't know (and it overstated the seriousness of comics pre-CCA). For those who are interested, they have a site here with lesson plans and other resources for educators.
Came into the DC Wildstorm/CMX panel expecting it to already be underway, but it turned out to have been pushed back to 2. So I got in at the beginning. And was subjected to the vocal stylings of Alé Garza singing "Sister Christian". The guy working the soundboard went with the flow and actually cued up the song for him to sing over. Anyway, Grant Morrison and Jim Lee showed up but could only stay briefly due to the change in times causing them to be double-booked. They talked about their upcoming collaboration on WildC.A.T.S., which sounds pretty interesting (although I'll admit to being a sucker for Morrison). The premise of the new series is going to be pretty different from previous runs, but will star the usual suspects for the most part and will build on the older stories. They're going for a pop art feel, which could be fun. After Morrison and Lee left, Garza and his writer (can't recall his name—couldn't remember Garza's either but it's in the program) talked about their new project Skye Runner. It sounds like your basic fantasy action story, nothing that new. They seemed enthusiastic though. And Wildstorm executive editor Scott Dunbier went over the titles that will be coming out through them and CMX (DC's manga line). A question about whether there will be an uncut edition of Tenjo Tenge (a sore point with manga fans, as CMX had billed itself as being uncut but had cut some mild nudity) got a vague, uninformative, and slightly defensive answer.
After that was the Comic Book Writers panel in the same room, with Peter David, Terry Moore, and Mark Waid. For some reason Mark Evanier, who was supposed to moderate, was not there, and Mark Waid was late. So it started out with Moore and David just taking questions from the audience. Fortunately, David loves to talk, and they could riff on things for a while. The lack of a moderator turned out to not be such a setback. After David said that Moore had it easy because he was both writer and artist, and could therefore make sure that what he wrote came through exactly as he intended on the page, Moore said that in fact he frequently finds when drawing that he needs to scrap or change things he'd written. He said that his comics are still made by committee, but they're a committee in his head—and they don't get along very well. Waid appeared about halfway through. They talked about the differences between writing limited series and ongoings. David claimed that "the only difference is that on an ongoing you stop when you quit or get fired", but Waid brought up the fact that with ongoings you can't always plan out your story arcs completely ahead of time and can usually drop a story seed in and just see where it leads, but with limited series you need to tighten things up. None of them use index cards when writing (David said the only time he used index cards to keep track of things was when he wrote choose-your-own-adventure books, since it's basically impossible to do otherwise). It was a very fun panel.
After that, I wandered the dealer room. Met Jason Martin of Super Real. It's available in pamphlet form now. Also finally caught up with Chuck Whelon, who did a sketch for me that turned out to be my only sketch of the Con. I'm really kicking myself for not bringing more money, and also for not trying to get a sketch from Phil Foglio earlier because he was gone by the time I got to his table. Ah well.
Con ended at 5. I got a couple more costume photos and went home. I had a good time.
Got there too late to catch the DC Crisis Counseling panel. Oh well.
Caught the end of the "Secret Origin of Good Readers" panel, which was about using comics to promote literacy, comics in libraries, comics in the classroom, etc. It was interesting, although the brief history of comics didn't tell me anything I didn't know (and it overstated the seriousness of comics pre-CCA). For those who are interested, they have a site here with lesson plans and other resources for educators.
Came into the DC Wildstorm/CMX panel expecting it to already be underway, but it turned out to have been pushed back to 2. So I got in at the beginning. And was subjected to the vocal stylings of Alé Garza singing "Sister Christian". The guy working the soundboard went with the flow and actually cued up the song for him to sing over. Anyway, Grant Morrison and Jim Lee showed up but could only stay briefly due to the change in times causing them to be double-booked. They talked about their upcoming collaboration on WildC.A.T.S., which sounds pretty interesting (although I'll admit to being a sucker for Morrison). The premise of the new series is going to be pretty different from previous runs, but will star the usual suspects for the most part and will build on the older stories. They're going for a pop art feel, which could be fun. After Morrison and Lee left, Garza and his writer (can't recall his name—couldn't remember Garza's either but it's in the program) talked about their new project Skye Runner. It sounds like your basic fantasy action story, nothing that new. They seemed enthusiastic though. And Wildstorm executive editor Scott Dunbier went over the titles that will be coming out through them and CMX (DC's manga line). A question about whether there will be an uncut edition of Tenjo Tenge (a sore point with manga fans, as CMX had billed itself as being uncut but had cut some mild nudity) got a vague, uninformative, and slightly defensive answer.
After that was the Comic Book Writers panel in the same room, with Peter David, Terry Moore, and Mark Waid. For some reason Mark Evanier, who was supposed to moderate, was not there, and Mark Waid was late. So it started out with Moore and David just taking questions from the audience. Fortunately, David loves to talk, and they could riff on things for a while. The lack of a moderator turned out to not be such a setback. After David said that Moore had it easy because he was both writer and artist, and could therefore make sure that what he wrote came through exactly as he intended on the page, Moore said that in fact he frequently finds when drawing that he needs to scrap or change things he'd written. He said that his comics are still made by committee, but they're a committee in his head—and they don't get along very well. Waid appeared about halfway through. They talked about the differences between writing limited series and ongoings. David claimed that "the only difference is that on an ongoing you stop when you quit or get fired", but Waid brought up the fact that with ongoings you can't always plan out your story arcs completely ahead of time and can usually drop a story seed in and just see where it leads, but with limited series you need to tighten things up. None of them use index cards when writing (David said the only time he used index cards to keep track of things was when he wrote choose-your-own-adventure books, since it's basically impossible to do otherwise). It was a very fun panel.
After that, I wandered the dealer room. Met Jason Martin of Super Real. It's available in pamphlet form now. Also finally caught up with Chuck Whelon, who did a sketch for me that turned out to be my only sketch of the Con. I'm really kicking myself for not bringing more money, and also for not trying to get a sketch from Phil Foglio earlier because he was gone by the time I got to his table. Ah well.
Con ended at 5. I got a couple more costume photos and went home. I had a good time.
