A week ago, I was at the San Diego Comic Con, which I was graciously given tickets to by Rik Offenberger for the second year in a row. A couple of years ago, I asked about doing a column here on First Comic News, and I’m lucky to be still doing it.
Rik has been on the podcasts several times, including guesting right now on my campaign podcast, Fantastic Comic Fan Showcase. In episode four, he talks about his just-launched G-Man: A New Dawn campaign. It features ten new comics and some pretty fantastic tiers.
He’s also a guest on the regular podcast, where for the past month I’ve been running Superman shows. I had on Elliott S! Maggin, inker Keith Williams, and Paul Kupperberg, to name a few. Sprinkled among those shows are indie creators, like Rik, talking about their favorite things about the Superman mythos. For episode 222, Eik and I discuss John Byrne’s landmark Superman run from the mid-1980s.
Back to San Diego, which I wanted a few days to get back into everyday life before I gave my thoughts on the whole experience. Let me say, for those who are worried about the costs, there are some more affordable options. Instead of a motel, for the second time, I stayed at the Samesun Hostel. Fantastic staff and great if you’re on a budget. Never take a taxi or Uber, because public transportation takes you everywhere. You can even take flights on an installment plan through entities like Affirm.
One of the highlights for me was being part of the Archie Mighty Crusaders panel. Along with me, there were Rik, Timothy Chizmar (FilmThreat’s Best Indie Horror 2024, Comedy Central), Ray MacKay (Big Bang Comics), Bobby Ragland(AC Comics), and Jeffrey Vaughn (Gemstone Publishing). It was fantastic fun, and I got to talk about something many fans might not know a lot about.
Many publishers are still dealing with the fallout of the Diamond bankruptcy, and even though that was months ago, it continues to ripple throughout the industry. Often, fans don’t see how it affects publishers, but I did notice how it affected one publisher, TwoMorrows Publishing. Diamond owes them around $60M and is trying to sell TwoMorrow’s consignment merchandise to pay creditors. I remember last year, they had a huge booth, but this year, due to various reasons, they had a much smaller booth. TwoMorrows is one of my favorite publishers, and in June, I had most of the editors and publisher John Morrow on several shows. I had great fun putting them out, and I hope you check them out.
Every day, there was something cool to see and experience. Like the huge Galactus walking around, who the Silver Surfer also accompanied. Some of the displays were fantastic! The Marvel booth had a lot of Fantastic Four stuff. Lego was impressive with a recreation of the convention center and the inside all built with Legos.
For me, it was a lot of networking and finding new guests for the podcasts. I had a set limit, because there are only so many shows one can do! I ended up with a few more than expected, because it was hard to say “no”. For example, Zenescope is celebrating twenty years of publishing. That says a lot, considering how many publishers have come and gone since then.
Over at the Adobe booth, there was forensic artist Joe Mullins. Trying to solve a local cold case, dating back to 2006, and from the skull, Joe was able to recreate what the boy looked like at the time. He did the whole thing at the convention, and someone knew the boy. Maybe if enough people saw the picture, he might finally be identified.
One publisher that has been on my radar lately is ComiXology Originals, which doesn’t get enough credit for some of the fantastic comics it puts out. I recently reviewed Edgeworld, a sci-fi western comic, created by Chuck Austen and Patrick Olliff. The series centers on Killian Jess, a magistrate stationed on the remote planet Pala, as he battles to defend it from a range of threats—ranging from alien incursions to environmental catastrophes.
Featured at the booth was Omar Morales of Major Thomas. The comic book is a science fiction graphic novel chronicling the journey of Thomás Muñoz, a Mexican-American farm laborer who overcomes adversity to achieve his dream of becoming a NASA astronaut. It was one of my favorite comics of the year, and I even had him on Fantastic Comic Fan Presents.
Overall, it was worth everything I did to help make it happen. Not too long ago, I thought going to California and the convention would never happen. It was a fantastic experience and something fans should consider doing at least once.
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