Baltimore-Comic-Con-2014

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund: Tales from the Code There are lots of great books to read about the comics code and why it came into being. I recommend The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America. The neat thing about this panel was having Jim Starlin talk about how it did or, often, didn’t affect his writing. It appears that he took the stance that he’d write what he wanted to write and it was up to the editors to tell him to change something because of the comics code.

I’ll be live-blogging from the floor again today. The LTE/3G on the floor can be spotty, making it hard for me to update more often than I did yesterday, but I’ll do what I can. [liveblog]

It was great to be back after missing out on last year’s Baltimore Comic-Con. The first day was great! It was nice to have it start on a Friday because it wasn’t too crowded. I met an indie comic creator, an indie manga creator, saw some cosplay, spoke with a commission artist, and saw some panels. I also interviewed two others that I’ll be returning to later - hopefully tomorrow. Below are some more images from Day 1. ...

I attended three great panels on the first day and brought back some not-so-great audio. At least on the first two, I forgot to change the settings from “They’re right here” to “They’re over there” so I had to amplify it and, in the process, amplify noise of anything around like me fidgeting. Still, I think there was a lot of good info in these panels. Thrillbent Thrillbent Panel ...

When you come to Baltimore Comic-Con, one thing you see a lot of in Artists Alley is the commission artist. But Robert Quill was a little different than the others. For one thing, his booth wasn’t full of images of the usual characters. For another, he looked somewhat like the Dread Pirate Roberts and watching him interact with convention-goers was its own form of entertainment. Without looking at any of his sketches, what drew me to want to talk to him was the following form: ...

What’s the best part of any comic convention? Cosplay! Here’s the cosplay I saw on day 1! Quentin Quire Dorothy of Oz Moogle in a Tutu Psylocke Nightwing and Wonder Woman Female Victorian-Era Captain America Court of Owls Huntress Teen Titans Cosplay

I have a huge soft spot for manga. There was a time where I’d grown tired of the usual Super Hero output from the Big Two, but we didn’t have an easy outlet for indie publishers like we do now. Manga provided all those genres that used to exist in the USA in the 1950s, but disappeared as the decades passed and the market consolidated. Sure, now we’re starting to have more high school-based western comics like Morning Glories, In the Woods, and Deadly Class, but it was manga, particularly Shoujo that showed us it could be done. (There are some high school Shonen, but the drama of high school seems to be best captured by Shoujo).

One of my favorite things about Baltimore Comic-Con is that, unlike some of the larger cons, it’s still all about comics. And Baltimore Comic-Con is organized so that the indie creators and established creators are in the same spaces. This allows attendees to learn about neat, up-and-coming creators.

I’ll be live-blogging from the show floor while I’m there today. This page will update as I add new posts. [liveblog]

I couldn’t attend Baltimore Comic-Con last year because of family commitments, but I did attend in 2012 and had a blast. If you’re in the region, I highly recommend attending. As you’ll see below, you get the same top talent as you would at New York or California Comic-Con, but it’s WAY less crowded. Also, the focus at Baltimore Comic-Con is on comics. I still would like to attend both California and NY Comic-Con one day, but it’s pretty awesome not to have to battle for space with people who don’t care for comics. This year Baltimore Comic-Con has expanded to three days and takes place over the weekend of September 5-7, 2014! Who will be there?