Comic-Con 2024: Year of the Wombat
Unlike last year, which had “Vinland Saga” mangaka Makoto Yukimura’s first U.S. appearance, I didn’t have a specific reason for attending Comic-Con this year. The main reason I attended on Saturday was because last year reminded me how enjoyable the panel experience of the con can be, along with the sights that can be seen and deals that can be found in the exhibit hall. That was true again here as the five panels I attended were all entertaining and informative. How entertaining and informative?
40 Years of Usagi Yojimbo
Obviously this was a celebration of Stan Sakai’s signature creation and the man himself was there along with his wife Julie, Dogu Publishing CEO Jerry Blank, Dogu Publishing President/Publisher Daniel Fujii, and Dogu Publishing Creative Director and Colorist Emi Fujii. Also attending and MC’ing the panel was Zack Davisson a translator, localizer, and all-around specialist in Japanese culture who has worked on a number of titles for Dark Horse. Davisson laid out a “Greatest Hits” of Stan’s life, detailing his childhood years in Honolulu and watching samurai movies there, and his move to California in ‘77 to further his art career and how he started out as a freelance artist. It was also around this time that he met Sergio Aragones in what would turn out to be lifelong friendship and business partnership once Stan started lettering “Groo” in the 80’s.
Then we got into “Usagi’s” origins in the 80’s, riding off the wave of popularity enjoyed by the black-and-white adventures of some heroes-in-a-half-shell. The character’s initial appearances in the anthropomorphic animals comic “Albedo” led to his own solo series at Fantagraphics which lasted into the start of the 90’s. Then he partnered up with “TMNT” publisher Mirage until a flooding incident decimated their publishing efforts and he hooked up with Dark Horse. Stan’s reasoning behind that was two-fold as the move to Dark Horse would not only allow him to continue publishing “Usagi” uninterrupted but allow him to work with an editor he really respected, Diana Schutz.
While “Usagi” was published at IDW for a few years before Stan came back to Dark Horse with the start of his imprint, Dogu Publishing, no specifics were discussed about why he left in the first place. Save for some jokes about “wheelbarrows full of money” being tossed around. The title’s latest volume, vol. 39 “Ice & Snow,” arrives in September, with new editions of “Space Usagi” coming out as well. No mention of new “Usagi” comics was made here, but they were doing a special activation in Roblox for the series. So check that out if you’re interested.
Untold Stories of Comics Creators
Hosted by comics marketing veteran Adam Phillips, this panel featured writer/artist Tony Fleecs, artist Amanda Conner, writer/editor Pornsak Pitchetshote, and legendary comics writer Mark Waid. After they had introduced themselves, we were told that we’d be shown a text description of something that happened to one of the panelists. It would then be up to the panelists to guess which one the thing had happened to. If you’re thinking that this would be problematic because it would require the subject of the incident to be good at lying about themselves, then you’d be right because there were a few times when they fessed up before the big reveal. I think that this is one of the rare panels that would benefit from audience interaction to avoid this issue in the future.
That issue aside, the panel itself was a lot of fun. We learned whose house a pre-fame Harrison Ford worked on as a carpenter (Conner). Who took pictures of a black-out drunk editor at a party (Pitchetshote). Who once bought a copy of “Silver Surfer” #3 for $6 and whose mother forced him to return it (Fleecs). And who once flew to another state to attend a store signing where there was no store (Waid). There weren’t any deep dark secrets revealed here (even if part of me wants to believe that the black-out drunk editor was Scott Allie…), just a lot of amusing anecdotes from creators who clearly enjoyed each others’ company.
Spotlight on J. Michael Straczynski
Best known as the creator of “Babylon 5,” the man has had a long career in film, television, and comics with lots of stories to tell and perspectives to impart about his experiences in each. Which is how he came to tell us that efforts to adapt his comic series “Rising Stars” were going well at one point, until the studio wanted to make the whole concept “stupid.” Straczynski has also finished his run on “Captain America” and is using the last three issues of it to undo something that was done after his “Thor” run that he never liked. While the release of “Babylon 5: The Road Home” has gone down well, Warner Bros. never tells him any numbers, so there’s nothing to report on the chances of a series revival. He also talked about the current state of the film/TV/streaming market and how things are facing a potential collapse, much like the one that hit the music industry, and that everyone is waiting to see what happens next before they make any new moves.
A good portion of the panel was spent on Straczynski talking about his status as the executor of the estate of science-fiction writer Harlan Ellison. Some of it has involved the expected stuff of getting the writer’s work back in print and showing that there’s an audience for it, which happened with a new collection of his stories that sold six times initial expectations for the book. As well as completing unfinished projects like the forthcoming third volume of “Dangerous Visions” which is set to hit in October.
Then there’s the matter of overseeing Ellison’s legendary house in the Hollywood Hills. A true marvel of eccentric construction that didn’t conform to standards, was filled with lots of secret passages, and one the writer never stopped adding to while he was alive, it was now Straczynski’s to deal with. Which he did by getting a new alarm system installed, which turned out to be the right thing as he went on to detail all the experiences he’s had so far with the alarm company and police dealing with break-ins to the property. While his love of Ellison was clearly evident in how he spoke of him at the panel, Straczynski also found time to exclaim, “Harlan got me again!”
The Oatmeal and Exploding Kittens
This was the highlight of the con for me as while I’ve enjoyed Matthew “The Oatmeal” Inman’s comics for years, this was the first time I’ve ever seen him live. It turns out that he’s just as funny and entertaining as the comics he creates, which he gave an overview of for the first part of the panel. Reliving some of his greatest hits was a lot of fun, as were the videos he showed about cuddling and wombats, with the latter being as hilarious as it was informative. We also got to see what I believe was a new comic about shit literally hitting the fan just to show that he’s still the same oddball who gave us stuff like “Why I Believe Printers Were Sent From Hell” back in the day.
This was necessary because Inman states that he’s currently in the “No Comics” phase of his life. Which is due to two things: Managing the ongoing success of the Exploding Kittens card game, and the new series from Netflix. We got a detailed story of his involvement in the making of that series, from art design, to writing, to casting, which was all interesting to hear about. He’s still waiting to hear whether or not the series will be back for a second season, though.
While I wish him continued success on that front, I do hope he gets back to making comics in the future. That’s because he talked at the end about his desire to get back to doing more science comics, animated shorts, and most promisingly, turning his very best comic “When Your House is Burning Down, You Should Brush Your Teeth” into a full-fledged graphic novel. His “Fun Home” in the man’s own words. An Eisner-nominated webcomic that should’ve been an Eisner-winning one, it’s a truly special mix of the funny, absurd, tragic, and heartfelt that everyone should go read (or re-read) when they have the chance at https://theoatmeal.com/comics/house
Skybound: In Conversation With Robert Kirkman
I’ve attended this panel before and the format hasn’t changed a bit: Kirkman walks out on the stage to no announcement, people clap, he says hello, takes questions from the audience, and answers them with a mix of actual information, jokes, and self-deprecation. He’s good at balancing all that which is why I’m back again this year. Even if his self-confidence was shaken by “Transformers” writer/artist Daniel Warren Johnson taking home two Eisner Awards the previous night, and Kirkman not taking home any.
So what did we learn from the man this year? That Omni-Man voice actor J.K. Simmons is both the nicest and most intimidating man you’ll ever meet. That he wants to do a fantasy comic someday. That he wants to put the Transformer Bulkhead into “Void Rivals” at some point (and that he’s not sure why Grimlock isn’t in there or the main series right now). That there’s no “Abbot & Costello” team-up plan for the Universal Monsters comics Skybound is publishing, and that the deal for them came from his work with the company on “Renfield.” That he doesn’t believe Hot Rod is responsible for Optimus Prime’s death. That he wasn’t aware he was parodied in the pages of Sam Humphries’ “Fanboys vs. Zombies.” That he agreed to let Negan be in “Crossover” mainly because that would give him another chance to write the character.
There was plenty more where these tidbits came from, because there always is with Kirkman.
So what I got was a fun, full day at Comic-Con. Not enough to convince me to start doing the whole four-days-and-preview-night again, but enough to convince me that continuing to attend the con in this fashion is a worthwhile endeavor. That, and it allows me to hook up with Steve and friends afterward, which is worth it on its own terms.