Sean Gaffney

The final day of New York Comic Con, I had only one planned panel. I took some time to walk around the show floor some more, now that the crush of Saturday was gone. Picked up a 2000AD book after their excellent panel the night before (though it ended up being none of the titles they had recommended). Got Summer Wars from Vertical, which I had missed the first time around. Discussed the one-week delay on Random House manga with Diamond Distributors – they’ll look into it. Quite productive.

Then, after lunch, I decided to go to Main Events. My panel wasn’t for 2 1/2 hours, but hey. Luckily, I was able to walk right in. No lines at all. Hooray for huge rooms! What I ended up seeing was the network FXX advertising its wares. They had a fantasy football sitcom called The League, which is in one of my least favorite genres (group of horrible people are all friends and are horrible every week – see It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia as well), but I will admit made me laugh a few times. The cast were all quite personable, and it’s clear they love making the show.

I then saw the world premiere of a new animated cartoon called Chozen, which stars the odd combination of Bobby Moyhihan from Saturday Night Live and Method Man from the Wu-Tang Clan. It’s about rappers, and I liked the episode far less – it read like a rap version of Family Guy, which I despise. The Q&A was more interesting, particularly when folks were asking Method Man about a Wu-Tang reunion (their 20th anniversary was this week) rather than about the actual show. Again, not for me, but everyone involved looked really hyped about it – this doesn’t have the feel of bringing in folks to cash a paycheck.

Then came what I had been waiting for – the Big Finish Doctor Who panel, with Nicholas Briggs, Jason Haigh-Ellery, and Colin Baker. Honestly, a lot of people in the room (now filled to capacity – my choice to camp there early was a good one) weren’t really all that familiar with Big Finish, being New Who fan types, but this may change their minds. The panel started with a costume parade – there were a huge number of Who costumes at the con, and not just Smith/Tennant stuff either. Lots of kids, who looked adorable. They all walked around to the KLF hit “Doctorin’ The TARDIS”.

Then came the panel proper, livened up greatly by Colin Baker, who knows how to work a crowd. We heard a preview of Big Finish’s 50th anniversary story, which stars Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin, Sylvester McCoy, and Paul McGann, along with various companions. Called The Light At The End, it was written and directed by Nicholas Briggs, and will be in standard CD, deluxe CD, and super deluxe LP editions. Colin notes that on audio, he can look the same as he did in 1984 – the power of imagination!

Big Finish was discussed as a “proving ground” for many young writers, and of course two Big Finish dramas were rewritten into the TV series – the Sixth Doctor story “Jubilee” became “Dalek” from Christopher Eccleston’s season, and “Spare Parts” was made into the Cybermen 2-parter in Tennant’s first season. Indeed, pre-Doctor Who, David Tennant did loads of Big Finish audio dramas, particularly in the miniseries Dalek Empire.

The company only has the rights to the “Classic” series, so can’t use the Silence or the Weeping Angels – which aren’t really fitting for audio in any case. Colin, discussing the episode Blink, wondered why winking wasn’t an option! He also noted that we never saw him regenerate (due to the nasty way the BBC let him go), therefore all the Doctors after him are imposters!

Colin dislikes using the word “favourite”, as it implies a ranking system, which he avoids. That said, the audio drama Arrangements for War was noted as being a highlight of his series with Big Finish. He did feel the new series had a leg up on the classic one as it can avoid the bad special effects that plagued the series – Colin describes being unable to walk off as he was holding up the wall at one point. And he wanted to not only be able to do the “Everybody lives!” scene from The Doctor Dances, but wanted Eccleston’s costume – his original idea had been for the 6th Doctor to wear a leather jacket.

There was some amusing bashing of other Doctors – Colin quickly noted this is a tradition amongst them, and not to read too much into it. He hasn’t seen Sylvester’s episodes (everyone tends to avoid the one that comes after them), but feels that if you are a good actor, anyone can be the Doctor. Nicholas Briggs also discussed how his Big Finish work got him the role of “Dalek voice” in the TV series, and how he was once cast as the Cyber voice without actually being booked – he was simply asked “Why aren’t you on set?”.

There was an amusing anecdote about an actress who shall not be named (though it’s obvious in context) who had trouble being scared by the Dalek in its titular episode, as she thought it looked ridiculous. The director sighed and shouted at her “It’s been killing people!” They all discussed their great love of Patrick Troughton’s Doctor, and are excited to see what Peter Capaldi brings to the role – Capaldi is a Doctor Who fanatic, with toys and everything. Colin was also quick to note Nicola Bryant was his favorite companion in her role as Peri.

Lastly, as a reader of the BBC Doctor Who novels, my favorite anecdote of the night was when they were casting Fitz, one of the 8th Doctors book companions, for an audio project, they almost cast Matt Smith! He was thought to be too young for the role. Little did they know…

And then I tapped out for the last time and left Comic Con to go stand in an even longer line at the hotel to collect my suitcase. But it was a lot of fun. Yes, the lines were abysmal, and I think some of the room choices showed an astonishing lack of foresight, but this is one of the dangers of having a con with over 100,000 people. Overall, it’s a great unifying experience of fandom.

I did not get into Doctor Who. Arriving early, I found myself at the end of a long line in a concrete bunker, and by the time I got to the panels it was very full. Sigh.

So I did end up seeing Yen Press after all, and they had some interesting announcements. Void’s Enigmatic Mansion is a new Korean manwha title that thy’re doing online near simultaneous with the release in Korea. By Ji Eun Ha and Hee Eun Kim (author of A Kiss To The Prince, which Infinity put out back in the day), it runs in Haksan’s Party magazine. It’s about a butler at a magical mansion, and will have color! Print will come later.

They were pleased to announce a new relationship with Kodansha, and three new Kodansha titles to go with it. Ani ga Imouto de Imouto ga Ani de (Ane-Imo) which has body switching, incestual subtext, and other things you’d expect from a skeezy otaku-oriented title… except it runs in shoujo magazine Aria. The author, Haruko Kurumatani, is better known for smutty Shogakukan shoujo. Also from Aria is He’s My Only Vampire paranormal romance with, as noted by Yen several times, pureblood vampires. Aya Shouoto, the author, has done some BL in the past as well. Meanwhile, gothic thriller shoujo writer Kaori Yuki gives us Demon from a Foreign Land. It’s a third Aria title, and is a wacky reverse harem com–no, no, ths is Kaori Yuki. It’s a dark period fantasy.

In non-Kodansha news, they have picked up the artbook/guidebook to Alice in the Country of Diamonds, which is filled with stuff – art, key visuals, interviews, a short manga, and all the game endings. It should be great fun for overanalytic Alice nerds like me. Lastly, High School D&D comes from Fujimi Shobo’s Dragon Age (don’t let the name fool you – it’s Kadokawa in disguise!) Based on a light novel (which was not licensed, disappointing to some), it’s a supernatural demon comedy with a lecherous protagonist. Which is admittedly better than a waffling good guy.

Question time. I asked about Square Enix titles on digital, and if there’s any progress. They said we should expect those soon! They noted the license of the light novel series recently, and said they like to take risks on titles they like, even if they’re “too many volumes”. I also asked about digital sales. He says they’re doing p;retty well, but notes digital is only about 10% of their market – they still do business mostly via print. Also, some companies and creators are reluctant to go the digital route right now. They discussed release schedules, and why releasing a book too fast can damage sales. Lastly, I asked about the Book Girl short story collections after the main series. Thery love Book Girl, but no news yet.

After this, I sort of realized Archie wasn’t going to happen – it was in 1A15, the tiny room of death. So I went to Wikia’s Animanga panel, with Kazuo Koike, Takashi Okazaki, Masao Maruyama, and Shin-Ichi Hiromoto, who not only had rock star hair, but whose photo showed one of the oddest looking persian cats I’d ever seen. The bulk of the panel was about their collaborative project with Western fan writers, who took the illustrations provided by these creators and made worlds from them. I admit I have not seen these works – they were given rules, a world, and characters, so it wasn’t just free form, but this really just sounded like an old-school round robin fanfic to me.

I was more interested in the Japanese creators, to be honest. Koike discussed his love of samurai manga, with heroes who are always prepared to die. Maruyama noted that vast imagination is welcome – he called the storyteller’s art “lying”, which I really liked. Hiromoto was asked about a “rat bomb” that apparently featured in his concept – getting ideas from real life, he had been dealing with a rat in his room. Okazaki talked about the two types of vampires he designed, one a cool, traditional vampire and one based more on street culture. He notes the fans had his idea of the hero and villain switched, which intrigued him.

Regarding collaboration, Koike is not a fan. He notes that for creative and legal reasons, he prefers single creator work, though he was quick to specify manga rather than anime. The big laugh of the panel came when Hiromoto was asked about the girl he drew – cute, not his usual thing – and he said Maruyama assigned it to him. When asked why, Maruyama said “I’m a pedophile.” (Actually, he said lolicon – the translator quickly amended.)

Koike did discuss a collaboration he did have with Yoshitaka Anamo on Deva Sun. Amano did all the art first, then Koike did the story based on that. Maruyama was asked about Dream Machine – things were complicated by the director passing away, but he definitely intends to finish it! And Koike told a wonderful story about taking his katana through customs in California – they all refused to let him through, till he mentioned he wrote Lone Wolf And Cub. He also discussed hormones releasing various chemicals in the body to govern emotions – something the rest of the panelists found very educational!

That did it. A good panel, and interested parties should go to the Animanga wikia site as well.

After this I ate lunch, then went to camp in 1A15, where Archie was ending. This turned out to be a good moe, as what was happening there was a panel by Perfect Square (formerly VizKids) on writing for children. These are titles like Ben 10, Monsuno, and Max Steel, as well as Hello Kitty and Mameshiba – licensed properties PS creates stories for.

The first thing mentioned about writing for kids was not to talk down to them – kids are clever enough to see that. Concentrate on engaging themes, such as (to paraphrase another company) friendship, hard work and victory. Stories for kids are more about black and white – less moral ambiguity and grey areas. Most importantly, as a writer YOU need to be excited by it and want to read your own work. By the way, just because it’s less ambiguous doesn’t make it simple or fluffy – the villains can be terrifying. One panelist mentioned The Secret of Nimh as a movie that scared him as a kid, but he loved it.

It was said straight out – the mainstream superhero titles aren’t for kids anymore. Instead, the panel discussed other things that may draw in kids. Humor – kids find humor in different things. The way kids’ books have evolved over the years and across countries – what’s for k,ids in Europe or Japan may not be for America, and vice versa. The Oz books were noted as being quite “intense.” Mad Magazine was also brought up as being alluring to kids – partly as when we were kids, it tended to be forbidden.

Working with the pre-existing projects that Perfect Square has can be a bit straitjacketing, but if you keep going you’ll been you share a common goal – inclusion and entertainment. Hello Kitty was noted as being particularly universal – the comic is wordless, as she has no mouth (but must scream). All Ages titles can also reinvigorate the imagination, as it does mean ALL ages – these should appeal to adults, to grandmothers, to kids. Kids have a boundless imagination, which needs to be lpayed with. Calvin and Hobbes was mentioned as terrific example.

I asked how they handle moral lessons in works, now that we aren’t in the age of Sailor Moon Says or One to Grow On. The lack of moral ambiguity helps here – they can afford to be more subtle. They agreed that they hated the whole “He-Man helps old women across the street” lessons of the 80s, which were tacked on and fake. Heroes and villains having a broader pallate was also discussed, noting that people can fight, be wrong, be arrogant. You are allowed age-appropriate dark themes. This was a surprise panel for me – I really got a kick out of it.

My last panel of the day was 2000AD. This was easily the funniest panel of the entire con – I was in hysterics several times, mostly thanks to the savvy of the PR person, Mike, who knows hnow to work a room. 2000AD is still a weekly in the UK, and IDW is doing a monthly release as well. It’s a popular proving ground for new writers – the cream of the Marvel and DC crop cut their teeth with Judge Dredd and the like. Andy Diggle, Al Ewing and Ian Edgington were the creators present. 2000AD has a very strong voice – it’s weird, it has black humor, it’s very anti-authority. This despite its poster boy being Judge Dredd, the ultimate authority figure. (It was noted many fans like Dredd TOO much, given it’s a satire.)

2000AD is a fun place as you can pitch original concepts and ideas, vs. “Here are the superheroes you will be writing” at the big Two. Their submission guidelines are clear and concise, as indeed are their comics – many fans find it disquieting how small a story in a particular issue can be – most run 4-6 pages. They mentioned several titles new readers might look into. Brass Sun is about a universe that’s actually a clockwork orrery, and what happens once the sun starts winding down. (Please, 200AD, don’t let the sun go down on me.) Stickleback sounded great to me, particularly a description of Adam Adamant walking down the street with Adam Ant. It also has a Pope of crime, with two ribcages.

They were asked about animating some of their properties – there have been projects, but they tend to fall through. They’re very careful with their properties – for the Dredd movie, it was written into the legal contract that he could not remove his helmet. I asked about budgets – they get a yearly budget, which they then have to divide among the various issues, and then among the artists/writers/letterers/cover artists, etc. There are Excel spreadsheets involved. It wqas also noted very firmly that unlike certain superhero companies, 2000AD lets people stay dead.

2000AD has an iPad app, and their wensite has CBR files to buy. Check it out – Dredd is a lot more complex than you think, and there’s far more to the magazine than just Dredd. Also, the creators are hilarious.

Tomorrow I only have one panel, in Main Events. Getting in will be tricky. Till then, as a fun exercise, count the number of times I said ‘noted’ in this post. Not including that one.

New York Comic Con is huge, and offers much to the fan that they really, really want to see. But the reality is that you can’t see everything, and must pick and choose your battles. I realized this year that I had been fortunate in previous years to not have major scheduling conflicts, and not to worry about missing the things I chose to go to.

Not this year. This year, room size and lines combined to make a formidable enemy – one that required better tactics.

But let’s start off with Vertical, celebrating is 10th year of manga, whose panel featured a rather ill Ed Chavez, who nonetheless gave us his all. They’re doing pretty well this year. Gundam is a big seller, and Tropic of the Sea’s initial sales have them looking into more Kon. Flowers of Evil is not only a surpise hit but a personal favorite of Ed’s, and he likes how it matures as it goes along. Most of the start of the panel ran down the previously announced licenses not yet available, such as Pink, Insufficient Direction, and the like. Given that the latter is about Hideki Anno, no surprises – lots of endnotes will be needed to explain the obsessions.

What Did You Eat Yesterday? was another biggie due out late Spring. About a gay couple dealing with coming out, it’s not a foodie manga per se, but does have recipes that means it can be marketed as one. It’s about character, though, specifically the two leads. It’s also gay, not BL – there’s no hot bishie sex here. Compound Cinematics is a non-fiction book about Akira Kurosawa coming out in August 2014, and should interest fans of good film. There’s also Prophecy, which was announced just a couple of weeks ago, a cyberterror horror manga from Jump X. (Oddly, they licensed it through a French agent.)

New licenses were to be had as well! More Moyoco Anno is always welcome, as we see the josei In Clothes Named Fat coming out this Summer. It’s a realistic take on bulimia, with some unpleasant lead characters, but apparently riveting – real old-school josei. It first ran in Weekly Josei, a magazine from Shufu to Seikatsusha, who did Pet Shop Of Horrors. But Shodensha has the reprint rights, so Vertical licensed it from them. (If anyone but me cares about this, let me know in the comments.)

There’s also the Attack on Titan: Before the Fall novel series, based on the best-selling manga. It tells about the survey corps pre-manga days, and is three volumes long. Given Vertical’s known facility with novel translation, the title is a good fit with them.

Q&A ended the panel. Chi is going a little longer (partly due to its success in America) and will be 13 volumes now. Josei is an interesting genre for them – sales may not always be great, but bookstores always seem to like the look of it. He noted Helter Skelter’s sales were only middling, but it had truly rave reviews. And the potential of a subscription service was mentioned as something they’re trying to work out for those who simply want everything Vertical has to offer.

After this, I wanted to go to the Welcome to Night Vale panel. It was in 1A15, though, a very small room. I went to line up 75 minutes early. It still wasn’t enough. Barely 1/8 of the line made it into the panel (many suspected that the Robotech panel before it was full of WTNV fans – the rooms aren’t cleared afterward). Now, I knew Viz was here at 4:15, so needed to decide what to do. My colleague MJhad already lined up for Kodansha, so I decided to skip that and heaad to Viz super-early. It was a good choice – staff were turning people away 45 minujtes before the start.

MJwill have the Kodansha panel in more detail, but several of their new titles intrigued me. UQ Holder was possibly the most obvious license ever, and has only just begun in Japan, so it’s hard to get a handle on it beyond “is 60-70 years post-Negima” and “has Evangeline in it”. Let’s hope it lacks the issues Negima had. Seven Deadly Sins is by Nakaba Suzuki, who started his career with Jump (Rising Impact), then went to Sunday (Kongou Bancho), and now is at Magazine. His latest series seem sto be medieval fantasy and is 5 volumes and still going.

Attack on Titan is the huge runaway hit of the year, so seeing more licenses is about as surprising as seeing UQ Holder. I am very gleased to see the high school gag manga is coming out – readers of this blog know I love Haruhi-chan, though this genre actually goes back as far as SD Gundam in the 80s. The guidebooks always sound great (though don’t sell well – maybe that will change with this one). They also have the Before the Fall manga, which Vertical licensed the novels of earlier. This runs in Shonen Sirius. Lastly, they have the shoujo title No Regrets, from Aria, which covers the past of Levi, the most popular character among fans (particularly BL shippers). Given Levi’s general personality, I expect much tragic backstory.

I *did* get into Viz, which was a relief as I was bone tired and my ankle was killing me. They started off with new print titles, including a new Ghibli artbook, based on The Wind Rises. Then we saw two new Shojo Beat titles, one for each demographic. For the serious, tortured supernatural shoujo fan, there’s Black Rose Alice, which comes from Akita Shoten’s Princess magazine. From the author of After School Nightmare, it has the ever-popular vampires in it (but not in the title, sadly.) A word of warning – arachnophobes may find certain scenes involving the supernatural powers to be a bit too spidery and gross for them. Despite it being for Black Bird typs, I will give it a try.

Next was a surprise. I was expecting a Kazune Kawahara title, but figured it would be Aozora Yell, her big Betsuma band ‘n baseball manga. It may be a bit too long for them, however, as Viz instead licensed My Love Story (Ore Monogatari), about a guy who looks like Onsen Mark from UY, his bishie best friend, and their ongoing love lives. It sounds hilarious, and I really can’t wait for this one from the creator of High School Debut.

For Battle Royale fans, Angel’s Border is an Akita Shoten title that tells the stories of some of the minor characters who tended to be cannon fodder for the main series, but had great pasts. It ran in Young Champion, and thus is our first seinen title of the day. But not the last. Terrra Formars (spelling is intentional) is a Young Jump series I’d suggested had a good chance of being licensed in my last roundup of bestsellers. Viz clearly agreed, and this Starship Troopers-esque action horror manga is coming out this summer in its Signature line. It’s dark, but really intriguing – Sidonia and Wolfsmund fans may like it.

For Blue Exorcist fans, a collection of Kozue Kato’s short stories is due in Fall 2014. This is going to be pretty deluxe, with color pages. Lastly, they have their new Jump series, Seraph of the End. Like Blue Exorcist, it comes from edgier Jump Square. The author has several light novel series to his credit, including A Dark Rabbit Has Seven Lives and Legend of the Legendary Heroes. This one also has vampires, but not the sexy shoujo kind. It can get dark. It’s out in WSJ now and print this summer.

The digital rep then discussed their ongoing plan to digitize. Perfect Square is their app for kids’ series, mature titles are now on Nook and Kindle. Also, Pepita, Inoue’s Gaudi book, is now out with a few added animated effects. I asked a question later about the really old series that were flipped. They can put them up – the app isn’t always R-to-L – but most of those are so old the licensing rights might be tricky. Sorry, Even A Monkey Can Draw Manga fans!

Much of the rest of thne panel was devoted to anime, with the new Neon Alley fall season adding Utena, Ranma, Madoka Magica, and Magi, which doesn’t end in -a, but is getting its dub world premiered. They also announced then new Tiger & Bunny movie, The Rising, will be out in early 2014 – in some selected theaters! There were a lot of T&B fans in the audience, and this pleased them greatly.

I was able to go from here to the Ranma panel, mostly as the Ranma room was 4 times the size of the Viz one. Despite that, it filled almost to capacity. Ranma was my gateway into manga, so it was very nice to see everyone turn out for a manga that’s over 25 years old in Japan.Hope Donovan, who is editing the re-release, gave us the skinny. The history of Takahashi manga began with Ranma and ended with Inu Yasha and Rin-Ne – this was not about OOP titles like UY or MI. They showed off the old pamphlet comics, big oversize GNs, and VHS tapes.

The omnibus will have a simplified version of the original cover art on the front (the spines and back not so much, though). They showed off the remastering, and it really looked great – early Ranma from the 1990s looked like a muddy 3rd generation xerox, mostly as it was – that’s how they replicated it then. The new digital images given great clarity. The translation is mostly the same one – sorry, honorific fans – though it’s been looked at and re-edited where it was further off the Japanese than might be recommended these days. SFX are still translated, but look nicer – and the birds are now back to being cicadas.

There’s also the Blu-Ray and DVD boxsets, also out this spring. Again, images were shown noting the image clarity. These will be in 4:3 – no cropping or stretching to widescreen. They’re also in the original order – the earlier releases mixed things up for reasons that made sense at the time.

Q&A followed. Someone asked about UY, bless them. No news at this time. It was noted that Ranma, like all Takahashi works, is print only. Whatever happened with Rin-Ne seems to have echoed across all Takahashi series, so no digital just yet. It will be 19 total omnibuses, by the way, each two volumes and about 360 pages long. The new OAV out in 2011 is too new to have news on (indeed, the OAVs and movies in general are still wait and see). I suspect getting the gang back together for a dub might prove problematic. As for Blu-Ray extras, they’re still working on them, though a collection of OP and EDs was mentioned as being a good idea.

After a day with a lot more standing in line than expected, I decided to call it a night, so missed the Jim Henson panel. Go buy the biography, though – it’s a realistic look at the brilliance and fallibility of the Muppet creator.

Tomorrow, Doctor Who. Better get there early to stand in line…

It’s been a bit harder to concentrate than usual, I will admit. It’s not every day nine episodes of Doctor Who thought missing are discovered. The Enemy of the World is now complete, and The Web of Fear only missing one episode. They were in Nigeria! You can get them now on iTunes! I can’t, as I’m at a con with no Apple devices. But that’s OK, as there’s much more to talk about.

My first panel was Women in Comics, in the much smaller than anticipated 1A15. (This does not bode well for Viz.) It was filled with librarians, always an excellent thing. Present were (sorry if I mangle names) Megan Kociolek as the moderator, with Becky Cloonan, Erica Schultz, Amy Chu, Emily Weisenstein, Claudia McGiven and Laura Pope-Rollins as panelists. The panel was wide-ranging and took up the whole hour. They started by mentioning those who had the most impact on then industry – Gail Simone, Larry Hama of GI Joe fame, Jennifer Holm (Baby Mouse) and Chris Claremont.

Things have changed a lot in 10 years – there are a lot more women at cons now, and discussion isn’t just about DC and Marvel. In fact, there was a discussion of the word “mainstream” in regards to those two publishers, and how it’s almost become a gut reaction to use them as the norm. Several of the panelists love manga, and Takahashi (and Ranma in particular) were mentioned as being influential – both here and in Japan. Becky also mentioned Tokyopop, and how despite their faults they were key in getting readers, particularly young girls, into the bookstores.

Demographics were mentioned – publishers aren’t sure how to market to adult women, so avoid titles that might appeal only to their interest. DC and Marvel pitch almost entirely to gujys, with female readers never being their primary target. There’s independent comics, but then distribution is hard – tough to get into the shops. Japan has readers that shift genres as they grow older – something the West might try learning.

Favorite characters came up. Rogue, Storm, Girl-Type Ranma, Utena and Chun-Li from Becky. Amy mentioned Kate Bishop, Buffy and Willow. Emily then mentioned Catwoman and Wonder Woman, which led into a discussion of her character and how her lack of a consistent, iconic backstory like Superman and Batman is an issue. There’s also the marketing tendency to idolize pretty princesses – Disneyfication. Girls should be shown more options.

Before Q&A, they discussed using comics in education, with manga as an example. Nausicaa and Barefoot Gen are both manga that can fairly simply and easily be added to a curriculum examining ecology or the aftermath of WWII.

Question time. They were asked to define ‘comic literacy’, a term used earlier, and Becky noted that her mother, a non-comics reader, had trouble moving from panel to panel without confusion. It’s something kids learn at a young age. E-culture was mentioned to the derision of one or two panelists, who notes the new “nerds” are the same people who used to bully them – it’s just nerd is cool now. Amy Chu got the line of the night: “You’re forcing me to pull out my Harvard MBA.” Learning marketing was noted to be incredibly important, particularly as DC and Marvel still tend to underestimate things. The panel was asked if they felt pressure writing for women, and noted they have some projects they feel more passionate about. Amy, in fact, noted she writes a lot of men in order to stretch herself. She’d also like to do children’s stories. Lastly, the words “Strong Female Character” were discussed. No one just thinks “Oh, I want a strong female..” They should be allowed to be emotional, and screw up, and have men LISTEN to her if she’s in charge.

I then walked around the dealer’s room and artist’s alley before going to the LGBT&A panel. This began with a 5-minute video showing LGBT fans naming their favorite “queeros”, which made me realize that I might have been lacking the superhero background this panel writeup needed. Indeed, there was a lot more Marvel and DC chat than the prior panel. Jude Biersdorfer from the NYT Book Review moderated, and the panel had Dan Parent, Marjorie Liu, Rich Bernatovech, Greg Pak, and Dan Ketchum.

Dan does Kevin Keller for Archie, and talked about a recent storyline with Kevin and his boyfriend kissing, and an irate mom at their school taking offense. He noted it’s Archie, so they can’t get too political – though the recent decision to avoid Russia in The Archies world tour made a few headlines. He tends to like normal, Archie-esque plots and wacky hijinks. He noes Kevin has gotten a lot of positive feedback from parents – he lets them open a dialogue with their kids without it sounding forced.

Marjorie writes Northstar and Karma, and here’s where my research fails me, as she also writes Docken? I presume this isn’t the 80s metal band Dokken . Northstar’s wedding, of course, was a major talking point, and we got the first of several mentions that NY legalizing gay marriage has led to a more open side to it at Marvel. Docken, whoever he is, is bi, which means a lot of fans get upset with him – as indeed many in real life do with bisexuals, who can get shot by both sides. She ended by talking about how she tries to subvert expectations.

Rich writes the Neverminds and Sentinels, and is the indie publisher of the group. He has a married, stable gay couple, something he’s quite happy to show. Writing and synergy were mentioned here – he had a character whose origin was around an African lake, and recent discoveries of fossilization are eerily close to the character’s powers.

Greg notes his half-Asian background, and discussed the similarities between this and LGBT content – as a kid, they’d all come running when a real Asian character was on TV. He writes Extreme X-Men, a title that already has a long tradition of minorities and queer representation. Her notes he had his most recent couple get together as “they just felt right”, and that it was best for their roles in the cast he’s writing. He also discussed a gay relationship between two stone-based gay aliens in Planet Hulk. Volcanic mating!

Dan Ketchum also writes X-Men, and Prodigy was mentioned. As noted beforehand, he now doesn’t always have to clear every single gay moment up the line to the editor-in-chief, which has only recently been the case. Young Avengers, whose gay couple are teenagers, is treated a bit more carefully – he was told at one point they couldn’t kiss. It’s also fun writing gays with superpowers – one character is the son of Scarlet Witch, and so we hve some “am I in love with you or are you warping reality to make it that way?” Even better, the addition of another gay character allows us to move beyond the “the two gay guys always have to pair up” cliche.

Trans hadn’t been mentioned much. DC recently crowed about Batgirl’s roommate being the first trans character in comics. Jude challenged the panel to think of a Marvel character who’d been there first. It was noted that Danger, though she appears as a woman now, technically has no gender. Sasquatch and Loki were also brought up. It was noted it can sometimes be hard to make the metaphor match the sexuality.

Jude then brought up the elephant in the room – the recent Batwoman decision, and Dan Didio’s followup that heroes shouldn’t be happy. They all disagreed strenuously, noting they felt DC was alienating readers and that it smacked of lazy storytelling – the complexity was removed. Greg felt he did understand the point, however, and noted the cyclical nature of superheroes – they’re soap operas, and a new creative team can always undo any happy ending the prior one did. He also talked about stereotyping, and how you don’t always have to jerk away from it if the stereotype fits your character.

Audience Q&A had one woman note asexuals are always left out of or diminished in comics – and also weren’t mentioned at this panel. The “A” in LGBTA was for “Allies”. The panel grew quite thoughtful, and admitted they didn’t have a really good response beyond thinking about it (though Dan Parent did jokingly name Jughead.) For the most part, though, it’s a heteronormative world in comics, and all the gay folks mentioned here are merely a drop inn the bucket among all the “white, straight males”. Things are looking up, however. Gay Marriage’s legalization has led Marvel to relax its standards a bit.

To end, the panel all agreed the best thing the audience could do was to keep discussing the issues, and vote for what they like and want more of with their money by buying the comics.

That’s it for today. Man, I took a lot of notes for just two panels. Tomorrow will be much busier. Now I go to bed and dream of Pat Troughton…