I've never found a way to do one of these things effectively, but it occurs to me it might be nice if I could manage to keep a running tally on publishing news stories coming out of the four or five major conventions every year. One thing that's difficult is that I'm usually attending the shows, which makes it difficult to see the reporting of my peers concerning areas of comics in which I have less of a direct interest. Another hassle is that with a mainstream-focused show the bigger publishers prioritize creator moves and the like that doesn't really cross the threshold I have into being actual news. I understand why they do that -- there's a grinding element to publicity-through-news-reportage right now where every mention is a positive, and there are small-p political considerations in terms of how creators can be flattered by the kind of coverage. But it does muddy the water a bit.
An entire paragraph of grousing and excuse-making behind us now, here are some of the stories-in-brief emanating from the ongoing New York Comic Con. That show continues through Sunday in beautiful New York City. I will attempt to re-run this article on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, adding to it as I go.
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* the writer Joe Casey will be doing an anthology series featuring characters from the Dark Horse superhero comics line of a generation ago. Well, all the characters not big enough to find gainful employment in their own series, that is. Casey's superhero work the last few years has been extremely idiosyncratic, so that should be one to watch. Dark Horse also announced a partnership with a musician that has a large fan following, something that's worked for them in the past.* DC will pair its hottest emerging writer, Scott Snyder, with its reliable A-list artist Jim Lee on a Superman title that will likely take advantage of the stand-alone nature of that creative pairing to promise something that movie fans can read without having to wade through continuity, even though continuity-heavy comics are supposedly on the outs post-New 52. At any rate, that should sell extremely well.
* Marvel is doing more stand-alone graphic novels featuring re-told origin stories for their big characters. This is one of those things that strikes me as necessary given how people want their entertainment in a "tell me what to consume so that what I'm reading makes sense and I will consume it" way, although I don't know how good the actual efforts are beyond the fact I have no desire to read them.
* movie development company turned movie development company through comics publishing offshoot company Legendary announced projects with Guillermo Del Toro (related to Pacific Rim) and Grant Morrison (Annihilator).
* Cullen Bunn -- he of the latest high-profile TV development deal for a comics property on which he's co-creator news -- is working with Joelle Jones on Helheim for Oni.
* Fred Van Lente is writing a zombie-related series for Dynamite. That company has the license for a television show called Grimm.
* Galaga comics. Okay.
* IDW may have made a bigger splash with its pre-show Cerebus announcements, but don't disrespect Bill Shakespeare.
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