Category: Elsewhere

Blast from the Past: C!TB’s 2014 (Yes, 2014) Calgary Expo Cosplay Spectacular
Posted on by Ryan Tomko Posted in Elsewhere
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Blast from the Past: C!TB’s 2014 (Yes, 2014) Calgary Expo Cosplay Spectacular

[Ed. Note: Okay guys, cards on the table: I totally goofed on this when Ryan sent it to us last year and didn’t get it up promptly… or at all. In fact, this is probably the latest actual time this could go up, since it’s the actual weekend of the 2015 Calgary Expo, and Ryan will have a whole other batch of coverage for us very, very soon. So without dragging out this embarrassment any further, enjoy some great photos of talented people that we should have posted 11 months ago.]

The 2014 Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo was held this past weekend and, as is becoming tradition, I was asked by my good friends James and Brandon from Comics! The Blog to take a press pass and “do whatever.”

For the first time, this year’s event was spread over 4 days, but sadly we could not attend until the weekend. (as we live in a different city, and enjoy keeping our day jobs that actually pay us.) Our first day was slightly dampened by the not-unexpected-because-we-live-in-Canada-but-still-saddening snow which decided to fall all day on Saturday. Although this did allow me the opportunity to showcase my Macguyver-esque umbrella construction from jackets and hoodies in order to safely get my camera equipment between buildings!

The event started out surprisingly well, as when we went to pick up our press passes we were greeted with our first ever ‘Maybe’ for a real live celebrity interview. This was a first ever for us, and we got pretty excited at the idea that there was an actual chance we could interview none other than Mr. Giancarlo Esposito (everyone’s favourite chicken restaurant manager/meth distributor from AMC’s Breaking Bad.) As excited as we were, we also instantly became super nervous at the thought that we would have to actually think up REAL questions and conduct a REAL interview…luckily we never heard back from the PR folks and got to do our annual “Favourite Cosplayers” photo extravaganza instead!

Given basically no instruction from C!TB on what exactly they want, other than James telling me he wanted more of something called ‘ Heterosexual Female Gaze’ [Ed. Note: Read: Man candy], we hit the show floor with our eyes peeled for the latest and greatest costumed attendees.

As usual, we never rank our favourite costumes that we see during the Expo, however this year for the first time ever, we actually crowned our favourite! (Note to the Editors - we sort of promised this person that you would send them some sort of prize or crown or something, FYI.) [Ed. Note: No.]

Without further adieu, here is part ONE of this year’s C!TB’s Favourite Cosplayers of the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo!

Continue Reading…
Posted on by Brandon Schatz Posted in Comics, Elsewhere
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Elsewhere // A Confluence of Events

A few of you were wondering about my thoughts on DC’s upcoming Confluence event, so I went ahead and wrote ’em all down for Comics Beat last week.

Of the two, Convergence is being built as a necessity, more than something extravagant. Even if the concept was born out of creative decisions, the execution is all business, marrying the need for DC to pump out enough books to fill out their budgets while simultaneously alleviating editorial and creative pressures during the big move. As such, it’s already on the back foot, appearing as though it’s a fill-in event, something that is decidedly not their main line of books in any way, shape or form. If they don’t tackle this perception in the marketing, April and May might be a couple of DC’s worst months as many opt out of the two months of content.

The article goes pretty deep into what the company would need to do to make the event as successful as possible. Unfortunately, I think they’ve already screwed a few points up. You can read the whole article here - and when you’re done that, you can run straight into my thoughts on Marvel’s big multiversal event, Secret Wars.

While Convergence is an event being built out of near necessity, Secret Wars is an event that’s emerging from years of planning on the part of Marvel and writer Jonathan Hickman. Both approaches have their pros and cons. While I’m really enjoying Hickman’s work on the Avengers line, it was never anything I would be able to hand to a new reader easily – and his work on the title has only gotten more complex. Now, there’s nothing wrong with this approach, especially when you have several titles on the stands that new readers can easily gravitate to like Black Widow, Ms. Marvel, and Hawkeye – but when it comes to the big event, you want to try and make that thing as accessible as possible. DC can theoretically do this with Convergence by structuring their event as a low-threshold buy-in, featuring two part stories that exist without too much connective tissue. Marvel could theoretically do this, but there’s very little known about the actual structure of Secret Warsbeyond the fact that it will be impossible to escape if you’re interested in their line.

You can read that full article here.

Sometimes I think I go a little easier on Marvel because… well, because I’m enjoying more of their line right now, but I think I stayed pretty even-handed with presenting the potential problems and positives that both events could have. As always, your thoughts are appreciated, so comment below, or on the articles themselves!

 

Posted on by Brandon Schatz Posted in Comics, Elsewhere
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Elsewhere // Degree of Variants

Because I love puns, you guys. I love them so much.

This week, I returned to providing weekly final order cut-off commentary at Comics Beat with a little ditty about some of the splashier variants coming down the pike.

I’m not a big fan of variants in general (a longer column for another day), but I can at least get behind variants that you can order without qualification. That says you’re offering another variety for a reader to sample, letting them choose what cover they’d like. That, I understand. Qualified variants, on the other hand, are the dirt worst. They’re a dirty manipulation of the whole “supply and demand” market designed for cheap, easy money, both for publishers and retailers alike. If a retailer wants a bigger supply, they will have to order more copies. In order to cover the cost of those copies (many of which won’t sell), they will charge a premium for that cover. And hey, even if they don’t need to charge a premium to cover the costs of extra copies, they’ll probably mark it up because of the low supply, and the high demand.

You can read the full article over at Comics Beat where you’ll also see a quote from the publisher of one of the industry’s biggest companies talking shit about variants. You probably know who already.

 

 

Posted on by Brandon Schatz Posted in Elsewhere
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Elsewhere: A Confluence of Events (Part One)

In which Brandon writes a multi-part column, and totally commits through the end. Right?

Folks wanted to know what I thought about DC’s upcoming Convergence event, and so I laid things out based on what I know, and what I’d like to happen in a new Retailer’s View column. I’m saving the deep analysis on the structure for when I know a bit more about what it really looks like, creative teams and all. Also, if these god damn comics have special gimmick covers, you might find me swinging from the rafters. Just saying.

A snippet of the article:

Of the two, Convergence is being built as a necessity, more than something extravagant. Even if the concept was born out of creative decisions, the execution is all business, marrying the need for DC to pump out enough books to fill out their budgets while simultaneously alleviating editorial and creative pressures during the big move. As such, it’s already on the back foot, appearing as though it’s a fill-in event, something that is decidedly not their main line of books in any way, shape or form. If they don’t tackle this perception in the marketing, April and May might be a couple of DC’s worst months as many opt out of the two months of content.

For the full meal deal, head over to Comics Beat.

Elsewhere: Scheduling Issues
Posted on by Brandon Schatz Posted in Comics, Elsewhere
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Elsewhere: Scheduling Issues

Over at Comics Beat, I’ve got an article talking about shipping delays, and the long tail of perception - and how those can hinder a series before it even begins.

As much as I liked (and like) Stephenson as a writer, my internal notes were telling me that this was a series that probably wouldn’t ship on time. I was basing this purely on the track record of his most recent series, Nowhere Men, which started off with a strong opening (both critically and sales-wise) before petering off into obscurity as the book slid further and further off schedule. By the time the sixth issue shipped, my sales were but a fraction of what I had started with for all of the usual reasons. Some took the waiting period as a sign that they should give up on the singles and wait for the collections. Others forgot about the book’s existence and plot and decided to leave it on the shelf when it finally arrived. Still more pulled it out of their budgeting calculations as other books moved in to fill the gap. The result had clearly left a bad taste in my mouth, one that led to my ordering dilemma.

You can read the whole thing over there now.

Little known fact: I chopped up a column about Archie Comics that got pulled for reasons (more on that another day) and this is what came out. Basically, while talking about the company’s scheduling issues (among other things) I voiced concern about what the Afterlife with Archie schedule would do to the book. At the time it was shipping on a schedule that resembled bi-monthly shipping, despite being solicited as a monthly ongoing. At this point, the series’ seventh issue - originally solicited for May/June release before being resolicted for September - is scheduled to come out in late November. Maybe. This… is a big problem. But again, more on that another day…

Elsewhere: The Fantastic Four Are Definitely Going Away Forever. Yep. Forever and Ever.
Posted on by Brandon Schatz Posted in Comics, Elsewhere
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Elsewhere: The Fantastic Four Are Definitely Going Away Forever. Yep. Forever and Ever.

Fantastic Four by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo

First, the fact that they’re calling the “final” arc Fantastic Fourever is both wonderful and horrible, and I’m pretty sure the autocorrect on this computer will prevent me from ever properly reporting on this fact without meticulous care.

Second: when the rumours about the team’s demise first started floating around the internet, I wrote a piece about it over at Comics Beat, which still applies. An excerpt:

… if Marvel is going to take the Fantastic Four off the publishing schedule for a while, you can be sure it has nothing to do with the status of the team’s life in movies – or if it does, the team’s out-of-house status means Marvel actually has the luxury of putting the team’s book on hold. Stick with me here.

That’s the thesis. The story’s a few months old, but all the points still stand, and giving it a read will add context to this whole ordeal. Suffice to say, the cancellation is probably the best thing to happen to the team in a long time.