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Originally published August 14, 1992, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #978

There are no comic-book conventions.

And we could really use one.

This is an odd realization for anyone to come to, but the comics industry is one of the few that does not have a convention in the traditional sense.

Any number of times during my travels—particularly during my days in the Marvel sales department—I would find myself staying at hotels where conventions were being held for various professionals in various industries. Insurance salesmen. Carpenters. Computer programmers. Electricians. Water companies.

Pick a business, any business. And you can be assured that somewhere, at some point, they’re going to have a convention.

Any business except comics.

Now this may sound like a remarkably nonsensical statement to you. All one has to do is flip through the pages of CBG to reveal dozens, if not hundreds, of comic-book conventions. So how can I possibly claim that they don’t exist?

Because those aren’t conventions in the sense that I’m discussing.

Carpenters don’t have hundreds of fans standing in line for autographs. Insurance salesmen don’t have panels in which they explain what’s going to be coming up to audiences of people not in the industry. Electricians aren’t critiquing circuitry designed by would-be electricians or judging costume competitions with fans dressed as fluorescent bulbs.

When people in these realms get together for a convention, they do so for two purposes. They discuss the advancements and techniques of their industry. And they socialize.

With each other.

At the traditional comic-book convention, on the other hand, comic-book creators are not really there for each other. Socializing certainly can and does occur. Hanging out in the bar (a particularly pervasive pastime at British conventions) or late-night card games are traditional-enough activities at some of the larger cons.

But to all intents and purposes, the comics creators are there for the fans. There to sign autographs and give advice on how to break in and (ideally) smile and be polite. If discussions are held on the state or direction of the industry, they are done so for an audience of fans, which means that not only are the panelists trying to explore a given topic, but they’re trying to do so in an entertaining manner so that the fans won’t be bored.

I hope none of the foregoing comes across as “anti-fan.” But the fact of the matter is that, when the fans are around, comics creators can’t always be themselves. Particularly if the comics creator is by nature, for example, a jerk. Because if he or she acts like a jerk in front of the fans, you’re going to see computer board postings or letters to CBG about it so quickly that it’ll make your head spin.

When the fans are around, creators are, to some degree, always “on,” any time they happen to venture out. I’ve had people ask me what’s happening in The Hulk while I’m in the rest room. I’ve had would-be writers show me plot proposals while I was trying to have a quiet breakfast—which is why, if I want to be assured of having a meal uninterrupted, I order room service.

Comics creators have to be at the disposal of the fans the entire time. They have to be affable, patient, and above all, diplomatic. In some instances, creators are representing not only themselves, but a publisher. And if a creator feels harassed and, losing his temper, tells a fan to kiss various portions of anatomy, it not only makes the creator look bad, but it can reflect poorly on the publisher, as well.

I go to conventions for two reasons: to socialize with pros and meet and greet the fans. And the latter invariably takes precedence over the former. Which is fine. The conventions are being held for the fans. It’s the fans whose money is supporting the thing. Whose at-the-door admissions are (it is hoped) covering the hotel costs and the air fare for the guests (or at least certain guests) and who then spend money in the dealer’s room which not only supports the dealers, but further augments the convention’s coffers, because it charged for the dealer’s tables.

What it boils down to, then, is that the creators are under a microscope during the 48-to-72- (and even 96-) hour periods of the convention. It’s not always a fun place to be. Many times it is, but sometimes it’s not.

Comic-book retailers have conventions. Except they’re not called conventions. They’re called “trade shows,” sponsored by comic-book distributors for the benefit of their customers. But they’re much closer to the traditional idea of a convention, in that you have a professional group (retailers, in this case) getting together, meeting and greeting each other, and attending seminars and discussions about how to improve the art of retailing.

At “trade shows,” retailers don’t have their customers coming up to them and asking when the next issue of X-Men is coming out or saying, “Here, take a look at my collection and tell me how much it’s worth.”

And the distributors? They have conventions, too. There are organized by individual comic-book publishers, and at these conventions (which are technically called “distributor meetings”) the publishers present their wares for the coming year so that the distributors can get a feeling for how to proceed with their plans. They also take the opportunity to have their own get-togethers (sometimes with meeting space provided by the publishers, although publishers are then excluded from these business meetings).

And at these distributor meetings, of course, retailers are not there, complaining about how they want improvements in that distributor’s reorder service or wanting to know if they can get a higher discount.

So all the people involved with the sales of comics have their meetings and try to improve the art of selling the comics.

But the people who actually make the comics—writers, pencillers, inkers, letterers, colorists—whenever they’re at a convention, they’re part of the show. They’re whom the fans come to see, and their obligations are to the fans, not to the comics and not to each other.

So what I’m saying in my customarily long, roundabout way, is that it would be nice if, just once, that were not the case.

It would be nice if the creators had their own convention. Call it—I dunno—not “Creation Convention,” certainly. Maybe “ProCon.”

The name is secondary, really, to the concept. And the concept is that the people who actually make the comics would have the opportunity to get together and improve the art form.

It’s not just the form itself, either. The comic-book creative community has always been a fractious bunch, but in the past there’s always been an “us versus them” mentality. When alliances of comic-book creators were formed in the past, they were invariably to present a united front to the publishers.

But now it’s gone beyond that. I think of the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con, at which there’s supposed to be a panel titled “Do Artists Need Writers?” It was one of the four most-popular panels when SDCC was looking for volunteers; it wound up getting roughly five times as many potential panelists as it could use.

This question, of course, arises from the notorious “Name Withheld” letter in CBG that inspired lengthy debate, and one would think that the respective panelists can’t wait to tear into a subject that is, at its most basic, inherently silly. Of course, artists don’t need writers. And writers don’t need artists (there’s this thing called a “book” that some of you may have heard of). I believe, however, that some of the best comics are those wherein a good writer and good artist produce a work that surpasses what either could have accomplished singly.

Unfortunately, we’re developing into a society that has no concept of loyalty. A society where “Watch out for Number One” has become not just a philosophy, but the be-all and end-all of existence. The concept of the writer/artist team—in which two people work so well together that, if unleashed upon a project, you can be guaranteed to quality—has become almost an outdated notion.

I certainly think that, to some degree, this column has added to the situation. “Why do you hate John Byrne?” the fans ask. Well—gee. I don’t. “When are you going to attack Image again?” I’m asked. Well—gee. Not to sound disingenuous, but I thought I was simply pointing out when the Image guys were saying what I perceived as thoughtless things, in hopes that they would start giving thought to what they said. (Which, by the way, has worked to some degree. Notice that I haven’t written a word about Erik in a while. He hasn’t said anything thoughtless. Although the same cannot be said of—nah. Why get into it?) The thing is I never perceived it as an attack. But others have.

I think a creators-only convention is just what the creative community could use. Something where all the creative personnel get together. Where workshops are held, discussing the fundamental dynamics of storytelling. Discussing the most effective way to exaggerate human anatomy for storytelling purposes. The best brushes to use in inks, the best pens for lettering. A pro is a pro is a pro, but there are people in our industry who are unquestionably more talented than others. I’d attend a writing seminar spearheaded by Neil Gaiman in a heartbeat. Any inkers out there who would pass up a couple of hours of learning tips from Terry Austin? Anyone going to give a miss to a humor seminar from Sergio Aragones? Who would stay away from a keynote address by a Will Eisner or a Harlan Ellison on what’s right or wrong with the comics industry today?

Do artists need writers? Rather than putting five panelists in front of an audience of fans, wouldn’t more be accomplished by devoting several hours to it in a seminar room, with (I know it sounds quaint) chairs pulled in a circle? Followed by a volleyball game or leaping into a pool?

The problem is, of course, who would sponsor it? When distributors or publishers put together their various shows and meetings, there’s always something to be gained from it: “something” being, bottom line, money. Better-educated retailers are better customers. Distributors who are wined and dined and impressed by upcoming projects mean higher sales.

For ProCon, there’s nothing for anyone to turn a buck from. It would be held purely for the nonsensical concept of good relations and good comics.

Which means that creators would have to do it themselves. Creators would have to pay registration fees that would go toward covering the costs of the convention. Someone would have to organize the thing and handle the money.

And for pity’s sake, don’t look to me to do it. I can’t even organize my desk, and I can’t remember the last time I correctly balanced my checkbook. It’d have to be someone whom everyone knows and who is relatively trustworthy. Me, I’d suggest Star*Reach. It reps a few dozen comics creators already, and they’ve been around for a while. (Geez, Mike’s just going to love it when he reads this. “You want me to organize a what?!”)

In keeping with that train of thought, we would have it in California—preferably in Anaheim. There’s lots of creators out there, there’s plenty of cheap airfares to Los Angeles, and me, I’m a sucker for Disneyland any day.

We’d need start-up costs; that much is certain. Hotels want deposits up front. Costs of people invited as speakers would certainly have to be covered. We’d have to be sure that there was enough money in the kitty to get things started and keep things going. The idea is that enough creators would attend that registration fees would pay back those who put up money in the first place. And if not—well, hell, it’s a business expense. That makes it tax deductible.

If someone reputable will organize the thing, I’ll put up $500 to start. Anyone care to match it?

(Peter David, writer of stuff, saw the world’s worst ad placement on his way to Con-Version in Calgary. He was on a Delta flight bound for Salt Lake City (making a connection there), wife Myra by his side, when he showed her an ad for Alamo car rental in the in-flight magazine that read, “Wouldn’t You Rather Be in a Cadillac Right Now?” Myra took one look at it and said reasonably, “Of course not. We’re 32,000 feet in the air. If we were in a Cadillac, we’d drop like a rock. I’d much rather be in an airplane.” Now there’s logic you can’t argue with.)

Footnote from the BID book collection:

If I had to pick one column to cite as having done the most good, it would be the Pro/Con column. Nine months later, Pro/Con was actually held. Neil Gaiman spoke about writing. Will Eisner discussed storytelling. We didn’t have Terry Austin, but we did get Dick Giordano. Dave Sim spoke about self-publishing. Despite some pros loudly proclaiming that they saw no need for such a thing, we had well over a hundred people attending. There was certainly room for improvement, but it was widely considered to be a smashing success. Never have I felt more gratified than when Pro/Con came to fruition. More are being planned even as we speak.

Over on the PlayStation.Blog.Europe, Jem Alexander managed to wrangle up a great Q&A with Final Fantasy XIII Producer Yoshinori Kitase and Director Motomu Toriyama. But Europe’s not stealing all the fun – We’re heading up to San Francisco later today to speak with Mr. Kitase and Mr. Toriyama, as well as FFXIII’s Battle Director Yuji Abe for the first time. So now’s the time to get those final questions out there (That’s Final Fantasy XIII only, so please keep your questions on that topic. They won’t be discussing anything Versus- or Agito-related). We’re almost exactly a month out from the game’s release, after all!

I asked for your Final Fantasy XIII interview questions and you responded in earnest. Thanks so much for your many questions — they were far too numerous for me to ask them all, but I hope you agree that I covered all the important ones with the game’s Producer, Yoshinori Kitase, and Director, Motomu Toriyama. Can you believe it’s only four weeks until the game is in our hands? It’s been a long wait, but we’re almost there.

This interview will hopefully give you some insight into the development of the game, and get you interested in the other two Fabula Nova Crystallis games — Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy Agito XIII. As soon as Square Enix is ready to talk more about these titles, you can expect to see something here on PlayStation.Blog.

Do you have any plans for Final Fantasy XIII PlayStation Home content?

It is already happening in Japan. There will be costumes for Lightning and Snow, and there’s a personal space as well as chocobo and other character figures. We don’t know at the moment whether this will be brought to Europe.

Will Final Fantasy Versus XIII have any links to Final Fantasy XIII?

Final Fantasy Versus XIII is part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis series, but XIII and Versus XIII only share the same basic mythology. The fal’Cie and l’Cie are just a small part of this mythology, but the story and the characters are completely different.

Are there any games within the Fabula Nova Crystallis series that have yet to be announced?

At the moment we are concentrating on releasing Versus XIII and Agito XIII. At the moment we have no other specific plans to release any other titles as a part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis series.

What made you decide to make Final Fantasy XIII a series, rather than a standalone title?

If you look back at the Final Fantasy series, at VII for example, this later let to Advent Children and Crisis Core. Also, for FFX, we created FFX-2 after its release. In those cases we obviously released the original title first and then created the sequel. This time we wanted to create several games in the same project from the outset.

Will there be an English demo?

We haven’t decided whether to make a demo available yet.

How much emphasis is placed on story and cutscenes in FFXIII? Do you feel it’s balanced with gameplay, or heavy on either side?

The basic playtime is about 50 to 60 hours, for the main story. Amongst which, the cutscenes make up about 10 hours. So, quite a large amount, with very high quality graphics, of course. So there’s plenty of story and gameplay to enjoy.

What will you be moving on to now that Final Fantasy XIII is finished?

At the moment we are still concentrating on finishing off and promoting the overseas version of Final Fantasy XIII, but many of the team have obviously accumulated a lot of knowledge and experience and they will be moved over to work on Versus and Agito. Personally, we don’t know what we’re going to move on to next.

How much sidequest content is there in XIII?

We call them “missions”, rather than “quests”. During the second half of the story, when the characters go down to a place called Pulse, there are many missions available there. In the majority of them the boss of the mission who you have to defeat, is more powerful than the main boss of the story. I’ve already told you that the basic playing time is 50 to 60 hours, but if you want to complete all the missions, the total time is probably twice that or more.

So what are the chances of a CG movie based on FFXIII, like Advent Children?

There are no plans at the moment, but once it is released over here and, if there are some particular characters or features that are received particularly well, then we might make a decision. And of course we need to see how it goes down sales-wise and regarding user reactions, first.

What are your feelings about the current state of the game industry in Japan, compared with the West and what Western games have you been most influenced by?

Some people have been saying that the Japanese game industry is dead, and all that… I dunno. I will say that Final Fantasy XIII is one really epic title for high definition consoles. With this game, we are going to resurrect the whole thing. As for Western games that have influenced us — FPSs mostly. The Call of Duty series, for example.

How do you feel about Yoichi Wada’s statement that Final Fantasy XIII will be the last game of its kind for Square Enix?

We don’t know exactly what he meant by that. We don’t really know what he meant by this style of game. If you consider that during Final Fantasy XIII’s development, at peak time the team consisted of over 300 people. It was a huge team, plus it took a several long years to get the game finished. So, if Mr Wada meant that we would never make another Final Fantasy title with the similar number of people, taking as long as FFXIII did, we would agree. Obviously in the future we want to be much more efficient. Having worked on XIII, we feel that we have got much better at making good games for high definition consoles. In the future our teams will be smaller and more effectively run. We suspect that is what Mr Wada meant by his statement.

The God of War HD remake for the PS3 has been very popular in the US and people in Europe are very much looking forward to it. Do you have any interest in creating an HD remake of a PS1 or PS2 Final Fantasy game?

We don’t know the details about the HD remake of God of War. If it’s just a case of attaining high resolution graphics, only, then that wouldn’t be that difficult, but if we were to achieve the same graphical standard as in XIII with a PS1 title, then that would be a huge, huge task. Almost unrealistic. Even with a PS2 title it would be difficult. In the case of God of War, there weren’t really that many characters in the game — the main character and some monsters, maybe ten people or so. That would not be unachievable. As with Final Fantasy titles in the past, like on PS1, even just the main characters amount to around 10 people. Then you have all the NPCs, you’re probably looking at about 200 characters total. All with individual textures for the skin, plus costumes, facial features and everything. That would be a really tricky job.

Will there be any New Game content in Final Fantasy XIII?

When you finish the main quest there are some growth elements of the the characters which will unlock once you’ve defeated the last boss. After this is done, you’ll be easily able to return to Pulse and take part in the many missions available there. There is no way to start the game again with your current character stats, however.

Is there a specific reason why Japanese voices were left out of the game?

For the European version, the facial expressions and lip synchronization are all lined up with the English lines, so the Japanese voices would not match up right. That was the main worry.

People are aware that there is a lot of content that has been cut from the game. Do you have any plans to use this content in the future?

You say “content” but, in reality, it’s more like “ideas”. Maybe a map was a little bit too complex and we felt like the player would get completely lost, so we simplified, or whatever. So this content won’t be coming out separately, as it has been binned.

Will there be a hard drive install available?

There is no installation, the game runs directly from the disc.

Finally, why does Sahz have a Chocobo in his hair?

What happened was, initially we only had a concept of this character being happy and jolly. Nomura designed the character and gave him an afro while, flippantly, drew a small chocobo next to him. As we looked at this, we liked the idea and the chocobo got added into the story. That’s how it happened.

On the next Game Night, we're harvesting Little Sisters and fighting Big Sisters in BioShock 2.

We record Game Night, live, every Tuesday at 5 p.m. PST, and we welcome your thoughts and comments on our message board or Twitter account. A recorded version of the show will go up Wednesday afternoon on GameVideos. For past Game Night episodes check out 1UP's Game Night hub page.

Filed under: Apple Financial, Apple

TUAWMicrosoft still beats Apple in cash and investments, for now originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Dave Matthews and Adam Sandler are at it again.  Sandler will be releasing a new film around Valentine's Day 2011 either titled "The Pretend Wife" or "Just Go With It", starring himself, Jennifer Aniston, and featuring Dave Matthews.

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It is with extremely great pleasure that I point you to the first post at the new WordPress Foundation site. Not only am I excited about the things that will happen under the auspices of the Foundation, I’m excited to see a site running the 3.0 development version and the nascent theme called 2010. Go check it out for yourself.

Shownotes:

Lots of camera news today!!!

The Olympus E-PL1 is a Micro Four Thirds camera that improves on the first two generations of PEN cameras and has a lower price.

Nikon has several releases. The COOLPIX L21 and L22 are point and shoots with electronic vibration reduction.

The COOLPIX S3000 and S4000 are also point and shoots, but have touch screens.

You get great macro shots and a built in HDR option with the COOLPIX P100.

HP upgraded the TouchSmart 600 all in one desktop PC.

I’m excited to see the Motorola DEVOUR come out. It looks like a great design and includes MOTOBLUR, Motorola’s Android-powered content delivery service.

Head on over to www.calilewis.me and check out today’s post for my current favorite iPhone app.

You can save money when using SquareSpace to design your website. Promo code GEEK will save you 12% and gives you tools that help you put the site together quickly and easily.

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This week I present a special one-hour interview feature on my band, Lovespirals. My partner, Ryan Lum, and I sit down to discuss our brand new 4th album, Future Past, and give an overview of the band’s decade-long history. We’ll be sharing every song on the album as we chat about our writing and recording process including our musical influences, album concepts, and the various stories surrounding our songs and albums.

Download audio file (chillinwithlovespirals-210375-01-29-2010.mp3)

Download Chillcast Lovespirals Feature (mp3)

Playlist:

1. “Shine” Future Past (2010)
2. “Home” Future Past (2010)
3. “This Truth” Long Way From Home (2002)
4. “Oh So Long” Windblown Kiss (2005)
5. “Hand in Hand” Free & Easy (2007)
6. “Love” Future Past (2010)
7. “Water Under the Bridge” Future Past (2010)
8. “Meanwhile, Irreplaceable Time Flees” Future Past (2010)
9. “Insignificant” Future Past (2010)
10. “Feel So Good” Future Past (2010)
11. “Rain” Future Past (2010)
12. “One of Those Days” Future Past (2010)
13. “Sinking” Future Past (2010)
14. “Believe” Future Past (2010)

Lovespirals Future Past (2010)

Purchase Links:

• Buy autographed CDs from Lovespirals Webstore
• Buy Lovespirals music on iTunes
• Buy Lovespirals music on Amazon
• Buy Lovespirals music on CDBaby

Contact Links:

• Lovespirals Official Site
• Lovespirals on Facebook
• Lovespirals on Twitter
• Chillin’ with Lovespirals Podcast

Additional Links:

• Chillcast Video World Premier of “Home” by Lovespirals
• Unwind Lovespirals & Love Spirals Downwards Artist Spotlight
• Love Spirals Downwards

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