Although The Beat had a sensible evening spent filing stories and getting some sleep, many of the folks gathered in Chicago took advantage of the St. Patrick’s Day holiday and had themselves a good old time last night. There are a lot of dark glasses and questions over what actually happened today.
Despite the challenges, there was a big turnout for this morning’s Diamond Retailer Summit breakfast, sponsored by IDW, Dark Horse and DC. IDW talked about their Transformers, GI Joe. and Locke and Key plans among other things, including their Dungens and Dragons comics.
Dark Horse promoted their Star Wars line, explaining why last year was the biggest year since Episode III for the venerable franchise.
DC had a short presentation that stressed the importance of their Green Lantern program, and announced expanded co-op dollars — including reimbursement for Facebook and blog advertising — and new printings for several popular Absolute editions, including WATCHMEN, which will be available in time for the holidays.
Once the show opened, there was a decent turnout for the “professional programming,” including a packed house for Toby Greenwalt’s Heralds of Change: Comic Books, Libraries, and Innovation panel which talked about how GNs are changing library collections.
At 1 the regular crowd was let in — it was many more than last year, and there were more costumes to be seen, but it was about a typical Friday for a show — lots of schmoozortunities. The local promotion seems to have paid off however — C2E2 was trending on Twitter in Chicago for much of the day and even nationally.
The show expects four times as many people tomorrow — so batten down for a busy day, Thor and all.
Thanks for mentioning my presentation, Heidi. Libraries are constantly on the lookout for new ways to team up with other groups. That includes everyone involved in the comics world.
If anyone would like to see the slides from the talk, I’ve got them posted on my site:
http://www.theanalogdivide.com/2011/03/heralds-of-change-comic-books-libraries-and-innovation/
Thanks again for coming to the talk!
I’d just like to say that the speed dating event was really a big highlight of the first day of the con. It wasn’t something I expected to see at a comic book convention, but it was an enjoyable experience a participant. I’d say it’s a useful public service, even.
Very strong show – the big story, that sums it up for me, was at the end of the show on Sunday, when the lights were dimmed (to signal closing time) the crowd spontaneously clapped! Kudo’s to all involved who made this an awesome show.
Word on the floor at SPACE was that some of the folks who went to SPACE last year were at C2E2. Who really knows, tho Columbus definitely lost a few exhibitors to Chicago, from what some folks told me.
Looks like an impressive event, tho, so I’m not surprised.
@EdCatto wait… like, Speed Dating for real or some sort of editor/agent/meets/writers&artists kinda thing?
Brady, eagerly awaiting your SPACE report!
Speed dating was real and it was fun. I don’t know what anyone else thought about it but my match and I had a good time all weekend.
The China Mienville and Webcomics panels were highlights for me. The fact that C2E2 has panels LIKE China Mienville and multiple webcomics panels, as well panels of academic interest is a big part of the appeal. I can honestly say that the only panels I’ve ever visited at a Wizard show were to see Kevin Smith.