SCHWAPP!!!: NYCC Is Fun Thus Far

I was just running around like an idiot for much of my first few hours at the convention. Let's see:

Watched the online journalism panel. Kinda weird to watch Matt Brady sit next to Heidi MacDonald, seeing as how she never did print a retraction for her story saying Joe Quesada left Newsarama because Matt broke an embargo. Matt, Heidi, and Jonah did say they have a sort of friendship that can explain how they occasionally piss one another off and then smooth it all over.
The panel seemed to range from neutral to harshly negative on viral marketing. Matt Brady found it distasteful and the sites present all indicated that they didn't treat Marvel_b0y as actual news, but blog and gossip fodder instead.
Went to the Editor's Buzz panel. Accidentally set Didio up to take a bit of a veiled shot at Marvel's viral marketing. There was a lull in audience questions, so I asked the panel about viral marketing's place in their publishing.
Skipped over to the Mondo Marvel panel and stood in the back. Joe Quesada, Jim McCann, Dan Slott, and Tom Brevoort...hmmmm. Wonder if at least Greg Pak might think I'm a decent guy...I did laud PLANET HULK to the extent that it rated a blurb on his site. ;)
Mark Waid was announced as joining the Brand New Day gang. It wasn't specified as to the length of his run with the crew, but it drew a big response from the crowd. It added to the list of people somehow involved in the panel that don't like me.
After deciding NOT to walk up to the front row halfway through the Mondo Marvel panel, I left for the Women in Comics panel. Figured that would be a much more substantive panel and it was. It did make me realize I'm old, though. And hated.
Becky Cloonan, in answering a question about whether she considers her work to have any feminism to it, said that she really didn't experience any difficulties from being a woman, because of the work of women like those in Gail Simone's family tree that worked so hard for equality. If this had been the Black Panel and a younger creator said something similar that implied the struggle was 100% over, they would have taken some heat...and rightfully so. Not a peep here. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with Becky for saying that, but I think it would be worth pointing out that some still experience problems.
It was funny to see Becky Cloonan mention that she felt it was weird that there are Women in Comics panels when there aren't and haven't been anything similar for race, like Blacks in Comics...only to have to be corrected that there have been (at several SDCCs and last year's NYCC) in addition to one happening that night at the con. Again, nothing wrong with her not realizing she was wrong about that...but it was still funny.
One of the last audience questions at the panel was directed to Shelly Bond. Completely unrelated to the topic of the panel, the fan wondered why a creator like Matt Wagner would feel that he had to do a Madame Xanadu at Vertigo with a Mature Reader's label even when it is clear that the book won't earn the rating due to sex or violence. It was difficult for the fan to get across exactly what he meant, but the end result was Shelly saying that she feels that Matt will be flexing his creativity in a way that will fit the label regardless of the presence of violence or sex.
BTW, it was a crime that this panel happened at the same time as the WOMEN OF SCIENCE FICTION (or whatever the panel was named) went on across the hallway. The two non-controversial female-focused panels forced to compete for an audience? Ugh.
Stepped into the Secret Invasion panel for a second. Saw that Christos Gage had joined the panel. Good writer. He taught me the lesson that a creator you meet at a con won't necessarily remember you after you talk comics for an hour at a pub and buy 'im a beer after the open bar closes at CB Cebulski's bash. Guy meets a lot of people. With his Hollywood work, maybe one or two more than a regular comic book writer (perhaps more than that, Kev).
Stopped in the press room and completed my registration for a press badge. It's a bigger room this year, which is nice. Not extremely bigger, but it is noticeable.
Went to the DC Nation panel. Started late because the Secret Invasion panel ran over. Not a bad panel. Darkseid as definitely being the big bad in Final Crisis "slipped" out. It really seemed to be a slip, but the marketing seems to already indicate that Darkseid is the main heavy. Power Girl's solo series was revealed. The coming of a "Wonder Woman that is a man" was mentioned. Geoff (not Geoff Johns, just Geoff) indicated that he and James Robinson will be giving Superman the same treatment that he and Tomasi gave the Green Lantern books through the Sinestro Corps event.
After the panel, I spoke with Peter Tomasi about how much I enjoyed the Black Adam mini-series. This led to us calling to order the meeting of DOUG MAHNKE ADMIRERS, basically. Spent a good deal of time talking about how perfect Doug's work on the mini was, how difficult it is to put into words the way he can capture a script perfectly with his pencils, and having a good body of work.
Stopped by the WOMEN WHO KICK ASS panel (as mentioned in an earlier blog). I'm still stunned that the panel had more hosts (three; the entire THE STACK crew) than guests (Amanda Conner and Jenna Jameson). IMO (and I could be wrong), it screamed of three guys who couldn't decide which would get to host the panel with the porn star so they all did it.
Attended THE BLACK PANEL. It had the biggest room (the same that the major Marvel and DC panels use), but an even worse scheduling than last year, I believe. If memory serves, last year it started a half hour earlier. Michael Davis and Denys Cowan rode herd over the panel this year, with Mike Gold, Cheryl Lynn Eaton, and Rashida Lewis. I was there for a good portion of the panel before deciding that I'd really like to document some of the panel later. Once I throw the recording on my laptop to transcribe, I'll have some of the pearls of wisdom. As of right now, all I can remember is that Mr. Davis is apparently fighting with someone and very complimentary to audience members without a Y chromosome. ;)