To begin with, I really didn’t know how big a deal the New England Webcomics Weekend was until Saturday morning, when I discovered that the place was sold out for that day and I’d have to scramble to get in on Sunday. Fortunately, I discovered this on-line and not at the door, so I dropped Christopher Baldwin an email and a text (the electronic equivalent of belt-and-suspenders) and he set aside a Sunday ticket for me so I wouldn’t drive two hours and find myself on the outside looking in.

NEWW is a pretty big deal. The place was full but not crowded and the majority of cartoonists had a steady stream of fans, to the point where I felt sorry for the newcomers who weren’t well-known enough to draw a constant crowd. But people did wander by their tables to have a look and a bit of conversation, and I think they made some good new contacts over the course of the two days.

As someone who is somewhat knowledgable about the web form but more oriented towards syndicated strips, I found the conversations interesting.

Mike goes on to talk about how Howard Tayler, Dave Kellett and others approached selling books and interacting with fans.

Over the past 25 years, Mark has been involved in every aspect of comics publishing, from writing to editing to production to retail–everything short of inserting the staples in the actual comic books. He has written some of the best-selling American graphic novels of all time, including KINGDOM COME with artist and co-plotter Alex Ross, and currently serves as the Chief Creative Officer for BOOM! Studios Comics in Los Angeles.

With its contract with the San Diego Convention Center running out in that year, the convention’s board of directors has been mulling competing—and aggressive—offers from Los Angeles and Anaheim to move the world’s biggest entertainment event to facilities in those cities, bringing millions in revenues with it.

Although leaving San Diego—where temperate weather and the proximity to the vibrant Gaslamp District’s nightlife are as much a part of the Comic-Con experience as back issues and movie stars—seems unthinkable at first, the logistics of running the show have made the unthinkable a strong option, according to director of marketing and PR David Glanzer. With around 134,000 attendees—125,000 paying customers and another 9,000 exhibitors and press—the 41-year-old show is simply too big for the existing convention facility. Attendance has been capped for several years—this year’s show has been completely sold out for months—and the show has had to look for other ways to increase revenue to pay for rising costs. And despite its high-power lineup of world-class cartoonists and movie stars, Comic-Con hasn’t always had the attention from local businesses that it feels it deserved, as hotel room shortages and limited parking continue to plague Con-goers.

Friday’s Association of American Editorial Cartoonists convention started off with an panel of cartoonists from the Middle East who shared with the group some of the challenges and success in being a cartoonist in the Middle East.

Jeff Danziger and Jack Ohman

Jeff Danziger was the next presenter who was interviewed by Jack Ohman on his early career. Jeff presented a portfolio of his cartoons and commented on their impact.

Frank Swoboda and Harry Katz next spoke on the Herb Block Foundation’s efforts both in and outside of cartooning. Frank was pretty blunt when talking about how the future of editorial cartooning probably will not be in staff cartooning. The foundation is updating its rules for qualifications to allow individuals such as Mark Fiore to compete for the award.

The last session of the day was a presentation by Cristian Fleming, Anita Austin and JP Trostle on the changes to the AAEC website. The changes at this point are cosmetic but new features are planned in the future.

L-R: Jeff Danziger, Mark Fiore, David Horsey, Caroline Dijckmeester (vjmovement.com)

Later in the evening, the open-to-the-public reception and exhibit was held. AAEC members submitted editorial cartoons on the topic of urban planning for the gallery.

Also that evening was the Cartoonists Rights Network International Reception. Subjects included the disappearance of cartoonist and columnist Prageeth Eknaligoda who was abducted last August in Sri Lanka.

Ted Rall talked about how he used kickstarter.com to raise money $26,000 for his trip to Afghanistan.

Caroline Dijckmeester, Tjeerd Royaards from vjmovement.com, presented their new endeavor to create an international news bureau that creates a network of video journalists and editorial cartoonists.

Matt Bors led the panel with myself and JP Trostle about the new paradigm of journalism (think blogs and microblogs) and how to use them to spread advocacy for editorial cartooning.

Matt paneled the next discussion that features Meredith Gran, Jeff Parker and Shannon Wheeler about the vibrant cartooning community in Portland Oregon. Shannon commented how Portland is known for cartoonists and Jeff quickly chimed in “and the food carts.” Jeff also plugged his Periscope Studios, a collective of cartoonists, illustrators, writers, concept designers, graphic novelists, and storyboard artists. Other such collectives exist in Portland and the network of artists makes a freelance career possible.

Powellapalooza presenters L-R Joel Pett, Matt Bors, Jeff Danziger, Mike Thompson, Ted Rall, David Horsey and Rob Rogers

The last official event of the day was the Powellapalooza – a free to the public event at Powell’s book store. The event was standing room only as Steve Kelley, Mike Thompson, Dave Horsey, Jeff Danziger, Ted Rall, Matt Bors, Rob Rogers, Joel Pett, Rex Babin and Mike Thompson cartoonists gave quick presentations of some of their best work. The crowd was very enthusiastic and asked a fair number of questions at the Q and A at the end. When asked about when editorial cartooning began, Jack Ohman, who emcee’d the event, called up V. Cullum Rogers who gave a quick and engaging response to the art form.

Mark Fiore (L) talking with David Horsey after Powellpalooza

Milt Priggee and Daryl Cagle

» An “Iron Giant” reunion on is slated for October 23rd where animators and directors of the classic “Iron Giant” film will gather to discuss the movie and the art of animation. Tickets are required to attend.

» The New York Times has a piece on how Pixar created a 3-D version of Toy Story 1 and 2. (h/t: theanimationblog.com)

Comic Con

» Heidi MacDonald reports that 4-day membership passes to San Diego Comic-con is already sold out two months after this years event.

Exhibits

» Tom Richmond has posted a write-up of his attendance at the Bernt Toast Gang Show

Interviews

» Scott Nickel has more interviews: Benita Epstein and Guy Gilchrist

» Tom Racine interviews graphic novelist Phil Foglio.

Webcomics

» Danielle Corsetto’s Girls with Slingshots hit the five year mark.

Clarification: I lazily used “several attendees” above to describe the number of attendees at this year’s Expo. According to gamespot.com, the event had more than 58,500 attendees in 2008 and this year was reportedly sold out. It’s a big production no doubt. No sleight was intended to the Penny Arcade guys or their fans.

First off, there is not one, not two, not three but FOUR guest speakers, all from MAD Magazine:

Sam Viviano- Longtime MAD artist and current art director
Mark Fredrickson- Frequent MAD cover artist, former airbrush demigod and current digital painting master
Hermann Mejia- The brilliant “artist’s artist” for MAD, caricaturist, painter, sculptor, genius
Tom Richmond- My humble self

See his blog for further details – especially about the part that allows non-members to attend the presentations.