Word: graphics
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Proving the continued explosion of interest in comics, graphic novels and related pop-culture media, The Comic Con International wrapped up last weekend with the biggest attendance in its 35 year history. Breaking last year's record numbers, the San Diego con, as it is better known, had an official count of 87,000 attendees over four days, with an exhibit hall that stretched a half mile with 7,500 people registered as exhibitors. TIME.comix wore comfortable shoes and scoped out the action...
...great pleasures of conventioneering is finding books you would otherwise never see. This year San Diego yielded two surprises. Sam Hiti's self-published "End Times - Tiempos Finales," is the first of a projected nine-volume series of graphic novels. Thanks to a Xeric grant, the fund that assists new comix creators, the professional-looking 116-page, square bound, three-color book was priced to move at a mere $10. The quick-paced story involves a Spanish-speaking demon-hunter named Mario Roman, who, summoned by the prayers of a plagued town, battles a giant monster. Well above average...
...spite of its critical nature, the speech was met with strong applause. Highlights of the awards included Derek Kirk Kim's Talent Deserving Wider Recognition (see TIME.comix review), Vertical Inc.'s "Buddha" for Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material (see TIME.comix review), and Craig Thompson's "Blankets" for Best Graphic Album - New (see TIME.comix review). The jaw-dropping lowlight had to have been the award for Best Graphic Album - Reprint, which industry voters passed over Jim Woodring, Chester Brown, Chris Ware and Gilbert Hernandez to give to an utterly outclassed collection of "Batman Adventures" stories...
...near future. They have also begun soliciting gay comics creators for a series of shonen-ai books - the gay-themed soapers that traditionally appeal to girls. Pantheon will be publishing Dan Clowes' "Eightball" #22, the "Leopold and Loeb" issue, with all new material, fleshing it out to a full graphic novel. The artist known only as Rebecca, author of the porno series "Housewives at Play," is actually Fantagraphics' highest-paid author, with sales at least equaling that of FG's top-selling "legit" cartoonist Dan Clowes. Who knew? Though some hard-core comixcenti object to its crassness, I find...
...crackles with self-loathing and pop-culture smarts and crawls with the kind of weirdo loners Clowes portrayed so well in Ghost World. Every frame is like a melancholy miniature Daumier, rendered in pulpy primary colors. If you're wondering what all the fuss is about comic books--sorry, graphic novels--check out Clowes. Nobody does them better...