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Indie publisher Dark Horse makes most of Dragon*Con
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jason is a proud “Trekkie” and Dragon*Con fan. He started watching “Star Trek” at four. His earliest memories are of Captain Kirk, phasers and green Orion slave girls. And, at seven, he watched “Star Wars” 19 times in one summer. “I was awed by the power and possibilities of the human imagination,” he said. His otherworldly interests include comic books, of which he has more than 4,000 spread over two states.
Marvel and DC sat out Dragon*Con this year, but indie Dark Horse was in the house.
Perplexed and searching for answers, I decided to speak to a representative from the independent publisher. At their booth, I talked to Matt Parkinson, who came all the way from the company’s home in Portland, Oregon to be here. And yet Marvel and DC can’t make the much shorter trip from New York.
Personally, I thought it was some kind of coastal bias. DC and Marvel show up in force to conventions in New York, San Diego and Chicago every year, and even attend conventions smaller than Dragon*Con’s 30,000 attendees in cities like Austin, Texas, Seattle and Philly. So, do they just not want to head into the Deep South?
Parkinson didn’t think so. He didn’t really want to try and second guess Marvel, DC or any other comic book publisher, but he says Dragon*Con has always been great for them. They started coming four years ago, and “It’s like a well kept secret. Each year it keeps getting bigger and bigger. It’s a very positive vibe, a great city”. He and I both thought that maybe it was because Dark Horse doesn’t specialize in traditional, mainstream superhero stories.
Their horror and fantasy comics—“Hellboy”, “Conan”, “Buffy”—seem to gel better with the type of dark, gothic folks who flock to Dragon*Con, and their merchandise and books apparently sell very well, and it’s also a great promotional venue for them. I don’t know. As a side note, Georges Jeanty, the artist on “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer” was at the Dark Horse booth when I stopped by there, and I think he goes to the same local comic book shop as I do.
I bumped into some family friends on the way to lunch, and kept crossing paths with them in front of the remote control, life sized mock-ups of R2 D2 and the robot from Lost in Space— complete with flashing lights and authentic sounds (“Danger, Danger Will Robinson”).
Their son loved the robots, and made them come book to the same spot six times. His dad was so impressed with the remote control robots that he took a brochure to build one of his own—only he wants to turn the bottom of it into a lawn mower. And he’s serious.
Are you happy with the comic book programming track as it is at Dragon*Con? Or would you like to see more?
Comments
By DuraMater
August 31, 2008 12:42 PM | Link to this
ACE was SO much better than this. It was big, yet intimate. The comic track seems lost.
By Steve Hicks
August 31, 2008 2:16 PM | Link to this
The programming track at Dragons.com could be better if they added dilithium crystals to the megabyte matrix thingie.
All I’m sayin’…
By cssims
September 1, 2008 9:12 AM | Link to this
AFF, the Atlanta Fantasy Fair for those that don’t remember, always had Marvel & DC. I remember seeing both Julius Schwartz and Stan Lee together on a panel. Seems odd to me that Dragon Con never had either of them up until 4 years ago. I’ve only been to Dragon Con once since they have been operating. It seems that all Dragon Con is these days is a place for everyone to party, according to several people I know that go every year.
By rowdyguy
September 1, 2008 9:40 AM | Link to this
Marvel and DC don’t feel dragoncon is a viable venue for them, it’s participants are so far removed from that genre. It’s more dress up party fun. too bad we don’t have a big comics convention in atlanta. I’ve gotten my sons involved and would love to have a fantasy fair event for them to go to. comics rock!
By Forry Ackerman
September 1, 2008 2:53 PM | Link to this
Is this lame “con” still a contributor to the [p]ED Kramer legal defense fund?
By Old Gold and blue
September 1, 2008 5:14 PM | Link to this
Man what a dragon con. Me and the group I play d&D with was able to go to the yellow jackets game on thursday and then had time to dress up as klingons and get over to the con. What a great time. Mom and Dad had alot to say when I got home about me being 35 and dressing up in a costume. But I just went down to the basement and played Halo while I waited for the world of warcraft game to load.
By Nancy
September 1, 2008 6:56 PM | Link to this
It continues to fund attacks on children everywhere; Joe and I have the proof. Everyone that attends is of suspect. Just you wait.
By Gumby
September 1, 2008 10:56 PM | Link to this
Publish your truth Nancy or step off. Better yet, step away from the crack pipe. You too, Joe.
By Eric
September 4, 2008 10:47 AM | Link to this
I had a great time at my first Dragon-Con. Interesting panels, interesting folks in costumes. I didn’t enjoy the hour-long waits in line or some of the annoying behavior of a few fellow attendees. I found it kind of sad (and weird) that the organizers stuffed the comic track in the basement with little promotion. I actually found the comic creators’ gallery by accident. The Super-Con hits the scene in November. Maybe it’ll do a better job of satisfying comic lovers.
By Captain Kirk
September 4, 2008 10:15 PM | Link to this
“Everyone that attends is of suspect.”
What does that even mean, “of suspect”? 50,000 attendees, some of whom are kids, are “suspect”? Of what?
I’m no Kramer fan, but I think you need to get the tinfoil off your head, lady.
By Perry Mason
September 4, 2008 10:24 PM | Link to this
I’m no fan of Ed Kramer myself, however something is very very wrong when it takes this long to get someone to trial.
Dragon*Con has grown to be a great con despite Ed Kramer, not because of him and I hope it will continue to grow and continue to make all of its attendees happy.
As far as Ed goes. We won’t know a damn thing for sure until he goes to trial and all the evidence is brought out in the open. Sorry ladies and gentlemen…that’s how it is in our country. Innocent until proven guilty…so quit speculating from second hand “evidence” and hearsay and let the man have his day in court. If and when he’s proven guilty, I’ll be right there with you screaming to the judge to cut his balls off.