Monitor Duty by Randy Lander "San Diego 2002 - Part One" This year was, as you've all heard reported by now, the biggest year ever for the San Diego Con. I haven't heard official numbers, but the 70,000 figure has been bandied about, which is simply mind-boggling when you consider that most comics don't even sell half of that these days. This year was a big year for me as well, as I got to see one of my own comics stories in print, and I had made a fair bit of plans ahead of time for which booths to hit, which creators I wanted to catch up to and say hi to, which panels I wanted to go to and which books I wanted to pick up. Like most battle plans, it didn't survive contact with the enemy. The enemy being a limited amount of time and an enormous amount of space. Even with five days (counting Preview Night), there's never enough time in San Diego. Staying until the end on Sunday, however, did finally let me leave town with a feeling of being just about ready to go, rather than the feeling I usually have, that I'd like the Con to last just one more day. I actually only attended three of the panels out of the dozen or so I had intended to see. I went to see the Alias panel, only to find that one of the announced stars and several of the rumored ones hadn't been able to make it due to changed shooting schedules, but it was still interesting to hear anecdotes about the series from the creator, J.J. Abrams, as well as producers and writers of the show and one of the actors. I briefly attended the DC Collected Editions panel, only to be disappointed (and leave angry about halfway through) when it became clear that the moderators were more interested in discussing the contents of hypothetical Boy Commandos archives than actually discussing why classic (and more saleable) material like George Perez's Wonder Woman or trades of Birds of Prey (soon to be a TV show, you might have heard) weren't available. By far the best panel of the Con was the Milestone retrospective on Sunday. I got to finally meet Dwayne McDuffie in person, and though we didn't hear as much juicy gossip about the early and later days of Milestone as I'd hoped, the panel was a lot of fun. Michael Davis, in particular, is just hysterical, and made for a lively and funny hour. I had one meeting during my time at the Con that was actually scheduled, and that was with Gutsoon! Entertainment, the folks who are going to be producing Raijin, a weekly manga anthology for America. Unlike Viz's Shonen Jump (equally exciting for what it represents), this anthology seems to be aimed at an older audience, and the diversity of genre is impressive. They have some unusual material, including the story of a dandy samurai (Keiji), a conspiracy tale (Encounter), a comedic future bounty-hunter story (Bomber Girl), an eerily prescient story about terrorism (Revenge of Mouflon), a very popular sports comic (Slam Dunk) and my personal favorite, a political story (The First President of Japan). That doesn't include future offerings like Grappler Baki, supposedly the most realistic martial arts manga in existence, or Fist of the Blue Sky, a precursor to the popular Fist of the North Star. Basically, I'm excited about the possibilities of Raijin. You can find out more at their website. The rest of my Con was spent meeting people and spending money. I found plenty of comics in San Diego, and while some of them will be or have been reviewed in regular reviews, in order to get to all of them, I need to tackle some of them in column form. Thus, this column, which is probably part one of two or three. Suburban Folklore (www.Ourobor.com) by Steven Walters - Suburban Folklore has its flaws, but it's an enjoyable read with some great insight into human nature. Walters's artwork is sometimes a bit rough, with uneven designs for his characters and storytelling that isn't easy to follow... and the lettering is the biggest problem, as it is often impossible to tell which character is speaking. However, while the story isn't terribly strong visually, it has plenty to offer in terms of characterization and observation of life. The hypocrisy we all indulge in when we're working in customer service, being angry at folks on whichever side of the counter we're not on, is shown through a visit to the comic shop and then to the grocery store where Nate works. The harsh dividing line between friendship and love, especially when both people don't feel the same way, is demonstrated in the first story with Nate and Samantha. And the realities of abuse come through quite clearly in the second story. I think Walters could use a little more focus and an editor to cut down on some extraneous dialogue (not to mention clearer lettering to make the remaining dialogue more readable), but this book has plenty of potential. You can take a look at a three-page sample on Walters's very cool website. G.I. Spy (www.matthaley.com) by Andrew Cosby and Matt Haley - I've long been a fan of Matt Haley's work, and if there's any justice in the comics industry, we'll be seeing G.I. Spy from Cosby and Haley land at a publisher soon. The sneak preview ashcan is mostly character sketches and teaser text on the series, which would be an action-filled espionage/World War II story that strikes me as James Bond meets Indiana Jones and Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. It looks remarkably cool, and just the potential in the story has convinced me to try out Haunted, the TV show that is being produced by writer Andrew Cosby on UPN in the Fall. You can check out an image from G.I. Spy, as well as plenty of other upcoming Haley projects, at his website. Darkminds: Macropolis #1-3 (www.dreamwaveprod.ca) - I had the pleasure of meeting Chris Sarracini, writer of Transformers: Generation One, in San Diego, and he handed me copies of Darkminds: Macropolis, the book he writes with art by Jo and Christina Chen. I like the Chen's artwork and Sarracini's writing, but I was a bit wary of Macropolis, as I had bought the first trade of Darkminds and not been all that impressed with it. Happily, Darkminds: Macropolis is much more enjoyable, a creepy serial killer story wrapped in cyberpunk style, and I found my experience with the Darkminds characters to make the story easy to get into. Sarracini has great pacing, and he veers between action sequences and creepy exposition with ease. The Chen sisters also do a phenomenal job of showing the vast urban landscape of the Darkminds world, while also bringing us in to the close and personal story of a mad killer stalking a top detective. Darkminds: Macropolis is part science-fiction, part crime and part horror, and I was surprised to learn how much I enjoyed it and am now anxiously awaiting part four. More information about Darkminds can be found at the Dreamwave Productions website. That's it for this installment. I've got plenty more to tackle, so expect to see another piece like this soon, maybe next week, maybe later in this week. To see part two, click HERE. 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