Conventions
Funny Books
and Funny Looks: A Day at Comiket 76
Written by:
Fernando Ramos
It was a
suspiciously quiet, dark morning.
Having done
an all-nighter in Akihabara, there was a quiet yet unmistakable tension in the
air. All of the numerous internet cafes were fully sold-out and we were just
part of the numerous wanderers lounging around the PC shops looking for a place
to stay. Being one of the few places in Tokyo to actually have all the shops
closed at night, it was an oddly quiet walk in the ward usually packed with
chirping maids and thousands of tourists bumbling about. No matter, though.
Just had to be patient to wait an hour or three for the first train to ride by.
Once the train took off, the mayhem began. All before sunrise, legions of otaku crammed into one train car after another, large cases in tow. Tokyo is already one of the crowded cities in the world. However, normally there is a certain orderliness to it all. On an ordinary day, people would never dare run off a crowded train.
Convention
Coverage: San Diego Comic-Con 2009
The Day and the Life of a Comic-Con Volunteer
By: Jd Banks
The largest comic-related convention in the United States
took place in San Diego, California, and I was one of thousands of attendees to
enjoy the scheduled festivities.
The first day, I arrived at the San Diego Convention Center
around noon. I normally picked 12 o’clock as my arrival time because it meant
most convention-goers were somewhere in the city munching away at food. Less
people meant shorter lines! I went to check in at the Volunteers booth, and
ironically, they ran out of volunteer assignments. Still, they issued me a free
badge into the convention.
Comic-Con requires volunteers to work a 3-hour shift in exchange for convention attendance. Every volunteer was required to register before the cap-off in late May, and upon reporting to the convention, assignments needed to be scheduled early. Every day, I jumped into a long line of waiting volunteers for the next day’s volunteer shifts around 1 PM. Other than collecting assignments and completing the 3-hour shifts, I was free to spend my day at the convention.
Convention
Coverage: Anime Expo 2009
By: Joshua Valencia
Anime Expo is the largest anime fan convention in the
country, and as such, it would be expected that there would be some sort of
hype. When AX 09 came and went, I came away with the feeling of the convention
being only slightly above average.
That said, this year’s Anime Expo was definitely an
interesting one. The large amount of panels and Guests of Honor attributed to a
more diverse selection of what fans can look forward to.
There were a few panels that I liked and a few panels that I didn’t really care for. To start off, the Indecent Otaku Comedy Hour was, by far, the best panel at Anime Expo. I didn’t know what to expect. Hell, my main reason for going was to support Anime Genesis, Anime Diet and Dancing Queen. Seeing the awesome opening video, the enthusiastic crowd screaming for prizes, and the great musical performance by Makenai was a highlight of my AX experience. The only thing that disappointed me was that there wasn’t enough of the Indecent Otaku Comedy Hour.
DAY 2:
Del Ray Manga:
Del Ray chooses to play it safe this year given the economic situation, though not nearly to the degree that Vertical Publishing chose to (e.g., two Black Jack editions and a plethora of sudoku and o’ekaki volumes). Immediately upon introduction of their “new acquisitions”, Del Ray noted that they are “very proud to the publisher of CLAMP in the United States”, setting the stage for a slew of CLAMP stuff which, for the most part, is not original content (a Tsubasa art book and xxxHoLiC: The Official Guide). However, besides these safe and rather obvious additions to the Del Ray library, we see the release of Clamp in America, written by one of the editors at Del Ray, which could present an interesting look at the collaboration between CLAMP and Del Ray over the years.
