Saturday at the New York Comic-con

This story originally appeared in PW Comics Week on February 27, 2007 Sign up now!

by Sara Feightner, Will Moss and Laura Hudson, PW Comics Week -- Publishers Weekly, 2/27/2007

Brian K. Vaughan.

Saturday's panels ranged from the impact of comics publishing on entertainment media in general to the nature of the graphic novel audience and comics aimed at African-Americans.

At the DC-sponsored panel, "Crossing Over: How the Comics Boom Is Changing Entertainment," John Cunningham, v-p of marketing, brought together a group of writers from diverse backgrounds to discuss the increasing crossover of creative talent and audiences from other entertainment mediums to the comics world, and vice versa. Panelists ran the gamut from guest of honor Brian K. Vaughan, author of Pride of Baghdad and now an executive story editor on the hit TV series Lost, to rapper and convicted drug dealer Percy Carey (aka M.F. Grimm), whose autobiography, Sentences: The Life of MF Grimm, will be released by Vertigo later this year.

Panelists speculated on the mainstream public's ever growing appetite for comics and graphic novels. "I think it's largely because of how good comics are these days," speculated Vaughan. "It's really a golden age in the quality of comics." Marc Bernardin, senior editor at Entertainment Weekly and current scribe of Wildstorm's new miniseries The Highwayman, credited TV shows like Fox's 24 and Lost for bringing comics-style visual storytelling to a wider audience. "The culture is now at a place where comics and serial storytelling are commonplace."

Paul Dini, the Emmy award-winning producer behind the Batman and Superman animated series, pointed out that as Hollywood and television have tapped into the comics industry for content, they have brought older readers back to the medium. "It's not something readers leave behind anymore," said Dini. "The comics have sort of grown with them." At the same time, the industry is reaching out to the next generation of potential comics fans. The PLAIN Janes creator Cecil Castellucci, who wrote several young adult novels including Queen of Cool and Boy Proof, discussed being tapped to write the first title in DC's new teen-targeted Minx line. "I think there will definitely be a crossover audience," said Castellucci of her YA fans. "Naturally people are going to gravitate toward great stories."

PLAIN Janes artist Jim Rugg (l.)
and writer Cecil Castellucci.

Panelists agreed that those holy grails of mainstream entertainment—Oprah and Wal-Mart—are within reach for the comics industry. "At some point that big cultural leap is going to happen," said Bernardin. But Vaughan cautioned comics publishers against sacrificing their creative edge in the process. "When you get to the Oprah level, you're dealing with appealing to as general an audience as possible," he said, while a small and dedicated audience gives creators the chance to experiment and focus on storytelling. "Your audience may be only 30,000 people, but it's the best 30,000."

At another panel, "Who Reads Graphic Novels—Who Doesn't!" Mark Siegel, editorial director of First Second Books, called graphic novels "the place where art is happening right now," and praised their diverse range of philosophies, readers, genres and themes. He suggested that the medium is in the midst of a "perfect storm," fueled by the interest of publishing houses, a "storm" of creativity from creators and growing media awareness.

Also on this panel, DC v-p of marketing John Cunningham agreed, pointing out that "last year [DC] sold more [copies of] Watchmen than the last four years combined." He suggested that despite the resistance of some book retailers, consumer demand will trump any reluctance to stock graphic novels. "They'll either get over that, or they'll die," said Cunningham.

Mark Seigel (First Second)
and Chris Staros (r.) of Top Shelf.

Top Shelf Publisher Chris Staros sang the praises of librarians, attributing much of the growth in graphic novels since 2000 to their efforts. "They're starting to get brave," said Staros, citing librarians who were creating graphic novel sections for teens, and even some who were stocking more adult material, like Alan Moore's sexually explicit Lost Girls. He suggested that the industry should do more to appeal to all ages and echoed Cunningham's remarks about the need for more shelf space from book retailers. Indeed, in a Friday panel, "Kids Comics: The Category Waiting to Explode," Janna Morishima, director of Diamond's Kids Group, said Barnes & Noble has plans to create graphic novel sections within the children's sections of their stores. "If you distribute it," said Staros, "they will come."

At the black panel, the Wu Tang Clan's Prodigal Sunn; Denys Cowan, BET v-p and a highly regarded comics artist; Blokhedz creators Michael and Mark Davis; Michael Davis, creator of the religion superhero comics, the Guardian Line; and BET president Reggie Hudlin, among others, were on hand to discuss the current face of black comics. Topics included the influence of Asian culture on black culture and how new creators can go about getting their voices heard.

Hudlin, who scripted the controversial marriage of the Black Panther to Storm for Marvel, said he is working on a rewrite of his proposed P-Funk graphic novel. Asked if the newly married Black Panther and Storm would be having kids anytime soon, Hudlin said, "No comment. But the point of being king and queen is to have heirs, so it's inevitable that it will occur."

Asked about the possibility of BET publishing comics, Hudlin said he's busy creating an animation department and a feature film department, among other projects at BET, "so give me a minute."