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Yeah, Can’t Think Of A Title To Keep The Theme Going

Looks like the weekend at San Diego Comics Con is gonna be quiet compared to Thursday/Friday; not that there’s any less programming per se, just that the descriptions provided didn’t reach out and grab me or seem particularly relevant to the purpose of this page¹.


Saturday Programming

Comic Book Law School 303: A Helping Hand
10:30am — 12:00pm, Room 11

And the legal lessons conclude with fan-centered issues: Fair Use, fanfiction, fanart, fanfilms, and fansuchlike.

Real Life On The Page
12:00pm — 1:00pm, Room29AB

With (all together now) Box Brown, who really can talk about other things, a discussion of history and education topics. Moderated by NPR’s Petra Mayer, the panel includes MK Reed, Alison Wilgus, Tillie Walden, and Landis Blair.

BOOM! Studios: Discover Yours
12:30pm — 1:30pm, Room 24ABC

I mentioned a stealth BOOM! panel on Thursday, and here’s an overt one (also featuring John Allison), and the offer still stands: one dollar American cash money to anybody that asks why BOOM! pays so poorly and (perhaps more importantly) so late. Filip Sablik, president of BOOM! publishing and marketing will be present, so this is probably your best chance to speak truth to power.

Superheroes and Comics Can Transform Learning
1:00pm — 2:00pm, Shiley Special Events Suite, San Diego Central Library

Lots of variations on this theme from year to year, but how many feature Jorge Cham? Sadly, his We Have No Idea co-author, Daniel Whiteson, doesn’t appear to be part of the panel.

Unconventional Comics
1:30pm — 2:30pm, Room 8

Did you know that there are comics without superheroes? (I am paraphrasing the original description only slightly) Gemma Correll, Melanie Gillman, Simon Hanselman, and R Sikoryak in conversation with Cartoon Art Museum curator Andrew Farago.

Spotlight On Box Brown
3:00pm — 4:00pm, Room 4

Like this, for example: Box Brown’s a huge wrestling fan, and the interview for this session will be conducted by Uproxx’s pro wrestling editor, Brandon Stroud. Let Box Brown stretch his conversational legs!


Sunday Programming

Steven Universe: Art & Origins
10:00am — 11:00am, Room 29AB

What’s this? A small scale Steven Universe discussion? Rebecca Sugar, Ian J-Q, and zero voice talent? I think I just found my new must-see panel.

The Not-Keenspot Panel
I always mention the Keenspot panel, but when the title talks about how your Bobby Crosby-helmed YouTube show is taking over the Keenspot panel slot? Yeah, no, calling shenanigans on that. You can find it easily enough, though — it’s the actual, literal last panel in the programming list.
[Editor’s note: Keenspot impressario Chris Cosby disagrees with my characterization; you may find his rebuttal below in the comments.]


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¹ For example, an hour with Duff Goldman? I’d be all over that, but it doesn’t have much to do with webcomics, y’see.

Incredibly dumb thing to call “shenanigans” on considering Keenspot’s publishing a comic book series based on the SOFTBALL videos from Bobby Crosby’s YouTube channel written by Bobby Crosby and the first issue hit stores less than two weeks ago, making it the most relevant and recent Keenspot-related thing to discuss during the Keenspot panel: https://www.comixology.com/Softball-1/digital-comic/543943

Hey, Chris — long time.

The Keenspot panel has, for many years, been a line-wide celebration of all things Keen. The title (YouTube’s Softball Crew Takes Over Keenspot 2017) and description place Keenspot in a decidedly subordinate position to a video series with a single issue (so far) of a tie-in Keen comic. A single project that is dominantly not a comic, has been placed in the spotlight with the rest of the line’s offerings reduced to an Also on the panel quasi-afterthought?

From an outside observer’s standpoint, that’s decidedly shenanigan-worthy. And hey, not my company so I am not saying you can’t do whatever you want with your positioning or session descriptions. I sure as heck get to point out when it makes no sense from this side of the screen.

Well, you apparently haven’t been paying very close attention. In recent years we’ve regularly used our panel title and description to put a SPOTlight on the most potentially popular thing we have to promote that particular year to get butts in the seats. Because of that, we not only had a standing room only crowd last year but we had to turn away hundreds of people despite being the final panel on the con schedule.

This year the spotlight is on the SOFTBALL comic book, and by extension the real-life stars of that comic book. We’re giving away thousands of copies at the booth and every panel attendee is getting a free copy. And there’s only a single issue because it’s NEW, it just came out two weeks ago. It’s an ongoing series.

That said, the title is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, and there will be significant attention paid to the rest of the creators on the panel. The Softball Crew will be essentially acting as hosts of the panel, the same way Markiplier has in years past.

Incidentally, the YouTube video where the SOFTBALL comic book was first announced at last year’s con currently has 708,449 views: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASUB2FPC9lk

And if you stay tuned to the end of that video, you can see a few minutes of last year’s Keenspot panel.

Still think calling “shenanigans” on focused promotional marketing that spotlights a hot new title launch from the company is dumb, but you’re welcome to your opinion, of course.

(Sorry I littered one of your pristine posts with a comment!)

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