The programming for San Diego Comic Con 2013 is starting to go up; Thursday’s schedule appeared yesterday afternoon, and I expect Friday’s later today. In past years, I’ve gone through searching specifically for content relating to, and featuring creators of, the webcomics that are the focus of this page. That was usually good for distilling down to a solid 12 — 15 items per year, put up all at once.

Not doin’ that this year, in part because I wouldn’t be able to put it up until Monday (I’m expecting Saturday and Sunday programming to drop over the weekend), and in part because “webcomics” as a topic isn’t very easy to separate out. Oh, there’s a tag for Web, but the term has expanded so broadly that anything that has a website gets the designation.

In a way, I think this means that “webcomics” won — they’re no longer off in their own designation, everything overlaps with the internet; so instead I’m looking for items of interest to the independent creators that retain ownership in their work and look for things that may be of interest. I’ve also pulled a few items that I felt were worthy of commentary. Onwards.

Thursday Programming
Bringing Digital Comics into Schools and Libraries
12:30pm – 1:30pm Room 24ABC
Not sure why the focus is on digital comics rather than comics in general; creators, this is someplace you should want to get your work and since digital is now an option, that reduces the barrier to entry of schools and libraries wanting heavy-duty binding which might not be in your budget.

Gender in Comic Books
1:00pm – 2:00pm Room 28DE
Interesting balance: longtime industry dudes (Mark Waid, George Pérez) mixed with ladies who’ve made careers very quickly (Kelly Sue Deconnick, Grace Randolph, Meredith Gran). I’m not sure if the choice of panelists is due to demographics, or if it’s a comment on something I’ve believed for a decade now: the future of comics is dependent on the women who will create and read them.

Insights for Independent Creators
1:00pm – 2:00pm Room 9
I’ll be at the gender panel; this one caught my eye because it’s part one of a two-part discussion that (if I’m reading the descriptions correctly) starts out talking about indy comic creation so that you can leverage it into movies. I’m getting kind of sick of the I want to do movies so I’ll use comics as a stepping stone trope.

Digital Development and Marketing Your Comic, Web Series, App or Game: Kickstarter
1:30pm – 2:30pm Room 8
Surprisingly, George Rohac is not on this panel.

Cartoon Hangover: Bravest Warriors, Bee and Puppycat, and Friends
2013 2:00pm – 3:00pm Room 28DE
Lots of webcomics creators intersect with the Cartoon Hangover projects. Please do not ask Ian Jones-Quartey when he’s bringing back RPG World.

Integrating Comics into the Common Core
3:30pm – 4:30pm Room 26AB
Remember what we said up above about digital comics vs comics in general in schools and libraries? Panel includes :01 Books manager Gina Gagliano, which automatically means this is worth your time.

Spotlight on Jeff Smith
4:00pm – 5:00pm Room 9
This is what a twenty-year independent comics career looks like.

Bizarre? Queer? Perfect: Taming the Wild Webcomics Frontier
5:00pm – 6:00pm Room 28DE
Looks like a good set of panelists but sadly, no Erika Moen.

Webcomics Advocates: The Webcomics Gathering
5:00pm – 6:00pm Room 32AB
Quoting here: [T]hey will give any webcomic creators in the audience 30 seconds to promote their comic to the crowd.

Making a Living in Manga: New Trends Worth Watching
5:30pm – 6:30pm Room 26AB
Quoting again: As a generation of North American comics fans who grew up with manga aspire to become comics creators, they’re bumping up against a glass ceiling: a lack of paying publishing options for their work. But a new wave of manga-inspired creators are finding new ways to get published and get paid.
Emphasis on those last two words added by me. Moderated by Brigid Alverson, so it’ll be smart and well-run.

Comic-Con How-To: Kickstartering the Heart
6:00pm – 7:00pm Room 2
Okay, I’m going to quote the entire description to this one and then come back with a question for everybody. Ready? Here we go:

Siike Donnelly and Matt Hawkins — along with guest panelists Olivia Peterson, Jon Schnepp, and Joshua Levy — give you a look into the process of running and promoting a Kickstarter campaign. Learn how to reach your audience directly and put your dream project into the hands of many. Discover the ups, downs, and rewards of believing in your work.

Now the question: Why should you listen to these people? The description doesn’t tell me who any of them are or why I should believe anything they have to say. Google searches are of slight help here, as I believe that Donnelly is an occasional contributor to Bleeding Cool, Schnepp a Hollywood producer, and I have no idea about Hawkins, Peterson, and Levy because the names aren’t distinct enough. I’m hoping that the panel members aren’t the ones that wrote the description, because whoever did can’t speak to effective promotions at all.

Indie Comics Marketing and PR 101
6:30pm – 7:30pm Room 8
Maybe whoever wrote the description for that last panel needs to sit in on this one. Yes, I’m still mad about it.

Family Feud: The Comics Blogging Panel
7:00pm – 8:00pm Room 23ABC
Featuring The Spurge, Heidi Mac, Tony Isabella, Alexa Dickman, and Rich Johnston. Contrary to a rumor that I just made up, the special surprises in the description do not include a cameo appearance by me.

Holliston: Inside the Laughs, Screams, Metal, and Geekery!
8:30pm – 9:30pm Room 24ABC
Two words, everybody: Oderus Urungus.

And, because it will always be mentioned here at Fleen:

The Sergio and Mark Show
2:30pm – 3:30pm Room 8
Sergio Aragonés, Mark Evanier, Stan Sakai, and Tom Luth. For when you need to feel good about life again.