Sunday, well, Sunday- the last day of Comic Con.

This isn’t me, but it could have been. Frankly, this zombie cutie looks better than I did on Sunday.

After that I wandered back into Hall H and eventually came across SLG. I was looking for Karl Christian, but he’d already blown. I did find two charming men from Australia, Jason Franks and J Marc Schmidt. Here they are with their latest comic project through SLG, The Sixsmiths

And here’s J Marc Schmidt with his book, “Secrets of Popular Culture,” not published through SLG, but still very cool.

I wandered off and the next time I looked up I was staring at Mike Wellman, which is always nice.

He’s still publishing his comics and writing comics for others. But he recently edited and published book for eight-year olds by an eight-year old, Master Ryan Lederer, who “…started his Captain Candy series two years ago and is currently working on several other adventures which will be on the shelves soon. In addition to writing, Ryan enjoys soccer, guitar, and snowboarding.” Wow!

The next place my attention ended up was at Neko Press.

Billy Martinez, artist and proprietor of Neko Press, which also includes a cartooning art school.

On the way to the train station, I took a picture of the Battle of Los Angeles.

I have no idea what it was for and I was too tried to find out.

And that was my visit to Comic Con 2010. Now I have a year to get ready for the next one.

So this is it for Comic Con 2010 unless something else occurs to me.

Aloha.

The first person I talked to on my way to Room 8 for the publishing panel with Gary Groth and some other guys, was a nice fanboy named Ken Rasicot, his first CC-SD, but he’d been to the ones on the east coast. He was waiting in a gigantic line to get a “limited signing” from Gullimero del Toro. He was loving the cool and cloudy SD weather and enjoying the con. I was tying to hear him over the violin player in the background. I’ve no idea why there was a violin player making noise this morning, but there it was.

I then got stuck in one of those stop-the-crowd things with a family of six from San Antonio, Texas. I talked to the mom, Suzanna, who was there with her three kids, one in a stroller, and husband. They were looking for the exhibit hall, I was able to direct them to the other building. Then we had to move on.

I only made it through half of the Gary Groth and some guys publishing comics panel because the moderator, Graeme something, wouldn’t shut an annoying elderly fanboy up. I mean, moderating means keeping the fanboys in line, making them use the microphone, making them (god forbid) wait their turn and have some manners. This was not happening and I was starting to lose my temper, so I flounced out and dropped by the Fantagraphics booth to say hi to Eric Reynolds. It was a shame about the panel; thought Gary said some fascinating things before he was fanboyed. Tsk. Sigh.

Then I met up with Wendy and we went in search of ART and ARTISTS. Of course we found many (and I took the pictures today so just cope with them):

Dave Correia, from Walnut Creek CA, makes wonderfully spooky but spacious and beautifula art. This is his sixth year tabling at Comic Con. He used to make more zine-like comics to bring to CCI. He originally trained as a 3-D animator, but would rather make 2-D art. www.playwithknives.com

I then talked to Rachel Dukes, owner of Poseur Ink, (http://poseurink.com) who’s been tabling at CCSD for seven years. She’s seen the con go through a lot of changes and tighten up the requirements for tables. Her work has naturally evolved to meet those requirements, but if they’d been in place seven years ago she says she would never have gotten a table. She said that now that CCSD is a media convention, she sells more “I got no arms!” shark t-shirts these days at Comic Con than comics.

I then spoke to Paul Sebus, one of the writers of Atrox Comics, an online fummetti webcomic. The figures, sculpted out of “sculpty” I think he said, are adorable. This is his third year at Comic Con.

I then talked to the creator of “Zombies Next Door,” Dane Ault (http://monkeyminionpress.com). He started drawing very early, one of his first memories is drawing Garfield from the comics. He count’s Mike Mignola as an influence.

Devon Deveroux, (http://devondeveraux.com has been coming to Comic Con for several years and is the artist on “The Littlest Bitch.”

I completely fangirled out on Shannon Wheeler (http://TMCM.com”) because “Nilarity” is my new favorite webcomic on Act-i-vate.com or whatever it is. He’s working on illustrating a re-write on the Bible; he’s doing one gag cartoon per book.

Joe Weatherly draws the most wonderful animals ever. He teaches at the same school Wendy went to, the SF School of Art, lives in Santa Ana, and just started teaching at Art Center. So he is a very busy man. (http://joeweatherly.net)

Martin Hsu (http://martinhsu.com) has an adorable book. He works full time at Disney Animation. In addition to art, he’s launched a t-shirt business and is pitching his own show.

Kei Asadara, I think I’ve got her name wrong and I can’t find her card, sorry. She was one of the character designers on Alice in Wonderland.

James Burks was scouted at Comic Con three years ago and now has a book, “Gabby & Gator” coming out on Yen Press in September. (http://jamesburks.com). He’s working as an animator at Nickelodeon and has several books coming out. “Beep and Bob” about a goat and a dog that go on a an adventure to find a sock. Coming out in 2012. Sold another graphic novel to Scholastic that will be out in 2012 and has signed to do a picture book for Simon and Schuster that will be out in 2013.

John Villalino (I think, I can’t find the card), creator of “Pretty Vacant” and some mighty fine popsicle stick figures. He’s been at Comic Con for a few years.

On the shuttle bus back to Little Italy, I met Caprice Conley (http://chilaktazo.com, who is with Pistol Films and she was at Comic Con looking for funding for a new movie called “When Zombies Attack.” She said everybody you need to find in film is at Comic Con SD these days. She does have a comic book of “When Zombies Attack” created by Chad Waters that she was promoting at the convention as well.

By then I was very tired.

When I got back to La Pensione, I learned both stairwells were closed for construction so we all had to use the elevator. This will be fine as long as there isn’t a fire. But then again, most things are fine as long as there isn’t a fire.

And then this evening I very selfishly went to see “Batman, under red hood” which was very good and very sad and I enjoyed it very much. But as you can see, it held up posting this report a little. And now I’m calling it a day.

The lovely and talented Wendy Kee Lee took the pictures today because my camera battery was in my luggage, which was checked at the Santa Fe Depot. I’ll grab images when I have a less dodgy internet connection. For now, there are links. Oh, and also that thing you see me holding in the face of these artists in some of these photos is a tape recorder so I don’t have to remember so much or write down anything. Yay!

Samwise Didiar
Real name is Sam, but he has hairy feet so his nickname is Samwise
Didn’t expect to come to CCI
Learned he could get a table a couple of weeks ago
Doing artwork since he could hold a pencil
Cute warrior pandas, characters for Blizzard Entertainment

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22462908@N04/4819218321/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22462908@N04/4819218081/

David Crosland
Has worked for Image, IDW, Oni Press
http://hiredmeat.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22462908@N04/4819218387/

Popeye Wong
Most of his commission work is pin-ups, all kinds of women, as long as it’s fun
Pin-ups don’t need to be professional models as long as they have the “attitude”
Been doing pin-ups for 5 years, artwork for 10
First Comic Con as an exhibitor
http://popeyewong.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22462908@N04/4819218607/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22462908@N04/4819218705/

Neil Wynn
Gave us Neil Wynn gum
Started working in oils a few years ago
Second Comic Con, loved it last year, having fun this year, too
Neil Wynn resin figures ($150) only made 6
http://neilwynn.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22462908@N04/4819219043/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22462908@N04/4819219121/

Brian Tillman
Creator of “Dark Legacy” a table-top RPG that combines elements of Dungeons and Dragons, Chess, and Magical Gatherings.
Working on it for 2 years, will officially launch in March 2011
Commemorative Comic Con tin of 60 cards in clear cases, rule book, button, sticker, very attractive package
Looking for a game distributor
Has been going to cons once a month since March selling prototypes and field testing them
Not an online game yet, just optioned for it by a game developer
Might get an online game deal
Online gaming had never occurred to him, but now he might get to do it
http://kaiserstudio.net

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22462908@N04/4819219189/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22462908@N04/4819219121/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22462908@N04/4819219291/

Anson Jew
I reviewed “Vice” several years ago, it’s great
24-hour comics “Hand of Fate” sci-fi film noir
didn’t do 1 page 1 hour for 24 hours, but came very close
“Vice” was a 24-hour comic
“Show me the Body” Anson Jew sketch book w/built-in flip-book
http://ansonjew.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22462908@N04/4819219483/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22462908@N04/4819841340/

The view of the exhibitor hall from the glamorous Press Room. Too bad the wi-fi didn’t work for me. But the view and the coffee were nice.

DMP panel (they requested no pictures, their request is my command)

I got a late start on Thursday so I only wandered around a little before the DMP industry panel. It was fascinating and if you really want a fan tour of Japan, I think Japan Pop Travel is the only way to fly. They announced three new releases from Kazuma Kodaka: “Border,” (which is, I think, her newest work)”Kusatta Kyoushi no Houteishiki” (I’m looking forward to what that wacky title will translate into), and the much loved and very missed “Kizuna.” “Kusatta Kyoushi no Houteishiki” and “Kizuna” will be realized in two per volume omnibuses, which makes the fans very happy because five issues are more likely to be released than ten. DMP also got “Finder” and will be releasing from the very beginning with some additions (color insert) and some corrections from the mangaka. Emanga has increased rentals from 3 to 7 days and now sells gift cards for $15 and $20 if you want to give one to someone as a, y’know, gift. Gia at Anime News Network takes faster notes than I do; she has the full scoop.

Friday was a longer day. I spent most of it in the exhibitor hall, which was easier to navigate this year.

I dropped by Manga Factory, a new company, which was founded and being run by former Auroa employees. I spoke to Mikako Ogata, one of the principals of the LLC along with Rod Sampson and André Tsurukome, and she told me the focus will be on digital publishing and production services to foreign and domestic publishers.

Artist Alley

Other than Digital Manga, I didn’t find any book publishers in the exhibitor hall to amuse me, so I spent more time in Artist Alley than I usually do. This year is was in the main hall and there was more room to move around in. I stopped and talked to three artists there:

Beckyfan

The Secret of Grave Robber
http://beckyfandesign.blogspot.com/2010/04/secret-of-grave-robber.html
Recent Art Center graduate
Focused on concept and character design
Did Anime Expo in 2007

Doodle Crew

As you can see, they were having a good convention in artist alley. They said was a little bit of drama in the beginning because the artists can’t use wheeled carts to set up in artist alley. I know attendees can’t use wheeled carts, but I didn’t know this applied to artists. Corinna, aka Osaka, hurt her back dragging their stuff in, which is a shame because I can testify that it’s a long con when your back hurts. It was Corinna’s first as a vendor, but she has attended for a few years just to have a good time. This was Mimi’s first Anime Expo ever. Here’s her book, which I thought was great:

The Day Everyone Became Gay Except Ryuk
By Mimi Alves

Frank Hong

Cosplay:

I stopped to talk to Ashton Larson, who is also known as My2Wings, and managed to look great even while squinting into the sun.

My2Wings as Haruhi Suzumiya

I didn’t know who Haruhi Suzumiya was, but once I looked her up, I was even more impressed.

As always, there were lots of pretty girls in pretty dresses:

And whatever these are:

I only saw one L in the whole place.

I don’t know what the big cosplay character(s) was this year. Of course I’m so out of touch, I wouldn’t recognize it if it bit me on the ass.

But I’m always glad to see our local small and mobile entrepreneurs getting some business.

And Spiderman:

Yeah, well, it was entertaining.

More photos. Yay!

J-rock band, Stereopony debuted in 2008 with ‘Hitohira no Hanabira’ which became the 17th ending song to BLEACH and ranked #25 in Oricon charts. Their second single, ‘Namida no Mukou’ was the ending song to the second season of Gundam 00. It ranked #2 on the Oricon charts. Their singles are not the only ones to rank highly on the charts: their debut album ‘A Hydrangea Blooms’ was released in June 2009 and ranked #7 on Oricon. Their brand new second album, ‘Over the Border’ was especially sold at AnimeNEXT along with ‘A Hydrangea Blooms’.

AnimeNEXT was the second time they ever performed in the US (the first being at SXSW 2009 in Austin, Texas) and it was thrilling to hear them at their Friday’s June 18 concert. The songs ‘Namida no Mukou’ and ‘Tsukiakari no Michishirube’ (the opening theme to the second season of Darker Than Black) were sung with their respective anime clips shown in the background. The crowds were hyped up and dancing to the beat. The Q&A panel for the band was held on Saturday, June 19.

The panel opened up with the footage from the dvd live from Japan. The band entered the stage and took the stage. From left to right: Shiho (drummer,) Nohana (bass guitarist,) and Aimi (guitarist/lead vocalist.) Aimi’s first words in English, “Hello everyone! We’re Stereopony!”. *audience applause* The first part of the Q&A were basic questions that the interpreter asks the band directly. (The answers below are sometimes combinations between the 3 members. ^_^)

Q: How did you start the band?
A: There was a studio in the Okinawa, where all the music lovers gather at. Aimi and Nohana got together first and then they met Shiho when Aimi thought, ‘She would be great on drums’ and so they formed Stereopony.

Q: How was yesterday’s live performance.
A: It was exciting and I was really happy to share such a great time together along with such great sounds together. There was so much emotions coming together with so much excitement. We all had so much fun.

Q: This is the 2nd time in the US. How do you feel?
A: Last year was our first concert in the US…and it was also the first time we were in a different country. We were so nervous. I can’t really speak English, but we still had so much fun.

Q: Is this your first time in New Jersey?
A: Yes, it’s our first time here.

Q: What is your favorite food or most impressive food on this trip?
Aimi: Lobster that we had two days ago.
Nohana: Chicken.
Shiho: I love vegetables so I have been eating alot of salad.
(Me: I may have gotten Nohana-san’s and Shiho-san’s answers mixed up. XD)

Q: What is your favorite anime?
Aimi: I really love bands so I love series like Nana. *audience cheers*
Nohana: I watched Pokemon since I was in elementary.
Shiho: I really love Dragonball.

Then we saw their latest PV for ‘Overdrive’. I really like how the PV had an accapella break which took everyone by surprise. Then came questions concerning the PV and the albums, also asked by the interpreter.

Q: Do you have interesting stories from the video shoot?
A: For the PV ‘Overdrive’, we were wearing summer clothes in it. However, it was so cold that we were shivering. There was so much wind. For this new album, we put in alot of different feelings in it.

Q: About the themes of the album ‘A Hydrangea Blooms’ and ‘Over the Border….
A: When we started playing music, we were very happy and the music reflects that. For the second album, ‘Over the Border’, we want it to be about crossing the borders between people in the world.

Finally, the audience could ask questions questions….

Q: What does the name ‘Stereopony’ mean?
A: The music contains many dynamics of a stereo (?) that moves at the speed of a pony.

Q: Do you girls have boyfriends.
Aimi: No…my boyfriend is my guitar.

Q: What is your favorite vocal artists?
Aimi: When I was little, I listen to Judy and Mary in Japan with my mother.

Q: Which of your songs is the most fun to play?
Aimi: Pieces that have alot of fast beats is fun to play. For me, I like our new song ‘Overdrive’ since the rhythm is very fast.

Q: Will you have another concert in the US?
A: We don’t have any plans, but we would love to come back here and play again. *audience cheers*

The last question was ‘Can you want to go out with me?’ but the translator said she couldn’t translate that. At the end of the panel, there was an ‘I love Stereopony’ segment where questions were asked and anyone who answered correctly receives a card signed by the three members. The questions were:

‘Where in Japan did they form?’ – Okinawa
‘What did Aimi say to open the concert?’ – “We can’t speak English.” XD
‘Where is their first live in the US?’ – Austin, TX
‘How tall is Aimi?’ – 4ft. 10in.

Of course, I didn’t answer any questions, but we applauded the winners. Their autograph session was on Sunday followed by a special appearance at the JHRE booth. There was a raffle for 3 large posters signed and presented personally by the band.

After presenting the posters to the winners, they bid us farewell. Hopefully, we can look forward to another concert in the US.

This year’s AnimeNEXT was from June 18-20, held at the Garden State Exhibit Center in New Jersey. There was an array of distinguished guests including voice actor, Greg Ayres, Japanese designer, Gashicon among many others. I had the pleasure of attending two Q&A panels for both director Kamiyama Kenji and Japanese band, Stereopony.

Kamiyama Kenji worked as a background artist and art director on a variety of anime like Kiki’s Delivery Service and Roujin Z. After joining Production IG, he worked on the screenplay for Blood: The Last Vampire and became the animation director for Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade. Though his directorial debut was for spinoff mini-movies/episodes, MiniPato, he became known for contributing to and directing both tv series of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, both Ghost in the Shell OVAs and the movie Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society. He went on to create and direct, Eden of the East which ran in Japan in 2009. He just recently finished the movies, Eden of the East: The King of Eden and Paradise Lost that closed the series. (Both movies and tv series have been licensed by Funimation.)

Kamiyama-sensei’s appearance at AnimeNEXT began with the autograph session on Friday which (after a short break) was followed by his panel. After greeting us, Kamiyama-sensei asked “How come you guys are here today? You don’t have work or school?” *audience laughs* “I am here because of work.” The panel proceeded with the Q&A session. (Due to some technical problems with my recording device, some of the questions and answers are incomplete.)

Q: There are talks about the continuation of Ghost in the Shell. Any info?
K: I can’t speak in detail about that. Maybe…maybe we’re working on the third season right now. People [the companies] want to know about what people are thinking here so please let them know you want a 3rd season.
Audience: Hai!
K: *smiles* Hai!

Q: How did Umino Chika-sensei [character designer] start working on Eden of the East?
K: We worked on other things before so it was easy for us to work on this project together.

Q: Where do you get the inspiration for your works?
K: Things around me usually inspires me. Things happen in daily life, like in the news, what is on tv.

Q: What is it like working with Miyazaki Hayao?
K: He is a bit scary. *audience laughs*

Q: Now that Eden of the East is finished, are there any projects you’re working on right now?
K: I can’t start a new project right away since I just finished the 2nd Eden movie, but I am working on new movie that might come out a little later.

Q: How much did you work with Kanno Yoko on Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex?
K: When we started, she gave us music to use on the show. When she saw the first episode, she didn’t like how we were using the music. So she started explaining about when and how the music should be used.

Q: The locations in Eden of the East were very accurate, especially noted in Washington DC and New York. How did you gather your information?
K: I wanted the location to be in Washington DC. At first I used Google Maps, but it didn’t help much. So I went to Washington DC with the design team and took pictures. I even asked the staff to take off his clothes…but he didn’t want to. *audience laughs*

Q: Will there be a continuation to the Eden of the East series? (Asked after mentioning that the person DIDN’T watch the series or the movies.)
Translator: Yes…it’s the movies.
Q: Um, I mean another tv series.
K: I am not thinking about it at this point.

Q: In Eden of the East, there are lots of problems in society. So what kind of problems do you find in the world and how do they influence the story?
K: One of the messages in Eden of the East is that there are many people with money. I just feel that those with money and power should try to do whatever they can to help the world.

Q: What is your favorite anime?
K: Mobile Suit Gundam

Q: This was never mentioned in the tv series or the movies [Eden of the East] so why was Akira naked in the beginning? <-My question. ^.^
K: In the novels, they mentioned why he was naked. It won't be as interesting to explain everything, but I want to point out how capable Takizawa was. He had nothing at the start and in 10 min. he got pants and he did it on his own. No power, no memory, just on his own.

Q: I am interested in directing. What kind of advice can you give about directing and how to get noticed?
K: One of the best ways is to listen to others. First listen to what others want to do before telling them what you want. That is the best way to get others to use you in more and on other works.

Q: What are your favorite animes when you were growing up or currently?
K: Speed Racer. I really like James Cameron's 'Avatar' right now.

Q: Who inspired you or inspires you now?
K: I am more inspired by sports players rather then anime directors. Sports players always think about the fans, how to communicate with the fans. But one of the first people that I met was also the Gundam creator, Tomino Yoshiyuki-sensei.

Q: You direct both tv series and movies. Which do you like directing more and which do you find more difficult?
K: When I was working on the tv series of Eden of the East, no one told me what to do so I found that to be quite difficult. It was alot of fun, but getting started was very hard.

Kamiyama-sensei had another panel on Saturday which I was unable to attend. However, it is a great honor to meet a director as creative as him. The way the story unfolds really shows a master’s hand and I truly look forward to seeing what other works he will be making. For now, I look forward to getting the dvds for Eden of the East.

Image courtesy of Book Expo 2010 Press Photos

Wednesday and the Exhibition Hall opens. The show room was noticeable smaller than last year. I spent most my time on Wednesday walking around the show room, and noting the different sections. There were meetings, networking, authors and fans all around.

To the right is a long line, but this was where certain high profile authors were, signing their works. Authors were either here or at various exhibition booths.

This was a display in one of the booths: a giant typewriter. Several impressions: the wow factor of this typewriter being so big, and another is the significance of writing. I am pretty impressed, and in this day and age of all the iPads and computers, the typewriter is pretty dated. Yet memories of that familiar bell sound and the motion of seeing a paper move up and down is as familiar to writers, who use other than a pad and pencil/paper to write down their thoughts.

Kathie Lee Gifford, glamorous as always signs her latest children book.

I was able to pick up Gina Mollicone Long’s release of Think or Sink: The One Choice That Changes Everything.

This was one booth that I definitely enjoyed stopping by -Bill Barnes one part author/creator of Unshelved, which is a popular librarian comic. They would be doing a panel on Sunday, interviewing Nancy Pearl – librarian action figure model.

On Wednesday, a panel that I was able to attend was the Community Social Networking: A Guide for Retailers & Librarians. This was a presentation made by Charlene Li and David Meerman Scott. The room simply wasn’t as packed as Day 1, but the presentation was filled with useful information on what a professional can do in taking charge of a social online presence for their products.

Here are some points I heard:

• Social Media has a culture of sharing today with the many relationships that one can have.
• Internet is a fourth way by creating communities for interaction.
• At this time, it is good to create communities around authors. – Facebook, Twitter, or with search terms.
• Social media is like a cocktail party with the advertising around a brand.
• Booksellers can use Youtube as commercials or provide rich content for readers.

Some strategies for planning social media integration

1. Learn monitoring tools like Twitter or Google News
2. Dialogue with your community over Twitter or Facebook
3. Help members support each other thru interactions.
4. Innovate with customer feedback.

There are lots of trials, and sampling, but try to think about your identity in five years, and where it should be?

Thursday
This was the last day for this year’s BookExpo. Of course it was jam packed as it was the last two. I had some technical difficulties with my camera, so some of the images I got to take were with my cell phone.

I attended two panels today. The first one was The Next Decade in Book Culture: A Conversation sponsored by the National Book Critics Circle. This panel was done to a packed room listening to a roundtable discussion of book reviewing in the next decade. These are points that I was able to take down, and these are video footage from the panel that I attended.

• 120 words is a short review, but many people don’t have the patience to read long reviews, was something spoken in this roundtable.
• There are mixed reaction for e-books or PDF’s as a pre-publication galley. It does depend on some books. Some books can be taken as an e-book, but if there is an individual book questioned, then physical can be better. This is a per book treatment according to the reviewer’s preference.
• “Upon writing reviews, what is a strategy to cope with being a reviewer among many?” – Books and media are looking to reinvent themselves, what else is there to do Are there new aspects of review to be explored – such as different topics?
• Art or advertisement? This line of thought was made in asking if books should be including advertisements or continue with fine print quality or with produced images
• Reviewers have personal bias, but can bring great dialogue to the bigger picture.
• There is a huge community of book bloggers – is this not professional? Is this pimping or journalism? It is an enhancement for the readers though.

So the next and last panel I went to is Nancy Pearl Unshelved, and this was an easy going, light conversation between Nancy Pearl, who is the model for the Librarian Action Figure, and the creators of Unshelved… (got a picture of Bill Barnes).. This is a video clip of the entire conversation.

After the panel was over, I went to take a ride on the shuttle. This ends my coverage for Book Expo 2010. Next year’s Book Expo America will be on May 23 – Thursday, May 26, 2011. A Monday to Thursday Expo.

For more pictures of this year’s convention take a look at Flickr for more.

For other coverage of last year’s BEA from Journal of Lincoln Heights check out these links:

Book Expo America 2009 – Part 1
Book Expo America 2009 Part 2
Book Expo America 2009 – Are Publishers getting smart or is money getting tighter?

Book Expo America had some notable changes this year. One it was moved to mid-week. Two, the exhibition show was cut by a day. Three the method for counting attendance was changed in mentioning a number of professionals vs. exhibitioners. There were 21,919 verified professionals, excluding exhibitioners that were at the show. Registered number in attendance though was 27,211, and comparing this to last year’s 29,923. The smaller number was attributed to the shorten show days Next year the format of the show will be going back to three days instead of two days.

This year the themes of BEA were Content and Buzz, establishing a publishing motto in being able to create suitable buzz for upcoming books in the fall market. My coverage of BEA 2010 begins on Tuesday, a day before the Exhibition Hall was open on Wednesday to Thursday. Tuesday was a day of panels and meetings.

Value of Books
This was the first panel I attended, and it was a round table discussion with industry leaders on their opinions of placing a “value” for books. The underlying tone of this discussion was where is the money for the publishing industry in spite of the savings for the consumer? These were points brought up during this discussion.

E-books are a hot trend and a constant preoccupation for the publishing leaders since it is a fast changing commodity. A big issue facing the e-book market nowadays is piracy, similar to the records industry. What methods can be found to protect the interests of authors or the business? There must be a more reliable model found. There is a continued call for authors and publishers to work together to face e-book publishing.

Consumers would want multiple formats, and trade paperback is considered a successful adaptation, but what is the life span of a title on the shelf? 90% of publishing revenue is still devoted to the paperback model, though there is still time to grown for the e-book market. With e-book market though what policy is there for the distribution of book? Should the e-book be available when the book is in hard cover format or the paper back market? Amazon.com is creating negative feedback for the publishing industry, when they release the book simultaneously as the first edition hard cover and charging second edition prices, what worth is there? More reasonable prices are needed to be found, yet demand for aesthetic books with paper quality or design is still needed for book keepers.

Consumers would also like recommendations. Because with the experience of reading, there is information overload and with the bar going up, it is an issue to make it worthwhile for potential consumers. Title explosion is an issue for authors, when it becomes noise for readers. At this time a majority of readers is looking toward best selling lists or facebook.

In spite of how libraries have consistently reinvented themselves through these times of technological change, this is not the best model for the publishing industry to follow. Libraries are the best though in word of mouth. The publishing market cannot be like the libraries though. At this point and time though, the publishing industry is following the business model, but with the boom in reading, there is always going to be readers, so the book industry must be on the lookout for what is a suitable market for responding to consumer needs.

There were more signs of technology be used, like this electronic touch screen monitor for convention uses to use to see what panels were being held, and where specific booths were.

After the first panel was over, there was a down period, I attended the press conference at the press office, next to the still closed but busily preparing show room. There were some interesting news shared, e-books is a bigger presence on the show floor this year. In BEA 2009, there were only six kiosks, but there is 60 kiosks devoted to e-books businesses this year.

There was a great deal of buzz over the existence of BEA 10×10, which was an iPod app created specifically for Book Expo, in generating and polling convention goers buzz for which was their opinion for what is the hot and upcoming books for the fall?

Outside the show room there was an area that showed a selection of what books were to be shown in the showroom.

In the afternoon I attended two more panels.

‘I’ll Never Pay Over $9.99 For E-Books! and Similar Lies’
This panel was presented by Michael Norris of Simba Information Analyst, and this was a presentation made to a packed room. He spoke about survey findings made by his company for 2008 and 2009. These were findings that I found interesting to point out.

• The most common e-reader at this moment is the PC. There is an E-reader hype. Mostly because there are going to be more new and revolutionary e-book devices coming out that would make the less new one look old.
• Adaptation for e-books is very slow when 57% purchase print books in 2009. Not a lot of people purchase e-books, and this was a consistent finding from 2008-09 data. Do they even have the device to read e-books anyway?
• More people would purchase more paperback than hard covers (2009 data)
• More people would purchase more fiction e-books than nonfiction e-books or children (2009 data).
• People turn to books for escape and for cheap price, since 64% of pollsters agree that print books are overpriced.
• The future of reading is getting someone else to love and value books.

Mobile Apps: A Publisher Roadmap for Creation and Use
This was a presentation from various app creating professionals. This is a link to the introduction presentation from that panel. An important point to know is that mobile use is definitely growing more than pc use.

Some of the presenters in this panel were using their iPads to display examples of their company’s projects or products and what a feast for the eyes it was. There was additional assistance from convention staff to project their iPad example.

Sourcebooks’s Dominique Raccah gave a quick explanation in steps on creating an app that included defining a target audience and story booking the app every step of the way for desired reactions or responses. Iceberg Children’s Books as demonstrated in this Youtube video was one of a finished products I saw. Another innovative example was Cathy’s Book from Perseus. Baker & Tyler introduced Blio as their response for the mobile environment.

There is a commonality between the presenters in wanting to make the user’s experience as multimedia rich as possible. So there is wealth potential creation from mobile or ebooks, that can be used by publishers or book interested individuals to discover a new market.

After this panel was over, I was pretty tired, and this was only the first day. I was able to go and take a BEA shuttle bus back to midtown.

For other coverage of last year’s BEA from Journal of Lincoln Heights check out these links:

Book Expo America 2009 – Part 1
Book Expo America 2009 Part 2
Book Expo America 2009 – Are Publishers getting smart or is money getting tighter?

For more pictures of the convention take a look at Flickr for more.

Sakura-Con 2010

by Tom Good

This year’s Sakura-Con was the largest ever, with an attendance of just over 18,000 people at the Seattle Convention Center. The convention provides an amazing variety of things to do, combining educational and cultural events with pure fun and entertainment. Fans can learn how to waltz or learn to dance ParaPara, learn to sew costumes or learn to draw comics, go to a martial arts demonstration or a video game tournament. And just walking around between events is enjoyable in itself, because there are so many great costumes to see.

The Seattle Sheraton was filled with anime fans, but also hosted an Air Force ROTC convention going on at the same time as Sakura-Con.

This provided some interesting visuals when men and women in real military uniforms shared hallways and elevators with cosplayers dressed in fantasy costumes (including fictional military uniforms). And speaking of elevators, at least one ride seemed to last about as long as my typical commute to work, with a stop at every floor so that more officers and/or Pikachus could attempt to squeeze onto the already-full elevator.

There are high-energy, loud, active events like the rock concerts and Club Sakura dance parties. But those in a quieter mood can go to mellow panel discussions that feel more like a bunch of people hanging out and talking in a friend’s living room.

One such event was a fan panel about Star Wars, a panel with fabulous prizes that were introduced with the qualification, “I’m not gonna lie, I’m kinda re-gifting some of these.” People tried to answer all kinds of Star Wars questions, including absurdly difficult trivia questions like “how many segments of a bantha’s horn grow each year?” The audience posed other questions that were more open to interpretation, such as “when was the definitive moment when George Lucas went batshit insane?” (The creation of Jar Jar Binks was offered as a possibility, as was the casting of Christopher Lee.)

I learned here that nobody knows what species Yoda belongs to, and that the reason Obi-Wan Kenobi seems to have aged so much between episodes III and IV is because “those twin suns of Tattooine must be hell on your skin.”

When asked to name the best fan-created Star Wars material, the group mentioned Chad Vader and the Red Letter Media reviews of the Star Wars prequels. [Warning: the Red Letter Media reviews are funny and make some good points, but they also contain foul language, pointless violence and disturbing scenes.]

At one point, a man in the crowd asked the panel leader if she was just “some random person,” to which she replied “no . . .” Then another fan piped in with “But I am!” And yet another answered: “Me too! Nice to meet you!” This little exchange captured a lot of the flavor of Sakura-Con: it’s informal, fun, friendly, with lots of audience participation and people who don’t take themselves too seriously.

I also attended a panel called Anime Art Basics: Inking, part of a series of art lessons during the weekend. The panel covered subjects like drawing software, graphics tablets, pens, line and shading techniques. I’d recommend the art panels even to non-artists, because they offer a step-by-step look at how anime art is created.

One of my favorite events of the weekend was a lecture called “Hidden Away by Gods – Folklore in Miyazaki’s Spirited Away.” This was so packed with interesting information that it was like taking a college class in anime. I loved Spirited Away but assumed that a lot of the unusual visuals simply came straight from the artists’ imaginations. This panel explained how most of the imagery comes from specific characters and ideas in Japanese folklore. Not only did the lecture impress me, but I was also struck by how well-informed the audience was. People discussed Buddhist and Shinto imagery and debated the best English translations for various Japanese words.

The presenter, “Lady Librarian” also writes fan fiction based on Spirited Away. Slides and notes from this presentation are available online.

The Folklore lecture also mentioned that Miyazaki had been influenced by Alice in Wonderland. This was fitting, because this year’s Sakura-Con had quite a few cosplayers dressed as characters from Alice.

As Sakura-Con grows, it also keeps getting more technologically sophisticated. This year the video camera work during the cosplay contest was impressive, including some overhead camera shots of the sort sometimes used in professional sports coverage.

Fans carried plenty of digital cameras and more unusual digital devices like pokewalkers, but I was surprised at the relatively small online presence during the convention. A few people posted updates to Twitter and Flickr, but not nearly the number I’d expect in a crowd so large. It seems that most people wait until after they get home from the convention to write about it online.

Sakura-Con is more than a set of organized activities, it is also a meeting place for a great subculture. The formally arranged events are an important aspect to the fun, but the convention also benefits from a self-reinforcing feedback loop, where Sakura-Con is fun because you get to be around the type of person who goes there.

The convention culture changes a little each year. Last year a lot of people high-fived strangers on the escalators, and publicly played The Game. This year during an escalator ride someone commented that those things weren’t happening much any more. But there were other bits of fun going on. A small group of people stood between the sets of escalators, just off to the side of the flow of pedestrian traffic, and announced “We love hugs! Free hugs!” Any passer-by could choose to go over and get a hug from each person.

I thought this was a very sweet thing to do, and it also probably took some courage to offer hugs to strangers. Naturally I wanted free hugs and I went through the line. Though a saw quite a few people stop for hugs, they were a small percentage of the crowd. I expected more people to do it, but on the other hand it probably would have created a horrible traffic jam if everyone had stopped for free hugs. (I told this story to a friend, who said, “Aren’t all hugs free? Do you pay for hugs elsewhere?” Good point. I guess “free” refers not so much to the price, but more to the lack of rules and restrictions.)

After I left the rave on Saturday night, I spotted a guy wearing a black Mad Hatter style outfit who was leading a line of people around and telling everyone to “Join The Line!” I joined, and noticed that some people would immediately join without question. Others asked, “where is it going?” to which he would reply “everywhere!”

The Line paraded around the convention center, and every so often the leader would see people and compliment them with proclamations like, “This guy is awesome, look at his hair, it is great!” Then The Line would cheer. It was like the opposite of a riot — a mob of people going around being nice. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.

The Line high-fived lots of people on the escalators, and got many amused but puzzled looks in return from people who had never done the escalator high-five before. A few smiled in recognition of the tradition. Eventually The Line was asked to disperse, and everyone went their separate ways.

Of course, standing in lines is an unavoidable part of conventions, so The Line also served as a clever parody, where being in the line is the whole activity, not a prerequisite for something else. Being in The Line was kind of like getting caught up in a live Monty Python skit.

Sakura-Con is reliably great. I plan to go again next year, and you should go too.

Tips for next year:

Pre-register. The registration line is huge and the wait can be long.

If possible, plan to stay for all of Sunday. In previous years, Sunday seemed pretty quiet with not a lot going on, especially later in the day. So I planned to leave early in the afternoon, which turned out to be a big mistake. There were plenty of cool things to do on Sunday including the Lolita Fashion Show, and a concert that I couldn’t stay for. I’ll know next year to stay later on Sunday.

Plan out your schedule. Download the event schedule a day or two before the convention and spend some time deciding which things you’ll want to do. The smaller rooms can fill up fast, so it’s good to know ahead of time where you’re going next.

More Sakura-Con photos:

• Sakura-con cosplay photo set
• Sakura-Con cosplay contest photo set
• Friday dance photo set
• Saturday dance photo set
• Lolita Fashion Show photo set

(Please note: all photos in the above photo sets may be freely used by the people depicted and by Sakura-Con.)

I’m in Seattle to cover this year’s Sakuracon. I’ll have a full convention report later, but for now enjoy some photos from the convention:

• Cosplay photos
• Friday Dance photos
• Cosplay Contest photos – behind the scenes
• Saturday Dance Photos
• Lolita Fashion Show photos

You can also follow @jlhls on Twitter for my live convention coverage, or #sakuracon for a broader view.

Reported by Linda Yau
Photographs by Eric M. Chu and Linda Yau

Saturday

First event of the day, Yui Makino’s concert, and this was held in a packed room. A video clip introduced her at the beginning, with some footage from an anime conventions from Paris and Shanghai. Under her credentials, she had roles in Tsubasa Chronicles, Aria, Welcome to NHK among others. Normally the roles she plays are characters who are strong, and with a lot of personal worries. Her personality is of genial frankness, and possibly masochistic. If she were to picture herself as an animal, she would imagine herself to be a bohemian cat. Her goals and dream is to play in the famed Japanese Suntory Hall with a full orchestra as well as wanting to become a more accomplished lyricist/composer with more self accompaniment skills set. She is an accomplished pianist, and likes to be called Yuchi. For this first American appearance/concert, she wanted to “deliver my music to your ears.” Before she appeared though, Monica Rial, the American voice actress for Sakura in the dubbed Tsubasa Chronicles came out. Some people recognized here, and cheered, but a lot of people didn’t. Then Yui Makino came out, and the concert began.

I can only confirm by ears that she sang these songs titles, "Yume no Tsubasa," "You Are My Love" which are songs from Tsubasa Chronicles. "Undine" from Aria the Origination. Her last song was from her newest single. NYAF convention goers were able to purchase her newest single, that is at the time of the convention not released in Japan yet, so that was cool. Originally I took down some notes, and had a list of a possible set that Yuchi did, but apparently not so as I read and research some more. I am going to take a cue from Omo, and include in this Japanese link from an honest Japanese fan who was at the concert, and then blogged about his experience. He confirmed for me the fact that Yuchi appeared in Shanghai as opposed to Taiwan as what I thought. For this concert also he confirms that she sang ten songs. Still later, Omo got back to me via twitter about Japanator’s coverage for the concert so here.

Following the concert there was a long line for autographs, Eric and I quickly went to get autographs, and then went to listen to Samurai Beat Radio’s panel, Japanese Music in the US Market: Opportunities and Obstacles.

This panel was something I really had high interest in, since I listen a lot to Japanese music. Now for the panel, the three panelists backgrounds are listed here via Samurai Beat Radio’s own blog. Megumi, radio personality of Samurai Beat Radio was hosting the event.

The panel began with an introductory video by Yokoso Japan, and there were giveaways.

These were points mentioned during the panel from the panelists:

• Biggest obstacle often is the language barrier and public perception is that artist is foreign.
• Problem also with timing, interest, and exposure, Boa and Utada Hikaru America releases were cited here.
• Becca is an example that Sony is trying to push, an American singing Japanese composed songs. I saw her in person at Otakon this past summer.
• Difficult to bring big and established artists from Japan, management has disinterest in bringing artists overseas, when they can still earn money closer to home.
• Hard to understand the United States market for Japanese people, there is potential in the anime/comic market.
• Easier for indie artists or not established artists to come over, biggest success is seen when an American group pairs with a Japanese artists as an opening act. Shonen Knife with Nirvana, and Boris with Sonic Youth were mentioned as examples.

These were some audience questions toward the end:

What is the process for producers to bring artists over?
The Japanese artist’s music must be already released in the states.
Japanese artists must be notified a year in advance so as to schedule this to happen.

What is the best online portal for Japanese artists to approach American audience?
Not exact science, since Japanese artists has a lot of genres and possibly own fan base. Best way is to have a portal to share various artists, although clumping is not a good idea either, since it will marginalize the artist.

At current time do Japanese artists have more opportunity or any challenges still?
Definitely more opportunity, since interest is growing for audience and artists, but at the same time, people have to be more comfortable, the future looks bright.

As the evening of Saturday approached, the hallway outside of the theater started to fill up with lines of convention goers, VIP’s and Press alike to wait for one of the bigger events that NYAF has. This is the Yume Cosplay Masquerade. This is a cosplay contest for winning the prize of being able to go visit Japan all expenses paid for, and with $1,000. The prize looks mighty tempting. Eric had gone to this segment and these were some shots that Eric took. For others, please check Flickr.

Uncle Yo the the host of Masquerade gets into the act.

A Vampire Hunter D cosplay!

These are the winners of the masquerade.

So while Eric was at the Masquerade, I made my way over to the Japanese and Korean MMO Games Panel. I know the panelist team personally as JP and Hinano. Hinano also runs a gaming blog. This panel was about introducing audience to various Japanese and Korean game titles as well as the pits that can befall players. The turnout for this panel as mentioned by the panelist was pretty good, in spite of the masquerade across the hall. Knowledge and experience in playing games were somewhat needed, but listening to this panel definitely gave an idea of what games there are, and would be of interest for fans of all that is cute in another language.

These were points brought up:

Benefits – socializing with friends, have fun, enjoy possibly stunning graphics, and expand your imagination.
Downsides – Free to pay vs Pay to play – (Game companies have to be supplemented by some finance), so would you want to have free to play, where you may consistently crave objects being sold in game stores- thus creating addiction and money debts? Or would you pay a monthly sum, and consistently feel the need to play in order of making your money worth the price of payment?

Many games suggested in this panel are Japanese, but these are in the works of being introduced in the United States. Games titles suggested:

• Bright Shadow – Licensed by Gamepot USA
• Shin Megami Tenshi Imagine -English version available from Aeria Games
• Prius Online – Licensed by Global.Netmarble
• Pangya -Avaliabe by NtreevUSA
• aisp@ce (beta)
• Party Castle (beta)

Blogger Roundtable

Yes this year’s specialize blogging panel had ten bloggers. AnimeVice, Ani-Gamers, Reverse Thieves, About.com: Manga, Ogiue Maniax, Comics Worth Reading, Subatomic Brainfreeze, Anime Almanac, The Gaming Dungeon, and Super Amazing Number One From what I saw, the crowd for this panel, wasn’t as big, but with the panel there was a lot of opinionated and interesting people to make friends. with. This is a consistent personal interest of mine, but because of hunger pangs – had to leave early. I am right now waiting, as with probably other bloggers on perhaps a video going to be up. Moritheil was there to take video, and he did confirm to me later that the video he had was shaky, crossing my fingers so that I can link it here, for people who blog and has an interest in anime. Here it is.. slightly delayed, but here is Anime Diet’s video for the Anime Blogger RT. Yes, there is a lot of perspectives, but with the variety of bloggers, it should be an interesting video to watch.

Sunday

Last day at NYAF, and it was a pretty damp day, still didn’t deter people from going to the convention though. I was only able to go for half a day, and so when I went to the panel, I went around the Dealers room and picked up two titles for my own book collection from Vertical Press. Bumped into Frank from Media Blasters and he was able to share that Crimson Spell Vol 3, was going to out by Feb/March 2010.

Eric was also around taking images of cosplayers, and here is an image of one of the winners from the masquerade in green.

Now for Sunday panels.

Briefly stopped by the panel for Anime Name That Tune to the 3rd. This was a Triva panel, overseen by Youtube podcastor Fu-Sung E. Cookye where two members from the audience were chosen, and then were tested with active participation from the audience for naming an unknown anime tune.

Then went onto the Viz Media industry panel. Practically this was an entire panel that spoke about titles upcoming in the 2010 year. Many of these titles would appeal to the YA, fantasy, Shoujo, Shonen audience.About.com has a partial listing of titles that were mentioned with synopsis. Anime Vice also did a live blog. Listed below are some titles that were mentioned that might be in the interest of JLHLS:

• Book of Heros by Miyuki Miyabe (New release from Brave Story’s author, a mix of Fantasy and high stake reality.) (Jan 2010)
• Loups Garous by Natsukiko Kyogoku – Werewolves are the new paranormal draw. (Jan 2010)
• CTRL+ALT+DEL Your Life by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. (March 2010)
• The Next Continent by Issui Ogawa. (May 2010)
• Bakuman by Tsugumi Ooba and Takeshi Obata (This details behind the scenes looks of a Japanese manga production company.) (Aug 2010)
• Toriko by Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro (This is a food manga.) (Feb 2010)
• Ultimo by Stan Lee and Hiroyuki Takei (This was also announced at New York Comic Con this year.) (Feb 2010)
• Gente by Natsume Ono (Manga follow up to Ristorante Paradiso, a title also set to be released by Viz.) (July 2010)
• Library Wars: Love & War by Hiro Arikawa (June 2010)
• Vampire Knight Official Fanbook (Sept 2010)
• Grand Guignol Orchestra by Kaori Yuki (Oct 2010)
• Nice To Meet You Kamisama by Julie Hasuzuki
• Rin-Ne by Rumiko Takahashi (Oct 2009)

So this concludes my convention coverage of NYAF 2009. Now it is post con period, as I spent several days, going over images, and researching for various links from people who went to the con and what not. Lance Fensterman confirmed the conventions attendance as being 21,388 on Saturday. It was a 16% increase from last year’s 18,399 attendees. As I went throughout this convention,, yes turn out were good everywhere, but many people complained size of the convention as an issue. NYAF is getting to be bigger and bigger. With the merging of NYCC and NYAF in 2010, who knows what will next year be like? JLHLS plans to be there.

Relevant posts of interest:

Flickr link of images
I-hsiu’s coverage of NYAF 2008 – Part 1, Part 2
Jilly and my coverage with NYAF 2008 – Part 1, Part 2