No, they’re not putting running the registration forms through a supercollider, but online attendees registration for Comic-Con International: San Diego 2013 opens on February 16 to anyone who obtained a Member ID prior to 2/12. Despite efforts to streamline the process, it is likely to be fraught with uncertainty and frustration as hundreds of thousands scramble for a limited number of passes.

Here’s a video produced by CCI to explain the process. Good luck everyone!

The programming schedule for the Emerald City Comic-Con was just posted with lots of great stuff as always. I will be moderating a panel on the Future of Comics on Friday at 5:20pm in Hall C featuring an amazing lineup of industry innovators: award-winning writer Mark Waid, DC/Vertigo honcho Hank Kanalz, comiXology co-founder and CEO David Steinberger, Monkeybrain mastermind Allison Baker, and videogame/transmedia entrepreneur and Harebrained Schemer Jordan Weisman.

We’ll be talking about the evolution of the comics medium as both an art and a business in the digital age, including:

• The rise of digital-first comics: how are creators and publishers using this new delivery channel? What new possibilities does it open for readers and fans?
• Comics convergence: how do comics fit in the “transmedia” spectrum of storytelling possibilities, including opportunities for blending comics  with animation, videogames, social media and other channels?
• The future of crowdfunding: now that Kickstarter has emerged as a major platform for independent creators and publishers alike, what are the risks and opportunities that lie ahead?
• Bits and Atoms: how are digital media blending with and complementing the traditional physical manifestations of comics and entertainment, from retail to toys and games to “multi-screen” experiences and augmented reality?
• How far can all this stuff go and still be considered “comics”?

If you have any other thoughts or questions you’d like to hear these luminaries discuss, tweet me @robsalk.

After the panel, I’ll be signing Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture at Booth 1608, home of Seattle’s mighty Comics Dungeon. Stop by and say hi.

Yesterday San Diego Comic-Con professional registration opened. This is when a group of pre-qualified, pre-selected industry pros (and their guests) get to go online and get badges to attend their industry’s most important event.

Last year, the process took nine days. This year, whatever number of badges were available yesterday sold out in a matter of hours.

Begun, the pro-pocalpyse has.

In this slide show at FastCoCreate, some of the year’s most notable achievements–the comics that best exemplified the evolution of the art form and the transition of the industry.

[originally presented at FastCoCreate, December 12, 2012.]

All of the book was enjoyable, but I was especially fascinated in the details from the 1970s era, when Marvel produced its most self-consciously trippy and strange work (Steve Gerber’s “Headmen” story arc in the Defenders, Steve Englehart and Frank Brunner’s Doctor Strange, and Jim Starlin’s Warlock just for starters). This was the period of my first exposure to comics and it may have warped me for life.

From the business perspective, many of the details surrounding Marvel’s mid-90s brush with bankruptcy were riveting. Howe is superb at simplifying and explaining the arcane behind-the-scenes maneuvering, but he is at his best describing the impact that the economic turmoil had on long-time staff and the company’s overall creative approach.

Howe deserves kudos for balancing an incredible level of geeky detail for hardcore fans and readability for the general audience. Fans of this particular blend of inside-baseball, history and narrative drama should also try to seek out an earlier volume called The Comic Book Heroes (Prima, 1996, 2nd edition) by Gerard Jones and Will Jacobs, which plowed much of this same ground while taking a wider view of the entire comics business during the same period.

Jones and Jacobs’ story ends in 1996, before the current movie boom led to the “Peak Geek” era of the last few years, but its coverage of the creative and business issues in the comics industry and its ability to ventriloquize the perspectives of key figures in the narrative to illuminate the hidden corners of issues like Jim Shooter’s editorial reign and the ongoing controversy over Jack Kirby’s role in creating the key pillars of the Marvel universe presage Howe’s approach in Marvel: The Untold Story.

Howe’s biggest contribution is to bring that story nearly up to the moment, at least on the Marvel side, with some amazing behind-the-scenes details about relations between Marvel and its shifting cast of owners since the mid-80s. Curiously, there is very little about Disney’s acquisition of Marvel Entertainment in 2009 – a fairly major event in the history of Marvel that took place within the time frame of the book, and figures to have major consequences on both the creative and business aspects of the company. I understand that the Mouse is famously close-lipped about its internal practices, but the role of Marvel within Disney has been the subject of intense speculation since the acquisition and this book would have been a great opportunity to clarify some of those issues for the future. Perhaps that will have to wait for Volume 2.

A panel from Mexican artist C.S. Pego’s haunting masterpiece Exilia.

Latin America is in the midst of a storyteller uprising. When you combine a relatively youthful population with the world’s fastest rate of new Internet and mobile connectivity over the last decade and the world’s highest rate of entrepreneurship per capita, plus a culture rich in artistic and narrative heritage, you get a very exciting environment for new talent and fresh voices in all creative media, including comics.

Tomorrow I’m  headed to Guadalajara, Mexico to give a talk on “Comics as Transmedia Platform” at an event called CongresoRED. This will be my second trip to Mexico this year to speak on creative industry issues. Just last week I spoke on Latin American innovation and entrepreneurship here in Seattle. Of all the rising areas of the Young World, Latin America seems best positioned to take advantage of the new business models in media and publishing to reach new audiences in the north, and Mexico is at the leading edge of that movement.

This summer at San Diego Comic-Con, I met artist Cecilia “C.S.” Pego, who was in Artists Alley (at the far end of the exhibit hall) selling her beautiful self-published graphic novel Exilia. Exilia is a haunting fantasy full of mysterious atmosphere. Pego’s art is gorgeously strange, reflecting a sophisticated fine art sensibility. Each page is a mini-masterpiece of line and color.

Though the quality of Exilia is the equal of the best literary graphic novels published commercially in North America, Pego chose to go the route of digital self-publishing and print-on-demand through Amazon’s CreateSpace program. After the Con, I contacted Pego for more information about herself and her work.

ROB: Hi Cecilia, thanks for taking a few minutes to offer your perspective. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and your background?

CECILIA: I was born and raised in 1967 in Mexico City.  I have a degree in Civil Engineering and I am a self taught artist.

ROB: What is your background in art and comics?

My first job as a professional artist was in 1990 at the local newspaper in Cd. Juarez, Chihuahua, publishing my political strip “Sardonia y Chamuco.”

A couple of years later I began to publish  “Terrora y Taboo” (“Terrora and Taboo”)  weekly for several years in the national newspaper “La Jornada.” The comic was about a freelance sociopath and her failed attempts of causing shock in a world crazier than she is.  So, instead, she ends up being very chic.  Her accomplice is her hybrid half cat – half piranha pet that eats French Poodle nuggets.

ROB: OK, I need to track that one down! Sounds fascinating. What else are you working on?

CECILIA: I am currently publishing “Madame Mactans” in the editorial cartoon nationwide magazine “El Chamuco.”   It is about a female serial killer of serial killers.  She has an emotional handicap of the soul in where the only emotion she can experience is fear.  Because of this, she confuses love with fear and fear with love, so she always is falling in love with serial killers.  While they are trying to kill her, she thinks they are trying to seduce her, and she ends up killing them accidentally.

ROB: You have a very wicked sense of humor and you seem to love the contrast between light and dark themes, which is clearly present in Exilia. Can you talk a little bit about the idea behind that work?

CECILIA: Exilia is a dark fantasy graphic novel, a spiritual thriller about visionaries and madness, spirituality and greed.  A visual journey into mystical worlds, discovery and and self discovery.  Exilia: The Invisible Path is the first book and is going to be a five book saga.

ROB: When did you start working on it?

CECILIA: I started working on Exilia in 2007 when I moved to Australia.  And worked in the graphic novel the four years I lived there.

ROB: Do you have an audience in Mexico and Latin America, or are you mostly aiming for North American readers?

CECILIA: I already have an audience in Mexico, and want to build an audience aiming for North-American readers, and English and Spanish readers around the world.

ROB: Why did you decide to self-publish?

CECILIA: I decided to self publish when I finished the book.  When I began to work on Exilia in 2007, my objective was to find a publisher in the US and Mexico, but to my surprise, the publishing industry change dramatically over the four years I was working on my graphic novel.

Print on demand in full color was not an option in 2007, because the quality was poor and it was extremely expensive.   The iPad and Kindle Fire didn’t exist.  The only option was to find a publisher, or invest a lot of money printing full color in offset, and finding a distributor to put the book on the market.

Suddenly, the Kindle Fire and the the iPad appeared on the market, and then, Amazon allowed independent authors to publish directly.  Later on, digital print on demand became very cost effective, and Amazon introduced CreateSpace, when you can print and sell one book at a time.  So when I finished my graphic novel, the logical  thing to do was to self publish and have absolute freedom in editorial decisions, production, distribution, and earn 70% on each book, instead of the 10% an author makes in traditional publishing.

ROB: Are there many independent, small press or self-published comics in Mexico? Is the idea becoming more popular?

CECILIA: Editorial Resistencia has a collection of 13 books specializing in the work of Mexican comic authors, is the only collection of its kind in Mexico.  I published an anthology of my work there, Visiones y Evasiones. This small publisher distributes in several bookstores in Mexico City.

Editorial Samsara  is a smaller one, and distributes directly by mail. I published Terrora y Taboo  with them.

Self publishing has become very popular with comic authors. They print small editions with digital print on demand and sell them directly in their webpages or in the comic conventions.

ROB: What are some of the business challenges you face as a self-publisher?

CECILIA: The biggest challenge is distribution for print books, although Amazon CreateSpace is the solution, allowing creators to sell books internationally, printing one book at a time.  Discoverability is also a challenge, but social networks makes it easier, not so much to make your work visible, but as way to stay connected with your readers.  Comic conventions have become the best way to promote my work.

ROB: How does digital publishing – via Web, Amazon or other platforms – fit into your plans?

CECILIA: Amazon will be my main way to sell and distribute my ebooks and print books.  I am planning also to create an Exilia app for iTunes, and any other digital platform that allows independent authors to sell and distribute their work.

ROB: Can you tell me a little bit more about the independent comics scene in Mexico right now? What other creators or publishers are doing interesting work in your opinion? Is there an online community for creators?

CECILIA: Many  Mexican comic authors publish their work as webcomics, and then they self publish the books and sell them in comic conventions and their websites. There is a lot of webcomic creators. Myy favorite authors are Edgar Clement with Los Perros Salvajes (Wild Dogs) and Ramón Espinoza with  Niebla (Mist).Here is a good list of Mexican webcomics .

Many comic authors participate in the Artist Alley at the comic conventions in Mexico City and other cities in the country.  The Artist Alley is becoming bigger and more popular each year, this are the most important:

• TNT, a comic convention specializing in manga.
• LA,  specializing in superhero comics.
• FESTO is a comic convention exclusively for independent comic authors,  the first one was held  in 2011, and it was very succesfull comercially and as a cultural event.

Some blogs specializing in comic and the comic scene in  Mexico include Comikaze and  Artes9.

The way comic authors interact with each other in Mexico is basically on Facebook and Twitter.

ROB: Thanks so much for sharing this great information. If you are interested in Cecilia’s work, follow her on Twitter @cspego.

Schumer suggests that the comic book artist occupies a role analogous to the director of a film in terms of making the creative choices that shape the reader’s experience. Film directors, Schumer notes, enjoy critical recognition for their creative role, while comic book artists are frequently seen as subordinate to the sensibility of the writer. Significantly, many jurisdictions in Europe and Asia (but not the US) award the director of a film co-ownership of the work’s copyright – a legal status that would greatly benefit comic book creators like Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, who not only do not benefit financially from their many and manifest contributions to Marvel’s multi-billion dollar character franchises, but also, Schumer argues, are generally overlooked by a public that credits writer/editor Stan Lee as the main creative talent behind Marvel’s Silver Age.

Schumer believes that according artists recognition as the “auteurs” of comics brings creators like Kirby and Ditko a step closer to fair compensation for their work, and might redress some of the imbalance Schumer perceives in the critical discourse that lionizes writers. In this, he is on the side of the angels and is to be commended for his enthusiasm.

My problem with the article is that it reaches beyond this logical and narrowly-defensible theory and tumbles into rhetorical incoherence. It’s one thing to argue that Kirby, Ditko and other indisputably-talented visual artists deserve greater (and legal) recognition for their creative role. It is another to draw an overly-broad conclusion that implicates all writers and artists into some grand aesthetic construct that automatically elevates the most mediocre artist over the most talented writer simply by dint of their roles in the production process.

Schumer carves out exceptions for the likes of visually-minded writers like Alan Moore and Harvey Kurtzman, but why stop there? Even the examples he cites in the essay are contentious and inconclusive at best. Lash and Sacks do a better job than I could at pointing out that set of problems. I would add that most film scholars would dispute the (ahem) authority and comprehensiveness that Schumer imputes to auteur theory, but he applies this framework with a categorical insistence that defies common sense and invites ridicule.

At the end of the day, the whole enterprise savors more of polemic than a scholarly inquiry, and Schumer’s barely-concealed disdain for Stan Lee panders to the worst elements of pro-Kirby boosterism while not doing Jack’s cause any real good among the unconverted.

Schumer is a grade-A propagandist and wrapped the whole essay in a visually-dynamic design. He is a tireless advocate of his cause, and his subject matter knowledge is beyond dispute. The essay is, if nothing else, worthy of discussion. You can order a print copy here (and also contribute to the Kirby Museum), and if you are in LA on November 8-9, be sure to catch the Arlen Schumer Experience live as he discusses a much more agreeable topic, Illustration and Design in Comics.

Plain Ink’s mission is to “ignite imaginations to create a new narrative for the world – one in which we have a chance to thrive, wherever we are.” The organization seeks to harness the transformative potential of storytelling in books, multimedia and imagery to spark change, help people gain new skills, increase literacy levels, and engage communities to find their own solutions.

Read more at FastCoExist.

Over the summer I received a mysterious note on the Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture Facebook wall, expressing interest in my global perspective and suggesting I check out a new Brazilian webcomic called Obrigado Futebol. The strip was billed as an exploration of the social meaning of futebol (soccer), Brazil’s national obsession, and its inspiring effect on three kids who eventually become superstar players. The writer goes by the name “Wai of the Wave,” with art by Giulio Mariotti.

I clicked over to the site with few expectations. The first strip, “The Story of Little Ant,” had been posted in June, 2012. It tells the story of a kid from the favelas (slums) of Rio, from the tragic and heartbreaking circumstances of his birth and upbringing to his efforts to find escape through mastery of the soccer ball. The painterly almost folk art style, highly unusual for a comic, is detailed, compelling and extremely effective. The storytelling is confident, mature and sophisticated. It is emotional without being melodramatic. Sports comics as a genre in North America are typically nothing special, but Obrigado Futebol’s approach to the potentially corny “futebol as salvation” theme deftly skirts platitudes and stereotypes.

The complete “Story of Little Ant” is currently available in English, with plans for Japanese, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and Chinese versions announced on the site. Because it’s on the web, it’s instantly available to a global audience. Several other chapters in the story are announced but not yet posted (as of September, 2012).

Obrigado Futebol is as serious, ambitious and accomplished a work of graphic fiction as you’d find published anywhere in the world, telling a story that could only come from Brazil. The art is an intriguing synthesis of global and local styles. The story represents a voice and perspective that readers in North America and elsewhere might not ever hear, but it’s finding an audience through self-publication and digital distribution.

In short, it represents everything about the optimistic “Expanding Multiverse” scenario from Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture, in combination with the spirit of Millennial entrepreneurship in the emerging world that I wrote about in my previous book, Young World Rising. Seeing it gave me the idea to pursue similar stories from new global voices in comics – those taking advantage of the the spread of digital technology and the new self-publishing business models that it makes possible to reach a worldwide audience with innovative graphic fiction.

I reached out to “Wai” for more information about his project. Here are his responses to my questions.

ROB: Hi, Wai, thanks for taking time to chat. I’d like to begin by asking you to briefly describe the concept of Obrigado Futebol. Who are the characters, who is the audience, what are you trying to achieve?

WAI: Obrigado Futebol is a Brasilian favela football story told through the lives of three street kids: Little Ant, Snake Bite and Fallen Angel, who through tragic circumstances are bonded together by their extraordinary football abilities. We follow them as they struggle to survive on the streets of hell on earth, Rio de Janiero, whilst feeding their impossible dream of becoming professional football players.

The story begins with three preludes, exploring the back story of each kid’s difficult upbringing and their own unique football ability.

Our ultimate aim is just to tell the best we can our version of a Brasilian football rags-to-riches tale. Our passion has always been football, art, history, traditions and mechanisms of the human spirit, so this is the result of all our experiences, our tribute.

The audience naturally is football fans, however our biggest challenge and aim is to capture the imagination of masses who are not yet interested, by showing them many facets of the “beautiful game” and intertwining that with a powerful engaging story.

ROB: Can you give a brief history of the project? How did you decide to start it, what were the major steps so far?

WAI: WoW! I started waaaaaaaaay back in 1997, age 17, almost 15 years ago, and as crazy as it sounds, I had an epiphany and the story just appeared to me. Everything I knew up until then just all came together: films, cartoons, video games, stories I read and was told, life experiences, my love for football. Something just clicked. You know that feeling when you know something is undeniably true and right? That’s the flow I tapped into and I have been riding that wave ever since connecting the dots.

2007, 10 years had passed, and I had created an epic football dynasty, immersed in a Brasilian football world I had created decades of the story spanning a lifetime. Even more than that, it had become my alternative reality, an escape from the struggles in my real life which related directly to the kids in my story. By now Obrigado Futebol was just my nature, my life, my world.

The kids felt like my children, my close family, and it was impossible not to feel emotionally attached to them. I cried a lot and spent many years wrestling with many plot lines, every inevitable dangerous scenario these kids faced, I felt responsible for their outcome. This led to many conflicts and stop-start on the project.

Up until 2008, the Obrigado Futebol world only existed in my mind and on paper. But fate continued to unveil itself. It wasn’t until I re-connected with an old friend, Giulio Mariotti that suddenly the chance of transforming the Obrigado Futebol world became a reality. Giulio was a student studying in an art academy in Venice and had never worked on a comic or in any professional capacity before. Something he had drawn five years earlier just stuck in my mind and he just fell into my life at the right time. Giulio gave Obrigado Futebol its physical body, pencil, ink, design and color. His work is nothing short of breathtaking. He is a gem of an artist!

We successfully launched company along with the first comic “The story of Little Ant” in June 2012.

ROB: Who is involved? Do you have partners, supporters, etc?

WAI: We are currently just a crew of two, me and Giulio, who do almost everything, with great friends helping along the way with design aspects and web programming.

We started to post on Facebook and Twitter we had many positive response worldwide. Famous football players Solomon Kalou and David James have re-tweeted our comic and Legendary Dutch footballer Edgar Davids tweeted his appreciation for “The story of Little Ant”! (Edgar Davids is the epitome of a the “street ball style” and originally from Surinam, next to Brazil)

It is very early days for us and a small project, but we would love to partner and work with other producers, writers, directors and artists in the near future.

ROB: How do you plan to make money on this, or is it a labor of love?

WAI: It’s a free webcomic so we fund it ourselves and do it with a lot of patience, care and love. We would love maybe to do this for a living one day and make some money, but we are happy with our work lives and we can produce these comics in an effortless way, while balancing hectic life styles. Again it’s first and foremost an escape for us, a way of life and sharing it with the world is where true wealth lies.

ROB: What’s happening now? What is your plan going forward?

WAI: We are currently finishing the final pages to our footballing masterpiece, the second comic and prelude: “The Story of Snake Bite” and begin working on the third and final prelude “The Story of Fallen Angel.”

We hope one day Obrigado Futebol can become a popular series and we would like to set up charity project for street kids in the world’s poorest countries. However, right now we are just content to enjoy the process of producing the comics and continue telling an incredible sports story!

ROB: Brazil has a unique relationship with futebol/soccer. How are you exploring that theme, and how is your comic tied in to Brazilian culture?

WAI: Brasil has a rich history, a fascinating melting pot, blend of different cultures, however when it comes to football, its obsessions is unparalleled, literally engrained in the country’s DNA. Brasil has produced history’s most famous and legendary football players, or in some circles known as artists or poets. “Ginga” is Brasilian rhythm and movement that forms the base of their unique “samba football” mentality. Music and movement plays an essential role in our comic and we try to depict their influence within the football. With the extreme divide between rich and poor in Brasil, the climate was already emotionally charged for deep stories about raw human desires… Naturally this was the ideal place to set our story.

ROB: The art style of the first online strip is quite beautiful and unique. What are some of the inspirations for the art?

WAI: Our influences combined is a mash up of World cinema, video games, art history and modern, nature, mathematics, Japanese manga, European comics especially [Milo] Manara and Brasilian culture.

ROB: Will the other stories have different artists and different art styles?

WAI: “The Story of Snake Bite part 1″ is a tragic tale of the beginnings of “Brasil’s nightmare child,” a street orphan thrown in the trash as a child, constantly escaping death, exploited and neglected. In complete contrast to “The Story of Little Ant,” we chose to make this story in black and white to best reflect the darker environment and themes involved, and also because it’s a flashback.

We try to change the style of each page depending on how best to reflect the mood and the message we are trying to convey. Sometimes we will take on a traditional comic book structure with just basic frames, but if necessary we will then switch it up to beautiful art poster pages. So yes it really depends on the flow, and space, environment, page by page. We have a lot of freedom of what we create and we have taken many chances to create something fresh.

ROB: “The story of Little Ant” is set in very realistic scenes of poverty and is very emotionally violent, but at the same time spiritually uplifting. What are your main goals with this approach?

WAI: Sport has always been a champion of the human spirit and we try our best to convey this message in “Obrigado Futebol” through our experiences with football. Sport stories are always great because we empathize with the hardships, sacrifices and share in the feeling of union, hope and glory.

ROB: You say these stories are fictional, but are they based on any real people or experiences? Do you or the other creators come from background similar to those of your characters?

WAI: I have tried to enrich the story with my own experiences and in many ways I can trace everything back to real life characters and experiences in my life. My parents were poor immigrants born during wars and brought up in slums like the favelas. So our house and lives were filled with tales of third world hardship, our wealth was in escapism, hope and dreams. Both parents worked hard, 14 hour days and often were not at home, so as children we were pretty much street urchins, wandering the streets looking for excitement and things to do. Playing football everywhere, with anything we could kick (bottle tops, cans, paper bags). It was the key to connecting with the street kids in our comic and maybe they are based on my own friends! Our own parents tales of poverty and their hell growing up naturally bleed into the setting and emotional framework.

ROB: By doing your strip as a digital comic, you are immediately reaching a global audience, and not just people in Brazil. Does that affect your creative approach in any way?

WAI:  We never really thought about it. We just do what we comes natural to us and our approach is quite a “free” process so you never know what comes next. It can quickly switch from a drama to a dream. That’s key for us and I hope the readers can appreciate it. So far we have nothing but great feedback from readers worldwide.

ROB: Well you can add me to that list. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

WAI: All we ask if you like is to share the story with everyone and thanks for reading!!!

Check out the Story of Little Ant at www.obrigadofutebol.com