By Bryan Menegus, Columnist
This year’s New York Comic Con was abuzz with news spanning several industries. Foremost on many comic fan’s minds was DC Comics “new 52,” a company-wide reboot (and abridgement) of all existing titles which resulted in the remaining titles having their storylines altered. Almost more shocking was DC’s initiative to have all titles available digitally—an obstacle most of the larger publishers have been avoiding.
As in recent years, the convention featured a significant presence from Cartoon Network who heavily advertised their runaway success Adventure Time, as well as upcoming programming on their Adult Swim block. Among these were nerd hit “The Venture Brothers” a new season of “Delocated,” and the upcoming six part mini-series “The Heart, She Holler,” which will feature stand-up comedian Patton Oswalt.
Video games have always had a home at New York Comic Con, but rarely do they receive as much attention as in this past year, with comic and video game junkies alike awaiting the release of Batman: Arkham City. The sequel the highly-acclaimed Batman: Arkham Asylum, Arkahm City not only has huge expectations attached to it, but is rumored to be Mark Hamill’s (of Star Wars fame) last reprisal of his voice acting role as the Joker, a duty he fulfilled chiefly in the 90’s animated Batman series. The 2011 New York Comic Con also hosted the Intel Extreme Masters Global Challenege, an eSports tournament for League of Legends, Starcraft II, and CounterStrike.
The influx of movies which draw directly from comics has not only put a healthy dose of Hollywood into the Comic Con mix, but has brought along plenty of television personalities as well—many of whom have little or no connection to the sci-fi/fantasy scene which tends to amass there. Among these, Chad Michael Murray comes to mind, best known as Lucas Scott on One Tree Hill, he gave a number of interviews regarding his new graphic novel, “Everlast.” Musicians too have slowly been trickling in—like Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, who came to promote his new comic series ‘Orchid’, which is being released through Dark Horse.
Although there’s no shortage of teens (and adults) decked out in full cosplay regalia, somehow Comic Con is starting to feel tamer. The stereotypical image of the overweight, ponytail-wearing 30-year-old with hygiene issues, feverishly digging through a stack of plastic wrapped issues for an affordable damaged copy of X-Men #1 is beginning to fade as the industry becomes both more mainstream and more profitable. The only question is, what will the next generation of comic book nerds look like?
