My name is Michael Magee. This year I attended another session of the San Diego Comic Con or more commonly known as SDCC 2011. Though this year’s event was filled with big announcements, great features, and the best costume parties this side of North America, there were also some harsh realities, uncertainty and emerging opportunities. The following is an excerpt of part 1 of a 4 part series on Comics and my experience at SDCC 2011.

COMICS ARE DEAD!

…What? Too soon?

…Well maybe not dead but things are changing quickly, read on…

Dropping Sales

The comic book industry is having another tough year, the volume of comics being sold through comic stores continues to drop, the latest numbers indicate a 7% drop in sales while comic sales in books stores went up 8% (even with the meltdown of Borders). In terms of genre Manga continued to drop, down 11% over the year while the largest gains were in the kids and tweens market, up 67% from last year. The drop in sales has been blamed on the decreasing number of stores to sell product, heavy piracy of scanned copies of comics and a resistance on the part of most publishers to move into the digital marketplace.

Continue reading the article on my Blog, Fictional Narratives.

This year was quite the success for The Fabler! We had managed to go through more than 1300 copies of our Calgary Comic Expo exclusive preview of The Sundry Seven. So now that the word is out be sure to check back to the site for more updates and the official launch!

This year Zensoft Studios was kind enough to sponsor some Sony Playstation 3 prize packs for our comic expo draw. We want to thank all those that stopped by our little abode to meet Jay Korim, the artist of The Sundry Seven, grab their free issue and speak with the creators of thefabler.com and all of its happenings.

So without further ado we present the following winners to the our prize draw.

I find it interesting as a recent headline in Edge Game Industry News stated that a recent survey claimed approximately 3% of all PS3’s in circulation have been won in competitions! Be proud that our three lucky winners made it into the headlines!

Sony PS3 Prizepack
120 GB Sony Playstation 3
Little Big Planet PS3 Game
Our Winners Are:
Kyle MacDonald
James LePage
Kenny Tsang

Sony PSN Prizepack
$50 PSN Network Card
Our Winners Are:
Brent Pope
Tim Dorscher
Hansen Wong

PS3 Batman Prizepack
Batman: Arkham Asylum, PS3 Game
Our Winners Are:
Marko Bozinouski
Branden Joyce

Congratulations to all of our lucky winners!!!

See you all at next years Expo!

Though I haven’t seen any official announcements yet, the expo definitely felt bigger this year! As I stood at our booth introducing many of you to our new site, throughout the day I felt that I just couldn’t talk fast enough. The vibe was open, and buzzing with activity as there was just so much to see in so little time.

I was invited by Gerald Garcia of Maple Ink Comics, to the drink & draw at the Unicorn Pub. Though we had a few challenges getting enough tables for everyone, it was the perfect place to relax, vent, & most importantly be creative! I’ve heard about these events, but when I sat around the table with Andrew Foley, Fiona Staples, Dan Andrews, Richard Barkman, Kris Chisholm, and many others, I was taken back and reminded as to why comics can be the purest form of expression.

For those of you that missed the CCEE this year, I would encourage you to go. So here are some of our highlights!

Set up across from us was Happy Harbor Comics. There is Owner Jay Bardyla with a better Silver Surfer impression than even I can do!

I had the pleasure of meeting Jim Zubkavich from Udon Entertainment. If you are looking to break into the industry professionally. I highly recommend talking to him the next time you get a chance!

Local friends, Blacksheep Studios were launching their new magazine, Vehicle. Vehicle is a great quarterly comics magazine with all artwork provided by the Blacksheep Studios crew!

Red 5 Comics, another local publisher of some great comics like, Neozoic, Atomic Robot, Abyss and more!

Riley Rossmo and Michael Hoskin, were featured this year at the Another Dimension booth! Riley and Alexander have published 18 issues and 2 graphic novels of their comic Proof through Image.

Dale Berry, a self published, self produced comic artist on the novel series Moonlight Cutter, was a guest at the show this year.

Kristpher Chisholm, freelance artist drawing another fantastic creation, sitting next to him, his wife Amy, and George Georgeadis, Designer/Producer at Games Cafe.

Aaron Norell & Jason Brunner of DPI Studios showing off their stuff this year. Also to note their artwork is being featured at Theme Parks in Dubai!

It was a great expo this year thanks to Kandrix Foong and the gang! Though I didn’t have enough time to visit everyone and see everything I wanted to see, I will remember Edward James Olmos (The Admiral himself) as he smiled at me while walking past our booth Sunday morning during our setup. I look forward to next years expo!

~Bruno @ The Fabler