I did something for Comic-Con that I haven’t done in a long time: I made note of those I’d like to attend. Because of baby-imposed limitations, I probably won’t get to some of those that will require standing in line for long periods of time, but we’ll [...]]]> My latest Life in Comics is up at Publishers Weekly!

I did something for Comic-Con that I haven’t done in a long time: I made note of those I’d like to attend. Because of baby-imposed limitations, I probably won’t get to some of those that will require standing in line for long periods of time, but we’ll see how it goes. Here are the ones I picked out:

THURSDAY

10:00-11:00 The Spark of Imagination— Peek inside the minds of leading authors and filmmakers to explore how imagination informs the creative process. New York Times bestselling children’s author Tony DiTerlizzi (The Spiderwick Chronicles) details the precedent-setting augmented reality used in his new Simon & Schuster novel The Search for Wondla; LAIKA president/CEO Travis Knight (lead animator, Coraline) explains his studio’s commitment to bold subject matter; artist/writer Mike Mignola (creator of Hellboy) pinpoints how and where inspiration strikes; director John Stevenson (Kung Fu Panda) explores how creativity is enhanced by artistic collaboration in moviemaking; and graphic novelist and Comic-Con special guest Doug TenNapel (Earthworm Jim) describes exactly how a blank page comes to be inhabited with his compelling imagery. Join moderator Geoff Boucher, reporter and HeroComplex.com blogger with The Los Angeles Times, for this fascinating panel discussion and Q&A. Room 25ABC

MY NOTES: I would have liked to see some women on this panel, to perhaps see  how women and men develop their creativity differently. Being creative is often very self-centric — you have to believe that what your mind invents is engaging and important enough for others to be interested in it, and I think that boys and men are often socialized in such a way that makes it easier for them to accept such a belief. (I won’t be able to attend this panel because I won’t arrive in San Diego until 3.)

10:30-11:30 Danny Elfman— From Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure to Alice in Wonderland, composer Danny Elfman discusses his 25-year collaboration with director Tim Burton. Their legendary partnership includes such films as Beetle Juice, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Nightmare Before Christmas, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Joining Mr. Elfman will be Warner Brothers Records executives to announce their plans to celebrate this quarter-century milestone. Room 6BCF

MY NOTES: I’ll have to choose between this panel and the preceding one. Honestly, this is the one I’d drop. I love music, but I’m not a musician (I play the piano at a shaky intermediate level), so I think the other panel will be more relevant to my interests.

1:30-2:30 Spotlight on Dusty Higgins and Van Jensen— Pinocchio the Vampire Slayer creators and Comic-Con special guests Dusty Higgins and Van Jensen are spotlighted in a panel moderated by Heidi MacDonald. The pair talk about the origins of their project, their reactions to the positive feedback — which included having their debut graphic novel from SLG Publishing named as one of the top 10 best graphic novels for teens by the Young Adult Library Service — and show art from the upcoming sequel. Room 3

MY NOTES: I’ve mentioned before that when my boss told me about Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer I was a little dubious. It sounded so high-concept. But then I read the story, and was pleasantly surprised to find it full of heart — and the art is great. I’m really into young adult literature these days, so having Pinocchio named as one of the 10 best graphic novels for teens by YALSA made me very happy. I won’t be able to attend this one, either.

6:00-7:00 Universal: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World— Genre-bending filmmaker Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz), graphic novel author Bryan Lee O’Malley, and the cast of Universal Pictures’ Scott Pilgrim vs. the World provide a sneak peek of summer 2010′s epic of epic epicness. Joining Wright will be our hero, Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera of Superbad); Scott’s two current girlfriends, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead of The Thing) and Knives Chau (Ellen Wong of Unnatural History); his band, SEX BOB-OMB: Kim Pine (Alison Pill of Milk) and Stephen Stills (Mark Webber of Broken Flowers); SEX BOB-OMB super-fan Young Neil (Johnny Simmons of Jennifer’s Body); Scott’s awesome roommate, Wallace Wells (Kieran Culkin of Igby Goes Down); and four of Ramona’s seven evil exes: Matthew Patel (Satya Bhabha of Fair Game), Todd Ingram (Brandon Routh of Superman Returns), Gideon Graves (Jason Schwartzman of Funny People) and Roxy Richter (Mae Whitman of Parenthood); plus Scott’s younger sister, Stacey Pilgrim (Anna Kendrick of Up in the Air), and the obnoxious Julie Powers (Aubrey Plaza of Parks and Recreation). Q&A to follow. Hall H

MY NOTES: I don’t anticipate being able to get into this one, not even if I say something like, “C’mon, I liked Bryan Lee O’Malley before it was cool! I have the first printing of Lost at Sea!”

FRIDAY

10:00-11:00 From Fan to Creator: Goal Setting for Creative Types— Which side of the convention table do you want to be on, artist or fan? And what’s keeping you from getting there? If you have a project in mind that you’ve had trouble bringing into reality, you might benefit from this fun and practical goal-setting workshop, designed specifically for the Comic-Con crowd. Hailed as the “Tony Robbins of Geeks,” motivational speaker Douglas Neff will give you simple, proven techniques for achieving your most important goals. Whether you want to write your own screenplay, draw your first comic, or shoot your independent film, you’re sure to get something useful from this informative and energizing workshop. Room 24ABC

MY NOTES: I’m not so keen on someone branding themselves the “Tony Robbins of Geeks,” but we’ll see how this goes. I like workshops. I have an MFA, after all.

5:00-6:00 Girls Gone Genre: Movies, TV, Comics, Web— Meet and talk with women who write, read, game, and perform in arenas that are historically and statistically dominated by men. What’s it like to try and get a job in a field where most of your competitors and colleagues are guys? Can women write men, and vice versa? And what happens when traditionally “male” genres are reinvented by female writers and embraced by female fans? Sex and the City it ain’t! Meet the women who like to play with trucks and Barbies…and Wolverine action figures. And flux capacitors. Featuring Felicia Day (writer/producer, The Guild; actress, The Guild, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog), Kathryn Immonen (writer, Patsy Walker: Hellcat, Runaways, Heralds), Laeta Kalogridis (screenwriter/producer, Shutter Island, Ghost in the Shell, Avatar), Marti Noxon (screenwriter/producer, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Mad Men, I Am Number Four, Fright Night), Melissa Rosenberg (screenwriter/producer, Dexter, The Twilight Saga), and Gail Simone (writer, Wonder Woman, Birds of Prey).Moderated by Io9′s Annalee Newitz. Room 24ABC

MY NOTES: Oh, so there are the women I hoped would be on that first panel! I do think giving women their own forum to talk about creative work in male-dominated industries is smart, but wouldn’t it be nice if it weren’t necessary?

SATURDAY

12:45-1:30 Futurama— Celebrate Futurama‘s triumphant re-return to the airwaves! World-premiere footage will offer an exciting and informative glimpse of Comic-Con in the year 3010. Panelists include executive producers Matt Groening and David X. Cohen, cast members Billy West, John DiMaggio, Katey Sagal, and Maurice LaMarche, director Crystal Chesney-Thompson, writers Ken Keeler and Patric M. Verrone, and animation producer Claudia Katz. Ballroom 20

MY NOTES: I went to the very first Futurama panel at Comic-Con way back when (at least I think it was the first one), and it was loads of fun. They had an advance screening of a new episode. “These balls are making me testy!”

1:30-2:30 Comics Criticism— Comics are a staple of the arts and book review sections of everything from The New York Times and Publishers Weekly to a current golden age of published biography and history, such as Gerard Jones’s Men of Tomorrow, R. C. Harvey’s Meanwhile…, and David Michaelis’s Schulz and Peanuts. Some of the nation’s leading critics discuss the state of the art and the state of its journalism, 2010. Panelists include Gary Groth (The Comics Journal), Douglas Wolk (Reading Comics), Brian Doherty (Radicals for Capitalism), Ben Schwartz (editor, Best American Comics Criticism), and R. Fiore (Funnybook Roulette). Room 4

MY NOTES: Mmmm… seriousness. I’ve been considering how to get started at writing comics criticism professionally. My background is in literature , so I know how to read and analyze. I’ve been wary about conflict of interest because of my job, but I’m starting to think that doesn’t matter.

3:00-4:00 Spotlight on Ray Bradbury— He was at the very first Comic-Con and we kind of think he’ll be at the very last one, too, far off in the future. Science fiction author Ray Bradbury is literally a national treasure. Ray talks with biographer Sam Weller and moderator writer/producer Arnold Kunert in his yearly visit with his fans at Comic-Con. Room 6DE

MY NOTES: Ray Bradbury!

3:00-4:00 NBC’s Community Cast and Creative Team— The cast and producers — Joel McHale (The Soup), Chevy Chase (Hot Tub Time Machine), Donald Glover (30 Rock), Yvette Nicole Brown (Rules of Engagement), Danny Pudi (Greek), Gillian Jacobs (Choke), Alison Brie (Mad Men) and executive producers Dan Harmon (The Sarah Silverman Program), Joe Russo (Arrested Development), Anthony Russo (Arrested Development), Neil Goldman (Scrubs), Garrett Donovan (Scrubs) and Russ Krasnoff (The Soloist) — are on hand for an animated discussion and Q&A session about what’s in store for viewers this fall. Indigo Ballroom, San Diego Hilton Bayfront

MY NOTES: God, I love Community. It’s streets ahead any new show out there. It taps into pop culture in a way that’s funny and sweet, and somehow it reminds me of the best parts of John Hughes movies. (With the improvement that the people of color aren’t there just for… well, color.)

3:30-4:30 Comics in the Classroom— Comics are becoming increasingly common in elementary and secondary classrooms. But how can teachers incorporate comics into their course curriculums? This panel provides practical strategies for teachers to do just that. Presented by Anastasia Betts (UCLA), Christina Blanch (Ball State University), Deborah Ford (San Diego Unified School District), and Tracy White (NYU). Moderated by Chris Butcher (The Beguiling). Room 26AB

MY NOTES: Once upon a time, my ambition was to be a college professor or high school English teacher. My interest in academia is long-standing, but I’m not sure what I might get out of this, seeing as I’m not a college professor or high school English teacher. Maybe I will be someday, though, who knows.

When I turned it in, I was a little concerned that I had struck too strident a tone and was being too harsh or unfair. But then I read the comments on this interview [...]]]> My new Life in Comics Column is up at Publishers Weekly. It’s about how women and girls are treated in the comics community.

When I turned it in, I was a little concerned that I had struck too strident a tone and was being too harsh or unfair. But then I read the comments on this interview with graphic novelist Hope Larson, and I knew that I was right. A strident tone is necessary when you want to make it clear you’re not going to take any more nonsense.

Then the publisher, Quirk Books, announced Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters [...]]]> When Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was published, I bought it on my Kindle and found it pretty amusing. It seemed a spontaneous uniting of two elements I like — Jane Austen and zombie survival stories — more of an homage than a high-concept gimmick.

Then the publisher, Quirk Books, announced Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters and I not at all interested, even though I like sea monsters, too. It seemed that the re-imaginings of Jane Austen novels was less spontaneous than I had thought.

And now comes Android Karenina, supporting that no matter how this began, it is now an empty gimmick, living not so much on loving literature enough to have fun with it but on the recognition that there is money to be made. Confirming this is Pride and Prejudice: Dawn of the Dreadfuls.

I am a writer and I work in publishing (at a company that has published a sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, the comic series Wonderland), so I’m of two minds about this. One mind is definitely larger than the other — and that is the part that disdains a lack of literary integrity and produces works that have little value beyond the monetary. But the other part is the part that knows how difficult it is to make money writing and publishing books and thinks, Well, it’s better than starvation wages, right? My larger mind keeps answering, No, not really, and that’s a false dichotomy, anyway.

Fair enough, larger mind.

Also, in considering this spate of rewrites of classic novels, I’ve become uncomfortable with the gender issues at play. Though Jane Austen’s novels and Anna Karenina were for a long time (and still are, in good English and Comparative Literature departments) considered simply great literature, they’re now seen as being of the feminine sphere (Anna Karenina was an Oprah’s Book Club selection, after all!) and, thus, niche. The way to make these feminine novels appeal to a wider audience seems to be to insert elements that traditionally have appealed to males — mostly genre elements that give rise to physical action and gratuitous violence (which, I acknowledge, were fun in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies but now this whole endeavor seems to have become gratuitous gratuitous violence).

I know that making statements like this get a lot of pushback from women who protest, “But I like zombies and sea monsters and steampunk!” Look, so do I. (Except for steampunk. I’m sick of that, but mostly as a fashion trend, not a concept.) However, I still must acknowledge that taking novels about women in a domestic context and turning them into genre fiction makes me uncomfortable as a trend — to me, it’s saying, as so much in culture does, that what has traditionally been female is inferior.

Such then is the influence of the mind over the body that anyone who wishes to cultivate good health must correct the faulty habit of always thinking [...]]]> I’m officially on maternity leave, with hours at home to while away. I have grand ambitions to do as the author of this 1912 pregnancy handbook, The Prospective Mother advises:

Such then is the influence of the mind over the body that anyone who wishes to cultivate good health must correct the faulty habit of always thinking of herself. The most suitable form of diversion will depend upon personal taste. Domestic duties absorb the attention of most prospective mothers, but domestic duties should not occupy them exclusively. Outdoor recreation is necessary and serves the double purpose of strengthening mind and body. Public amusements should also be patronized; no prospective mother has the right to sacrifice herself to pride. Music, the various arts, a systematic course of reading, the acquisition of a foreign language – all these are commendable forms of diversion, and others will occur to anyone. Obviously the avocation will be most happily chosen if it directs the attention into channels likely to lead to the greatest pleasure.

But let’s be honest. Outdoor recreation? I can manage a walk to the mailbox and back these days. Music? I tried playing the piano, but my sausaged-up fingers are stiff and clumsy. “A systematic course of reading”? Ah, there we go. I downloaded Ulysses on my Kindle. And then promptly despaired over how my brain has grown soft. Plus, I really don’t care about Stephen Dedalus and his stupid errand and what occupies his twenty-something-guy-mind right now. (I think I need to shift my Modernism impulse to Virginia Woolf.) There’s writing, of course, for which reason I also downloaded Francine Prose’s Reading Like a Writer, and I’m planning a trip to the library to check out some YA novels to read as research and easy diversion.

But I know that I will fall into my guilty pleasure: Watching TV judge shows. I have always loved TV judge shows. Back when I was a kid, the only choice was The People’s Court, presided over by Judge Wapner (Divorce Court didn’t count, as it was acted, and I didn’t much care about divorce cases when I was a kid, anyway). These days, our fine country has a wealth of judge shows. Here are my impressions of all of them — and their judges — that I’ve seen.

Divorce Court, presided over by Judge Lynn Toler — No longer acted, Divorce Court now features the familiar sight and sound of two people who genuinely hate each other bickering about who was controlling or cheating or lazy. All this has nothing to do with the actual “case,” which is usual “S/he owes me money” small-claims stuff. My favorite case featured a long-haired wannabe rocker who spent $1500 on a pair of leather pants because it was necessary for his image. The litigants can be shrill and are usually both what Judge Judy (see below) calls “marginal people,” but Judge Toler displays a good amount of warmth, restraint, and TV-judge-show-style wisdom. She’s also very pretty.

Judge Alex, presided over by Judge Alex E. Ferrer — Judge Alex is the most even-keeled of all TV judges. He was a cop! A trial lawyer! A criminal court judge! And now a TV judge! He says nuh-uh to drama, and shuts down people who want to start in on it. For that reason, I don’t have any vivid memories of any of his cases, but at the same time I tend to turn off his show out of frustration less often than other judge shows. Judge Alex, like another TV judge, Marilyn Milian, is Cuban-American and pretty foxy.

Judge Joe Brown, presided over by, uh, Judge Joe Brown — The opening of his show has Judge Joe Brown proclaiming that he’s here to “promote manhood and protect womanhood,” which gives you an idea of his sense of gender dynamics. He often berates the men in his court for their lack of manliness, whether it’s because they let women pay for things or wear earrings. Things get out of hand in his court often because he wants to challenge men’s manliness. He told one that he was acting like “an unruly woman,” because there’s no worse insult than to compare a man to a woman.

The People’s Court, presided over by Judge Marilyn Milian — The classic show remains nearly unchanged since the days of Judge Wapner, down to the music and the typewriter sounds as the litigants’ claims appear on the screen. The most unwelcome new feature is the guy who stands on the street and asks the mush-mouthed people standing around him what they think of the case. The most obvious new feature is Judge Marilyn Milian herself (my friend Mike called The People’s Court “the pretty lady show”). She plays into that fiery Latina archetype and blows her top every once in a while, but overall is fair in her decisions. The cases themselves are usually pretty mundane — shoddy handyman work, cell phone bills.

Judge Judy, presided over by Judge Judith Sheindlin — Perhaps the most famous of TV judge shows, Judge Judy is, to me, fantasy-fulfillment for sensible people. Stupid people are told outright that they are stupid. Liars are called liars. People who act like asses are labeled “marginal people.” Sometimes Judge Judy can be a little too mean, but when she corners someone in their bullshit, it can be amazing. My favorite incident of this is when a guy was acting like grabbing his ex-wife and pulling her toward him was no big deal. So Judge Judy asked him to demonstrate what he did, using his mother in place of his ex-wife. It was a real King Solomon moment.