Conventions | Organizers anticipate as many as 70,000 people will attend MegaCon, held Friday through Sunday at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, up from about 60,000 last year; that could translate to $23 million impact on the local economy, according to the Orlando Business Journal. Guests include Amanda Conner, Darwyn Cooke, Chuck Dixon, Adam Kubert, Greg Land, Stan Lee, Jimmy Palmiotti, George Perez, Herb Trimpe, Mark Waid and Skottie Young. However, the names drawing the most attention may be The Walking Dead stars David Morrissey, Danai Gurira and Steve Yeun. "We are the first convention in the U.S. to have both David Morrissey and Danai Gurira at the same time,” Jason Smith, MegaCon's director of operations, told Florida Today. “The show is definitely a fan favorite of our attendees.” [MegaCon]
Publishing | Archie Comics Co-CEO Jon Goldwater discusses the ways the company has changed over the past few years, adding new series that bring a different look to the classic characters (Life With Archie, Afterlife With Archie), bringing back Alex Segura to oversee marketing, with the Red Circle superhero comics a prominent part of his portfolio, and hiring Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa as chief creative officer. [ICv2]
Publishing | I spoke with Publisher Mike Richardson and Editor-in-Chief Scott Allie about Dark Horse's new line of superhero comics, Project Black Sky. [Publishers Weekly]
Creators | Writer Greg Pak discusses Action Comics and how working with the rebooted New 52 character made his job more interesting: "When you have a character who's as powerful as Superman, starting with the character being a little younger and still figuring out what he's doing on the planet and what his powers are and what his responsibilities are, that's just a great way to find stories and drama and test your character's heroism." [IGN]
Manga | Translator Kumar Sivasubramanian talks about his work as a manga translator (his current projects are Knights of Sidonia and Blade of the Immortal) and gives an insider's view of how the market has changed over the years, in terms of pay (from a high of $15 to a low of $4 per page, a rate set by Tokyopop) and work flow: "Ed Chavez at Vertical has described the market as 'correcting itself'. That certainly reflects what my personal experience has been, despite my limited perspective on the industry overall." [Sequart]
Comics | New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is getting the Bluewater bio-comics treatment. Writer Michael Frizell, who hails from New Jersey, says, “The epilogue of the book, which deals with the now infamous bridge scandal, is the closest I come to political commentary. I’d rather let Gov. Christie’s words and deeds speak for themselves. Since this is an ongoing issue likely to come up during the election cycle, I leave the story with a bit of a cliffhanger." [Politico]
Comics culture | Singer-guitarist Sadie Dupuis talks about her love of comics — she named her band Speedy Ortiz, after a character in Love and Rockets — and how she went from reading Josie and the Pussycats to Yeah to the more mature works of the Hernandez brothers. [Westword]
Conventions | Vincent Zuzolo, owner of the comics auction house Metropolis Collectibles, will bring more than $1 million worth of old and rare comics to the Middle East Film & Comic Con in Dubai next month. [Arabian Business]
Conventions | The organizers of Awesome Con in Washington, D.C., hope to set a record next month for the largest number of cosplayers in a single place. [Washington Business Journal]
Conventions | Rutgers University will host next month to the first Camden Comic-Con. Guests will include Bob McLeod (The New Mutants) and Bryan Glass (The Mice Templar) [NJ.com]
Conventions | Organizers anticipate that the Cape Comic Con in Cape Girardeau, Illinois, will draw up to 1,300 people this weekend; attendance has been growing since the event debuted in 2006. [The Southern Illinoisian]