The convention season is in full swing, as Kevin has already noted a few times today. Next weekend brings WonderCon, the first show of the year put on by Comic-Con International, which takes place in San Francisco.

If you're a comics company, professional or retailer who is exhibiting at the show or has something special planned next weekend, we want to hear from you. Drop me an email at jkparkin@yahoo.com with details on your show plans, and I'll include it in a roundup next Wednesday.

In the meantime, here are a few "after hour" events I already know about:

  • The Hero Initiative and the Cartoon Art Museum are hosting a benefit Friday, April 2 for artist Ed Hannigan. It will include an art auction, which you can bid on by proxy if you aren't going to be there live.
  • James Sime at Isotope Comics is once again hosting a couple of events. The first is a tiki bar crawl through San Francisco with artist Dave Johnson on Friday night. The second is a Jonah Hex-themed party with Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner and Darwyn Cooke on Saturday. You can find more details on both events here.

I'd also be remiss if I didn't share my own plans for Saturday evening -- I'll be on a panel with a bunch of people who are smarter than me:

6:00-7:00 Comics Journalism— Join David Brothers (4thletter!), Kate Dacey (manga critic), Graeme McMillan (io9), JK Parkin (Robot 6), and Ron Richards (iFanboy), for a roundtable discussion of comics journalism from all angles. What should publishers and readers expect out of the varied and often fluctuating landscape of comics criticism online? Is comics print journalism dead? What makes a writer worth reading? Expect answers to these questions and more as the panelists, each practicing a different discipline of comics journalism, talks about the what's, why's, and how's of writing about comics online. Room 232/234

Come by and say hi.