By Luis Monteagudo Jr.
Two San Diego organizations got to share the spotlight at Comic-Con this year, one an industry powerhouse and the other a small, nonprofit that is teaching a new generation how to create comics.
IDW Publishing, based in Point Loma, is the fourth-largest comic-book publishing company in the United States, with more than 500 unique comic book titles and over 200 unique graphic novels published last year.
At Comic-Con, IDW executives and creators announced major new titles. They include “Star Fleet Academy,” a mini-series focusing on the early years of the current Star Trek crew featured in the new movies. It is expected to come out next year, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Star Trek franchise.
Meanwhile, a major crossover event will team up the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with Batman. IDW is promising a huge, bombastic story that will take the Turtles to Gotham City.
“This is a literal fanboy dream project,” said writer James Tynion IV, who has written Batman comics for D.C.
IDW will also make a unique collaboration with acclaimed cyberpunk novelist William Gibson on a new, original work called “Archangel.” IDW described the book as a “wild, time-travel romp between the closing days of World War II and a present day United States that doesn’t look a thing like our present day.” It is expected to come out next spring.
While IDW works to cement its place in the comic book industry, Little Fish Comic Book Studio is working to help create the future of comics.
Little Fish is a nonprofit organization based in Ocean Beach that aims to teach a new generation how to create comics. The studio was founded in July 2012 and offers courses and programs for students who want to learn how to make comics.
Little Fish Executive Producer Alonso Nuñez brought several of his teen-age students to Comic-Con. For the Con, the students had to make 2-page comic books, from writing to inking to coloring in three days.
Nuñez said the students were challenged, but got to work with the same tools that professionals use and learn about the process.
“It’s a great opportunity,” he said “They are up here (on the panel) because they did the work. They deserve to be here.”
Luis Monteagudo Jr. is a freelance writer and pop culture enthusiast who has attended Comic-Con for more than 20 years. He was written for the San Diego Union-Tribune, USA Today and numerous other publications.
