New York Comic Con: The Webcomics Panel of the Year?

Gary Tyrell is puzzled at best by an announced announced webcomics panel at the New York Comic-Con, which features a set of names largely unfamiliar to those in the scene. Most of the commenters on his blog agree with his assessment. My own feelings were very different:

My first reaction to this was the same as Gary's, but the more I think about it the more intrigued I get. Frankly, the last couple of years' worth of conventions have featured what seems like the same panel over and over, with the same sorts of guys answering the same questions with the same answers (and I've felt that way no matter which side of the table I was on). I was planning to skip this one, but now I think I've probably got to attend.

Also, if [the recent webcomics Wikipedia controversy] has taught us anything, it's that one clique's unfamiliarity with someone should not be the definition of that person's "notability." Here's who these guys are:

Milton Griepp - ICv2 is one of the most frequently-cited news sources about comics. Its webcomics coverage has been rather cursory, but he's still a knowledgeable source.

Josh Blaylock - Pullboxonline is a serious attempt to apply the 99-cent iTunes model to comics, and it's targeting an audience that isn't used to getting its comics for free. I think it's facing long odds, but its business plan isn't idiotic.

Richard Bruning, Jeremy Ross - I have to be discreet here. I'll just say that I've heard these names frequently before, and that DC and Tokyopop choosing to join the webcomics discussion should be treated as news in itself.

Scott Rosenberg - I don't really need to tell you about this guy. Love him or... no, I can't complete that sentence. Be neutral about him or hate him, he's already affected the game.

Heewoon Chung - He may be a poor English speaker, he may be trying too hard to fit in with "America's traditional in-your-face marketing," but Netcomics really is successful in Korea, and money talks. It might be interesting to see how he does against DC, at least.

Regis Maher II - Extreme Holdings, Inc. is the only real "HUH?" on this list for me-- all Google tells me is that it seems to own an aircraft in Portland, Oregon (go here and scroll to the bottom). Portland is a major hub of comics culture-- and that's my only clue.

Maybe there should have been one or two of the Usual Suspects on this roster-- but then, if there were, maybe they would be about as discordant a presence as Chung was with the Blank Labelers.

I suspect that Maher and at least two others on this list are planning to use this panel to leak new plans for the coming year.

Are these YOUR NEW WEBCOMIC OVERLORDS? Doubtful. Will some of them seriously challenge the established order? Very possibly, especially in the short term.

They could all be heading into Vietnam, as Crossgen did before them. Certainly there's a lot of institutional thinking to overcome at big businesses, especially at DC. But American big business has demonstrated an ability to learn from small business, and I think it's naive to assume it will never do so in webcomics, just because it hasn't done so to date.

I think life just got a little more interesting.