Public Domain #9 // Review
There's an old pro who is setting up for the 2024 San Diego Comic Expo. He's been around long enough to see it. Evolve from a tiny, little comic book industry thing back when the comic book industry was tiny. Now it’s grown into something much bigger that doesn’t really have a whole lot to do with comic books. He still feels a sense of pride in the Expo, though. Established pros and newcomers alike all sit down to share what they’re doing. Everyone’s equal. It’s a nice sentiment to open Public Domain #9. Writer/artist Chip Zdarski takes the gang at Dallas Comics to their universe’s version of San Diego Comic-Con in another quaintly comic drama.
Sid Dallas has a big panel event on Friday. Lots of people are going to be in attendance. Dallas Comics has some big news. He’s going to be returning to work on the character that he was most known for. Dallas Comics is going to be producing new issues featuring The Domain. He gets to work on stories featuring a character he loves with his sons. Very cool stuff....until someone in the panel stands up to announce that the Singular Entertainment panel next door has a huge celebrity and everyone filters out, leaving Sid quite alone.
Zdarski sharply frames the conflict of interest between comic books and the movies that are inspired by them. he is able to do so while exploring the personalities of some of the people at the heart of his own series. It's a clever and nuanced approach to continuing the story of Dallas Comics wow, also bringing it into the gravity of one of the industry’s biggest annual events. though it does oversimplify quite a lot of what it's diving into, it's very well constructed chapter in a largely satisfying series.
Zdarski firmly plants, the action of the series in and around the San Diego Convention Center without over-rendering the architecture. it would be all too easy to simply plunge the narrative into the visual reality of the San Diego Comic-Con, and believe it at that. Zdarski put just enough detail in around the edges of the drama to ground the issue at the con while leaving the drama of the individual members of the ensemble right in the center of the page where it belongs. It’s nice to see the San Diego Comic-Con placed in the background as a supporting detail without totally dominating the issue.
It's actually a very slick package overall. Something as big as San Diego Comic-Con is going to be difficult to place on the page in the right way. It feels like there is quite a lot of thought put in to placing this particular issue the best known environment for the comic book industry. There would have been a lot of wage to present the story that could have bogged it down from one end or the other. Once again, Zdarski has managed to balance the series firmly between family drama and the distinctive trappings of the comic book industry.
