We’ll be bringing you a round up of comic books companies and their embrace of the internets but in the short term I decided to take a look at each companies use of the web to help push their own coverage of San Diego Comic Con.  We’ll take a look at the four major publishers and see what they’re doing.

Dark Horse

Press Releases: Dark Horse is all about the press releases.  I’ve made it a rule, since they’re the only company that sends them out I’ll post a good chunk of them.  They’ve sent a few over SDCC but not enough that it’s irritating.  Email still rules and Dark Horse knows it. – GRADE: A

Website: Dark Horse is covering the goings on with SDCC but is promoting mostly G4’s coverage.  They don’t have a dedicated portal for this event but are updating the news thats going on.  Why they’re pointing to someone elses coverage, instead of doing it themselves I have no idea why, forget the contest they did together.  Other than blog posts the site is sparce on the goings on. – GRADE: C

Facebook: Dark Horse links to MySpace but no Facebook link anywhere on their website.  Much like their website the pickings on Facebook is light.  Just importing of their blog posts.  Weak sauce. – GRADE: C-

Twitter: Their Twitter coverage is to be expected, pretty weak.  Some links to their press releases and a few signing posts.  Their last tweet as of this writing was 21 hours ago. – GRADE: D

Overall Grade – C/C+

DC

Press Releases: I’ve tried to get on their email press release list.  For some reason this isn’t easy.  Does it exist?  No idea. – GRADE: Not Graded

Website: I’ll first state, I hate the DC site.  It’s hard to navigate, doesn’t work well in Firefox, just piss poor.  While there’s a portal it’s just some links to the schedule of their panels and no real news, http://dccomics.com/sites/events/. There are some slide shows and podcasts but those are primarily off the main page, why not just turn it into one giant portal with the newest info presented.  It’s an attempt but like DC comics, their website is just not up to snuff for the modern age. – GRADE: C

Facebook: Do they even have an official page?  There’s a fan page with 35,000+ fans and a group with 10,000+ that’s clearly run by fans.  The fan page has no content, no updates, nada.  FAIL DC, FAIL! – GRADE: F

Twitter: The DC Twitter account is very blah, mostly links to stories and press releases.  There’s no real “live” coverage.  There’s more content then Dark Horse, but also very weak. – GRADE: C-

Overall Grade – D+

Image

Press Releases: I think I got on their list, but have yet to receive anything.  We’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. – GRADE: Not Graded

Website: One news post with their schedule from July 16, and the blog hasn’t been updated since August 08.  I understand that Image is this confederacy of creators, but you each should chip in and get a new media person. No excuses folks.  A year since you updated your blog!? – GRADE: F

Facebook: This one is easy, there is no presence on Facebook. – GRADE: F

Twitter: Hmm, they’re actually vibrant on Twitter, did you just skip steps in the whole web operation and just went straight to the latest, greatest fad?  And the feed is actually good, it’s entertaining with descriptions of the line, and humor.  It’s personal and fun. – GRADE: A

Overall Grade – D+

Marvel

Press Releases: Sadly, it’s been a pain to get on Marvel’s press list.  You have to dig through their website to even find a contact.  I finally found one the first day of SDCC, still waiting for my first press release.  So much for rapid response. – GRADE: Not Graded

Website: Marvel has a top notch website.  Their coverage of SDCC news has been amazing, with a dedicated portal to check out what’s happening, http://marvel.com/sdcc09. Consisting of blog posts, a schedule, video and photos, all they need is a little integration with other websites and this would be perfect.  You can also get the content through RSS making it easy and convenient. – GRADE: A-

Facebook: Marvel has had a top notch if not basic fan page.  The blog posts flow into the feed, videos and photos are posted.  Overall, a fairly basic, but thorough page, but nothing special. – GRADE: B

Twitter: Forget the numerous artists, writers, and editors on Twitter, we’re focusing on the main Marvel feed.  Promoting panels, retweeting news, and links to their website, this is a nice portal of what’s going on.  What’s missing is the personal touch. – GRADE: B+

Overall Grade – B+