NY ComicCon 2012

So, last weekend (as I write this) I attended the New York Comic Con and well, not only did I have a greet weekend (I hung out with a couple of new-found friends Bill Baker & Joel Meadows (Publisher/Editor of Tripwire Magazine). Turns out we were three Journalists, comicbook fans, and cinephiles having something of a great weekend together. Anyway, here are just some of the pics that I took over the weekend.

First up are The Avengers and some Patriotic Babes

This was the only Spider-Woman I saw

Spidey recently turned 50, and this is the birthday card that Marvel got him.

It was signed by numerous Spidey-Fans, with the hope of getting it into the Guinness Book of World Records (and of course, I signed it too!).

Naturally enough there were also a bunch of Spideys on hand (this one brought a friend)

This one stopped by Fay Felix’s Bronx Heroes Con table

Then he had to fight off none other than Wilson Fisk, The Kingpin!

Eventually though Spidey was apparently defeated by...who is this, Zero of the GI Joes?

Lastly, there was at least one Scarlet Spider (Ben Reilly) on hand to carry on!

And of course an Ultimate Spider-Man (Miles Morales)

Comicbooks published by my friends

Back in October, when I was attending the New York Comic Con I acquired several comics, some of them were produced by some very good friends of mine. I'm just now getting around to posting about it (sorry guys, life sometimes gets in the way).

In No particular order, here they are:

Andrea Grant’s Minx is continuing the tale of a a woman who walks the in-between spaces between the “real” world and the dreamscape that is just a shadow and a whisper beyond the veil of what we see.

By her own admission, Andrea has been working this comic for some 10 years, and has, over the past few years, issued a number of iterations of this comic as it has evolved. It is lyrical, engaging, and totally original. Andrea is a wonderful renascence talent that simply commands the space around her.

Check out her comic, you will be amazed.

A second comic that deserves your attention is Hell’s Blood #3, by Hector Rodriguez, and published by Guild Works Production.

Hector is just another average teen living in a small town in Massachusetts, However his whole life changes one day when his grandmother dies and he himself is relentlessly pursued by horrific monsters that are generally only seen in our nightmares. Soon, Hector finds himself fighting for his very life against an army of hell-spawned creatures that are led by a magma-spitting, fire-haired werewolf who threatens to bring about man's darkest fear to a terrible reality the return to Earth the demon known as Olosi (Satan) himself!

Hector is not only the artist who illustrated this powerful story but the storyteller himself. This issue (as was issue #2) was scripted by Chris Buchner. As each issue has been published, you can not only see the improvements to Hector’s art, but the story itself grows and deepens as we are drawn further and further into the world of Hell’s Blood.

In addition to this issue (and the first two), GWP has issued a combined copy of both of the first two issues in a single package. We strongly urge you all to pick up all iterations.

All of which brings us to a pair of stellar comics from our very good friends over at Atlas Unleashed. The Adversary #3 (by the incomparable Jim Webb) and Crimson Rose by Mark Mazz, Grey Williamson, and N. Steven Harris.

Webb’s Adversary which continues the story of a demoness who has managed to overthrow the reigns of her demonic lord and master (Beelzebub). These days she fights the demons she used to serve. While serving the minions of Hell she was one of its top warriors, now  she battles on the side of Heaven.

In this second issue she goes up against a demon named Belial who has possessed  a fallen priest, in order to lure Adversary out in the open in order to kill her. Only, things don’t go quite the way Belial (or Adversary) planned. It is a fun book to read, and this chapter delves deeper into the character of Adversary.  Jim is a delightful storyteller, making this book a Must Buy for readers.

Next up from Atlas Unleashed, is a preview con book entitled Crimson Rose. The comic that AU presented at NYCC is a fully-rendered penciled version of the comic without dialogue. While this may sound like “not quite” a comicbook, don’t think like that. Grey’s fully-detailed pencils are powerful and are fully-capable of telling a story without the need of dialogue.

Further, by presenting the pencils in this fashion, AU has given us the unique opportunity to see how intense and through Grey’s pencils actually are. Plus it certainly whets our appetite for the completed package.

Personally, we can hardly wait.

Also of note for this issue is the powerful cover by our good friend Chris Torris. We have to admit a personal bias towards Chris’s work as he was the penciler for our own relaunch of our own comic, Agent Unknown (Renegade Press) — the first story of which appeared in CAG #7, and the follow up is slated to appear under the AU umbrella. Any way, Crimson Rose looks like a very interesting book, and we are looking forward to the full version.

well, these were just a few of the comics we acquired at NYCC, and over the next several weeks as we approcah the end of the year, we will be posting about the other, so stay tuned.

Pronto Comics

One of the cool things about attending comicbook conventions (especially big ones like NYCC), is that you get to meet up with old friends, make new ones, and see what other indie creators are doing. That is precisely what happened to me this past weekend, and, well, it will probably be something I'll be talking about for the rest of the month here.

One of the surprises of the show was running across the folks from Pronto Comics. I had actually met up with them some time back (earlier this year), and had considered working with them. Unfortunately, things came up, and I never got back to them, now I'm a bit upset over it, as I was gifted with a copy of their very entertaining anthology, Kicked.

The comic is a rather sardonic look at a self-centered superhero (Captain Awesome), and his revolving cadre of sidekicks. It seems that Awesome has a history of treating them like crap, and they kidnap his newest sidekick to stage an intervention to prevent him from joining up with this ass-clown hero.

The anthology itself is story,after story of various sidekicks relating their individual stories about how badly Awesome treated them over the years. The stories and art range from, well amateur, to, quite good, giving the comic a very eclectic feel, that makes it very entertaining, and well worth picking up and reading.

I highly recommend checking out Pronto’s site, and (if you are reasonably talented), trying to hook up with this interesting group of creators, as they are always on the prowl for new talent,a nd if you are an indie creator  with little or no creative outlet, then you just might benefit from hanging with these guys.

Atlas Shrugged

So, as you might have heard, I spent this past weekend in New York City at the New York Comic Con, where I manned the table for the the company I work with (Atlas Unleashed) over the weekend. We were there promoting our new books Schizophrenia #1, Psychosis! Today #4 (formerly Psychosis!), and The Adversary #1.

We were touting these new products for the fans and our friends, and we did quite well, thanks for asking. We also hosted the wicked-cook Indie After Party (with our good Buddy, Dave Ryan, who is producing the Buzz-able hottest book in the Indie Market, the uber-hot War of the Independents). Needless to say, the party was the talk of the con, and everybody who was anybody was at it. Well, Schizophrenia #1, Psychosis! Today #4 are both anthologies (with there being a special tribute issue for our pal Rusty Haller). Schizophrenia has three stories and Psychosis! Today has five, while Adversary is a book-length story by the very talented Jim Webb.

Adversary is a demon who has tossed off the reigns of her demon master and now spends her time fighting demons. Well, not to make this about me (but you know it is my blog, so I'm gonna talk about me for just a minute, so deal with it). As it turns out I have three stories in these books, two in Psychosis! Today and a one-page back-up in Adversary that was illustrated by the extremely talented and affable Fred Hembeck.

My stories in Psychosis! Today are a reprint of my story Ghost Writer that appeared in Psychosis! #2 (with art by Fabio Turbay), and An Act of Attrition, that's illustrated by James Rodriguez and Alex Rivera. I'm not sure how, but I keep getting teamed with extremely talented artists, and , well, they make me look good. Thanks guys!