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11-26-2007, 04:01 PM
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MID-OHIO CON 2007 FLOORBUZZ
 by Vaneta RogersWhile most of America was still recovering from an overdose of tryptophan, fans who attended the Mid-Ohio Con in Columbus, Ohio, this past weekend got an overdose of comics instead. Newsarama went to the convention, which took place on the Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgiving, and got the buzz from the floor. ----- Barry Kitson had a constant line of people wanting sketches and autographs. We talked to him about what he's got coming up besides his work on The Order, which he's working on with writer Matt Fraction. "That's my regular book for Marvel at the moment," Kitson said. "And I'm also doing a couple of other things for them. I'm doing some Spider-Man stuff. And I've got the script for a Daredevil story for Marvel Comics Presents as well. And I've got a mini-series which I will do when I get the time. They're keeping me pretty busy." The "Spider-Man" stuff, he explained, includes a story he's writing for Spider-Man Family but won't be drawing. "I'm writing a Spider-Man story for [Marvel editor] Nate Cosby, which somebody else will be drawing," Kitson said. "It's going to be in one of the Spider-Man Family issues. And hopefully I'll be drawing Spider-Man somewhere in the future." We asked: Is there any chance he'll be among those artists doing stories for the three-a-month Amazing Spider-Man starting up next year? "I hope so. I used to work with Steve Wacker when I was at DC, and he's the Spider-Man editor now. And he said he'd like me to do some of that, so I'm optimistic," Kitson said. As for the mini-series he mentioned, Kitson said he'll be doing both the writing and drawing for that. "I'm supposed to be writing and penciling. It's been approved, but I've got to find the time to do it," he said. "I can't say what it is. And actually, I shouldn't have mentioned that. Forget I said that. [laughs]" And for fans of The Order, Kitson said the upcoming issues will see some familiar faces showing up in the comic. "Beginning with issue #6, we start to interact a lot more with the Marvel Universe," he said, "and other iconic Marvel characters will start to show up more and more. And it will tie in significantly with Secret Invasion." -----  Roger Stern had some penciled and inked pages in the case behind his table for his upcoming JLA: Classified arc, which is being drawn by John Byrne and inked by Mark Farmer, with covers by Josh Middleton, but he wasn't sharing. However, the writer was happy to tell us about the story that fans will be reading when the five-issue arc starts in January with issue #50."It's a two-level story," he said. "It's sort of overall titled, 'That Was Now, This Is Then.' Part of the story is set in recent years, when the Justice League's headquarters was in the Watchtower on the moon, so just before Infinite Crisis. And the second part of the story is set in the past when they were working in their original underground sanctuary, just before they went up and established the satellite headquarters. "So in that era, Green Arrow has just gotten the Neal Adams outfit with the goatee and the little mask; Black Canary is there; Barry Allen is the Flash; Hal Jordan is Green Lantern; Aquaman is on the team; Martian Manhunter is there; and Batman and Superman are semi-regulars, before they came on full time. And in the more recent day part of the story, Wally West is the Flash; John Stewart is Green Lantern; the Manhunter's there; Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman are there; and the Atom is Ray Palmer at this point," Stern explained. "The great thing is that, since it's on two levels and they're publishing JLA: Classified twice monthly, you'll get the present and the past each month, so you'll be able to follow it that much closer." The reason for the juxtaposition of the two teams all relates to a villain. "The now team encounters a villain from the JLA's past, but of course, the new guys don't recognize him, and Manhunter says, "Look out it's –– Uhh!" and gets beaten into a coma by the bad guy," Stern laughed. "So in the second part, we see when the original team met him for the first time. The third part, we're back with the 'now' team. The fourth part, we're back in time with the 'then' team. Then, the final issue, which is the fifth one, the top half of each page is the past and the bottom half is the recent present, with spoken and visual parallels." Stern said that Editor Mike Carlin was behind getting him together with Byrne for the arc. "This goes back to' 04, and Mike said that we wouldn't have to worry about the deadline too much and we could fit this JLA: Classified story in around things we were already doing," Stern said. "At the time I was working on my third novel, Superman: Never-Ending Battle, for the Justice League series, and John was still working on The Demon, and Action Comics was in there someplace, and so we talked back and forth to get the basic ideas of the story until we came up with something that suited everybody." Stern, who just wrote All-New Atom #16 "while Gail Simone was gearing up for Wonder Woman and needed a breather," said he's been considering doing an online column about comics. "We're still in the talking stages," he said. "I'm also in the middle of doing research for another book that I can't talk about just yet, but I should be able to after the first of the year." -----  Sean McKeever was talking to fans about his upcoming issues of Teen Titans, Birds of Prey and Countdown to Final Crisis.While Teen Titans is in the middle of a four-issue story arc titled, 'The Titans of Tomorrow -- Today,' McKeever said January's issue #55 will take the book in a new direction. "Dan DiDio takes over as editor and we kill all the Teen Titans," he joked. "No, it's been great working with him. But I can tell you that somebody is leaving the team in issue #55. One character is leaving the team. It's the start of some bad things. It's the start of some new things. It's the start of a new era for the book." McKeever said that, in some ways, issue #55 is like a new #1 issue. "That's the way I approached it. I want it to be something accessible to new readers coming in," he said. "I know that the Titans of Tomorrow wasn't exactly the most accessible storyline. There was a lot of inside knowledge that maybe you don't have to know, but it would be helpful. But with #55 we're starting some more character-driven and character-focused stories." With most of DC's familiar villains off in Salvation Run, there will be some new villains showing up in Teen Titans. "We're introducing a new version of the Clock King who looks a lot more like the version from the Batman animated series than the guy with all the clocks on his costume," McKeever said. "And then you'll be seeing some more new villains as well." And we tried to get McKeever to tell us whether or not Blue Beetle is on the team, but he still isn't talking. "He's on the covers. I don't know why that is. But he's not on the team that I know of," he said with a smile. The writer said that in Birds of Prey, which he'll be writing beginning in December, "We started off with a pared down team. It's just Huntress, Oracle and Lady Blackhawk. They're taking care of a run-of-the-mill problem that gets out of hand really quickly, and it's the engine of the rest of the arc." And while McKeever isn't writing Countdown right now, he said that the year-long story is really moving quickly now that it's past the halfway point. "Things are getting just crazy," he said. "I've had a little time off while Tony Bedard wrote a five-issue run. It was important to have a single writer on those issues because it was one big, crazy thing. I don't want to say too much about it. But I'm back on with issue #11, and we're getting all the beats together and making sure that this big and exciting finale makes it so Grant Morrison says, 'Oh, I can't top that!' and he has to work harder on Final Crisis [laughs]." -----  Chris Samnee, whose work was most recently seen in issue #17 of Checkmate for DC Comics, will be doing issues #21 and #22 of the series as well, although this time around he'll be inking his own pencils."I did #17 and had an inker for that one, but #21 and #22, which is the Mademoiselle Marie two-issue arc, I'll be doing pencils and inks. It's written by Greg Rucka and Eric Trautmann," he said, "and I think fans are really going to like this one." Samnee said that after Checkmate, fans will see his artwork in a graphic novel from Vertigo. "It hasn't been officially announced yet, with Christos Gage," he said. "It's a crime book, but it's a little bit of a supernatural story too. It's more of like a murder mystery. It's all Chris' idea. It's 176 pages, and I'm really excited to be working on it." -----  We found Chris Sprouse drawing sketches and selling original art at his table, and this reporter couldn't help but purchase a page from his recent Ex Machina Special. As he signed the page, we talked about what he's doing now that Wildstorm moved him off Midnighter – and found out he's doing an unannounced project that will be getting some hype next year."It's a big Wildstorm mini-series for next year, in spring or summer 2008, and Scott Beatty is writing it," Sprouse said. "And hopefully you won't be able to not hear about it. They're promising they're going to promote the heck out of it." Will it be something focused on existing characters in the Wildstorm Universe? "It will have both existing and new characters. I've designed about 24 new characters in the last month," he said. "Scott's doing really nice stories. I'm three issues in, but it hasn't been solicited yet. I think by the time it hits the stands, we'll have the entire thing finished – at least the penciling, which is traditionally the slowest part." Sprouse said he enjoyed his run on Midnighter, mostly because he got to work with Garth Ennis. "It was another in a long line of really good writers that I keep lucking into working with," he said. "It was the same with Warren Ellis, when I first worked with him on the death of Stormwatch. It was getting to work with that writer that sealed the deal. And it was the same with Garth Ennis. I've been lucky. I've worked with Alan Moore, and Brian K. Vaughan on the Ex Machina Special, and I just feel very lucky to have worked with so many great writers." ----- Painter Arthur Suydam always seems to have a big line at his table. The artist has been working on a lot of covers for Marvel, including Moon Knight and Wolverine, as well as the second series of Marvel Zombies by Robert Kirkman and Sean Phillips that’s coming out now. "As we got to see in the first issue of Marvel Zombies that came out, it's taking a Civil War kind of direction, with zombies vs. zombies," Suydam said of the series. "And that's really fun. The story is about not repeating what came before, and it's the same thing with the covers. We're always trying to find something new and fresh to do." Suydam's zombie art has carried over into paintings of icons from other publishers, as evidenced by the art he was selling at the show. Included among all the Marvel characters in zombie form were characters like The Tick and even a version of the famous Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 cover by George Perez with Superman holding Supergirl. And which of the many zombie covers and paintings that he's done are his favorites? "I probably have two that classify as favorites for me," he said. "The Spider-Man/Mary Jane wedding is one of my favorites. And then the Civil War, the first one I did with all the characters on it. And they're probably my favorites, partially anyway, because they had all those characters in them. They took a long time. For the Mary Jane/Spider-Man wedding, I actually painted it over Christmas and New Year's last year, and I had to stay up four nights in a row painting that picture without going to sleep. So when it came out, the fact that it wasn't a mess after I had gone without so much sleep made me really appreciate how well it turned out." Suydam said he's also doing covers of Red Sonja for Dynamite Entertainment and has an ongoing series in Heavy Metal magazine, which he writes and illustrates. -----  Brian Hurtt was at a table next to Chris Samnee and was talking about his upcoming film-related project from Oni Press. "My next project is a movie tie-in for Jumper. It's a film coming out from Fox," Hurtt said. "It's going to be a prequel to the film. After that I'm doing a another six-issue series of The Damned to follow up on last year's story arc." Jumper is a 2008 film that stars Hayden Christensen and Samuel L. Jackson and was co-written by a name comics fans will recognize, David Goyer. "It's about teleporters," Hurtt explained. "There are people who have the ability to teleport, and there's a secret society of Paladins who hunt down people who teleport because they cause problems for those around them, although they don't know it. And our story takes place two years in the past, before the film, and deals more with the Paladin side of things. It's written by Nunzio Defilippis and Christina Weir." At his table, Hurtt was selling the first collection of The Damned, which he described as "sort of a 1920s or prohibition era gangster story." "Think Al Capone, but instead of Al Capone, you have demons running the crime rackets and corrupting and trading in people's souls," Hurtt said. "And you have a hapless schmo thrown in the middle of a mystery. But it has a supernatural twist because the main character is cursed; he can't die. It comes in handy to the demon family to use him as a pawn, to solve mysteries for them and carry out certain acts for them. First trade is out now. It came out a couple weeks ago. It's going to be kind of like Hellboy, with a series of mini-series, and every arc is going to be self-contained, but there is also an underlying mythology to the whole story." -----  We found artist Christopher Mitten with copies of the critically acclaimed series Wasteland at his table, signing issues of the series he does with writer Antony Johnston for Oni Press.When asked to describe Wasteland for people who haven't checked the title out yet, Mitten said it's got "a lot of shooting, a lot of desert mutants, an increasingly paranoid leader of the city who likes to imprison people. Sort of a post-apocalyptic Western." "It takes place 100 years after the end of the world," he said, "and there are some people who claim they know how it happened. Some actually do; some actually don't. But there are politics in there because he who controls the information controls the world. In the story, a lone drifter walks into this little town, and the town is immediately destroyed by sand mutants. So they have to trek across about six days of open wasteland to the city that they think is their salvation. In the city? It's not so hot, and as soon as they get there, they are thrown into prison, and it goes on from there." And for those of us who are reading Wasteland, we asked Mitten to tease what's coming up, to which he simply said, "If you like the sand eaters, you're going to like issue #15." Mitten said he's going to be doing Wasteland for the foreseeable future, but he has a couple anthology stories that he couldn't officially say anything about yet as well as an additional project from Oni. -----  Some of the buzz we heard at the con centered on the Shortpacked web comic by David Willis, who was selling a collected edition of the series at his table. The comic strip series, which can be viewed on the internet at http://www.shortpacked.com, has shown up on a lot of comic book message boards."It's about a toy store and all the crazy people who work there, including Ronald Reagan, former president of the United States," Willis laughed. "They resurrected him because the '80s are very popular, and they wanted a sales hook. It takes place in the present day, and he's back from the dead. Nobody really knows, but he cleans up around the store." Willis said he collected it into a book that's available on the website, "so instead of reading it for free online, you can pay me to read it in the comfort of your own toilet!" "I sized my strips so they're the same size as the page of a trade, so I could easily put them on a page and sell them," Willis said. "Fans of the strip really like to buy them in collected volumes even though they've already read most of it. It's the feel of holding a book." -----  Joanna Estep was talking to fans about her book, Road Song, and was selling the first two volumes of the series. "Road Song is a story about a couple guys who are framed for arson and murder, and they're on the run from the law," Estep said. "And it's about how they learn to become friends and support themselves on the road playing music." Estep said the third volume of the series will be out in early 2008. When asked how she would describe her style for people who haven't checked out her work, she said she'd like to think she bridges the gap between American comics and manga, because it kind of fits between the two. "People who are really into manga think my style looks very Western, and people who are really into Western comics think it looks a little manga," she said. "I like to think it's its own animal. I just do what I want." -----  Tom Scioli had a copy of Godland #20, the Las Vegas-centered issue we talked to him about back when we caught up with him in Baltimore. And as we suspected, the topless monkey-headed prostitutes with machine guns he drew looked even better in color."Issue #21 will be out in February," Scioli said. "I just finished the artwork for it, and the storyline that we've been working on comes to a head there with the Triad and their trashing of Las Vegas. We have the big confrontation in that issue, and there's a couple surprises coming up in that issue and the next issue that I can't really talk about without giving too much away." For those unfamiliar with Godland, Scioli explained that the series centers on an astronaut named Adam Archer, has a near death experience while on a mission to Mars and activates a cosmic trip wire. "It turns him into mankind's emissary for its next phase of evolution," Scioli said. "It turns him into a human star, and the trip wire brings the planet earth to the attention of the larger cosmic community, indicating that mankind has come of age. So all kinds of different creatures from all over the universe are converging on the earth – some good, some evil – to take advantage of Earth or to help mankind through its growing pains." Scioli said he's been refining his art style with these past few issues, and is really proud of how issue #20 looks. "And I think issue #21 is an even bigger improvement, and I'm working in that direction," he said. -----  Marc Sumerak was talking to fans of all ages about his work on the Power Pack and Franklin Richards series from Marvel. "We just started the Iron Man/Power Pack limited series, and that's coming out November through February. The first issue's on sale now," Sumerak said. We had to ask before buying a copy of the issue ... is Iron Man a jerk to the Power Pack kids? "No, he's actually old school Iron Man," Sumerak laughed, "so there's no Initiative, there's no Skrulls, there's no director of SHIELD. It's just classic Iron Man, and the kids team up with him. It's superhero action for four issues straight. "Power Pack ends up meeting Iron Man when Ultimo escapes from Iron Man's lab," he said. "He goes on a rampage through New York City, and Power Pack tries to stop him, and they end up meeting Iron Man along the way. And then they come together for an adventure that expands from there, dealing with five or six different Iron Man villains, including Speed Demon, Blizzard, Puppet Master, Crimson Dynamo, The Ghost, and an entire army of Iron Man armor." Sumerak was also selling the latest one-shot of his Franklin Richards comic, which came out last week. "I'm doing four Franklin one-shots coming out next year, and there is a new Franklin digest that collects all of the one-shots from 2007, and that will be coming out in February 2008," he said. "Everybody seems to really dig Franklin. It's one of those things that you can hand to any age group and they can enjoy it because it's meant to be an all ages book," Sumerak said. "It's one of those books that parents can read with their kids and enjoy on different levels. We do the multi-leveled style of humor where the kids are laughing for one reason, and the parents are laughing for another." The writer said his work can also be seen in four issues of Marvel Adventures Avengers starting in January, and after in four issues of Marvel Adventures Spider-Man in 2008. -----  Sergio Aragones was signing for fans of his monthly series Groo and his work on Mad Magazine, where he does four pages each month, as well as the beloved little cartoons on the borders of the magazine's pages.Beginning in January, comics fans will also be reading his work in The Spirit #14 from DC Comics. Aragones is the new regular co-writer of the series, which is being drawn by Mike Ploog and co-written by Mark Evanier. Aragones says he likes working on The Spirit because it's got "done in one" stories. "That's one thing that Will Eisner taught us when he did The Spirit," he said. "In seven pages, he did a whole story. And when I was a kid, I couldn't believe it. With only seven pages, I was saying, how could he do that? The stories are so long and have so much in them. Now that I'm writing them, it's is a little longer because it's 22 pages, but it's the same thing." When asked what readers can expect from upcoming issues, Aragones said January's issue is about a murder in an old people's home, and February's deals with a murder in the beauty contest. "I am so proud that they chose me to write it, being such a fan of Will and he was a friend of mine, so now I'm really excited," he said. The writer is also working on the six-issue Bat-Lash mini-series for DC Comics, with issue #1 slated to come out December 12th. "It's the character I co-created many years ago, and I'm writing the origin with a gentleman named Peter Brandvold who writes novels. He's a very good Western writer. And the art by John Severin is just beautiful," Aragones said. "We are doing the origin story of Bat Lash, because we touched briefly upon it when we did our original series. We went and just passed it, just said the ranch burned. So this is how they whole thing happened -- the good guys and bad guys and how he lost friends and family. So it's a development of the origin of Bat Lash." ----- And right next to Aragones' table was his co-writer on The Spirit, Mark Evanier, who said he loves working with his friend on the series. "Sergio and I have been best friends since the Paleolithic era," he laughed. "So we get along well. We finish each other's sentences – I finish them in English; he finishes them in Spanish. It's the easiest collaboration in the world. I don't feel that it's even work, because it's just having lunch with Sergio, sitting around with him and talking about ideas. The fact that somebody can turn it into a comic book is a bonus." Evanier said it would be very intimidating if the two of them were following Will Eisner. "But other people have done the Spirit since Will passed, and some even did it when he was around," he said, "so it's a little less intimidating than it might be. They picked us because we are known for doing concise, complete stories that have a sense of humor about them without being too silly. And that's kind of the same thing that Will did. We're trying to keep that same spirit, but it's a more modern interpretation. It's hopefully the kind of thing Will would have done if he were around today." Evanier also has a hardcover from Abrams Books coming out titled, Kirby: King of Comics. "It's a book about Jack Kirby, a man whom I have not written about for over an hour," he joked, adding that he's also doing more Groo and working on a new Garfield cartoon series. "And I'm on strike. At this very moment, I'm on strike," Evanier said. "I am a loyal Writer's Guild member for more than 30 years. This is my fifth strike, so I'm a veteran of this. I live in Los Angeles, and I picketed in Los Angeles, then I was just in New York, and I picketed in New York. I would picket Columbus, but there's nothing worth picketing here." The writer said the Garfield animated series isn't covered by the Writer's Guild, "so we're waiting on production. The series will debut sometime, somewhere, but I have no idea when. I'm working with Jim Davis, I just came from Muncie, Ind., and I was there for a few days," he said. -----  We found writer Paul Storrie at his table talking about his upcoming work, including an issue of Star Trek Aliens Spotlight that just came out. The issue is part of a continuing series of one-shots, each by a different creative team and featuring a different Star Trek alien race. "This issue features a story that gives an idea of why the Andorians weren't around during the Next Generation era. It takes place right after the series," he said.Storrie will also be part of January's preview book for the “Twilight Crusade” event coming out from Moonstone next year. "The preview comes out in January in comics shops and is 99 cents. People can get an idea about five different books from five different creative teams telling stories about the war between heaven and hell. And those books will actually be released in April," he said. "So, you know, when you're spending all that Christmas money that came in, spend 99 cents on the Twilight Crusade preview." His story in Twilight Crusade focuses of Gabriel the angel, who has been on the front lines of the war between heaven and hell since the beginning. "She's getting pretty sick and tired of it. She's like the ultimate old soldier, the ultimate veteran, fighting a war that doesn't end and trying to come to terms with that," Storrie said. Wait a second, we asked, Gabriel is a she? "Yes, angels in the Twilight Crusade universe are pretty much able to take any human form they want, and for the last several years, Gabriel has been female," he said. The writer is also working on a story for a Moonstone prose anthology called Werewolves: Dead Moon Rising. "It's my first prose short story that's seeing print," Storrie said. "It's about a woman on a college campus being stalked, with a little werewolf stuff thrown in." -----  Writer/artist David Mack was meeting fans at his booth, where he had a table filled with a variety of work he's done recently. But the buzz at the show was about the [rul=http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=135673]recent announcement by Brian Michael Bendis[/url] that Mack will be working with him on issue #39 of New Avengers.The issue will focus on Echo, a character that Mack created for his run as writer on Daredevil. Although the character hadn't been seen much in the Marvel Universe, Bendis made her part of the Avengers by first hiding her behind the disguise of a male-looking Ronin. So did Bendis talk to him about using Echo back before she first appeared as Ronin? "He asked me ahead of time what I thought about it. He didn't have to ask. It's a Marvel character," Mack said. "That was nice of him to ask, but I trust him. He's a great writer. It's kind of fun to see a character I created have a life beyond the original stories. I kind of look at it like, I started writing at Marvel with Daredevil, so I was working with characters that were created years ago, so it's kind of fun to sort of give back to the Marvel universe and create another character for other writers like Bendis or other artists to interpret her. It's been really interesting." The upcoming issue of New Avengers for which Mack will be providing art will be the last one before Secret Invasion begins, and Mack said this issue will play heavily into that event. "I think this issue sort of helps set that up and kick that off," he said. "I guess he asked me to do the art because this script features the Echo character quite a bit, although there are other characters who play heavy in the story too." In other upcoming work with Bendis, Mack said he's still working on the Daredevil: End of Days story the two are co-writing for a 2008 release. "The art looks great. Everytime I get a page, I'm amazed," he said. When the comic was announced, it was to be drawn by Klaus Jansen and inked by Bill Sienkiewicz, with covers by Alex Maleev, but Mack revealed that he will also be doing a little work on the series. "We've kind of worked it out that there are different spots in it that will relate to different part of Daredevil's history, and they have a different style to relate to those eras," he said. As we talked to Mack, laid across the front of his table were all eight issues of the current Kabuki series from Marvel's Icon imprint, which will finish up with next week's #9 issue. Mack said he's also got Reflections #9 coming out in a couple weeks, and the "Alchemy of Art" DVD focusing on his work has sold out its initial run, but is available again after a second run. He was also selling copies of his children's book that was just released, titled Shy Creatures. "That's the most popular book I have out at the moment. I originally did it inside the Kabuki story," he explained. "And I'm working on another Marvel project that hasn't been announced yet. It's secret at the moment, but it's going to be a big project," he said. We asked: Will he be writing or drawing the project? "I probably shouldn't say just yet," he said, then smiled and added, "Well.... I'll definitely be writing it. I'll let Marvel tell people you more about it." -----  Fans were talking to Darryl Banks about his past work on the Green Lantern series, and we decided to catch up with the artist to find out what he's doing now."I'm working with a lot of different companies right now, staying busy," he said. "I'm still working with DC, but not on comics. I've been working with the DC licensing department, doing a lot of character turnarounds and working with their character database used for various DC related products. And I also work with a company called Hawthorne Village, a company that does a lot of collectible villages and mini-statues. Right now, I'm working with Disney related properties like Pirates of the Caribbean and Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. I'm actually very busy. Probably the busiest I've been in years." Does the artist still read any of the Green Lantern comics? "Unfortunately, no," Banks said. "But I've seen artwork online that just looks amazing. I can't say enough about a lot of the things I've seen and how great it looks. I know it's a lot of hard work. And I'm glad that Green Lantern is becoming a big deal at DC Comics. I'd like to think that Ron Marz and myself were part of the groundwork and added to that. I know it's doing really well, and I'm glad it's still got a strong following." -----  Among all the buzz about new artists was talk about penciler Jeremy Dale, who was at his table sharing news of all the work he has coming out over the next few months. "I've got a lot of stuff coming out," Dale said, running down the lengthy list. "G.I. Joe comes out next year – the 25th anniversary from Hasbro – and I've got Miserable Dastards that comes out early next year from 803 Studios and Dial C. And PopGun next week from Image Comics. And then, Space Doubles from Th3rd World Comics." PopGun is an OGN from Image with work by such creators as Mike Allred, Dave Crosland, Erik Larsen, Corey Lewis and Joseph Michael Linsner. And Dale said he's doing a story by Tim Seely. "It's just a light little novelty tale," he laughed, adding that he thinks people will be really impressed by the work on the book. "It's just gorgeous. I've seen a lot of the other stories and what other artists have done. It's like a little anthology. They wanted to do something that new readers could pick up, or that you can hand to somebody new, and it wasn't just full of superheroes and continuity. So it's really aimed at the new reader, and that was a lot of fun to work on." His other project coming out in December from Th3rd World Studios, Space Doubles, is a flip book, and Dale said he's doing one of the two stories in the first issue. "They wanted to do a little bit of a throwback to old sci-fi horror stories, and I'm doing a story called Project Obeah," he said. "In the story, there are a lot of analogies going on, but it's about a group of miners on another planet who uncover something unexpected. And they deal with the consequences of that." -----  Steve Rude was at his table, talking about the upcoming 100th issue of Nexus, which will feature – in addition to the 23 pages of story – the first fully painted art he's ever done for a comics story."I'm trying to wrap up Nexus #100. Everything's done and actually has been done for months, but then I got going on this painted story that is 11 pages long, and it's been taking me a long time to finish up," he said. "So I'm a little shamed and embarrassed, but I shame easily when I'm that late for something. But the work is so good. I'm so proud of it. So it may be something I can only do once a year or every two years if I ever go back to this painted stuff, which I like doing, but the time factor is so insane." The artist will also be featured in a book coming gout from Flesk Publications called Steve Rude: Artist in Motion. "I think it's coming out right before Christmas," he said. "It's got all the things that make me 'The Dude,' including all my neuroses and my art and my wife and everything." -----  Just before leaving on Sunday, we were surprised to run into William Messner-Loebs, who didn't have a table, but was just walking around the show talking to friends. Does the creator have anything he can announce? "As it turns out," he said, smiling, "I found out last night that I'm going to be finishing Bliss Alley, which is my story of the homeless. And it's going to be a colored web comic on the ComicMix website. And they're very excited about it. It's taken a little while to get the contracts together. I sent them samples of the first two issues, and they apparently like them." But before anyone thinks it's a straight-up boring look at homelessness, Messner-Loebs made it clear that there is a lot of sci-fi within the story. "My character, Wizard Walker, apparently – because we only see muddled flashbacks – was a college professor who had a breakdown and was put into an institution and had electric shock therapy. And oddly enough, the therapy gave him the power to see what cats see. If there was a cat here and would be staring at that wall? Maybe it would see ghosts there. Or maybe it would be seeing the Bjorni, who are small, furry Tribble-like creatures who have colonized the earth, but because the only thing they are interested in is our nitrogen, we never notice. He also sees his familiar, which is a large, floating electric rat that guides him out of situations or into situations. And he has a small group that he hangs out with, including a policeman named Skag, who was so far undercover that he sort of got lost. And so he's now a con man on the street." Messner-Loebs both writes and draws the story. "Although I am known as a genius writer and creator, I made my first reputation as someone who did the complete package, as we say," he said. "I did a book called Journey: The Adventures of Wolverine McAlister for 27 issues, and now that is being collected into two obscenly large volumes by IDW that is coming out in July." He said he also just finished a book for Actionopolis called Toltec. "It's about a young boy who is taken over by a Toltec warrior and he must fight to save the world," he said. We asked Messner-Loebs about the choice to write about a character who is homeless in his Bliss Alley web comic and found out, as suspected, it's a subject he feels pretty strongly about. "I am passionate about writing about the homeless," Messner-Loebs said. "I was one of the few people who were writing about the homeless in the '80s when I was doing the Flash. When they dumped a lot of the people from the mental institutions out onto the streets, we had all these homeless people. And nobody has ever figured out quite what to do for them. When we say the homeless, there's a different between people who are homeless as a family and living out of their car – or as my wife and I ironically became homeless living from motel to motel – and people who are actually living directly on the street and often dying there. So there's quite a range of people, and I thought that would be an interesting story to tell." |
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11-26-2007, 04:11 PM
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#2 |
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I had a great time, looking forward to next year....
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11-26-2007, 04:16 PM
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#3 |
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Very nice.
Thanks Vaneta.  And the world needs more work from Mr. Messner-Loebs. Can't wait for July.   |
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11-26-2007, 04:30 PM
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#4 |
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Wow, nice article!
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11-26-2007, 04:32 PM
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#5 |
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Paul Storrie has got to be one of the nicest people in comics. It's great to see he's keeping busy!
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11-26-2007, 04:40 PM
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#6 |
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Quote:
Great to know this will be back in print! I read some of these in magazine form years ago and they were indeed stunning one-man wonders (the truest form of cartooning, IMHO) |
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11-26-2007, 04:48 PM
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#7 |
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man this makes me miss goin to the philly con....i havent been able to make it the last few years but when i was goin i was havin a blast. man i gotta make it this year.
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11-26-2007, 04:55 PM
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#8 | ||
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Quote:
Younglings - you need to buy this. Some of the most wonderful storytelling comics ever saw, from start to finish. Quote:
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11-26-2007, 04:56 PM
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#9 | |
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Quote:
Yeah the 25th Anniversary of Real American Hero is this year not next. |
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11-26-2007, 05:15 PM
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#10 |
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Another great article, Vaneta.
I miss seeing Darryl Banks on a monthly series. His work with Ron Marz on GREEN LANTERN was arguably the best run during that particular GL series and I can think of several major titles that could benefit from his talent. |
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11-26-2007, 05:41 PM
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#11 |
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HA -- both Barry Kitson and Chris Samnee are working on MY sketches in those pictures!
(Kitson's not surprising since I was sitting about a foot out of range of the picture being taken.) |
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11-26-2007, 06:59 PM
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#12 |
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Roger Stern is very nice guy and a great writer. I met him in August at a small comic show in Indianapolis. He signed my West Coast Avengers limited series!! Can't wait for his new stuff.
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11-26-2007, 07:05 PM
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#13 |
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Always nice to hear from Darryl Banks. I miss him in comics, but it's nice to know he's doing well for himself.
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11-26-2007, 07:16 PM
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#14 |
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I was wondering what William Messner-Loebs was up to these days.
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11-26-2007, 08:18 PM
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#15 |
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Chris Sprouse couldn't draw 2 full issues to save his life.
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11-26-2007, 09:50 PM
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#16 |
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Great to hear that Barry Kitson has so much work in the pipeline.
Count me in for those Journey reprints too. |
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11-26-2007, 10:13 PM
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#17 |
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Get Loebs back on Flash after Waid finishes, DC!!!
pretty please? |
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11-26-2007, 10:18 PM
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#18 | |
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Quote:
Wha--?!? I, uh, have a whole run of TOM STRONG comics that says otherwise, dude...  |
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11-27-2007, 12:06 AM
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#19 | |
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Quote:
I went this weekend, and it was my first convention ever. I just returned to Michigan, actually. I had a very nice talk with William Messner-Loebs on Saturday, in fact. He is a very nice guy, and had a lot of interesting things to say about comics in general. Of course, I told him how much I appreciated his run on WW, and I felt fortunate to get my copy of the "The Challenge of Artemis" signed by him. Truly, one of the kindest people you will meet. Honestly, everyone I ran into was very pleasant and interesting and friendly. It was a blast. |
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11-27-2007, 01:18 AM
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#20 | |
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Quote:
Just got back home and saw this-- in no way do I claim next year is the 25th anniversary, I was misunderstood. I said the comics were for the 25th Anniversary action figure line, which spills into 2008 as well. News on the Larry Hama-written original comics was reported all over right after JoeCon a month or two back, so this isn't new news. - jeremy |
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11-27-2007, 01:48 AM
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#21 |
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... and thanks, Vaneta! Really enjoyed seeing you again this year at the show. Hope the girls liked their sketches!
- jeremy |
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11-27-2007, 02:23 AM
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#22 |
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This was my first Con and it was an absolute blast.
On Saturday I'd driven for 4 hours on 2 hours of sleep, still groggy from Turkey Day and battling a heaping helping of food poisoning (damn you, deep fried turkey!). It was the single most surreal event of my life. I was so inundated with everything - every single thing I love - it felt like a dream. Anyway, I was just walking by and I saw this handsome dude in a dark polo standing behind this table with a huge grin on his face. Most creators were sitting around and waiting, but this guy looked almost like he was going to reach out and shake your hand. I looked up and saw "Sean McKeever" over his head and stopped in my tracks. I grabbed my girlfriend's shoulder and told her who he was, "He writes my favorite book!" I said. And she said, "then talk to him!" And I wouldn't do it. I was nervous. "He looks like the most approachable guy ever!" she said, as she pulled me toward him, but I stopped. And someone stepped in front of me. And like the day Homer Simpson could have seen Mr. T at the mall, I waited and waited and I lost my chance. Anyway, besides that I regret nothing! it was amazing. A guy walked to Arthur Suydam's booth and picked up a few prints and said, "How much are these?" To which Suydam said, "They're free!" The guy said, "Aw no way!" and gathered a bunch up. Suydam then said, "Free with a $20 donation. Each." To which we all had a hearty laugh. (Later, all I could say was, "It's beautiful, man" and, "You are a god" to him while I stood with a goofy grin and had him sign his beautiful version of the COIE # 7). I can't wait for next year. |
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11-27-2007, 03:06 AM
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#23 | |
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Quote:
Messner-Loebs was the first writer to get me to appreciate Wonder Woman. I think these days Deodato's art in those days makes people groan at some of those stories, but I loved it when I was 14. Regardless of the Imageness of the art the writing was awesome. Hope to see more from Messner-Loebs in the future. |
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11-27-2007, 03:21 AM
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#24 | |
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Quote:
I know exactly what you mean. And I miss Artemis' 7' long hair. Heh. It was all good fun. |
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11-27-2007, 10:06 AM
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#25 | |
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Quote:
Yeah, that thing was alive, dude. It used to flip and swirl around her as she got into action poses. That was fun. |
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