coverage of
Friday, November 23rd (4:00 PM) - Comic Related has set up shop up on the 8th floor of the Hyatt here in downtown Columbus, Ohio and we're officially kicking off our weekend long coverage of Mid-Ohio-Con. We'll be posting updates from this point all the way until we wrap it up Monday morning. I'm Chuck, creator of Comic Related and I'll be doing the coverage personally this time out.
This is a bit of an "old home" week for me as Mid-Ohio-Con was one of the earliest comic conventions I ever attended. I used to be a regular back in the 80's when I was supporting a series of comic stores [learn more]. It will be nice to see some old friends and makes some new connections over the weekend. The doors open for preview night 120 minutes from the launch of this 4PM post.
Some of my good friends from the Lexington Comic Creators Group [link] should be in town for the show and we're looking forward to a fun, relaxed convention this weekend.
Here's the battle plan...
We'll be updating regularly flowing posts on the front page of the site as soon as they're written. We'll also be loading those updates into the RSS feed [link]. For the weekend, we'll be suspending our normal site updates to make room for the show coverage. On Monday, we'll return to business as normal.
You can expect a steady flow of photos and commentary all weekend. Today, we'll be taking a look at the Mid-Ohio-Con preview taking place from 6 - 8 PM then we'll be reporting back from the Ferret Press/PANEL collective pre-show Unmasked party [details]
Stay tuned as we roll out the convention coverage and we hope you enjoy the show.
Friday, November 23rd (8:00 PM) - I just emerged from preview night here at Mid-Ohio-Con and it certainly looks like a great show is beginning to take shape. Most of the vendors were still setting up, but the displays looked quite promising. There's a pretty solid mix of toys and comics this year.
Those vendors on site and setting up made it a point to stop and talk as I passed by and came across as exceedingly laid back and pleasant this evening. There's a bit of a quiet, relaxed excitement in the air and everyone seemed to be having a good time despite the "still building" nature which is to be expected for preview night.
Throughout the evening, event coordinate Roger A. Price was on the microphone welcoming guests and explaining the nature of preview night and exactly whatwas coming up this weekend. He's a welcome voice as the show kicks off and is the same voice I was used to hearing when I visited the show back in the early 80's.
There are two complete artist allies to the right and left of the main entrance. Many of the small press creators are beginning to set up shop this evening. The more seasoned creators and the convention's special guests ring the outside back and front of the main hall. If you're looking for the Rudolph display upon arriving at the Con (come on, it brings back great childhood memories) look for the Time and Space Toys booth on the front row just to the left of the main entrance. In terms of industry pros, I spotted Michael Golden, Steve Rude, Sean McKeever and Brian Pulido this evening and got to spend a little time talking with each in turn. More on that in another update...
This already feels like an exceedingly comfortable show.
I noticed Steve Rude already in motion of his first sketch and each creator was spending a fair amount of time with fans. While talking creators, Michael Golden is one of the most approachable individuals I've met and for two shows running I've enjoyed watching him joke with and make fans feel like kings. He's an outstanding spokesman for comics.
Right now I'm off to the Ferret Press/PANEL collective pre-con party. I'll be back with a ton of new photos in the late night. If you can't sleep, check the site later tonight. We'll have some fun imagery from preview day to check out.
Friday, November 23rd (11:00 PM) - I just made it back from the Ferret Press/PANEL Collective "Unmaked" pre-con party and it proved a fun gathering. It had music, it had an artist jam and it had a lot of people hanging out around tables talking about comics.
I will add that Barley's Brewing Co. has some outstanding food (hey, a guy's gotta eat) and the party was well attended. For many it proved to be a standing room only gathering. During the festivities I spotted Sean McKeever (Teen Titans) and noticed he had a tab rolling at the bar as he shared stories and laughed with friends. Arthur Suydam (Marvel Zombies) passed through during the evening greeting those in attendance as well.
Here are a few photos from the event. The pictures are a bit dark, but the bar was lit like a bar so you work with what you have available...
Saturday, November 24th (1:00 AM) - Here's our first set of convention photos from Mid-Ohio-Con! In this series of shots we look back on preview night!
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Exhibitors gather to firm up details
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The official welcome stand
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Brian Pulido talks with a fan
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Rows of comics take shape
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Sean McKeever talks comics
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Across the convention floor...
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...the show starts to take shape
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Dresden Codak works on a sketch
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Doug Wangler checks out Star Wars toys
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Stormtroopers checking in!
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Sean McKeever chats with Justin
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Dick Tracy goes on display
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Roger Price mans the mike |
Unpacking for tomorrow! |
Saturday, November 24th (12:00 PM) - It's time to roll out our first set of Con costure photos...
Saturday, November 24th (9:00 PM) - I'm going to start my look back on Saturday at Mid-Ohio-Con with a tip of the metaphorical hat to the small press creators at this weekend's show. I think the product being presented this weekend by the independent creators is stronger than any show I've been to this year. I will temper that remark with the fact that I wasn't able to attend SPACE, APE, MOCCA or SPX (a fact I plan to remedy in 2008). That said, for the mainstream shows I've attended I came away from Saturday at Mid-Ohio-Con blown away by the quality. Title after title I found books I didn't just want to read, I wanted to own (and in many cases I now do own). I can sum up my feelings here in two simple words... "more please".
A couple interesting stories coming out of the day today...
Chris Yambar (who will talk about more in an upcoming story on the site) has done quite a bit work for Bongo Comics writing numerous stories and contributing to nearly every title the company has (including his main gig as writer for their Simpsons comic line). Long story short, I got a chance to take a look at an amazing 10 second animated clip of his character El Mucho Grande, Wrestler for Hire. The character has been picked up for a animated treatment and Chris has promised us more on this little tidbit of news. Checking out the early animation, it's in the style and quality of The Incredibles. It's movie guilty animation to say the least.
Brian Polido, who many of you know from such titles as Lady Death, Unholy, Belladonna and a host of other horror franchise based series is launching a new company called Coffin Comics. He's promised he'll have details headed our way soon.
I spent much of my time today meeting new creators. That, as always, is my main reason for attending these shows. Between those great conversations, I was able to step into Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier's "Brave Groo World" panel for a few minutes. Sergio and Mark are great to listen to and their storytelling style makes for a fun panel. Plus... it's Groo... how can you not love it?
I also settled in for the last 2/3rds of the "Comic Folks You Should Know... But Probably Don't" panel. I could make the joke that I can't remember a singe name from that panel, but in the end that's anything but true. The panel was staffed (from left to right in the photo above) by Scott Crawford, Joe Gentile, Paul Storrie, George Broderick Jr., Eddy Newell, Danielle Corsetto, Marc Sumerak and Chris Yambar.
During this panel, Moonstone founder Joe Gentile discussed the Phantom, the Phantom film (and how he thought it was "okay") and celebrated the con-exclusive Moonstone Holiday Super Spectacular.
We can share a few notable quotes from the panel...
"I'm here today doing this because of Adam West's portrayal of Batman. To me that will be the ultimate Batman ever" - George Broderick Jr.
"For me it was the desire to do something creative. To not sit behind the desk and push papers all day kind of job. I always loved to write and I narrowed it down to either writing comics or being a muppeteer and the college I went to didn't have a good muppeteering program." - Marc Sumerak
"Barry Windsor-Smith taught us a very important lesson when he first started in this business and they said draw like Jack Kirby. If you look at his early X-Men stuff it was some of the weirdest looking Kirby art I've ever seen in my life. Then he disappeared and he came back and you pick up Rune and a bunch of other stuff he did, whether you like it or hate or not, he had his own thumbprint. It's essential that you become your own thumbprint in this business." - Chris Yambar
On breaking into comics "You have to be too stupid to quit" - Paul Storrie
"If Disney or someone comes to you and offers you a high six figures for your character, SELL IT, because you will have more than one good idea. If you only have one good idea, you shouldn't be doing this." - George Broderick Jr.
"I'm going to tell you that some of the strongest stuff that's being produced today is not by the big three, it's independent comics because this is the blood and the soul." - Chris Yambar
There are many more tales to tell, but we'll save those for another day as I really want to get this update posted and move into sharing some photos (if you are up later, please check back).
I will close with a special word of thanks to Columbus based independent creator Max Ink who I had the good fortune to meet for the first time today. We talked comics, the indy market and a host of other topics throughout the day and, eventually, along with a group of friends we moved the conversation to Barley's Brewing Company. He was a great Mid-Ohio-Con host and was even good enough to draw what has become the best sketch I have in my sketch book from 2007. I invite you to check out his title Blink at artist table #57 tomorrow.
Saturday, November 24th (11:30 PM) - Mid-Ohio-Con costure call, Round 2...
Sunday, November 25th (1:30 AM) - We're back with a new gallery of photos! This time we take a complete look at Saturday at Mid-Ohio-Con!
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Barry Kitson doing
a sketch
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Michael Goldern
talks to a fan
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Douglas Paszkiewicz
and Voodoo Joe
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George Broderick and
Chris Yambar
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Mice Templar writer
Bryan J.L. Glass
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The good folks of
Hamtramck Idea Men
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Joe Benitez and
the Hero Initiative
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Ultimate Bad Guy
Scott L. Schwartz
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Mark Goddard
aka Major Don West
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Who Wants To Be A
Superhero? Defuser |
Who Wants To Be A
Superhero? Feedback |
Feedback meets
with a fan |
Sunday, November 25th (6:30 PM) - Mid-Ohio-Con costure call, Round 3...
Sunday, November 25th (9:00 PM) - We're back with a new gallery of photos! This time we take a complete look at Sunday at Mid-Ohio-Con!
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Roger Stern talks
with ComicMix
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Sergio sketches
with
Steve Peters
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Rak Graphics
sharing SuperFreaks
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Hard at work on
Sugery Serials
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Doug Jones of
Hellboy, Silver Sufer..
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...and Pan's Labrynth
and Buffy fame
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George Broderick Jr.
just gave her a sketch
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Who Wants To Be
A Superhero? Panel
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Funky Winkerbean
on the screen
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Santa and his
friendly elf
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Steve Rude's panel
with Mark Evanier |
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...talks with
Barry Kitson
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Happy Birthday,
Noel Neill
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Sunday, November 25th (11:30 PM) - Mid-Ohio-Con... the place where you can hang out with Barry Kitson while he does an amazingly detailed complimentary sketch for you... the place where Doug Jones will take time out to talk about his films and share a picture... the pace where you can watch Sergio Aragonés put together a page from the next issue of Groo... the place where Michael Golden, Mark Evanier, Roger Stern, Tony Isabella and others have the time and breathing room to share a few amazing stories from comic years past... the place where Marc Sumerak can talk to you one-on-one discussing what it's like at Marvel... Yes friends, it's Mid-Ohio-Con... the place where you should have been this last weekend.
The picture on the left was a lucky shot I grabbed while walking around the convention. In the photo we caught the reaction of a young "artist in training" as she was handed a sketch from George Broderick Jr. Getting kids excited about comics... Very cool!
What a day! I stand solidly behind my statement from yesterday that the small and independent press representation at this show put forth some of the best content I've seen in a while. Table after table, I sampled (and many times bought) issues and graphics novels that had great art and, I'm hoping to find as soon as I get a chance to read them, great storytelling. I honestly can't wait to dive into the roughly 2.5 foot stack of new titles I took home from the show. I think Comic Related could do a review a day for a month and not do this show's creators justice.
Okay, changing gears to more of a Hollywood angle, I want to say right away that Doug Jones is one of the nicest and most approachable actors I've come in contact with. From a purely geek-cool perspective, this guy has done it all. He was Abe Sapien from Hellboy, the Silver Surfer from Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Pan from Pan's Labyrinth and the "lead gentleman" (aka main floating, pale creepy guy) from the legendary Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Hush" and he even had minor parts in Mystery Men and Tank Girl.
Jones wasn't able to attend the show yesterday as filming on the set of Hellboy II ran long, but immediately jumped on a place from overseas then came fairly directly to the show. He greeted fans facing a steady line with little interruption throughout the day. This guy is a real class act and his treatment of fans was second to none.
Panel-wise, I was able to hit a couple today including the Barry Kitson (a fun discussion of how he got into comics and his current projects) and Steve Rude (discussing comic history with Mark Evanier) panels. I'll share some quotes from those panels in a Related Recap later this week. I also popped my head in for a few minutes for the Who Wants to be a Superhero? (which was wall-to-wall crowded), Tom Batiuk (who was sharing stories behind characters from Funky Winkerbean) and Happy Birthday, Noel Neill (the original Lois Lane who was discussing working with George Reeves) panels. Throughout the weekend, the panels were solidly attended.
Some notable independent interactions I want to share from over the weekend...
Somewhere over the weekend I become known as "that elevator guy" to the good folks at Shattered Glass Comics (comicspace.com/ancient/). We bumped into each other so often over the three days that, by the end of the show, I almost felt adopted by them. Their comic The Ancients is in my soon to be read stack.
You may know the name Tom Stillwell from his work with Unscrewed (link) but I'll soon take a look at his Spinner Rack Comics (www.honorbrigadecomic.com) title Honor Brigade. Issues 1-4 are in my soon to be read stack.
It was fun to get to meet Mike Maydak. His series The Blackbeard Legacy (check out art here) from Alias was a take home for me.
Max Ink's series Blink from ONWARDStudio (www.onwardstudio.net), which I alluded to in last night's update, reminds me visually of Strangers in Paradise. Anyone who knows how much I loved that series can consider this high praise from me. He has a style about his art that won me over almost instantly. We'll be talking more about that series, promise!
One new series I really want to see when it hits the stands is Adam Withers and Comfort Love's Uniques from Bag Productions (www.bagproductions.net). Visually, the art they had on display was a slam dunk for me and I already regret not grabbing a sketch while I had the chance.
It was good to get to meet Christopher Mitten (www.christophermitten.com) whose name you might recognize from Oni Press' Wasteland series.
Snuffy the Vampire Rabbit (www.myspace.com/troygillogly) gets my award for best titled series and I thank Troy Gillogly for the great promo handouts he shared explaining his series of a mobbed up rabbit discovering new life as a vampire.
You may have seen the Wizard article that sang the praises of Matt Kindt's Top Shelf title, Super Spy (www.supersecretspy.com). Matt was great to get to know and his Harvey Award winning title (it won the award for book design) looks to be an amazing read I can't wait to sink my teeth into.
I not only met, but had dinner with Steve Peters from Awakening Comics (awakeningcomics.com). I have a couple titles (Runner's Paradox, the Origin of Sparky and Sparky in Love) I plan to dig and review soon. What was the name of that actress again (inside joke)...
With a table decked out in action figures and a slickly printed graphic novels, Shortpacked (www.shortpacked.com) caught my eye on preview night.
I was pleased to find Into the Dust (www.intothedust.net) by Jesse Rubenfeld. This Wizard of Oz meets Jack Kerouac style comic shows a lot of promise.
It was fun to catch up with Love and Capes (www.loveandcapes.com) own Thomas Zahler. The first six issues of his series made their way into my soon to be read stack.
Lexington, Kentucky's own Kenn Minter (www.kennminter.com) was on hand snapping up action figures and shared issue #3 of The Experts with me. I'll be talking about his series very soon.
Instant Press Comics title Distant by Manuel Preitano (www.instantpresscomics.com) looks like a solid bet.
The fine fellows from Hamtramck Idea Men (www.idea-men.us) shared a copy of Pulp Dreams with me. Nice detail on the art in this issue.
It is ALWAYS a pleasure to talk with the consistently upbeat Bryan J.L. Glass, He writes The Mice Templar series. A copy of the recently sold out #1 (details) for his fan favorite series is now in my must read pile.
I picked up two vastly different books by Erik Evenson (www.erik-evensen.com). One titled Erik Evenson's Sketchbook Diary: The Complete Series and the other being his Gods of Asgard graphic novel. I'm looking forward to reading both.
I got a chance to meet and talk with Fanatic Press' Allen Frement (www.fanaticpress.com) who gave me some great small press magazine reading pointers and shared info on his Slam Bang series of anthology books not to mention his new film, Dean Lecrone vs The Mutants of Comic-Con.
Bad Place Productions (www.badplaceproductions.com) shared a promising little ashcan style preview of their new series The Serial Squad. I like the look and tone of this one.
Penny Dreadful Press (pennydreadfulpress.net) shared copies of Gothic Romance and Faustians. The later has a bit of a Tim Vigil quality to it that grabbed by eye.
Looking for more of a traditional Saturday morning cartoon flavor to your storytelling? Sugery Serials (sugaryserials.com) has just that kind of all-ages feel and was well represented at the show.
I was also pleased to bump into a copy (take a look) of Ron Forier's The Green Hornet series produced back in the early '90s by Now Comics. As Ron is part of the Comic Related family (forum), I bought that issue instantly.
Two final web comic nods go out to Cow & Buffalo (www.cowshell.com/cowandbuffalo/) and Kidnapped by Gnomes (www.kidnappedbygnomes.com).
Check out Ferret Press (www.ferretpress.com)... Thanks for hosting the party!
Check out SundayComix (www.sundaycomix.blogspot.com)... Thanks for plugging our coverage!
Okay, I could go on all night but this is just a bit of an intro to some of what I bumped into this weekend and I'll talk more about many of these people (and others) in the days ahead. If you couldn't make the show, please explore a few (or all) of the links above for a taste of what you missed. We'll be returning with full reviews for some of these titles and you might even see a creator or two pop up in our forums in the weeks and months ahead.
We're going to end our official event coverage here (returning to our normally scheduled updates tomorrow), but you can count on more Mid-Ohio-Con info (starting with the Barry Kitson and Steve Rude panel coverage) in our Related Recap column.
It was a great show! The relaxed pace and positive attitude of the show staff really contributed to making it a success. Organized Roger Price and everyone who worked so hard to put on the show should be proud.
We will return for next year's Mid-Ohio-Con and we'll be back to Columbus for S.P.A.C.E. (www.backporchcomics.com) March 1-2, 2008. Not to be ignored and in the area is the Jeff Smith: Bone and Beyond gallery show. Put on by Ohio State University's Wexner Center for the Arts (www.wexarts.org) and the Cartoon Research Library (www.cartoons.osu.edu), the show will run May 10th - August 17th, 2008. When it comes to comics, Columbus is at the top of their game and that's proving to be a very good thing.
