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Fun Home has a Fun Time at the 2015 Tony Awards, Walking Away with Numerous Wins

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Brett

It was a great night for graphic novel turned musical Fun Home at the 2015 Tony Awards. The musical was the bell of the ball winning 5 times out of its 12 nominations (3 of which were in one category!). It led the night for wins that saw The King and I, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time also come out big winners.

Fun Home the musical is based on the graphic novel by Alison Bechdel and her relationship with her father. In college Alison came out as a lesbian, and discovered her father was also gay. He died a few weeks after the revelation leaving a legacy of mystery for Bechdel to resolve.

Fun Home won for:

Best Musical
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical – Michael Cerveris
Best Direction of a Musical – Sam Gold
Best Book of a Musical
Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre

The musical didn’t win for “Best Orchestrations,” “Best Lighting Design of a Musical,” “Best Design of a Musical,” “Best Performance of an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical” where it had three nominations, and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical.”

Expect the demand for tickets to skyrocket with this many wins, and I can’t wait to see it when it begins touring and comes to DC.

Fun Home Gets a Boost from Tony Nominations

Posted on May 6, 2015 by Brett

Fun Home, the musical based on the graphic novel by Alison Bechdel, received a boost and had its biggest week at the Broadway box office. The musical was nominated for 12 Tony Awards, receiving the most along with An American in Paris which received the same amound

The show earned $531,985, a massive increase from the previous week, by more than $95,000.

Congrats to all, and I can’t wait to see it myself.

(via ArtsBeat)

Fun Home Ties for Most Tony Nominations

Posted on April 28, 2015 by Brett

Today the Tony Awards announced their nominees for this year, and Fun Home tied for the most nominations. The musical received 12 total. An American in Paris also received 12. The musical is based on the graphic novel by Alison Bechdel.

The full list of the nominations are for Best Musical, Best Score, Best Book, Best Director, Best Actor in a Musical (Michael Cerveris), Best Actress in a Musical (Beth Malone), three in the Best Featured Actress category ( Judy Kuhn, Sydney Lucas and Emily Skeggs,), Best Scenic Design, Best Lighting Design, and Best Orchestration.

The musical has been in development since 2009 and opened off-Broadway in 2013. It has won numerous awards since it began. It opened on Broadway with previews in March 27, 2015 and the official opening on April 19, 2015. By my count it has been nominated for numerous awards 33 times so far (not including the Tony Awards) and has won 8 times, five of which were versions of “Best Musical.”

The Tony Awards celebrate the best of Broadway, and will air June 7 on CBS.

Around the Tubes

Posted on September 18, 2014 by Brett

It was new comic day yesterday! What’d everyone get? What did you like?

Around the Tubes

Graphic Novel Reporter – Alison Bechdel wins MacArthur “Genius Grant” – Congrats!

Publishers Weekly – Bookscan: Graphic Novels Up 10% In 2014 So Far – This is good news.

Around the Tubes Reviews

Comic Vine – All-New X-Men #32

The Spire – Batgirl: Futures End #1

Comic Vine – Batman and Robin: Futures End #1

Comic Vine – Daredevil #8

Comic Vine – Deadpool Bi-Annual #1

Comic Vine – Edge of Spider-Verse #2

CBR – Edge of Spider-Verse #2

Comic Vine – Elektra #6

Comic Vine – The Life After #3

Comic Vine – Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man #4

Comic Vine – Superior Spider-Man #33

Comic Vine – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time #4

Comic Vine – Thor: God of Thunder #25

Around the Tubes

Fun Home Wins 3 Lortel Awards

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Brett

The Lucille Lortel Awards honor Off Broadway works, and on Sunday night Fun Home, based on Alison Bechdel‘s graphic novel, was a winner. The story is a girl’s coming-of-age as a lesbian and her awakening to her father’s troubles. The production won numerous awards including outstanding musical, Michael Cerveris for best actor, and Judy Kuhn for best featured actress in a musical.

The show is closed, but producers are looking to move it to Broadway.

Random

Poplitico: SC Legislators Want to Punish Colleges for Fun Home

Posted on February 21, 2014 by Brett

South Carolina legislators are trying to punish two public colleges for assigning Alison Bechdel‘s praised graphic novel Fun Home. The story deals with Bechdel’s childhood and her closeted gay father and her own coming out as a lesbian.

The state’s House budget-writing committee approved cuts on Wednesday of $52,000 to the College of Charleston and $17,142 from the University of South Carolina Upstate.

Those reductions is about what each college spent on their programs that involved the graphic novel as well as other selections on homosexuality. In USC Upstate’s case, they assigned Out Loud: The Best of Rainbow Radio for a required course for all freshmen. The course also featured lectures and other activities.

Rep. Garry Smith said:

I understand diversity and academic freedom. This is purely promotion of a lifestyle with no academic debate.

The House Ways and Means Committee defeated by a vote of 13-10 an effort by Republican Rep. B.R. Skelton to restore the money. Skelton felt this sort of retribution was inappropriate action from the elected officials.

Skelton is a retired Clemson University professor and said:

If we’re going to begin funding institutions on the basis of books they’ve assigned, we’re going down a road we don’t need to go down.

Rep. Jim Merrill, a Republican felt the whole thing was “stupid” and only to make them “feel better.” That didn’t stop him from voting down Skelton’s attempt to restore the funding.

Skelton felt he wanted to make a point and offered an amendment to force the legislators to approve every book on a college reading list. He then pulled the amendment before a vote took place.

History is Written by the Winners of the Marvel No-Prize

Posted on August 13, 2013 by Brett

Guest commentary post from Emma Houxbois. Emma is a queer blogger for hire out of Vancouver, BC most recently attached to Girls Read Comics. You can follow her on Twitter @emmahouxbois.

The thing about history is that you’ve got to be really careful who you let write it. Herodotus, the guy widely acknowledged as the inventor of western history writing was known as both “The Father of History” and “The Father of Lies,” in his lifetime, and one of the reasons for that was that he never really made any kind of an effort to judge the credibility of the people he was collecting history from. It’s widely believed that he skewed towards the empowered members of society, meaning that the saying “history is written by the winners” is as old as history itself. This past week in comics, we got the rude awakening that it’s history is currently being written by the winners of the Marvel No-Prize.

For reasons unknown to anyone with a lick of sense, a panel consisting of Todd McFarlane, Len Wein, and Gerry Conway were assembled to publicize a forthcoming PBS documentary about superhero comics. While already dubious choices compared to more genuinely influential and knowledgeable prospects like Trina Robbins, Mark Waid, Karen Berger, or that mysterious Twitter account claiming to be Steranko, the trio put on an astounding display of jamming their entire legs up to the knee down their own throats. Todd McFarlane, creator of one of the best selling black superheroes in history, seems to believe that increasing diversity in comics will only lead to tokenism. Of course in 2006, when Robert Kirkman crashed McFarlane’s panel at the SDCCI, the Spawn creator had no idea who he was until he was informed by another panel member that Kirkman was “the guy who writes that zombie comic you like,” a comic published by McFarlane’s own Image Comics at the time. McFarlane also went on, during the same incident, to say in defense of having not done anything significant in comics since Spawn that “once you’ve created your Mickey Mouse or your Donald Duck, you don’t really have to do anything else.” So it isn’t as if McFarlane’s complete indifference to anything in comics that isn’t related to his personal legacy is a closely guarded secret or new information. Nor is it that he’s a noted hypocrite after having lost a lengthy legal action by Neil Gaiman to regain control of the characters he contributed to Spawn after years of McFarlane crowing about how the founding of Image was a victory for creator’s rights in the industry.

Gerry Conway was adamant that superheroes are strictly for men and boys, using a bizarre self defeating anecdote about his daughter’s disinterest in “guy stories,” mentioning Faith Erin Hicks who writes The Adventures of Superhero Girl. Of course Conway is responsible for the two most exploited fridgings in Marvel history, if not superhero comics as a whole; The Punisher’s self justification for his antics based on the death of his wife and child as well as the death of Gwen Stacy. If Conway’s own daughter is disinterested in what he calls “guy stories” and McFarlane wouldn’t use superheroes if he wanted to write a story catering to his own daughters, it has to be noted that Conway’s body of work is one of the chief culprits in disillusioning potential female readers. Of course Len Wein is the real elephant in the room, given that Alan Moore disclosed in 2006 when he approached Wein for permission to cripple Barbara Gordon in The Killing Joke, Wein told him “Yeah, okay, cripple the bitch.” Inviting Len Wein or Gerry Conway to talk about gender in comics is basically like asking Don Imus to talk about racism in sports.

At around the same time that this nonsense was unfolding, a beautiful and moving thing that happened in Japan was being circulated by Sailor Moon fans on Tumblr. The second live event detailing the festivities for the 20th anniversary of Sailor Moon and the forthcoming series was being translated, capped, and analyzed by the fervent western fans of the pop culture juggernaut. However, instead of updates on the timeline for the new series, what dominated the fan discourse were the statements by the director of the 2013 edition of the live action stage show, whose cast is entirely female. By way of explanation, he related that his understanding of Naoko Takeuchi’s manga was that it was written by women for women and so it was only natural to put on the show using only women. Not satisfied with those bold and endearing statements, he went on to say “I feel like Takeuchi Naoko’s work flew in the face of the atmosphere at the time. It said ‘women are strong, there’s nothing wrong with being strong and we should be stronger’ and as a result in these twenty years, women have become stronger in our society. That part of her work has everlasting value and I feel like now we should remind society again of the same message.” While I’m not sure that twenty years of gains for women in Japanese society can be chalked up entirely to the influence of Sailor Moon, it is heartening to hear, especially from a man in this context, the fervent belief that comics can in fact inspire positive social change. It isn’t hard to see that same belief among the western fans, as it’s an unmistakable fact that a large segment of young women active in fighting for representation in western comics are Sailor Moon fans, and the most ardent supporters of Sailor Moon are staunch feminists. Sailor Moon also continues to deeply influence female creators to this day, most notably Adventure Time contributor and Bee and Puppycat creator Natasha Allegri, whose genderbent world of Fionna and Cake rests on Sailor Moon as it’s foundation from the rabbit ears on her hat to her feline companion and even her formal gown patterned after the future Silver Millennium version of Usagi.

That Conway feels comics follow instead of lead culture is no actual reflection on the real state of the world’s last living mythology, it’s a reflection on three men who never pushed themselves or their work to a level beyond what could be most comfortably and easily sold. None of them put their careers on the line with bold statements like Dwayne McDuffie’s infamous Teenage Negro Ninja Thrashers memo or created entire critical frameworks for discussing women’s place in popular fiction like Gail Simone’s Women in the Refrigerator polemic or Alison Bechdel‘s eponymous test. It also really begs the question if any of them are aware that Captain America punched Hitler a full year before the United States entered World War II. In every decade that superhero comics have existed, they’ve lead culture. In a landscape where Orange is the New Black’s Laverne Cox, (directed by Jodie Foster in the episode revolving around her character), is making headlines and shattering the long history of cis actors being cast as trans* people, comics are leading culture. Matt Fraction is currently surfing the crest of the wave of positive portrayals of trans* people in a team book that is three quarters female. Gail Simone is poised alongside him selling out her Batgirl title in which Babs’ roommate is a trans woman. The critical importance of all three narratives cannot be underscored any stronger than by Chloe Sevigny’s current shameful behavior wearing a prosthetic penis to portray a trans woman and throwing around slurs that demean real trans women behind the scenes. Which is just one singular issue, one singular anecdote in a sea of progressive storytelling in comics that has taken the lead on issues as diverse as addiction, sex work, homophobia, racism, sexism, and domestic violence to name a few. The true history of comics isn’t a soulless echo chamber of privileged men writing exclusionist power fantasies for each other. The true history of comics is as queer and beautiful as it is ugly and heartbreaking, when it’s told by people who actually participated in and benefited from it’s queerness and beauty. Sadly many including Will Eisner, Jack Kirby, and Dwayne McDuffie have passed away but there do remain several other creators and commentators who, if given the chance, would gladly sing the praises of those and other trailblazers.

Fun Home Comes to Public Theater’s Season

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Brett

New York City’s Public Theater’s 2013-14 season, which was announced on Tuesday, will include the new musical Fun Home, based on the graphic novel by Alison Bechdel.

The musical will run from October 1 through November 3. The production received a developmental production in the Public’s Lab series last fall. The show’s music is by Jeanine Tesori and lyrics and book by Lisa Kron; the director is Sam Gold. The actress Judy Kuhn will be in the cast, though no other performers have been announced. Kuhn was in the previous production.

The graphic novel which came out in 2007, is Bechdel’s personal memoir and considered ground breaking. The work of art charts her fraught relationship with her late father.

Distant and exacting, Bruce Bechdel was an English teacher and director of the town funeral home, which Alison and her family referred to as the “Fun Home.” It was not until college that Alison, who had recently come out as a lesbian, discovered that her father was also gay. A few weeks after this revelation, he was dead, leaving a legacy of mystery for his daughter to resolve.

Random

SDCC 2012 – Prism Comics Has Announced Their SDCC Plans

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Brett

Prism Comics is celebrating a (rainbow) banner year for LGBTQI comic characters and creators at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. They’re manning three booths, #2144, #2146 and #2148 as well as hosting creator signings and panels in celebration of so much.

2012 marks the 25^th Anniversary of Andy Mangel’s ‘Gays In Comics’ panel at Comic-Con. LGBTQI comics and readership has changed a lot over the past two and a half decades,” says Ted Abenheim, President of Prism Comics. “Sometimes change is slow, but change has been happening. Northstar is getting married, the new Green Lantern, Alan Scott, is an out, gay hero, and the Con is honoring Andy Mangels as a special guest for his 25 years of bringing diversity to Comic-Con. This year will be an exciting show for Prism and the LGBTQI and LGBTQI-friendly comics community.

BOOTH SIGNINGS AND APPEARANCES

Prism Comics’ triple booth (#s 2144, 2146, and 2148 in Hall C) is the de facto LBGTQI Center of Comic-Con, with a full house of indie creators and small presses who are partnering with Prism: Paige Braddock (“Jane’s World”), Justin Hall (“No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics”), Jeff Krell (“Jayson”), Ed Luce (“Wuvable Oaf”), Steve MacIsaac (“Shirtlifter”), Desmond Miller (“Robinson Crusoe in the 6^th Dimension”), Ivan Velez Jr. (“Tales of the Closet”), Sean-Z (“Myth”) and other members of Bent Con, Dave Zelman (“Al-Qaeda’s Super Secret Weapon”), Charles “Zan” Christensen’s Northwest Press, Scuttlebutt Ink, and Fanboys of the Universe, which is helping to support Prism Comics’ creator signings throughout the Con.

The latest Creator Signing Schedule is below (check prismcomics.org for the latest schedule and information):

Alison Bechdel: Thursday, July 12, from 4:30-6pm
Walter Meyer (“Rounding Third”): Friday, July 13, 10-11am
David Reddish (“Sex, Drugs & Superheroes”): Friday, July 13, 2-3pm
Chip Kidd (“Death by Design”): Friday, July 13, 3-4pm and Saturday, July 14, 2-3pm
Paul Charles (the Gay Comic Geek): Friday, July 13, 5-6pm and Saturday, July 14, 3-4pm
Brian Anderson (“So Super Duper”): Saturday, July 14, 12-2pm
And more to be announced!

Prism is also kicking off the submission cycle for this year’s annual Queer Press Grant! The Queer Press Grant was established by Prism to encourage the publication of new LGBTQI comics. For those applying to the Grant, Prism is offering portfolio review sessions each day of convention (check the website or the booth for the latest schedule). Reviewers tentatively scheduled to advise potential applicants this year include: Phil Jimenez, Gail Simone, Bob Schreck, Justin Hall, and Charles “Zan” Christensen. Check the prismcomics.org for the latest schedule. Before arriving at the Con, applicants are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the submissions guidelines at prismcomics.org/grant.php.

PANELS

There will be six Prism-sponsored or Prism-related panels this year focusing attention on queer characters and creators, with some of the biggest name in comics including Phil Jimenez, Alison Bechdel, Gail Simone, Eric Shanower, James Robinson, Dan Parent, Nicola Scott, Marjorie Liu, and many more.

Thursday, July 12, 4-5:00, Room 8, “Spotlight on Andy Mangels”. Best-selling author and Comic-Con special guest Andy Mangels has been extraordinarily active in the entertainment field for 28 years: as a pop culture journalist for magazines ranging from “Amazing Heroes”, “Wizard”, “SFX” and “Back Issue” to “Holywood Reporter”, “The Advocate” and “Weekly World News”; as a comic book writer and editor for projects such as “Nightmares on Elm Street”, “ElfQuest”, “Star Trek”, “Star Wars”, “Gay Comics”, “Bloodwulf”, “Dragon’s Lair”, and books for DC, Marvel, Image, and other companies; as the author of over 20 books including Star Wars, Star Trek, Roswell, X-Files, and Iron Man novels and non-fiction tomes; as an award-winning special features producer and documentary director/writer for over 40 popular DVD projects; as the man behind raising over $136,000 for Domestic Violence shelters with his Women of Wonder Day charity events; and as a respected panelist at Comic-Con for 25 years! Now, Andy Mangels sits down with interviewer Roger Klorese (Prism Comics Publications Chair) for a look at his career, and discusses writing for almost every major licensing company, his renowned social and humanitarian activism, and having the most famous moustache in comicdom. Plus, find out about his September 2012 book from TwoMorrows, “Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation”, and what’s next for Andy! Questions from audience members will be welcome.

Thursday, July 12, 5-6pm, Room 32AB, “Northwest Press”. How does a small comic book publisher succeed in today’s market? Northwest Press opened their doors in 2010, braving a recession, the rise of digital media, and the disappearance of specialty shops and bookstores to create a publishing company specializing in a niche market: lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender comics. Two years later, Northwest is still growing. Come and join in a lively discussion about how to operate on a shoestring while looking like a pro, how to leverage social media and connections, and how to succeed as a small press. Moderated by Chance Whitmire (“Fanboys of the Universe”), and featuring the owner of Northwest Press, Charles “Zan” Christensen (“The Mark of Aeacus”, “The Power Within”), as well as four of the creators he’s published: Dylan Edwards (“Transposes”), Justin Hall, Steve MacIsaac, and Leia Weathington (“The Legend of Bold Riley”). Sponsored by Prism Comics.

Thursday, July 12, 6-7pm, Room 32AB, “Rewriting the Rules on Queers in Comics”. Depictions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender characters in comics are breaking from the purely positive “role model” portrayals that were common over the past decade. Some creators aren’t shying away from sex, stereotypes and bad behavior in their pursuit of intriguing and well-rounded characters. As comics readers clamor for more explicit, more outrageous, and more extreme comics—and hail them as victories over timidity and political correctness—is it time to rewrite the rulebook on queer characters? Join Oliver Nome (“Fathom: Kiani”), James Robinson (“Earth 2”, “Justice League”), Nicola Scott (“Earth 2”, “Secret Six”), Gail Simone (“Batgirl”, “Secret Six”), Ivan Velez Jr., and moderator Charles “Zan” Christensen for a lively, irreverent discussion about the wild frontier of queers in comics. Sponsored by Prism Comics.

Friday, July 13, 2-3pm, Room 25ABC, “No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics”. Queer cartooning has been one of the most vibrant artistic and countercultural movements of the past 40 years, tackling complex issues of identity and changing social mores with intelligence, humor, and an irreverent imagination. “No Straight Lines”, a massive anthology published by Fantagraphics Books, is the most definitive collection to date of this material, showcasing everything from lesbian underground comix, to gay newspaper strips, to bi punk zines, to trans webcomics. Join the editor of the book, Justin Hall, as he moderates an all-star panel of some of the true greats of LGBTQI comics: Alison Bechdel, Paige Braddock, Ed Luce, Trina Robbins (“Wimmen’s Comix”), and Eric Shanower (“Age of Bronze”). Signing will follow from 3:30-5:50pm at the Fantagraphics booth. Sponsored by Prism Comics.

Saturday, July 14, 1-2pm, Room 25ABC, “Northstar: From Coming Out to Getting Married!” Northstar, the first openly gay superhero in mainstream comics and a member of both the X-Men and Alpha Flight, came out of the closet 20 years ago… and this year he ties the knot! Northstar has lead a challenging life, facing villains, personal challenges, family rivalries, disease, death, and accusations of being put back in the closet. Now Northstar starts a major new chapter in his life, with a high-profile wedding. Join Prism Comics as we celebrate Northstar and explore how he and the comics community’s attitudes toward LGBTQ characters have changed over the years. Moderator Chance Whitmire (Fanboys of the Universe) delves into the past and the bright future of everyone’s favorite gay mutant with guests David Gabriel (Vice President of Sales, Marvel Comics), Phil Jimenez (“New X-Men”), Marjorie Liu (“Astonishing X-Men”), Scott Lobdell (“Uncanny X-Men”), and Jase Peeples (“The Advocate”Magazine). Sponsored by Prism Comics.

Saturday, July 14, 5:30-7:00pm, Room 6A, “Gays in Comics: 25th Year Celebration!” The comic world’s longest-running panel celebrates its silver anniversary with an incredible all-star panel and celebration which will spotlight creators, comics, and fans from 1988 to the present. It was once unthinkable that mainstream companies such as DC, Marvel, and Archie would have best-selling and award-winning titles frontlining gay characters such as Batwoman, Northstar, and Kevin Keller. Now, they hire top-level gay or gay-friendly creators, and independent publishers and creators are publishing unequivocal content spotlighting gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender characters, to the cheers of the thousands of fans who are out of the comic book closet and those who welcome diversity among comic book protagonists. This year, founding moderator and best-selling author Andy Mangels will chair a new form of panel, a live documentary that will unfold for the audience, featuring a mixture of commentary, images, music and other surprises!

Showcased with live appearances and video messages will be an army of awesome creators who have appeared on the previous 24 panels, including: Howard Cruse, creator of “Stuck Rubber Baby” and “Barefootz”, founder of “Gay Comix”, and godfather of the gay comic movement; Roberta Gregory, creator of “Naughty Bits” and “Bitchy Bitch” and the godmother of the gay comic movement; Phil Jimenez, amazing artist of “Fairest”, “Astonishing X-Men”, and “Wonder Woman”; Alison Bechdel; Charles “Zan” Christensen, founding member of Prism Comics, and publisher of gay-themed Northwest Press; Gail Simone; Eric Shanower; Joan Hilty, creator of the weekly comic strip “Bitter Girl” and past DC editor; Ivan Velez, Jr.; Paige Braddock; Joe Phillips, artist and publisher of “Joe Boys”, “Star Trek”, and “The Heretic”; Trina Robbins, remarkable writer and artist whose work on behalf of women in comics has helped redefine the industry; Dan Parent, writer and artist for “Archie” and “Betty & Veronica” and creator of Archie’s new gay character, Kevin Keller; Wendy Pini, the creator of “ElfQuest”and “Masque of Red Death”; Chip Kidd; Patty Jeres, past DC Comics director of marketing communications, and past Prism Comics co-president; Joe Palmer, awesome webmaster of GayLeague.com; Ed Luce; Jeff Krell; Robert Triptow, legendary cartoonist and past editor of Gay Comix; Justin Hall, Prism Comics Talent Chair; Marc Andreyko, author of the fan-favorite “Manhunter” series and “Captain America and Bucky”; Sean-Z; Steve Englehart, industry legend, and creator of comics first out gay super-hero Extrano in 1987’s “Millennium”; Jon Macy, award-winning writer and artist of “Teleny and Camille” and “Fearful Hunter”; Ted Abenheim, the new president of Prism Comics and heroic and tireless fundraiser for LGBTQI organizations; and Roger Klorese, a past president of Prism Comics and longtime comics and internet trailblazer! This panel will be chock-full from beginning to end, so be on time or you’ll miss some awesome surprises that we aren’t announcing yet!

Afterward, stick around for the “Gay Comic Fan Mixer and Prism Comics Silent Auction!” with prizes, one-of-a-kind comics items, and surprise special guests!

EVENTS

Besides the Prism’s annual “Gay Comic Fan Mixer and Prism Comics Silent Auction!” and the “Heroes and Villains Party”, this year will see the most queer comics-related events ever held in conjunction with San Diego Comic-Con.

Thursday, July 12, 8pm-1:30am, “Oso Oro” Pecs Bar. Ivan Velez, Jr. is bringing his long-running “Oso Oro”party to San Diego at Pecs Bar. Flex your artistic muscles at “Oso Oro”, a multimedia celebration of international bear pop culture with Japanese bear bara manga, raffles for bear prizes, limited edition t-shirts, and best bear model contest. Attendees are encouraged to draw bear models and also pose onstage themselves. Ivan is also bringing “Oso Oro”to the “No Straight Lines”release party, details below. Pecs Bar is located at 2046 University Avenue, San Diego, CA.

Friday, July 13, 8-10pm, the Fantagraphics “No Straight Lines” Release Party at Trickster. Along with appearances from creators who contributed to the anthology, the event will feature a “Drink-And-Draw” in conjunction with Ivan Velez, Jr.’s “Oso Oro”, where artists will sketch live queer-themed figure drawing models and sell their art (all sales will be donated to the Prism Comics Queer Press Grant!). Stay tuned at trickstertrickster.com for details. Trickster is located at 795 J Street, San Diego, CA.

Friday, July 13, 10pm-2am, “Heroes and Villains Party“, Rich’s Dance Club. Attend Hillcrest’s number one Geek party, which returns to Rich’s for the 8th year! Geek Knight Production’s Ned Cato Jr. (Cub Club San Diego) is bringing back sexy Heroes and Villains for what will be one of the hottest parties of the year with Super DJ Marcel Hetu. The party will feature go-go dancers, laser show, LED wall, and costume contest hosted by Glitz Glam, which will have nearly $200 in cash and prizes. Ronnie Mena and his crew are returning for face and body paint. Meet queer comics creators including special guest Sean Z who will show off his latest masterpiece book “Myth”. Rich’s Dance Club is located at 1051 University Avenue, San Diego, CA.

Saturday, July 14, 7:40pm, Reception Joe Phillips’ “Joe’s Boys”, Alexander Salazar Fine Art. The exhibit of Joe Phillips’ artwork from “Joe’s Boys” will run from July 12 through July 15, with the reception on Friday the 13th. The Alexander Salazar Fine Art Gallery in downtown San Diego is within walking distance from the Convention Center and is open from 11am-6pm. Alexander Salazar Fine Art is located at 640 Broadway, San Diego, CA.

Saturday, July 14, 7-8pm, “Gay Comic Fan Mixer and Prism Comics Silent Auction!” San Diego Convention Center, Room 6A. Happening directly after the “Gays in Comics” panel, the fan mixer and silent auction is hosted by and benefiting Prism Comics, the nonprofit organization that supports gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered comics, creators, and readers. Mingle with comics fans and creators plus stay for the special drawing of “Comics Gift Basket” and the silent auction of incredible comics items, including original art and more!

For the latest information on everything Prism at Comic-Con, keep tuned to prismcomics.org.