Category Archives: Random

Gen Con 2013: Dungeons & Dragons Dominated Gen Con Indy

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image001(1)Wizards of the Coast brought a hell of a presence and a bit of flair to 2013’s Gen Con Indy. They absolutely kicked off the show with a bang with a night with Dungeons & Dragons. The event was the official kick-off to their next big event, The Sundering, which promises to change the realm of Forgotten Realms forever.

Travelers from across Faerûn were invited to spend the evening in Baldur’s Gate at this one-of-a-kind event where guests mingled with D&D designers, authors, and other industry luminaries while enjoying food, drinks, music, adventure and more.

Before that event opened to the public, the press was invited to go over recent announcements about the product. There was a lot of focus on digital releases, especially video games. The Lords of Waterdeep was announced for the iPad, the DSCN3362franchises for game for the platform. The award-winning and critically acclaimed board game from Wizards of the Coast will make its digital debut in a high-quality, faithful adaptation from Playdek Games. Designed for 2-5 players, the game will offer offline play against others or computer opponents or online asynchronously or in real time.

One of the few reveals was a new Dungeons & Dragon Kre-O figure. the figures were first announce and unveiled at San Diego Comic-Con but some future figures were announced like the one I snapped a photo of. The line launches from Hasbro in January 2014.

Mike Mearls, Senior Manager, Dungeons & Dragons R&D, provided a hotly-anticipated update of the status of D&D Next, the latest installment of game play rules for D&D. Fans worldwide have been helping to create this new set of rules by participating in playtests and sharing results with the D&D developers. Mearls announced the final packet distribution, thus concluding the D&D Next Playtest.

With the end of those announcements, the event opened to the public, filled with D&D fans, the event was pretty impressive with an amazing setting. You can check it out below.

SPX 2013: Ignatz Award Nominees

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I sadly didn’t get a chance to get this up when it was announced and it fell through the cracks, but better late than never. The Small Press Expo has announced the nominees for the seventeenth annual presentation of the Ignatz Awards, a celebration of outstanding achievement in comics and cartooning.

The Ignatz, named after George Herriman’s brick-wielding mouse from his long running comic strip Krazy Kat, recognizes exceptional work that challenges popular notions of what comics can achieve, both as an art form and as a means of personal expression. The Ignatz Awards are a festival prize, the first of such in the United States comic book industry.

The nominees for the ballot were determined by a panel of five of the best of today’s comic artists, Lisa Hanawalt, Jason Shiga, Dustin Harbin, Damien Jay and Sakura Maku, with the votes cast for the awards by the attendees during this years SPX. The Ignatz Awards will be presented at the gala ceremony hosted by New Yorker cartoonist Liza Donnelly and is to be held on Saturday, September 14, 2012 at 9:30 PM.

SPX will be held Saturday, September 14 from 11AM to 7PM and Sunday, September 15, noon-6PM at The North Bethesda Marriott Convention Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Admission is $10 for a single day and $15 for both days.

Outstanding Artist

Lilli Carre for Heads or Tails
Michael DeForge for Lose #4
Miriam Katin for Letting It Go
Ulli Lust for Today is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life
Patrick McEown for Hair Shirt

Outstanding Anthology or Collection

Freddie Stories by Lynda Barry
Heads or Tails by Lille Carré
Peter Bagge’s Other Stuff by Peter Bagge
Stark #1 by Tusen Hjartan
Very Casual by Michael DeForge

Outstanding Graphic Novel

The Property by Rutu Modan
Susceptible by Genevieve Castree
Today is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life by Ulli Lust
When David Lost His Voice by Judith Vanistendael
You’ll Never Know Vol. 3: A Soldier’s Heart by Carol Tyler

Outstanding Story

“Arid” (Secret Prison #7) by Tom Hart
Birdseye Bristoe by Dan Zettwoch
“The Carnival” (Heads or Tails) by Lilli Carre
Gold Star by John Martz
“Neighbors” (Stark #1) by Joanna Hellgren

Promising New Talent

Sam Alden for Hawaii 1997 & Haunter
Nathan Bulmer for Eat More Bikes
Philippa Rice for Looking Out
Diana Thung for August Moon
Angie Wang for “The Teacup Tree” (Secret Prison #7)

Outstanding Series

The Hive by Charles Burns
Lose by Michael DeForge
Madtown High by Whit Taylor
Pope Hats by Ethan Rilly
Prison Pit by Johnny Ryan

Outstanding Comic

Hyperspeed to Nowhere 2: Return to Entropy by Lale Westvind
The Life Problem by Austin English
Looking Out by Philippa Rice
Pope Hats #3 by Ethan Rilly
St. Owl’s Bay by Simon Hanselmann

Outstanding Minicomic

The End of the Fucking World: Part 16 by Charles Forsman
Il Cammino Delle Capre by Kris Mukai and Zachary Zezima
Hawaii 1997 by Sam Alden
Layaway by Joseph Lambert
Powdered Milk Vol. 10: The Man Who Could Not Read by Keiler Roberts

Outstanding Online Comic

Bird Boy by Annie Szabla – http://bird-boy.com/
Haunter by Sam Alden – http://studygroupcomics.com/main/haunter-part-1-by-sam-alden/
Gabby’s Playhouse – Ken Dahl/Gabby Schulz – http://www.gabbysplayhouse.com/
July Diary by Gabrielle Bell – http://gabriellebell.com/2012/07/01/july-diary-day-one/
SuperMutant Magic Academy by Jillian Tamaki – http://mutantmagic.com/

Baltimore Comic Con 2013: 215 Ink at the Convention

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215 Ink has announced the first print edition of Breakneck will be sold at the Baltimore Comic Con. It will be a collected edition of issues #1-3 plus the difficult to find 4th issue. A print edition of Silver-Age legend writer/artist Jim Starlin‘s newest work Mindgames will also be sold at the convention. Both Jim Starlin and Mark Bertolini will make an appearance at 215 Ink’s table. Convention exclusives include digital download cards and the publishers entire digital comic catalog for $10.00 on USB’s.

Mark Bertolini is the creative force behind the acclaimed comic: Breakneck. Praised by Evan Henry of InGenre as “The best independent (non-Big-Four) title I have read in a long, long time”

Breakneck features the crappiest supervillian ever, Ethan Shade. Shade is the only survivor of a murderous crackdown on supervillains and fights to survive as the last villain in a world of heroes. “Breakneck is so far succeeding in what I believe all comic book miniseries’ should aspire to do: get better with each issue” says John Lee of ComixTribe.

Jim Starlin, creator/co-creator of Thanos, Gamora, Shang Chi, and Drax the Destroyer has brand new work. Starlin has brought his “Hardcore Station” tales from DC to 215 Ink. Mindgames is a 98 page illustrated novel about licensed telepathic therapist Dr. Zareb Alter and his struggles against the DeFoncé crime organization. Mindgames will be available in print at the Baltimore Comic

215 Ink is an independent comic book publisher dedicated to showcasing some of the most original creator-owned titles from some of the best up and coming creators in the industry. To see 215Ink’s work you can head to http://www.215ink.com/

Baltimore Comic Con 2013: Valiant Brings Unity, Robert Venditti, Barry Kitson and More!

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This September, Valiant is headed to Baltimore Comic-Con for a weekend packed with special guests, exclusive programming, and convention-only giveaways!

On Saturday, September 7th and Sunday, September 8th, join the publisher behind 2013’s most anticipated comics event, Unity, at Booth #1505/1506 for signings and appearances by some of Valiant’s greatest talents, including New York Times best-selling writer Robert Venditti and legendary artist Barry Kitson!

Be sure to stop by and pick up your copy of the Unity #1 Preview Edition – an all-new convention-only comic book featuring the very first look inside Unity #1 by Matt Kindt and Doug Braithwaite! The first issue of all-new ongoing series debuting this November, Unity #1 is the perfect place to find out why Valiant is the most-talked about publisher in comics!

And, as always, Valiant will also have a one-stop selection of comics, trade paperbacks, hardcovers, and official Cinder Block merchandise – including t-shirts, limited edition prints, mugs and more – available for readers new and old!

Plus, no fan will want to miss Valiant Comics: The Road to Unity – Valiant’s Baltimore-exclusive panel presentation on Saturday, September 7th at 2 pm! Join an all-star panel of Valiant insiders for a must-see round of news and announcements about the most talked-about publisher in comics! Featuring creators J.G. Jones, Barry Kitson, Robert Venditti, and Jim Zub , alongside Publisher Fred Pierce and Chief Creative Officer Dinesh Shamdasani, find out everything you need to know about the massive repercussions of UNITY and what’s next for Valiant’s greatest heroes – only at Baltimore Comic-Con!

baltimore comic con logo

NOVA Open 2013 in Pictures

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NOVA Open 2013, a set on Flickr.

Running August 29 to September 1, the NOVA Open is all about gaming tournaments. Warhammer 40K, Warhammer Fantasy Battle, Magic: The Gathering, Infinity, Hordes and War Machine were all represented as well as “how to” seminars.

This was my first time attending the convention and it’s definitely not what I was expecting. I’ll be following up with my impressions of the convention in a further post.

NewKadia is Giving Away $30,000 in Comics in September

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NewKadia.com has decided it’s launching the biggest comic giveaway in history. The “world’s largest online comic store” is giving away $30,000 worth of comics away in September.

NewKadia will select 300 people (10 per day) at random to win a $100 Gift Card. The card can be used for any of NewKadia’s 698,000 back-issue comic books. No purchase is necessary. You can find the full contest rules at the website.

The contest launched to celebrate the website’s 10 millionth shopper to NewKadia.com, who visited August 18, according to NewKadia’s CEO, Jim Drucker, citing data provided by Google Analytics and Alexa, a subsidiary of Amazon.com.

The privately held NewKadia.com, Inc. opened January 1, 2000 and its website, www.NewKadia.com is now the world’s most visited online-only comic book store. Among comic book stores without a brick and mortar store, NewKadia is the longest operating comic book retail store on the internet. Over 1.1 million people shop at NewKadia.com each year.

NewKadia’s 698,000 comics weigh 43 tons. If piled on top of one another, they would reach 6,013 feet high — four times the height of the Empire State Building. If placed end to end, they would stretch 110 miles, the distance from New York to Philadelphia.

NewKadia has 9,200 different titles and 110,000 different comic books for sale. They include most issues from the Silver age, Bronze age and Modern age of comics. The best-selling comic book is Amazing Spider-Man comic books. X-Men comic books, Fantastic Four comic books, Mad Magazine, Batman comic books, Avengers comic books Classics Illustrated comics, Daredevil comic books, Superman comic books and Wolverine comic books round out NewKadia’s top seller list.

AMC’s “Comic Book Men” Invade Baltimore Comic-Con to Tape an Episode of Their Series and Launch Their Comic Book, Cryptozoic Man

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Comic Book Men

AMC‘s Comic Book Men will be filming an episode for the upcoming third season of the series, which premieres Sunday, October 13 at midnight ET/PT, at the Baltimore Comic-Con, where the cast will launch their first collaborative comic book Cryptozoic Man and sign Con-exclusive copies for fans. Cast members Walt Flanagan, Bryan Johnson, Michael Zapcic, and Ming Chen will be at Booth #2414 for the filming and signing throughout the day, and the legendary Executive Producer Kevin Smith will even stop by to help celebrate the launch.

Cryptozoic Man follows Alan Ostman, a middle-aged husband/father, who sees his life quickly unravel when his daughter goes missing on a camping trip in the Pacific Northwest…Bigfoot country. After Gray aliens abduct him from a roadside bar, he learns that the fate of the world is dependent on trapping the world’s most legendary cryptids…not to mention defeating a psychopath in a pig-shaped leather bondage mask. Alan knows he has his work cut out for him.

AMC’s Comic Book Men, a half-hour unscripted series, captures the world of comic book store, Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash, and its fanboy staff and customers. The Secret Stash comic book and novelty store in Red Bank, New Jersey serves not only as a place for people to buy, sell, or trade cool stuff; but also to hang out and be part of a community that loves comics. “Comic Book Men” documents the daily banter of The Secret Stash and its employees and devoted customers, as well as the emotion of buying and selling collectibles and comic memorabilia. Season three will step back into the lives of these hilarious Stashers and follow them as they celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Superman, re-visit the devastation of Hurricane Sandy a year later, and even explore the festivities of the launch of their own comic book!

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