DEATHSTROKE #1: TONY DANIEL Takes You Behind the Deadly Scenes - at 13th DIMENSION

Our old friend Clay N. Ferno was able to grab some time with Deathstroke‘s new writer and artist, Tony S. Daniel, at NYCC for this MIGHTY Q&A. Issue #1 is out 10/22, from DC.

Clay N. Ferno: I’ve been a huge fan of yours since Battle for The Cowl, how did you become one of the rare writer/artists as opposed to just drawing?

Tony S. Daniel: Going back to the ’90s actually, I was doing a creator-owned book called The Tenth. That’s where I started getting my desire to start writing. I didn’t set out to write the book to begin with. I was working with Beau Smith as the writer. As the series went on, I wanted to get more and more involved with the story itself. Eventually, I just flew with it. I learned that I really enjoy writing. After that, I wrote a few other series (such) as the creator-owned Image series,Silke, Adrenaline, F-5.

When I came to DC in the early 2000s, 2004, they asked me if I was interested in writing anything. At the time I said “No, I really just want to focus on the art right now,” and it didn’t really come into play until years l later when the opportunity for Battle for the Cowl came in. Then I decided, “Hey, think that’s something I might want to do.”

[READ MORE AT 13th DIMENSION]

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FOTOBOM: EARTH PRIME TIME @ SUPER MEGAFEST 2013

Yo Joe! Getting throttled by the drill Sergent of my childhood, Sgt. Slaughter, just minutes after meeting fellow Arashikage Clan Member Snake-Eyes Ray Park so that we can team up with Scarlett to take on the Baroness and some Cobra troopers before hoping in the TARDIS to escape the Daleks was not another pumpkin coffee induced daydream.

This happened IRL this past weekend at Supermega Fest in Framingham. As Con Season draws to a close and we will soon stop buying expensive variant action figures for ourselves so we treated ourselves to one last nerdout with cosplayers, comic and toy vendors, TV stars, Ron Jeremy, Christopher Lloyd and so much more at the Sheraton Framingham Hotel this past weekend. As a firstimer to Supermega, I recommend the trip next year to not just comic fans, but pop culture fans in general.

First impressions are that this is slightly more schizophrenic show than the previous cons we have attended this year, and less of a comic book focus. Also, the format seems to be crammed into the Sheraton in Framingham, leaving vendors to set up in hallways off of the main ballroom and signing area. Not that that is a complaint, it makes for more creative ways to adhere to the Prime Directive:

Keep Moving, And Get Out Of The Way.

Comic artists were there, including our friend Jamal Igle, who is hard at work telling everyone about his all ages young heroine, Molly Danger.

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EARTH PRIME TIME: RHODE ISLAND COMIC CON

We could all use another convention, right? Maybe you didn’t have a whole weekend to spend in New York City for one of the two largest shows in the world! Or maybe you had an awesome time at the Boston Comic Con and, like many, feel they deserve more convention-ing this year because, obviously! This weekend, travel south for the biggest show in the smallest state, Rhode Island Comic Con on Saturday, November 2 and Sunday, November 3. Here is what we are looking forward to this weekend.

Last November, the day my MacBook (white, 2007, RIP) literally up and died after Q from Star Trek touched it (a connection) we took in our first Rhode Island Comic Con. We met Xander, had an intimate panel experience with Thor mastermind Walter Simonson hosted by Forces of Geek’sStefan Blitz, and delighted in the autumnal vibes of Downtown Providence over a deep dish pizza. This Saturday I aim to recreate those good vibes and see what RICC 2013 has to offer.

Like many conventions these days, the celebrity appearances often trump any comic news or artists appearing at the convention.

This convention is no exception. Last year we had the Batmobile from Batman ’66, this year, Batman himself Adam West (and Family Guy mayor of Quohog, RI) with faithful sidekick Robin Burt Ward are scheduled to appear. That’s not all, Bat-fans! Rounding out an almost unprecedented reunion of sorts is Catwoman Julie Newmar, who will knock you out with her cat-claws. Now that DC Comics is publishing a Batman ’66 series, I’m sure these stars will be signing a lot of comics with their likenesses this weekend–perhaps for the first time! Saturday, Stefan hosts a Bat-panel from 3pm-4:30pm in Room A.

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EARTH PRIME TIME: BOSTON COMIC CON WITH NICK KANIEFF (PART 2)

 CONTINUED FROM PART ONE ( HERE! ) 

Boston Comic Con has been rescheduled for this weekend, August 3-4, at The Seaport World Trade Center. Founder Nick Kanieff joins us for the epic conclusion of our two part interview (Part One HERE) about the challenges of moving this great independent comic book show and the incredible growth Boston Con has seen since its first years.

The Boston comics community was looking forward to the show in April, and now are even more ready to get together this summer as a celebration of comic books and pop culture at the rescheduled date and venue.

DIGBOSTON: We have portfolio reviews, cosplay contests. Is there anything you are looking forward to as an event organizer?
NICK KANIEFF: The ongoing joke is that as the organizer I never get to enjoy my own show. I’m really excited this year about the original art auction. We had our first art auction last year and a portion of the proceeds goes to the Mike Wieringo Foundation, a scholarship for aspiring comic book artists to attend a program at the Savannah College of Art & Design. Our first art auction was very successful.

This year we are still donating to that particular charity and we are also donating to The One Fund.

Once we put that out there to the artist’s community, the support was overwhelming. People that would not normally donate to an art auction—there aren’t that many of them in the comic book convention world (Heroes Con, Baltimore Comic Con, and us)—probably because we are the three conventions that are considered more comic book purist and comic art driven shows. Mike Mignola(Hellboy) said “I am putting a piece of original art at your auction.” That’s gigantic. Mike Mignola’s huge and his art goes for tons of money. Everybody is stepping up to the plate, so I have a feeling the art auction is particularly huge this year.

The Amazing Screw-On Head - Mike Mignola

We have the costume contest, every year that gets bigger and bigger and bigger. The cosplay community keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

I’ve been to Anime Boston and I scratch my head because it’s all cosplay. It’s a social event. There’s not a lot going on, but it is a huge social event.

It’s mindblowing to me how big the cosplay community really is. That’s always exciting. 
We have IDW showing up as a publisher this year. That’s pretty cool. We’ve got a Magic the Gathering tournament going on.

DC Comics and IDW will be doing portfolio reviews for you aspiring comic book artists out there. We’ve got our exclusive Boston Comic Con t-shirt by Tim Sale. We have our exclusive My Little Pony Boston Comic Con variant comic (Agnes Garbowska) – limited to 1000 copies.

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EARTH PRIME TIME: BOSTON COMIC CON WITH NICK KANIEFF (PART 1)

Boston Comic Con has been rescheduled for this weekend, August 3-4, at The Seaport World Trade Center. Founder Nick Kanieff joins us for a two part interview about the challenges of moving this great independent comic book show and the incredible growth Boston Con has seen since its first years. The Boston comics community was looking forward to the show in April, and now are even more ready to get together this summer as a celebration of comic books and pop culture at the rescheduled date and venue.

DIGBOSTON: Can you tell me how you started running this show?
NICK KANIEFF: We had our first show in 2007. I had been a collector most of my life. I got to a point where I decided to sell my collection. I had some good friends that ran a comic book store, I asked them the best way to liquidate the collection, they suggested a combination of eBay and going to Cons and setting up as a vendor. There is a little show that’s been run here for 15 years. I set up there, was selling my comics and I noticed that it was a small show and the vendors were unhappy. It wasn’t what I remember as a kid. I remember there was an electricity in the air. It was crowded with people, it was colorful. It was a huge trading floor, it was a stock exchange with so much excitement. I started poking around, how come Boston doesn’t have a major comic book convention? No one could give me a good common sense answer to that question.

If I could start a show and bring back the magic, the allure, the electricity that I felt as a kid, then this thing can go through the roof.

I did just that. I started the show in 2007 at the Back Bay Events Center with 900 attendees. Three-four times the amount of the existing show, that had been there for 15 years.

The show has gone from 900 people to last year’s 10,000. We moved from Back Bay Events Center to The Hynes. Unfortunately, the Boston Marathon tragedy happened and we postponed and rescheduled to The Seaport. Our estimated attendance for 2013 is between 12-15,000 people.

It’s just gotten bigger and better and we are now nationally recognized and ranked and a show people come to from all over the country.

We’re putting Boston back on the map as a major city that has a major comic book convention for fans that deserve it. Boston deserves a well-run, big comic book convention. We’ve hopefully given that to them. My goal at the end of the day is to put on the best show that I can. The way I know that I’m successful is if the fans, the vendors, and the artists all walk away saying we had a great time, a lot of fun, we made some money and that was the best show I’ve ever been too.

I just want to make it bigger and bigger and better.

That’s great. I’ve been going since 2009, and each of the Cons keeps getting bigger and bigger — to the benefit of the Con. There was plenty of space, and lots of happy people last year. I have just as good a time at Boston as I do at New York.
That’s the barometer, when a fan like yourself says that, I know we are doing our job right.

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HEY…PART 2 is HERE!

EARTH PRIME TIME: COMIC CON ASSEMBLES TO BRING HOPE AND SUPER-HEROISM TO BOSTON

Can we bring some hope, some superheroes to the Back Bay this weekend, please? Obviously the true heroes, the first responders, runners, Back Bay workers, reporters and real actual people are more important to have in your thoughts this weekend. We’re fighting back the tears as we write to tell you to make it to Boston Comic Con this weekend to celebrate togetherness, hope and fictional heroes that give so many hope in even the darkest days. If you think it is a silly endeavor, that’s fine too. In fact, most adults enthusiastic about the convention’s announcement on Tuesday recognize the convention as a place to cosplay and embrace a passionate hobby, and to take a well deserved break from watching the news. As for the kids, please let them enjoy this day dressed up like The Flash or Wonder Woman and think that heroes are real. Because they are. I met a few on Monday.  

You know the day started pretty regular for me on Monday, and enjoying the holiday meant some quiet time in the office. My boss’s young nephew was playing Marvel Super Hero Squad and we talked Spider-Man of course. Before leaving with his aunt, to catch the rest of the race and experience the Boston Marathon for the first time, I slid him last year’s Free Comic Book Day Ultimate Spidey and Avengers comic to say goodbye. Luckily, they turned around before making it downtown and headed home. I stayed working until all of our days were destroyed by the bombings.

I won’t apologize for expressing my feelings on the day here, this particular Earth Prime Time is a coping mechanism.

The rest of the day was phone calls, cancellations, making sure staff was safe and watching twitter and Facebook feeds, along with WCVB’s coverage on television.

I rightly was dealing with the present, and remembering walking down a barren Boylston St. on 9/11 on my way home to Mission Hill from Milk St. Close friends were dropping into the Middle Eastwith stories and encounters with the blasts. After being reassured that Cambridge Police would check in on the club, I went home to restlessly attempt to sleep.

Tuesday, the same news feed from Facebook greeted me immediately. Boston Comic Con group declared,

“Boston Comic Con is happy to announce that the convention will go on this weekend as scheduled!”

Damn hell frakkin’ right, it will. Right there. Where it all went down. And you know what else is happening? Our party at McGreevy’s on Saturday night. What more protection could the League and pals need than the Dropkick Murphys associated sports bar just 1,200 steps from Fenway Park.

As the President said, “If you want to know who we are, who America is, how we respond to evil—that’s it: selflessly, compassionately, unafraid.”

Admittedly, both statements got me worked up and woken up and ready to do this thing. Critiques of false patriotism, faux hometown pride mixed with partisan and religious opinions of the bombings and how they affected our city are all swept away like tiny Roman numerals from a Risk board for me to sort out when this weekend is over. I’ve got strong counters to most of what I’ve been hearing people soapbox about for the past few days but I am going to concentrate on actively participating in a highlight of my year each year, the Boston Comic Con.

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]

EARTH PRIME TIME: BOSTON COMIC-CON 2013 GUESTS ANNOUNCED

What better way to start off the year then to get excited about April’s Boston Comic Con? The lineup of guests was announced as we were struggling to get our shopping lists completed. Here’s who we are excited to see this year at one of the largest growing shows of the year. Plus, we get to party with the LeaguePodcast on Saturday, April 20 at an undisclosed but familiar location known for beers, costumes, and loud yelling.

Since expanding into the Hynes Convention Center in Boston’s Back Bay, Boston Comic Con has prospered into one of the largest on the East Coast. You may not be aware, but we Bostonians love to brag about the place and can hardly contain ourselves when it comes to taking our out-of-state friends for a drive along our confusing roadways and rotaries. Boston has some great homegrown talent working in the comic book industry and this is the place to show off for all of the busy artists and writers coming here. This time the convention is set a month after PAX East and a week before many creators head to Chicago’s C2E2, so we are excited to have this many awesome creators under the Hynes roof this year.

Boston Comic Con is Saturday, April 20 and Sunday April 21, with passes available for single day admission or for the weekend.

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