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Your host, Roger Ash

by Roger Ash

I’m on personnel at the Baltimore Comic-Con as well as have been for eight or nine years at this point. I’ve commonly stated that if you’re into comics, you requirement to go to Baltimore as it’s a extremely comic centric show. Yes, there are media guests, however there were eight this year as well as around 200 comic creators, so it’s simple to see where the focus lies.

Here are a few highlights for me from this year’s show. My task at the show is programming (think panels), so what I talk about will be heavily weighted in that direction, however I hope to provide you a feel for the show itself.

Karl Kesel & Tom Grummett

Section Zero Ultra-Cool Collector’s edition HC

Karl Kesel as well as Tom Grummett were guests at the show courtesy of the Hero Initiative. This was fortuitous as they’re celebrating 25 years of partnership beginning with their work together on Superboy. This was likewise the public debut of their section Zero hardcover which collects their Gorilla Comics series as well as lastly completes the story. It’s a beautiful volume with tons of extras as well as a genuine treasure trove for fans of their work. This Ultra-Cool Collector’s edition is only offered here. They even took part in a panel spotlighting their work together moderated by Westfield blogger, Robert Greenberger. just remember, there is no section Zero.

Left to right: Tom Grummett, Karl Kesel, as well as Robert Greenberger

Karl was likewise promoting his new comic series, impossible Jones, which is online best this extremely immediate on Kickstarter. (Editor’s note: We’ve been informed that this Kickstarter has been cancelled)

We’ve got panels

The Noir Comics panel with John K. Snyder III, Christy Blanch, as well as Brian Azzarello.

We’re gonna begin this section with a few shout outs. I want to say thanks to Robert Greenberger (yup, him again), Christy Blanch, as well as Amy Chu for making my task at Baltimore much simpler by moderating so numerous outstanding panels. I personally sat in on the Noir Comics panel held by Christy with panelists John K. Snyder III as well as Brian Azzarello as well as Robert held panels on Shazam! (with Kevin Maguire, Denny O’Neil, Jeff Parker, as well as Jerry Ordway) as well as media guests Erin Gray’s (Buck Rogers) spotlight panel. as well as Amy’s Coffee & Comics panel is always a highlight of the show.

Captain Ginger #3

New publisher AHOY Comics made their debut appearance at Baltimore, including a panel featuring Tom Peyer, Stuart Moore, Jamal Igle, June Brigman, Roy Richardson, Todd Klein, and Frank Cammuso. You ought to certainly inspect out their comics including Captain Ginger, wrong Earth, High Heaven, as well as Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Terror, you should. These are some excellent comics.

Left to right: Evelyn Kriete, P. Craig Russell, Ed Piskor, Timothy Truman, John K. Snyder III, as well as mark Buckingham.

A personal preferred was the music as well as Comics panel featuring P. Craig Russell (The sound of the Nibelung), Ed Piskor (Hip Hop household Tree), Timothy Truman (Grateful Dead Comix), John K. Snyder III (Fashion in Action), mark Buckingham (Fables), as well as moderator Evelyn Kriete. It was interesting to hear exactly how music influenced these creators in addition to exactly how they represent music in comics. I likewise discovered that Buckingham at one point helped Aardman Animation (the people who bring you Wallace & Gromit as well as so much more). He was there when they made the groundbreaking video for Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer. He was kind of Gabriel’s stunt double as they tried out things on him to make sure they were risk-free for Peter.

Left to right: John Gallagher, Jamar Nicholas, Laura Lee Gullidge, as well as Jimmy Gownley.

A panel that was fascinating, important, as well as I have seen some talk about because the show was imagination & mental health and wellness – A Roundtable Discussion. Moderator John Gallagher and creators Jimmy Gownley, Laura Lee Gullidge, and Jamar Nicholas shared their personal experiences with anxiety as well as exactly how they’ve dealt with it with creativity. While they aren’t mental health and wellness professionals, there were some present in the audience who commented during the Q&A part of the panel. I was happy that we were able to offer a platform for a discussion like this.

We have media guests, too

Your friendly author with Sherilyn Fenn

As I discussed earlier, there were media guests also including the previously mentioned Erin Gray. Zachary Levi (Shazam!), Mike Colter (Luke Cage), Wil Wheaton, Katrina legislation (Green Arrow), Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica), Michael Copon (Power Rangers Time Force), as well as Sherilyn Fenn (Twin Peaks) all added to the fun as well as enjoyment of the weekend. getting to satisfy Sherilyn was a genuine treat for me as well as she was a enjoyment to chat with.

The Ringo Awards

Saturday night was the second annual Ringo Awards, named in honor of comics developer Mike Wieringo. It was a fantastic evening celebrating comics as well as the people who make them. A couple highlights for me were getting to chat with Tom & Nancy Grummet about comics as well as the TV show corner Gas, as well as Denys Cowan’s speech introducing lifetime accomplishment recipient, Denny O’Neil. finest of all was viewing Lee Weeks as the evening progressed. The Batman/Elmer Fudd special by Tom King as well as Lee Weeks won two awards as well as King as well as Weeks both won for finest writer as well as artist, respectively. Lee was much more as well as much more impressed that he won each time he went to the stage. This was not false modesty; he was stunned. It was great to see such a skilled artist get this recognition. If you want to understand who won this year, you can discover the listing here.

Roger has some fun

While my responsibilities at the convention kept me quite busy, I did get to have some fun as well.

John Gallagher as well as Ranger Rick

I grew up reading Ranger Rick magazine. If you don’t understand what that is, it’s a magazine for young visitors published by the national wildlife Federation. My grandparents got me a membership to this for a number of years as well as it did much to foster my like of wildlife as well as nature. When I found that John Gallagher is the Art director on the magazine, I had to ask him to draw Ranger Rick for me. He came with in spades.

Lots of high quality reading

I added to my collection of Dell as well as Gold essential Disney as well as Hanna-Barbera comics as well as even discovered a Hanna-Barbera comic from Archie. as well as they were a bargain as whatever was $5 or less. There’s great deals of great reading in my future.

My thanks go out to Marc as well as Shelly Nathan for making me a part of the Baltimore Comic-Con family; my team for the weekend, Kevin, Victor, Victoria, as well as Stephanie, with an able help by Lynne; all the personnel members who put up with my nonsense; as well as the fans who make this such an outstanding weekend. I hope to see you there next year!