REVIEW: Nikki Harris: Cybermation Witch #1

LJ Douresseaux has a look at Carter Allen's NIKKI HARRIS: Cybermation Witch 2.0 at The Comic Book Bin. A snippet? Sure.

Nikki Harris takes Allen’s comics to the next level

How's that?

--John

WEBPAGE: Creator Pages Updated!

Jeremy has updated his creator page, and Ian and Will have brand spanking new pages of their own! Go have a look!

--John

One More Picture From Wizard World Chicago

Carter and KBell:

JEREMY: JDog lives! (somewhere else now)

I am still alive. I am now in Portland, Oregon. Furreal. I guess I run CLP NW.
Anyway, lots has happened after my departure... sounds like the others have had their hands full and had a lot of fun along the way.

I thought I might take a moment to let you all see where David and I live now.

Portland is just south of the Columbia River, on a tributary called the Willammette (rhymes with "goddammit"). The river divides the city in half east/west (a lot like Iowa City) and a main drag called Burnside divides north from south (kinda like Iowa Avenue in IC). This creates four quadrants: NE, NW, SE, SW. But wait, this is Portland, and as the ubiquitous bumper stickers here say, "Keep Portland Weird", so, there is a fifth, um, quadrant. North Portland. N. See?

Anyway, we live in a bulding called "The Commodore" right on the edge of NW/SW, right on the MAXrail line and right next to the baseball arena. Everything is ten minutes away somehow. We have a diner, a bar and a grocery store (all called Commodore) right in our building. Our block also seems to be the official early morning meeting place of the Shopping Cart People (aka the Screamies). Rather than let it freak me out, I have decided to think of them as a strange, local bird species gently waking me with their, well.... shrieks.

Anyway, it's a lot like a giant version of Iowa City; funky, wierd, passionate, overeducated, full of artists, and an island of culture in a sea of rednecks. I will miss Iowa City a lot (only now beginning to feel it) but this is home now.

Come visit us.

More later.

Okay, The Power of NEUTRO Compelled Me...

Okay, I gave in to temptation. Folks who know me know of my love of NEUTRO, a very silly comic with a short lifespan.

Recently, Gene Colan announced that he's retiring from comics and is doing a last chance sale on doing character sketches. I am weak, and Gene is great. I haven't been this excited since getting Fred Hembeck to do a complete cover recreation of NEUTRO #1!

--John

JOHN: Get the facts

One of the new features of the revamped Candle Light Press website is a page of links to pdf fact sheets about out series and stand-alone volumes. Each is one sheet with the facts, the praise, and the covers. This way you can print out the sheet for the book(s) you want, march right in to your favorite bookstore/library/website and have everything you need to order the book.

They're also pretty handy for slipping to friends to show them what the books of Candle Light Press are like. That can be a curious job at times. I recall an exchange at the table at Wizard World Chicago last weekend where someone asked "Which book best represents Candle Light Press?" I said "They all do." That's one of those "Which of your kids do you love more?" questions. Wanna know what sells the best? Sure. Which one was first? Sure. Wanna know which ones are scary, which are funny, which are plain strange? Sure.

Anyone who knows our library knows we're pretty varied. There's no house style, no "universe", although Freedom City, TX has a few books under its belt. The books are easy enough to explain, but they don't all push one idea or one ethos. The unifying feature of all Candle Light Press books is that they're made by Candle Light Press.

aaaand Carter just emailed me that Mike Douglas died. He was great TV.

--John

JOHN: More Wizard World Chicago Pictures

Here's a few more from my camera. Carter's pics to come. Here's Carter drawing up a price list for the table.Here's Ian sketching away.Will hard at work.Hanna! She made some great Captain Cat finger puppets that we sold at the table. They clinched many a deal to sell both ZOO FORCE volumes with their overpowering cuteness."Guys, I'm taking a picture now!"

--John

JOHN: Wizard World Chicago Day Three

It's actually Monday, but until Carter gets a pinpoint satellite internet feed for his car, roadblogging is still a ways off.

Our butts were dragging by the end of Sunday. I make a point of folding up my chair and standing the whole day (with a couple breaks) at the table. Three days of that will test even the strongest legs. We bring some kids floor padding to put in front of our table, because we find folks will hit that and slow or stop after plodding along for hours on concrete. By day 3, there were some who would alter their trajectory through Artists Alley just to pass over it, if only briefly.

Today we saw Tina Coleman from the American Library Association. She stopped by to say hi and see what was new. Tina was the one who reviewed LEAP YEARS for BOOKLIST and pushed for it to be on the Top Ten Graphic Novels For Youth this last year. It's always nice to see Tina.

We also saw a guy in a Superman suit who looked just like Michael McKean and we spent an hour ginning up scenarios for him. Also excellent was an Emma Frost costumed lady (not the caped one) who looked just like the John Cassaday version in the face. Everything else was just right, too, but you see so few costumes where the person looks just like the intended character in the face. That said, I thought the black Thor was awesome too.

Finally got to talk to Pam Bliss for a while too. Even though she was only four tables down from us, we were all pretty busy this convention. So while we were packing the table, we got to chat some. We swapped some comics and talked about Pam's future publishing plans.

One more picture, taken by Carter:
Carter also took some pictures on his camera and we'll get those up soon. Overall, it was a nice trip, especially for me since I went up the Saturday previous to hang out with Hanna and also go visit Ray Olson at the American Library Association. Ray introduced me around a bit and we talked comics, books, influences and the like. It was a great convention for connections, that's for sure.

--John

JOHN: Wizard World Day Two UPDATED AFTER SOME SLEEP

Whew, what a day! Hanna and Ian had to leave us partway through the day, but not before we got a few great group pictures and met some new folks.
We met the scary Count Midnight today. He was filming spots for his show and he chatted with Will and myself at the table. We even got to do a "We're John Ira Thomas and Will Grant from Candle Light Press, and you're watching Count Midnight!" teaser. I was beside myself with glee. If I can't be a horror movie host, by golly being on tv with one, even if only briefly, is pretty cool.

Hanna and Carter met Kristen Bell, and Hanna got to show her how the REEFER MADNESS THE MUSICAL disc smells like brownies. Swear.
After a long day on the floor, Carter, Will and I went to see TALLADEGA NIGHTS and Will proceeded to reassert his dominance over me at Marvel Vs Capcom 2. Ten seconds after landing on my bed at the hotel, we got a call from the front desk asking if we were all right. Another patron had called claiming we'd been making noise. This was a mystery to us, as we'd only just returned. Ah well, more on this in the Sunday report.

--John

JOHN: Wizard World Chicago Day One

We got to the Donald E Stephens Convention Center in good time this morning, not before the VIP ticket holders were loosed upon the land, but timely enough. The area up front with the big deal booths is the LOUDEST I have ever heard it. Music blasts and pounds so much that the element in my phone that makes it vibrate is getting vibrated by the power of these booths' rockin'! Ouch!

We are all the way against the back wall from there, and we frankly love it. We're between some very nice folks, Comfort Love and Adam on the right, and Scott and Benita Story on the left. Benita is spending the convention spinning wool into yarn behind their table. He's the comic guy and she does textiles. She's got a spinning wheel back there and everything.

Friday was pretty underpopulated, but had a much better ratio of females and kids than any day of any WWC I've attended in ten years. The kids were in costume, too--we saw a little Iron Man and a little Captain America, and a cute little Wonder Woman. On our way out at the end of the day, Will, Ian and I saw one of them at the Playstation booth playing a version of GUITAR HERO where you sing karaoke. This little girl in pigtails and a Wonder Woman suit was yelling along with a Pink song IIIIIIII'M COMING UP SO YOU BEDDER GET DIS PARTY STARTED!!!!! It was hilarious.

We were a bit troubled by the number of empty dealer slots. They didn't sell? Didn't show? If turnout is as low Saturday as today, there could be trouble in them thar hills for Wizard World.

I got to meet Johanna Draper Carlson today. She's very nice. She gave a great review of ZOO FORCE: Dear Eniko a couple years ago and I gave her a few more things to review. Hi Johanna!

Saw Jennie Breeden and of course Pam Bliss. Pam has a great new minicomic about her lycanthrope librarian--we swapped her a LOST IN THE WASH for one.

The buttons are going fast, but they always seem to.

We marched straight out of the center at 6 to hit Maggiano's, a tradition with us here. Jeremy called and caught us at the table. He said he somehow knew that's what we were doing. He and David were going to see the STRANGERS WITH CANDY movie, lucky devils.

I don't know if I can avoid getting into a rematch with Will on MARVEL VS CAPCOM 2 at the Gameworks. I kinda beat him (barely) last night, but he's itching to use the Juggernaut on Yours Truly. We all hit the hot tub back at the motel and are now sleeping off a mountain of excellent Italian food. Burp.

--John

JOHN: The New CLP Annuals Are Here!

Just got the word that they hit the stoop in Coralville, so they'll be with us at Wizard World Chicago this weekend! It's the 2006 CLP Annuals, with articles and breakdowns of all our books, plus info and goodies about ones to come!

These were newly minted by the folks at ComiXpress. They'll be available at cons and through us, of course. We also offer a free set of fact sheets for folks who want to know more about the books of Candle Light Press. They're pdfs, so they're usable darn near anyplace.

Click here to see the fact sheets, and click those covers at left to get a bigger picture.

--John

JOHN: I Saw The Sign

Here's the sign to look for in Artist Alley (actually there will be two of them) to find the CLP wedge of the comics pie that is Wizard World Chicago. Created by our very own Carter Allen! So stop on by and say hi and partake of our con-only goodies!
--John

JOHN: Wizard World Chicago Con Exclusive!

By now you know for sure whether or not you're going to Wizard World Chicago this weekend. So now we're going to show you one of our con exclusives either to whet your appetite or to make you curse the skies for paying the rent this month instead of getting a plane ticket to the land of the Italian Beef.
Yes, it's genuine handmade in America Captain Cat finger puppets! For two singles you can have your finger shake with anger and call you a fool in the comfort of your own home! Each item is made from felt and pipe cleaners by our own Hanna Bennett and frankly they're almost too cool to let go of. Come on by our table in Artist Alley table 3170 (apparently one of our neighbors is "Comfort Love") and at least look at these little guys. Pictured above is the special "desert camo" variant. The rest are a rich Cat Condo brown.

I'm actually already in Chicago for the week, enjoying the city and writing up a new horror idea for Will. Hanna's doing her math work now so she can justify spending time in line to see Kristen Bell this weekend. In between, she's sewing more of these great puppets.

--John