FRAGMENTA Review at Silver Bullet Comics

Tony Doug Wright had a look at FRAGMENTA: The Art Of The Writer, Candle Light Press' first in a series of art books.

Have a peek.

Wizard World Chicago: More Pictures!

So, remember when I blogged that Wizard World Chicago sent out an email saying that we had to set up an hour before Preview Night or our space would be released? Well, Hanna and I got our tails up there and set up by 3pm Thursday. So imagine our surprise when we looked left...and we looked right...
and wondered what the heck was up. Well, it looks like most folks just ignored the edict. Certainly no-one got their tables released. This was pretty irksome, except for the fact that this year we had someone eyeing our space (mentioned previously). It turns out if we hadn't been filled with the urge to comply with WWC's little surprise, we would likely have had someone setting up there quoting the release policy to us. So we all chalked it up to serendipity.

And here's Will at our leaner meaner half-table setup.
Here's a close-up. That's a bunch of books!
Hanna's been making tote and messenger bags this last year (I got one with Neutro meeting the Night Angel and the Fearsome Shade!), and she's been hard at it ever since. Next year she may even have a few that you can buy!
IT'S THE GRUDGE THAT WOULDN'T BUDGE! Captain Cat Vs Gojira!!!!
"Ya know, the El is great and all, but if I'd known there was a TARDIS available I wouldn't have needed the folding dolly." Ah well, you live, you learn.

Thanks again to all the folks who stopped by the table! Hi right back atcha!

--John

WIZARD WORLD CHICAGO: Day Three

Posted this a little late because we were dead tired.

Day three was the least of the days traffic-wise, but there's that Fall Of Saigon feel to it as the day wears on. The dealers start shouting deals, people start shuffling their feet as they walk and the slow bleed of exhibitors in Artists Alley turns into a torrent.

The half table was a nice change of pace. Four feet plus a little vertical space yielded this arrangement:This pic was from early Friday morning before the day commenced. To the far right is the corner of Kelly Howlett's space. To the immediate right, Peter Repovski set up, and to the left, Andrew and Steve from Strange Fun Comics. To the back of us and up a bit was Pam Bliss. It ain't Chicago without Pam and Nick.

After twiddling my thumbs for a while, I got back on the Neutro sketch hunt again, getting lovely ones from Steve Guzelis, Kelly Howlett and Eliza Stockfisch--more excuse to get the revamped theregoesneutro.com up and running!

Early Sunday morning, Hanna was looking for the rubber adjuster to one of her earbuds in the hotel room and she found a pair of pants under a chair. The first night, when I pulled out the hide-a-bed from the couch, I found an empty bottle of Jose Cuervo. I don't want to knock the Doubletree across from the Donald E Stephens Center, but the cleaning's gotta be better than that.

Pants removed from under the chair for easier photographing. Somebody had a wild night in that room before we did.

Hanna stopped by the Arsenic Lullaby booth to say hi and get their latest. Will headed out about noon or so and Carter, Hanna and I were the last to go. We stayed in town at Hanna's place and lit out for Iowa this morning. Carter should just about be back in Des Moines now for a well-deserved rest.

We agreed this was the best Wizard World Chicago of the last several. Hi to all who stopped by and thanks to Kelly, Andrew, Steve and Peter for being excellent neighbors!

--John

WIZARD WORLD CHICAGO: Day Two

Busy day! Our feet are still smarting.

The hall was stuffed to the gills and our new hour-on and hour-off table shifts kept everyone from going bonkers. We had a fine time with our neighbors to the right of us, Andrew and Steve from Strange Fun Comics. We're surrounded by Canadians! But they're a jolly bunch and have helped pass the time between interested passersby. Steve caught my eye with a Pink Floyd illo he'd hand-colored, so I knew this was a man who could draw me a Neutro! (Yes, theregoesneutro.com is still being updated--patience!)

The Art Books are doing well, and Ian and Will have gotten the bug to do theirs, so we should see those soon, as well as Jeremy's. I called Jer and he was on a mountain in Oregon. There were moments in the massive sensory attack of the con that I desperately wanted to be him; but then I remembered I'm allergic to everything and had another bottled water while I was blasted with reconditioned air.

The napkins in the Expoteria have gotten very nice this year...good stock that takes well to the pen. A good deal of ZOO FORCE 4 is being crafted on them.

We're back in the room now, percolating a Rainforest Cafe meal and cheered by the later opening time tomorrow.

Oh, A very nice young lady from another table came up to tell us that Jeremy drew a Captain Cat sketch in her sketchbook last year and that everyone who's seen the book since has remarked very positively about it. It's the page everyone loves. I think I'll put in another call to that mountain tonight...

--John

WIZARD WORLD CHICAGO: Day One

Well, nothing happened to our stuff, so that was a relief. The friend that the fellow from yesterday was referring to set up today and he's a nice guy. He assured us that he agreed that his friend was in the wrong and made it clear to him, so that was a nice end to that.

The place is bustling! No mystery holes in the exhibitor space, and people are crowding along pretty well for a Friday. New management seems to have helped. Most folks are worrying about sales (well, everyone who isn't selling the Fin Fang Foom Heroclix, which is the size of a smallish tv), but Saturday is the day usually.

I paced the highways and byways a bit and found a DVD discounter with piles of crappy movies to dig through. I heart crappy movies. I wandered by the Graham Crackers booth, which had a bunch of plastic Mjolnirs lying around. I picked one up and suddenly a GC employee is at my left. "You know you want that," he purrs. He's right. One appears to my right. "Is that a record?" Indeed it is. I am an avid collector of Superhero and some TV story records, and I had found a table with exactly six albums, one of which was THE SAGA OF BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. I remember my SAGA OF STAR WARS records fondly, so I had nabbed it. I thought about the way the question was phrased, as if the situation had compelled him to ask "Is that a whalebone corset?" He was excited that there were records in the building at all. I pointed the rest out to him. Feeling old, yet strangely imbued with an urge to thwack Loki over the head with my new acquisition, I wandered on, cheerful.

Ian surprised us by turning up a day early. He lives here, but still a surprise it was, and a nice one. He's still in the writing stages of his new book, mulling a few things over. He came along for another trip to the DVD pile, that shameless enabler!

Pam Bliss is our back-to-back neighbor this time. We swapped new books and Pam told me her review of ZOO FORCE 3 will be up on Sequential Tart sometime soon. We also talked with Adam and Zack from our local store DAYDREAMS, who are also here. It's funny to see them in this context.

Our cards with the complete list of books and ISBNs for folks who are curious yet low on cash seem to be working well. It's hard to remember everything you see and do and plan to do later in this wind tunnel of color and noise, so many folks are grateful for a colorful reminder. Since we're so easy to order from any bookstore, we can take some pressure off by giving folks teh delayed option. People seem more conversant with print-on-demand and the realization that no really you can order us anywhere books are sold.

What's selling? FRAGMENTA, of all things, and Carter's full color NIKKI HARRIS. Tomorrow, Will Grant will be turning up, and Hanna will be back. If you're in the neighborhood, drop on by! We're near the very back of the entire room, down row 3700 of Artists Alley. See you there!

--John

WIZARD WORLD CHICAGO: Preview Night

It's been an odd day; one that has prompted me to talk once again about table pirates. Hanna and I got to the DE Stephens Center in good time and set up. Hanna bade me farewell until Saturday, and not long thereafter a fellow with an Exhibitor badge appeared at the edge of the CLP space looking sheepish. He explained that he was a friend of the fellow who had the half table next to us and that for some reason, he had forgotten to request to be next to him but it was ok he said--WizWo said if I agreed to move, it was okay.

Well, no, it isn't okay. Our table is in the guide (3718A), we're in a good area, and no we don't want to move. I tell him we prefer to stay where we are. He says no you can take my table way over there. I say again no we prefer to stay where we are.

No, he reassures me. You don't have to move today. Tomorrow.

I say no again. He shakes his head like I don't understand. I cut him off--"I understand what you're asking; I prefer to stay where I am." He skulks off. Weird.

In the meantime I meet the folks on the other side of the gap, in particular Kelly Howlett. She knows the guy who isn't here yet. When I asked her to watch the table while I went to the front to give Carter his badge so he can get in, the guy returns and asks Kelly if she thinks I might move. She tells him no, she doesn't think we're inclined to move. She tells us this when Carter and I get back.

Well, it bugs me. I worry this guy is going to do something foolish after closing or during setup tomorrow. Carter says "Tell Security." This is a good idea. I explain all this to a Security guy and he lets out a contemptuous puff of breath and says "Poachers." He reassures me that if there's a thing out of place tomorrow, we'll go find this guy.

The Security guy summed it up perfectly. Table poaching is getting to be more of a problem, at least as far as I can tell. There's a reason cons print your table number on your badge--it's a problem. The sense of entitlement that makes people with no table at all set up shop at a no show's table is one thing. But to reassign yourself by trying to con someone out of their space? It amazes me, frankly.

He even claimed he would pay me to move, saying it as if he had a trump card. Carter suggested if he brings it up again, to tell him to pay us the cost of going to this thing and then just go home. Nonetheless, we remain hopeful that Security will clear any troubles up.

Carter also reminds me that nothing at all may happen, which is the odds-on favorite result anyways.

Otherwise things are nice. We had a nice feed at Gibson's Steakhouse across from THE DES Center and are calling it a night.

--John

Off To Wizard World Chicago...

...in just a couple days. They've gotten a bit stern about even Artists Alley folks being set up for preview night to the point where they're threatening to release tables if you don't. So with a little juggling, Hanna and I will be there for Preview Night, with Carter following close behind. Expect Will on Saturday, along with Ian and even Mike Ayers! What a time it'll be!

Carter will be debuting his full-color sketchbook ALL THESE WORLDS: The Art Of Carter Allen, plus you'll be able to get my own FRAGMENTA: The Art Of The Writer, the LOST IN THE WASH collection of issues #1 and #2, oh plus the new Candle Light Classic, a full color reprint of VOX DAMNATORUM, the first Fearsome Shade story by Carter and myself. Plus we'll have all the books and goodies. We even have a few Captain Cat finger puppets! And of course we'll have the usual complete selection of CLP books and buttons buttons buttons!

Ian tells me he might be bringing along some original art to sell as well. LEAP YEARS fans take note!

We'll be blogging the WWC experience from table level, looking for signs of variety and those mysterious rest areas in the middle of the dealers area. They were like crop circles last year--where did they come from? Will they be back? Stay tuned.

--John