Baltimore-Comic-Con

Readers of my personal blog will be familiar with my feelings on copyright maximalism. Basically, I think it does our country and our society a huge disservice to have copyrights last so long. When works go into the public domain, they are available for society to remix and reuse the same way that Disney has made so much money reinterpreting stories collected by the Brothers Grimm. Will and Kurt are taking a character, Crom the Barbarian, who has fallen out of copyright, and resurrecting him with new stories. This is a work of passion for Kurt, who grew up with these stories. Instead of being lost to the dustbin of the past, these stories will be reborn! ...

This year, more than any other, I was aware of the continuity on which exist independently published comics. On one end stand the creator-owned publishers like Image, Dynamite, IDW, and Boom (although the latter three certainly also publish books from licensed properties). Somewhere in the middle are creatives like Kata Kane of Altar Girl (see here and here). At the other end of the spectrum are the creatives working in the Square City Comics collective. These are the indie comics that remind me of Brandon Graham’s early work (and I don’t necessarily mean the erotica). The samples I leafed through covered every topic and style - in a way that those without any marketing department can. There is a special aesthetic that comes through in these comics. As you can see in the interview, those in the collective span the gamut of personalities and story ideas. ...

There were lots of great reveals during the IDW panel including: Walter Simonson will be continuing his Thor story, Ragnarok. I’d never heard of it, but the artwork looked stunning and his description of the plot made me want to pick up the trade for the first arc. James Tynion IV will be writing the book in which Batman meets up with the Ninja Turtles. He explained how he had to make sure to service the story rather than write pure fan service, but he seemed to have so much enthusiasm about the project that I can’t help but expect good things. Just in time for the theatrical re-release, IDW will be releasing a B ack to the Future comic. I asked the marketing guy afterwards when it takes place, but that’s currently a secret. Finally, they will be doing some reprints of the Marvel Star Wars materials in a special edition that lets readers see the rough drafts of the comic. Unfortunately, my video equipment malfunctioned, so all I have is audio, but enjoy - there are some good, juicy stories in here. ...

Comic POW! readers will know that ever since last year, I’ve been fascinated by Dynamite and their stable of pulp licensed properties. It’s interesting that there’s a combination of timelessness to the stories while at the same time many of them certainly have a time and place in which they belong. For example, Mark Waid’s Green Hornet takes place in the 1940s and Hornet definitely works well in that time period, but the story is imminently enjoyable in the present. ...

Cosplay is such a fascinating form of self expression. While I know only a few people who put more than a couple hours thought into their Halloween costumes, cosplayers spend months to years working on costumes. There will be a massive cosplay gallery here on Comic POW! near the end of the coverage in which you’ll see some of the great costumes that people have made. With Ireland Reid, as with many other cosplayers, this is an expression of something she’s wanted to do since she was a little kid. It is a way for her to showcase her love of comics and her love of creation all at once. Watch our interview to learn more about what drives her to do this professionally. (She does mention she has a M-F job, but there is no doubt in my mind that Ms Reid is also a professional when it comes to cosplay) ...

At the convention I had the pleasure of speaking with Liz DeJesus, a prolific author, who has written comics, books, and short stories. Her stories often contain Fairy Tale or Supernatural elements. Her book series, of which the first is First Frost, stood out to me as a great example of a book using Fairy Tale stories to explore a mother/daughter relationship. https://youtu.be/9bfm9Cf47Cg

Who doesn’t sometimes wish they could prove that they’re much better at their job than their boss? What if the stakes were even higher because you’re a super hero sidekick? That’s what Ziggy Blumenthal and Cory Harris are exploring in Sidekicked! Is that too boring for you? Too run of the mill? Ok, what about Operation Pajama Pants? What the heck is that? Well, check out my interview with the artist on both books: ...

The first interview I conducted this year was with Tiffany Ciper of Alien Spike, a web comic that is in the middle of a Kickstarter to fund a physical print copy of the book. https://youtu.be/FhKs1CRWzeI Just like Kata Kane, who I interviewed last year, the art in this comic was inspired by manga. While Altar Girl is about a high school girl visited by angels and demons, Alien Spike is about school kids and aliens. Or, as Ms Ciper describes it, “A JRPG meets Space Opera”. That sounds like it’s definitely something up my alley. Comic POW! will definitely be taking a look at this story in the future (once the Comic-Con rush is over). ...

Just as in years past, I’ll be covering Baltimore Comic-Con this year. There will be a post per day where I’ll be live-blogging at the event. Then, each night I’ll post as many interviews and panel posts as I can get in before the day is up. Also look for cosplay posts, hopefully daily -but it’ll depend on the rendering speed of the software. Speaking of rendering, I’m hoping to incorporate video this year in addition to the audio interviews I’ve done for the past few years. If last year is any indication, I’m probably going to end up with more information and footage than I can post every day, so keep checking back even after Comic-Con is over. ...

As always, I’m covering Baltimore Comic-Con! So here’s a roundup of the news so far! Some of the announced guests include: Don Rosa at Baltimore Comic-Con 2012 Steve Conley, who you may know from JLA-Z from DC Comics, Star Trek: Year Four from IDW, and Michael Chabon’s Amazing Adventures of the Escapist from Dark Horse Comics or his self-published Bloop Don Rosa: after Carl Barks, probably the most famous people to work on Duck Tales . ...