Results tagged “comic con 2009”

M-O-O-N! That spells badass adaptation!

It has been a number of years since I read The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub. I first read it when I was fourteen or fifteen and fell in love with the entire story—the premise, its style of writing, its characters and its magic. Semi-considered a part of the Dark Tower saga, The Talisman is one of those foundational pieces to my reading life.

It wasn’t until Black House published in 2001 that I read it for the second time. With adult eyes. And, happily, it held up to wiser eyes.

So when I found out Del Rey Books had snagged the rights to adapt the book into a comic book series, I was ecstatic. I’ve worked with Del Rey on various projects for years and the people there are dedicated to seeing all projects done correctly and with passion. When I learned editor-in-chief Betsy Mitchell would be overseeing the project, I knew it would be in good hands. When I learned that Robin Furth would be involved as adapting writer—Stephen King’s former research assistant and plotter of the Dark Tower comic book series—I grew more excited as she could be utterly trusted with the material. And when I saw the artwork for Tony Shasteen and Nei Ruffino, I could not wait to see the first issue.

Well, now I have! And I am happy to report I enjoyed it immensely.

Maybe you were unable to attend Comic Con to stand in the long lines for books and posters signed by your favorite authors or just maybe you are STILL upset that you stood in the long line but were cut off before you could get a signed prize. Disappointing wasn’t (and isn’t) it?! Well, you may just be in luck as Suvudu has a bunch of signed titles and Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi/Death Troopers posters signed by Aaron Allston, Christie Golden and Troy Denning from Comic Con ‘09 to giveaway.

I am almost recovered from the San Diego Comic Con!

Almost.

Next year I think I am going to wear a mile counter on my ankle and find out how many miles I walk per day over the same ground—back and forth, back and forth.

At any rate, I still have a bit of news to bring to you all, and this one is about Terry Brooks. Like many authors who attend a Comic Con, Terry had a panel, had a signing or two and then had some meetings. The panels are always fun. They are made up of a large room filled with people from different backgrounds and reading experiences, and often their questions are even those I have not heard in my ten years as his webmaster.

Suvudu was there to tape the panel.

It comes to you in seven YouTube videos. The opening of the panel is Terry talking about Landover with his editor in chief, Betsy Mitchell, among other things. Later, after Betsy and editor Anne Groell talk briefly about what is coming from Del Rey/Bantam, Terry answers more questions from his fans.

Due to a down microphone, Betsy’s voice is a bit low, but you can hear Terry perfectly.

Hope you enjoy! And remember! A Princess of Landover comes out on August 18th!

Continue onward for the rest of the panel!

Terry Brooks went to the San Diego Comic Con to speak on a panel about his forthcoming book A Princess of Landover and hold an autograph session for his numerous fans.

I wasn’t going to let him get away with such an easy time of it!

Terry joined me for an interview early Friday morning at the convention center to talk about the sixth installment in the Landover series, how his convention was going, what he has planned for the next two years of writing, and a hint or two about Book #4 in the Genesis of Shannara series.

Here is that interview.

Disregard the bald man on the right. He doesn’t know what he is talking about!

A Princess of Landoer will be published on August 18th, along with two Landover omnibuses and the newly revised The World of Shannara guide.

And to read an excerpt from A Princess of Landover, click HERE!

Predicting outcomes is fun. Checking your predictions can be fun. Finding out that you predicted incorrectly? Maybe not so much fun. But then when it comes to the Eisner’s, there are so many talented nominees in each category, you have to go into your predictions knowing that you’re probably going to get it wrong. This year followed that model, with a few notable exceptions: Mike Mignola was the safest bet on the block, walking away with three Eisner’s and securing his place as the winningest individual of the night, and Dark Horse, the publishing outfit, that won eight Eisner awards. For those of you crunching the numbers, that means they walked away with nearly one-third (30%) of the Eisner awards. Wow.

So how did our predictions turn out? Take a look…

Best Short Story

I said: “Freaks,” by Laura Park, in Superior Showcase #3 (AdHouse)

Actual Winner: “Murder He Wrote,” by Ian Boothby, Nina Matsumoto, and Andrew Pepoy, in The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror #14 (Bongo)

I wasn’t confident in this pick from the get-go, acknowledging that the competition here was fierce. Still, I chose, and chose wrong. “Freaks” is still a great story, but so is “Murder He Wrote.” So I have no complaints.

Also, an in-house congratulations is due to Nina Matsumoto for this Eisner victory. Nina publishes Yokaiden through Del Rey Manga and the home team couldn’t be happier!

Best Limited Series

I said: Hellboy: The Crooked Man, by Mike Mignola and Richard Corben (Dark Horse)

Actual Winner: Hellboy: The Crooked Man, by Mike Mignola and Richard Corben (Dark Horse)

Mike Mignola’s big night begins. He would go on to collect two more Eisner Awards, making him the night’s biggest individual winner.

There are all kinds of good reasons to go to Comic-Con: the freebies, the previews of upcoming projects, the chance to meet your favorite author or illustrator, the opportunity to attend professional or informational panels, chances for interviews, autographs, and networking. And then there’s the other reason: the spectacle.

I spent a lot of time at the Suvudu “booth,” that gray area between the Del Rey booths and the Crown booth*. But on occasion I extricated myself from those tight confines to wander the floor and take in the sights and sounds, which were both bright and loud, respectively.

In fact, that’s kinda the problem. Just walking around you are pounded with so much sensory intake that overload can occur within just a few paces. The sounds begin to blur and bend, forming one loud off-color chorus of explosions, booth music, half-yelled schmoozing, and jangling, rattling costumes. The closer you get to the bigger event areas (the movies, games, and special theme places), the more difficult it can be to separate what you’re trying to listen to from what you’re trying to ignore.

The sights suffer from a different problem: the crowd. It’s hard to admit that Comic-Con needs more space than the several-city-blocks long and wide San Diego Convention Center, but walking the Con is an exercise in moving with and against the mob. So you end up flowing past displays without necessarily noticing them.

Still, despite all this, Comic-Con is a helluva lot of fun to attend in person. It almost demands that you attend in person, but because not everyone is able to hop on a plane and jet off to San Diego (though you should at least try it once, you won’t be disappointed, even if it isn’t for Comic-Con), I took it upon myself to attempt to capture a few of these sights for you.

It wasn’t easy.

Some of these pictures I’m quite pleased with, others I’m not as pleased with, but considering I was in the middle of the crowd at almost all times, I’m not that displeased with any of them. Some of the more interesting displays, in my eyes anyway, were the Lego creations (especially the Star Wars items, which you’ll see below) and, of course, the replica items scattered throughout the Con floor. I wish I could have captured everything there, but I couldn’t; it’s too big a task to even attempt. Instead, I captured what follows. I hope you enjoy the show.

Oh, and if you have pictures of your own in a Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket, or other photo site that you’d like to share, why don’t you tell us about them in the comments section?

As I showcased yesterday, Todd Lockwood is an artist.

He spends his time in the Pacific Northwest doing exactly what he loves—bringing the fantastical to visual light. When he isn’t sketching at Comic Cons, Todd has a moderate office in his home where he spends his time painting book cover art for authors, Magic: The Gathering cards, magazine covers and many other similar fantasy and science fiction graphic designs.

He does leave his home several times a year to take part in conventions all over the world. He spends a lot of his time looking over portfolios of burgeoning artists, giving his advice where appropriate, but he also takes his art to sell to his fans as well as talk about each piece he hangs on his booth.

Despite it being late in the afternoon Comic Con Saturday and both of us being reduced to wilted shadows of our true selves, I decided to put Todd on camera so he could talk about the Comic Con and highlight some of his new artwork.

Here you go:

If you love Todd’s artwork and you want it to hang it in your own home or office space, visit him at his website and order a giclee of anything you see!

More soon, including interviews with Patrick Rothfuss and Terry Brooks!

Anon!

This is what two Neil Gaiman fans look like when they are shut out from seeing one of their favorite writers at a Comic Con!

The bald bloke on the left happens to be me. You can’t see it but there is an actual tear falling with melancholic slowness down my right cheek. The beautiful but just as sorrowfully pouty woman on the right is author Diana Rowland. We both, along with author Jackie Kessler, woke up early Comic Con Friday to try and win a lottery to see Neil, get some things signed and bask in his presence.

None of us won.

It was not meant to be.

It’s just one of those things at Comic Con. Even if you show up early and have saved a dozen kittens from drowning in the last week—supposedly giving you a great deal of karma at these events, I am told—you still might not get to meet the people you want.

So, Neil, we missed ya, buddy! Hope to see you soon though!

I have returned to Seattle from the 2009 San Diego Comic Con.

I am tired. Wiped out. Done in. A stiff breeze would push me over (or destroy me like the Magic: The Gathering Path To Exile card above). And yet I also feel great gratitude for the time I was able to spend at the convention, the work I accomplished, and all of the friends I got to see and make. It was four days of high stress, high takes and high octane.

As Lev Grossman said in his recent Time article, “I don’t think humans were meant to go to all four days of Comic-Con.”

I don’t know about Lev, but I attended all four days and normalcy is at least a week away from happening for me.

Anyway, I have a lot of great posts to write about this week. I thought it would be fun to start with the original essence of Comic Con—penciled and sketched artwork. I stopped by to see my friend Todd Lockwood at his San Diego Comic Con booth. Todd is a super nice guy, extremely talented—to the point I actually do hate him at times for his genius—and I thought it would be fun to interview him and put him on the internet(s) for all of those artists either wanting to break into the field or those who are fans of Todd’s work.

Turns out as soon as I walked up two fans were requiring Todd’s attention, one of whom wanted a sketch done. I snuck into Todd’s booth on cat’s paws, his wife Rita grinning in amusement at me, and I turned on my cam without Todd knowing.

This is the sketch he produced:

It was very cool to see that pen dance over an empty white page.

I will post the interview with Todd tomorrow. By the time the interview was conducted, he and I were both dreadfully tired, it being late in the day on Saturday and our life force slowly bled away by the pumped in air, false light and rampant misty body odor. But you will see some of Todd’s newest art as well as what he thinks of it.

In the meantime, I need a vacation from my vacation!

Until anon!

Urban fantasy is about to get its ass kicked!

Mark of the Demon by Diana Rowland has been published now for a month to a quickly building fan base. Diana came to her first San Diego Comic Con, wild-eyed but ready for whatever the convention threw at her. Now, after a few days, she is a pro—and here she is being professional!

She signed hundreds of copies of Mark of the Demon for a line that stretched down the ailse and around the corner. Great stuff. Love to see it! Diana has been a police officer, a coroner and crime scene photographer, and she has used her extensive prior-life knowledge to write a gritty police procedural with urban fantasy trappings.

If you like Charlaine Harris, buy this book.

If you like Laurell K. Hamilton, buy this book.

If you like Carrie Vaughn, buy this book.

And if you want a great novel written by a super smart and sassy redhead, read Mark of the Demon!

Hot on the heels of his 2008 rally speech, Ali Kokmen of Del Rey offers a guiding vision for this year’s Con.

Everyone else is at San Diego Comic Con, having a wondrous time, meeting all sorts of amazing folks, and generally enjoying themselves while I and a few hardy compatriots hold down the fort back home. But I’m not the only one who wants to go to the ball…

…THE SQUIDS ARE COMING TOO.

According to a recent New York Times article, just as comics fans are flocking to San Diego, so too are legions upon legions of jumbo flying squid:

“Thousands of jumbo flying squid, aggressive 5-foot-long sea monsters with razor-sharp beaks and toothy tentacles, have invaded the shallow waters off San Diego, spooking scuba divers and washing up dead on beaches,” the article says, adding, “Scientists are not sure why the squid are swarming off the Southern California coast, but they are concerned.”

No doubt they’re excited to see the stars of Farscape and Caprica. Perhaps next year they’ll come back for the release of China Miéville’s new book, Kraken (to see if anyone they know is in it, obviously).

Photo: Marine biologist John Hyde holds a jumbo flying squid. © National Marine Fisheries Service, 2005.

Oops…seems like I did something silly and took the weekend off. Anyhow, here are two gatherings sure to attract crowds! So what’s to know about these two events? Here’s the run-down:

Gaming @ Comic-Con International

As if you needed further proof that Comic-Con is about more than just comics, there will be, once again, several areas set up for specific games, tournaments, and other forms of game play during the Con. Here’s what we know so far:

San Diego Convention Center, Mezzanine Level
10:00am - Midnight: Thursday, Friday, Saturday
10:00am - 4:00pm on Sunday

• Room 14AB : Pokémon TCGs
• Room 15A : Open gaming: Board games, card games, RPGs, LARPs, new game demos and play testing.
• Room 15B : Magic: The Gathering
• Room 16AB : Konami Digital Entertainment Play
• Room17A : Bandai Gaming Events
• Room 17B : San Diego Tekken: Electronic game console tournaments

Marriott Hotel Marina Ballroom EF : Magic: The Gathering, Star Wars Minis
9:00am - 2:30am: Thursday, Friday, Saturday
9:00am - 4:00pm on Sunday

Curious as to where these locations are located? Why don’t you check out Comic-Con’s Floor Map. It helps to be prepared.

Looking for gaming-specific programming? Then you might start by looking HERE.

Comic Cons are the epitome of fun insanity! Whether in San Diego or New York, the Comic Con goer is bombarded by hundreds of booths and dealers, thousands and thousands of fellow geeks, and the coolest swag the world has to offer! From free comic books to advanced reader copies to the merchandise we all invariably buy, we quickly become weighted down with the coolest the con has to offer!

So how do we as 2009 San Diego Comic Con goers carry all of that swag?

Easy! You come by Booth #1128 and grab a handy dandy all-purpose Suvudu swag bag!

Last year we had bags with handles and they were a great hit. But as we watched our fellow geeks walk around the convention, it quickly became apparent to us that they either needed more arms and hands or a different mode of carrying their swag. Most people carried three or four handled bags, brimming with goodness, but they didn’t have the ability to accrue more with ease.

This year, however, we have gone for a bag that does not require hands but can be worn!

Check it out! Pretty sweet, huh?

So if you are going to the 2009 San Diego Comic Con, stop by Booth #1128. Help yourself out! You’ll be happy you did.

Supplies as they last! First come, first served!

As I’ve said before on Suvudu, I’m a sucker for cool cover art.

It doesn’t matter if the artwork is on a comic book, a book dust jacket or a movie poster.

Ever since the three Pirates of the Caribbean moves, I also like all things pirate. Arrrr! And since the forthcoming week is considered one of the most important and fun weeks of the year for comic book readers and creators, I thought we’d start with something I’m very curious to read.

Here is the cover to the forthcoming Blackbeard: Legend of the Pyrate King, brought to the comic book world by Dynamite Entertainment! The cover is done by John Cassaday and the new series is written by Eduardo Sanchez with Gregg Hale and Jamie Nash with Robert Napton. Interior artwork will be provided by Mario Guevara. More information can be read about Blackbeard at this Newsarama article.

To read more about Blackbeard and its creators, click HERE!

More to come in other areas all week from San Diego!

Stay tuned!

I cannot believe it has been a year.

I guess it is true, the old adage: Time flies when having fun!

It has been an interesting year, one filled with magic, wonder and learning. Suvudu launched right before the 2008 San Diego Comic Con on July 18, 2008 and covered that convention with a few hearty souls who fought through the masses of fellow geeks and nerds to bring great video content of the event to the internet(s). We had hopes but we really didn’t know what to expect with the website. Like any newborn, it could grow in many different ways, shapes and spurts. We were confident, however, that we had something to offer connoisseurs of fantasy and science fiction in books, movies and comic books—and we weren’t wrong.

Thankfully, Suvudu was well received and then took off into the stratosphere.

Looking back, Suvudu has grown considerably. I contributed the initial launching post HERE, and since then we’ve had numerous editors, publicists and writers blog about an array of topics.

Like Ali Kokmen, Del Rey employee and Manga Expert!

Oh. Wait. We’ve done far more than standing Against the Darkness!

Continue on to read a year in mini-review as well as what we have planned for the future!

Now, if there is one movie I am reeeeeally looking forward to, it would undoubtedly have to be Iron Man 2. The first movie was just fantastic from start to finish and rivals The Dark Knight for best comic book superhero movie to date in my book. Robert Downey, Jr. just absolutely embodied Tony Stark and Jon Favreau did an amazing job bringing it all to life.

Well, now they’ve added Mickey Rourke. And my heart throb, Scarlett Johansson!

I’m sure we’ll be seeing something at Comic Con about Iron Man 2. Maybe even a few actor drop bys and some footage!

If Scarlett is there, I’ll probably pass out.

Can’t wait, can’t wait, can’t wait, can’t wait for Iron Man 2!

On top of it being the 40th convention (though not the 40th convention under this name, as CCI explains here), there are other events and anniversaries being celebrated at Comic-Con this year. What to know what’s going on? Here’s a short list for you:

Special Day Themes

Friday, July 24 - Star Wars Day

You may not have realized it (though you probably did), but we’re fans of George Lucas’s space epic. So you must know that Star Wars day is pretty near and dear to our cybernetic internal fluid pressure regulators hearts. But this isn’t just about us and our feelings. The fans have supported the Star Wars franchise through thick and thin. Well, Friday is your day Star Wars Nation! Come early and bring your costumes. The Force will be strong at Comic-Con this year.

Star Wars Day features 8 Star Wars themed features. They are:

• 10:00-11:00 Star Wars Day: Hasbro Room 7AB
• 11:00-12:00 Star Wars Day: The Clone Wars: Building the Universe Room 7AB
• 12:00-1:00 Star Wars Day: The Clone Wars: Behind the Mic! Voice actors from the series speak. Room 7AB
• 1:00-2:00 Star Wars Day: Behind the Scenes: The Making of Star Wars: The Old Republic Room 7AB
• 2:00-3:00 Star Wars Day: Fate of the Jedi Room 7AB
• 3:00-4:00 Star Wars Day: Collectibles Update Room 7AB
• 5:15-6:15 Lucasfilm: Star Wars Spectacular - Get all the latest news from the Star Wars universe—including some of Lucasfilm’s most tightly guarded secrets—in an all-new show format! Hosted by G4’s Olivia Munn and Kevin Pereira. Hall H
• 8:30-10:00 Star Wars Fan Movie Awards Ballroom 20

Saturday, July 25 - Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Day (Unofficial)

This isn’t an official day—The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund sponsors events throughout Comic-Con—but Saturday has CBLDF events, making it the most CBLDF day on the Comic-Con roster. Those events are:

• 12:00-1:00 CBLDF Master Sessions: The Heroic Figure with Dave Gibbons
• 1:00-2:00 CBLDF Master Sessions: The Art of the Panel with Jeff Smith
• 7:15-9:15 CBLDF Benefit Auction

To learn more about the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and why you should care (and you should), click here: Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Sunday, July 26 - Kids’ Day

I don’t know when the tradition began, but it’s as ingrained now as apples in apple pie. The final day of Comic-Con is always kid-centric. While any day at Comic-Con could be considered a family-friendly day, the folks in planning make sure there’s plenty for everyone in the family to see and do on this one in particular. From panels discussing kids and YA graphic novels and recommendations to kids graphic art workshops, Sunday is the official day to bring the youngin’s along.

Though the name is Comic-Con, it’s about much more than just comics. It’s about the science fiction and fantasy genres, television shows and big budget movies give sneak peeks, and stars from all over the media spectrum find a way to make an appearance. So what began as a really cool gathering for Comics has evolved into more of a pop culture convention that adheres to a few genres.

One of the more interesting additions to Comic-Con International is the CCI Independent Film Festival. The film festival offers you the opportunity to view many, many hours of quality original films, most of them short films. In fact, it’s getting to the point where you could conceivably show up just for the film festival.

With that in mind, I culled through the offerings and attempted to pick out one film per category per day that sounded like it might stand above the rest. Naturally, our actual mileage may vary, but these films struck a chord. So if you are going and aren’t sure what you want to see, why not take my guide into consideration.

Finally, before we jump in I’d just like to point out that this was incredibly difficult to pull off. There are many, many fantastic-sounding films on the docket, so please understand I’m not trying to throw any of them under the bus. In a few cases, I picked more than one film per category. Once because they both sounded too good to pass up and once because that particular category dominates the whole day and boiling one day down to one film seemed silly.

And with that said, let’s get on with the show…

Really? Ten days? I had to do a double-take this morning when the calendar alert began popping up on my computer, but it’s true. In ten days, the world’s largest comics, science fiction, fantasy, and gaming culture convention will open it’s doors and take in a population base larger than the town I grew up in. And this year, I’ll be one of those in the swarm.

But before the plane touches down in San Diego and I am awash in the thousands upon thousands of other fans like me, I’m going to take these 10 days of lead up to look at one element of the Con each day. Some of them are big events and others are smaller item things of which you might never have heard. But they all come together to make up, at least in part, the whole of Comic-Con.

Blah, blah, blah.

Let’s talk about exclusives, shall we? Oh I know, Shawn Speakman already wrote a great post about his top Exclusives for this year’s Comic-Con and, just today, Geek Dad over on Wired.com posted their top Exclusives list. Those are both great lists and you should use them to guide you in your buying frenzy. So I’m not going to do a Best Exclusives list. I’m going to do a list of the stuff that makes you feel good inside. The things you know you’ll have to get just because, well, just because. These may never garner a freakishly high collector’s value (or, then again, by their very nature, they might), but who cares? That’s not why we grab them. Not when you’re dealing with things on…

My Quirkiest Comic-Con Exclusives List

Smilin’ Luke Skywalker

Star Wars: Smiling Luke Skywalker Action Figure

From the Comic-Con website:

“It was LUKE SKYWALKER’S boyhood dream to one day pilot an X-WING STARFIGHTER for the REBEL ALLIANCE - and when that day came, he was all smiles. Hasbro is offering a 3-3/4-inch “SMILING LUKE” action figure exclusively at Comic-Con 2009! Includes ladder and pilot helmet.”

The greatest Jedi ever? Perhaps, but we now know this much, if smiles could kill, then Luke’s cheesy grin would be lethal. He’s the happiest Sith-killer this side of the galaxy. Golly. And, he comes with a ladder! You know what, I don’t even care where the design came from, the longer I look at it, the more I want one. I could put him at my desk and mount the slide on some of the Star Wars books and…well, you get the idea.