Art Spotlight: MoCCA Fest Edition

This month's Art Spotlight is featuring some of the amazing artists that I met at MoCCA Fest this past weekend. These are only a few of the talented artists in attendance at MoCCA, but they truly made an impact on me.

This is Classic Hollywood Monsters from a fellow volunteer, Savark Dicupe. I wish I had realized how talented he was when I was working with him; I would have pressed him for more art to post!

Amy Lynn Duengfelder makes amazing jewelry, which I purchased at MoCCA, but she also creates great, happy, twisted artwork like this Ice Cream Cone.

Remember that guy who asked me about caffeine? Well, he is actually Greg Houston, creator of Vatican Hustle and Elephant Man from NBM. After going through his site, this Electric Tree kept appearing on my screen. Just love it!

Justin Peterson, creator of Very Near Mint, had a lot of fantastic work out at MoCCA, but this just stood out on his website. Who doesn't love some Doc Brown?

Did you see any fantastic art that I should share in the next Art Spotlight? Email me at insertgeekhere@gmail.com.

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My Time at MoCCA Fest!

I went to MoCCA Fest for the first time this year and I went as a volunteer. Volunteering is an awesome, fun way to support your show and your comic addiction all in one. I highly recommend it as a unique way to see the show. While you won’t have as much freedom than if you went as just a fan, there are a lot of benefits to volunteering. You meet and work with amazing people who are as passionate as you are about geek culture. You also get to see the show in a way fans never realize. The work that goes into these festivals and cons is insane and crazy and not always organized, but the passion is always there and it shows in every worker that is there. The show also provides you with great incentives. For volunteering I received a free pass to the show, meals, a t-shirt and a ton of free books at the end. If you are going to volunteer though, please honor your commitment. These organizations only succeed because of volunteer support and dropping out at the last minute is unfair to them and the other volunteers.

I was working on the programming team, which meant a few things. There was a lot of technical setup, some actual responsibility in making sure that the panels ran smoothly and the panelists were happy, and the opportunity to see a lot of awesome panels. I promise, I did work, but it was great to see panels I never would have gotten to see if I was on my own. Plus, I got to meet and hear some amazing people at the panels including Jerry Robinson, Jackson Publick, R. Sikoryak, Bill Plympton, Al Jaffee, Kate Beaton, Sarah Glidden, Lisa Hanawalt and Jeffrey Lewis. Even when I was standing outside of the panel guarding the door, I got to meet Greg Houston, an illustrator for NBM. While at the time he was just looking for caffeine, we chatted, and I have had the chance to look at some of his work and it is fantastic. I really hope to learn more about his upcoming projects soon.


The most entertaining panel I attended was The Cross Hatch Carousel. It was a live comic reading starring Kate Beaton, Lisa Hanawalt, Jackson Publick, Julie Klausner, Jeffrey Lewis and R. Sikoryak with my Programming boss Brian Heater moderating. For all of you thinking how can reading comics out loud be entertaining, you just have no idea. The excitement that they brought to the reading really made it fun. Also, the comics were just super funny. Because of this panel, I actually cornered R. Sikoryak (He told me to call him Bob! Squeee!!!) and made sure that he put me on his mailing list for the next reading. I will make sure to bring Wysefyre and Getsuyobi for all of the fun.


The most interesting panel I attended was the Batman, The Joker and Beyond: The Career of Jerry Robinson. I loved hearing all the side stories about his work. Two tidbits stuck in my mind. Mr. Robinson’s brother was a champion bridge player and his family played a lot of cards. When he was up one night working, the idea struck him for a new villain and he grabbed a deck of cards from them and The Joker was born. The second tidbit was in the creation of the sidekick for Batman. Despite popular belief, he didn’t name Robin after himself. When they were working on a name for this character, Mr. Robinson thought back to his favorite story, Robin Hood, and that’s where we got the Boy Wonder from. It was neat to learn about comic history from someone who was there living it.

Despite my busy panel working schedule, I did get a chance to walk around the show a bit. I got to meet a ton of interesting people. I actually hit up a lot of the same places that Wysefyre and Getsuyobi went. I swung by Jeph Jacques to pick up my own copy of Questionable Content after reading Getsuyobi’s copy. I also visited Pronto Comics and Lush Comics and had a blast talking with those two publishers. We really hope to bring you more from them soon. I stopped by the Evil Twin Comics table to say hi to Fred Van Lente and Greg Pak, who was sharing the table on Sunday. I got a copy of Greg Pak’s Vision Machine, which was a fantastic story. I encourage you to read it and I will be posting more about it soon. I got an awesome necklace from Amy Lynn Duengfelder’s table. She had some fantastic stuff and I am looking forward to really exploring her work. At Richard Codor’s table, I picked up a signed copy of the Joyous Haggadah, which is totally getting me in the Passover spirit. I also saw some great Star Trek, Star Wars and X-Men artwork at Justin Peterson’s table but at that point I was out of cash and totally kicking myself. His website is on my list to visit next payday! Same thing happened at Braden Lamb’s table, where I saw some terrific Star Wars art. Serves me right for being conservative at the ATM. One thing I did miss on the floor was the freebies and discounts that a lot of the volunteers were getting from the vendors. I was so focused on the tables I wanted to see that I missed out on some good deals but maybe next year!

I really enjoyed the feel of the show. It was a group of creators that really wanted to just hang with their fans. Yes, Wysefyre is right that there were creators that didn’t sell themselves correctly, but this is a nice change from a big con. I really didn’t miss the tables and tables of back issue sellers and was totally happy to be in a giant Artist Alley. Next year, you should join me as a volunteer if you can because it is a great experience for a great organization.

Let us know what you thought of MoCCA, did you love it, hate it....

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MoCCA Fest Musings & Tips

MoCCA Fest was this past weekend, and it was an interesting experience. Part of what was appealing to me about it was that it's a great place for indie comic creators to display their work. I didn't know what to expect, but I went in hoping for a good time and a chance to be introduced to new works.

Saturday, Getsuyobi and I arrived around 2 pm, Wilderowens was already there volunteering (she'll tell you all it),  and we walked the exhibition floor. We stopped at few booths, but other than a few exhibitors who we were familiar with, we didn't meet a lot of new people. There was something about the vibe of the show that didn't seem to work for us. Talking about it later, we came up with some reasons why.  Here they are as well as a few tips on how to make things better for next year.

1 - The accessibility of the exhibitor. It is hard to approach someone when they are deep in conversation with their friends or when they appear to be intensely concentrating on their latest piece. We want to be able to talk to you about your work but when your head is down and you don't even notice us standing there, then we will walk on by.

2 - Lack of assertiveness. The exhibitors are there to show off their work, so what aren't they calling us over or simply saying hello when they see us look their way? There was a guy from Pantsless Comics who was saying the most random things but also calling attention to himself and his group. It was impossible to ignore him and they were great to talk to. I'm not saying randomness is the only way to get people's attention, but it doesn't hurt. A little assertiveness goes a long way.

3 - Have a business card. I understand that many of the exhibitors might not be comfortable in this kind of environment. It might be their first time or they're not used to the crowds or whatever, so I get that it might be a little difficult for them to sell themselves and their products. They also might just be very busy. BUT if I want to get in touch with you and find out more about your work and maybe even help promote it, I need to be able to contact you. Vista Print offers free and low cost business cards. Get some and then hand them out to everyone who expresses an interest. 

And finally, this last tip might not be doable for everyone but it definitely can only help the creator - try to bring with you someone who knows and supports your work. That way if you have to go to the bathroom or need a break, someone will be there to promote your work while you're gone. I bring this up because one of the more fascinating comics I saw was from Origami Comics. The comic was shaped as a fortune teller. I loved those as a kid. It was beautiful to look at, and I definitely wanted to talk to Ken Wong, but he was nowhere to be found. The people next to him gave me his card but they could not answer any questions about it. That one made me really sad. I'm definitely going to try and find him at NYCC. So please try to bring someone who can give you extra support.

Now that I've talked about some of the not so great experiences, let me discuss the good. The people that we did speak to were great. I came across a most unexpected find with Ryan Sias' children's book "are you eating something RED?" It's the perfect gift for my niece.

Fred Van Lente and the fake Ryan Dunlavey (Fred's wife) were wonderful. Had a lot of fun with them at the Evil Twin Comics table. Mrs. Van Lente knows how to sell. She saw us looking at the table, told us about the various works and encouraged us to pick stuff up and mess everything up (within reason, of course), and Mr. Van Lente talked to us about his work and was just very approachable.  

Pronto Comics was there. They do a lot of work helping creators self-publish projects, collaborative and solo, as well as helping creators build their portfolios. One of these days, I will make it to one of their meetings. I want to see how it all works.

TopatoCo was awesome as always. They have great stuff and given my slightly unnatural love for Questionable Content, it's always nice to see Jeph Jacques. Getsuyobi got an autographed QC book complete with a Pintsize drawing.

Finally, we got to talk to Lush Comics. Lush Comics is a comic book publishing platform for folks who want to share and sell their art. It was great talking to Justin Mound about it and we plan on getting more info so we can pass it along to you. 

So overall, for Getsuyobi and I, the Fest was a mixed bag. Some good, some not so good and some just okay. Now that I have an idea of what it is like, next year I'll be better prepared. 

Did you go to MoCCA Fest '11? What did you think? Do you agree or disagree with my tips? And do you have any suggestions? Let us know!

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Sunday Links for April 10

This weekend is being spent working at MoCCA Fest 2011, so this is a short and sweet Sunday Links.

The Eisner Award nominations were announced this week and here is a list of nominations from Nominee Heidi MacDonald at The Beat. Congrats to everyone who was recognized.

Marvel announced this week that they are releasing a Flashpoint:Venom comic at the same time that DC will be in the middle of their Flashpoint event. I agree with Newsarama; considering that the Venom comic just started, do they really need a special event?

Bluewater Comics announced that they are going to start their own Superhero universe to show all of us that they are more than unlicensed biography books. Since they are basing the characters on Greek myths, it's not really anything new.

I have been spending a lot of time getting ready for Game of Thrones on HBO, and while I have done a variety of fun things, there is some help for those who are trying to catch up. The Discriminating Fangirl has a cheat sheet to help you study up on the characters and Bleeding Cool has a great Behind the Scenes video.

Finally, Thomas Katers at iFanboy wrote a great article about what comics failed to teach him about life. It is an interesting insight into what kids and adults can get out of comics.

Video Friday! 4/8/11

It's Friday and this week had a lot of great videos. From Team Unicorn to George Takei to Batman, this week was chock full of win!

Let's begin with Team Unicorn. Remember their superHarmony video? Wildly popular and hilarious? They just released the outtakes and they are just as good or even a little better than the finished product. Who doesn't love outtakes?

As many of you know, I have been vocal in my opinion of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. It's a show that needs a lot of work if it wants to last. Star Trek's George Takei has decided he is the answer to the troubled Broadway production, and I think I agree. After all, it's not like he could make it any worse. Al he has to do is say, "Oh my" and the crowds will come a-runnin'. Here is his audition tape.

It's Lego Batman with not one but two Jokers! That's right, the past and the present team up in this awesome vid.

And finally, I'd like to give a special shout out to one of my friends. Today is her birthday and she's a WoW player. So in honor of that, I give you this oldie but oh so goodie...

Happy Birthday H!

And that concludes this week's Video Friday. If you come across anything you want me to feature send it to me at insertgeekhere@gmail.com. Have a great weekend folks!

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Review: Uncanny X-Men #534.1

April kicks off with the Uncanny X-Men #534.1! I have to admit, I was getting more and more excited for this issue. I kept hearing great things from previews and it sounded like this was going to be a great book to bring back lapsed readers.

Uncanny X-Men #534.1 is being promoted as the Magneto issue because in this issue, we see how the X-Men are trying to get ready to let the world know that Magneto is now a good guy. Magneto sits and talks with their PR person about how to let the world know, while the rest of the X-Men try to stop an A.I.M. manufactured earthquake. As we see the minutes tick by between the two stories, we get to see Magneto admit his true feelings about his past and that he really does like to be feared. Despite the fact he didn't destroy New York, he knows that he could have without a second thought. But as the seconds tick by and the earthquake becomes inevitable, Magento steps up and saves San Francisco, and all of those humans, from destruction.


Kieron Gillen really put a lot of thought into his first issue. As the start of a new story / jumping on point, it was incredibly laid out. This issue had two storylines going on, with Magneto covering past info for newbies like me, while the rest of the X-Men built up a new storyline. I also really appreciated the place, person and time updates when the panels changed. It helped bring cohesion to the two stories.


This was a fantastic Point One issue that really captured my interest from the start. There was a good amount of background info that wasn't delivered obviously, and the story has a definite path to continue on. I definitely did not do this justice in summary; you need to go buy it now! I would recommend this to new and lapsed readers because I think that Gillen will bring a great story to the Uncanny X-Men.


My Point One Journey so far:
* Review: Thor
* Review: Captain America
* Review: Uncanny X-Force
* Review: Hulk
* Review: Deadpool
* Review: The Amazing Spider-Man
* Review: Wolverine
* Review: The Invincible Iron Man
* My Point One Plan
* The info about the Point One Initiative


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Comic Fun in NYC this Weekend!

This weekend, NYC is filled with great comic events that we are so excited for! The whole IGH team is going to try and make it to as many of these as we possibly can, so keep an eye out for us!


On Friday 4/8, The Strand Bookstore is holding their first ever Strandicon! The Strand celebrates the comics art form with an afternoon of special appearances and a panel discussion with the founder and editors of the re-launched The Comics Journal.


The event starts at 2:30pm at the Strand Comics & Graphic Novels Department on the Second Floor at 828 Broadway & 12th St.


On Friday 4/8, Drink & Draw like a Lady East is happening to help kickoff MoCCA Fest weekend! If you are a woman that writes, edits, letters, draws, studies, sells or reviews comics, then this is the gathering for you! It looks like a great chance to see and discuss some great art!


The event runs from 7-10pm at 192 Books, 192 Tenth Avenue at 21st Street.


On Friday 4/8, the MoCCA Fest kickoff party is a fundraiser for MoCCA! There are some special guests including anti-folker/cartoonist Jeffrey Lewis, folk legend Peter Stampfel of the Holy Modal Rounders and cartoonist Dean Haspiel, along with R. Sikoryak doing some live painting.


The event runs from 7-10pm at Sutra Lounge, 16 1st Ave @ 1st St. $5 donation at the door.


Then the big event of the weekend: MoCCA Fest! This year looks to be a great one, with programming that looks so interesting. One event that I want to see is the 2011 Klein Award to be given to Al Jaffee of MAD Magazine. I am sure his speech will be a good one! I especially hope to get to meet Dean Haspiel!

For those of you not in NYC, Saturday 4/9 is Mini Comics Day! This is a day where you can create your own mini comic in one day. There are events happening all around the world. If there isn't an event near you, you can still take part by creating your own comic. There are resources available on their website. If you do create one, send it to us and we will feature it!

As always, we will do our best to tweet during all of this fun and if you happen to be at any of these NYC events, come and find us!


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Winter is Coming and I Couldn't Be Happier

Yes, I know it's April but that means the premiere of Game of Thrones is only a few weeks away! In case you don't know, Game of Thrones is based on the novel series by George R.R. Martin. While I have not read the series, it grabbed my attention as a interesting fantasy series. Because it looks so interesting, I have delved into the Westeros, the world where winter can last for decades and everybody is after the Iron Throne.


They released a fifteen minute preview, which gives us a glimpse into the world. We got to see some deserters from the Night Watch face an evil that has not been seen. We then got to see Lord Eddard Stark as he manages his kingdom and teaches his sons. While I would have hoped for a bit more detail, I really enjoyed the look and feel of the show. In case you missed it, here is the preview.

Game of Thrones Exclusive Preview

What really sold me on Game of Thrones was the "Making Of" episode that was shown on HBO. The passion that executive producers, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, feel comes out when they speak about the show. Both are fans of the book series. On top of that, they have the full support of Mr. Martin, and I always love when the creator supports an adaptation. It makes me feel like the characters' integrity is being protected.


The other important piece that excites me for Game of Thrones is how much detail was put into the show. The press releases are filled with the crazy details that go into each costume. They even had the Language Creation Institute create a language for the Dothraki, a tribe from the show. It was created by David Peterson, a language expert, who created over 1,800 based on the books. In case you wanted to learn some Dothraki, here are some tips:

Did you know? Hash yer ray nesi?

The name for the Dothraki people - and their language - derives from the verb "dothralat" which means to ride.

The longest word in Dothraki is "athastokhdeveshizaroon," which means from nonsense. Can't wait for one of the actors to have to say that!

- From HBO Press Release

The detail may be the show's downfall; the first episode synopsis was very hard to follow because I didn't know the characters. Based on what I have seen so far, I'm not overly concerned and once the show starts I am sure I will be able to delve right into this world.


HBO has been everywhere promoting the show, so I am sure you have seen something about it. I really like how they are interacting with fans. They have a great online presence, including active Facebook and Twitter accounts. I have been lucky enough to to be involved with some of their outreach.

I was able to visit the Game of Thrones Food Truck while it was in NY. It was a fantastic experience to try food based on the show's culture. Each day they had a different menu of Westeros-inspired (really traditional English) food. The menu was designed by Chef Tom Colicchio.

The day I went, I tried the Squab with Black Pudding and a Lemon Cake for dessert. Everything was fantastic, except the Black Pudding. I want to like it but I never have. If you don't know what Black Pudding is, consider yourself lucky. If you are in the LA area this week, try finding the food truck!


Have you joined their online community? You can join one of the seven kingdoms of Westeros, play games to help your family beat the others or just betray your family and have the chance to win prizes! The games are kinda cheesy but it kept me entertained, plus I like the chance to win free stuff!


So until the premiere on April 17th, I have plenty to get me psyched up for the show. I am even walking around and saying Winter is Coming in a serious voice. I can't wait for this show!

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We made a new friend and got a winner!

Yes, our guest judge for our Autograph Bonanza giveaway was from another world!


We lovingly call him Ed. He came down just to have some fun in NYC and as thanks for carrying him around, he picked our winner.


And our lucky winner is.......

@M4r14_Pr0ph3t!!!

Congrats to our lucky winner! We hope you enjoy all of your new autographed books and the fact that I avoided every probe joke that popped in my head!


Thanks to everyone that took part and stay tuned for another giveaway from your friends at [insertgeekhere]!!




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Sunday Links for April 3

This past week seemed to be an angry one, with news of fights happening all over the web.


At Megacon last weekend, Comic Grifter Rob Granito got "shutdown" by industry staples Mark Waid and Ethan Van Sciver. Apparently, Granito has been copying art and selling it as originals at various cons for years. He finally went too far when he claimed a relationship with recently passed Dwayne McDuffie. Since this incident, many cons have banned him from attending.


High fives to Mark Waid and Ethan Van Sciver for getting rid of this guy!


Over at Twitter, Ron Marz and the official Bluewater Comics account went at it, bashing each other with wild abandon. Marz commented on the new Ayn Rand comic from Bluewater and it went from there. It just bothers me that the company is commenting like this from their official account.


Zynga is taking a beating from fans for their newest Farmville expansion, English Countryside. Players are mad because you can't play both farms at the same time, and F:EC is much harder to get started in. As a former Farmville player, I just have to say that Zynga is a little greedy but the fans can be overly demanding for a free game.


Fans have been going back and forth about the upcoming Wonder Woman show, and specifically the constant costume changes. Our own Wysefyre wrote her opinion about the costume and Geek to Me's Elliott Serrano had a very detailed debate about the show and costume with Meg White of the PrincessCast.


In happier news, Archie Comics finally introduced us to Kevin Keller, the first openly gay character to move to Riverdale. With his arrival, we will see if LGBT characters will appear more frequently in other universes.


Den of Geek writes a very persuasive argument about why Warner Bros. should reboot Batman after Christopher Nolan finishes his trilogy. He has a lot of great points and makes me more comfortable with the idea.


In the absolutely pointless news category, I found an article called "Robert De Niro has a Coke on the set of ‘Another Night’ In Brooklyn." No reaction from Pepsi yet on this devastating turn of events.




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Video Friday! 4/1/11

Happy April! I found some ah-MAZING videos this week. Seriously, they blew my mind! Let's take a look...


This guy is fantastic! I love how uninhibited he is...





I didn't know a cat could do this! Wow! I can't wait to follow him on Twitter.







Finally, the bestest video of them all...







Happy April Fool's Day! Hope you enjoyed this little trip down memory lane.




P.S. I swear I've seen those videos before. :0D


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Review: Kick-Ass 2 #2

So, after six months of endless waiting, the second issue of Kick-Ass 2 has arrived! I have to say it, waiting sucks and if I have to wait six months for every issue, I'm gonna be pissed. Mr. Millar, in every issue you print, you list loyal comic book shops and talk about how grateful you are for their support. How about some gratitude to the loyal readers?! I'm still waiting on new issues of Superior too! C'mon, just give me issues close enough together so I don't forget completely about what's going on!


For those of you who have no clue what happened in Kick-Ass 2 Issue 1, check out my review here.

This post is SPOILER-FILLED so if you are allergic to spoilers,

go read another tasty article on [insertgeekhere].

Kick-Ass 2 #2 continues to gives us insight into the superhero group that Dave wants to join. He even knows one of the members from his high school. The organizers are former mafia and they pick the group's first target, a mafia leader. They have a decent fight scene and the book ends with the leader, Colonel Stripes, saying to the mafia guy, "We have to talk".


We get very little info about Hit-Girl, only learning that she is still banned from seeing Dave. We also hear about Red Mist and the army he is building to destroy the city.


This issue felt kind of slow story-wise. There is a lot of building towards a big climax but the fight scene at the end just doesn't do it for me. I do realize that the story is developing for issues down the road, and I am excited to see where it leads. Despite my feelings of the story, I loved the art. Romita really hit it out of the park, especially during the fight scene. I also like all of the cheesy details he brought to the other group members. It seems realistic that they would look cheesy to play superheroes.


I would recommend this issue if you are already a Kick-Ass fan. If not, you may want to wait for another six months and see what I say about issue 3.

This review is dedicated to Ted, who is the biggest Kick-Ass fan I know.

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Wonder Woman's New Look - Yay or Nay?

The network heard the cries of the fans and decided to alter the look of the Wonder Woman outfit for the television series... you'd think we'd be happy they listened to us and took our criticisms seriously. Well, we would be if NBC had not given us this:

It's great that the boots are now the original red, as they should be, and they also are sporting a lower heel, making running easier, but the shape of the boots is horrible. They remind me of rain boots.

And the pants? Ugh! One of the biggest complaints was how shiny they were. Okay, again, it's great that this was taken into account, but did they need to make them look like they are made from the cheapest spandex/polyester blend available? And what's up with the row of stars? Is it to make her look more patriotic, is it decorative or did they just have some extra stars laying around in the costume design area and decided to play around with them? 

I honestly don't know which is better? This or the original. I understand it is difficult to design something that is realistic as well as fantastical while keeping its iconic feel, but surely, the design team has access to better materials. If not, then a) they should be given a bigger budget and b) I'm a little worried about the show because the outfit is very important for Wonder Woman. She's Wonder Woman, for pete's sake! Let's do her justice!

To see more pictures, head over to The Daily Blam.

What do you guys think? Better or worse?

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Midtown Comics Book Club: Guerillas Vol. 1 with creator Brahm Revel!!

This past Friday, I attended Midtown Comics Book Club. This month's book was Guerillas by Brahm Revel. If you haven't read Guerillas yet, it is a war story, following a young private as he learns to deal with war and becomes a man. Oh, and his entire platoon is chimps.


I was lucky enough to meet Brahm Revel at the book club. This discussion was expertly moderated by Midtown Comic staples Thor Parker and Zoe Gulliksen. Revel jumped right in answering a lot of questions about the book. As he tells it, the original idea came when he was watching a war movie. The troops walking reminded him of monkeys walking. Guerillas was born, although only much later in process did he add the title. Revel did say he had gone through a lot of bad titles before settling on Guerillas but refused to tell us what they were.

In the series, the hook keeps the apes out until the very end of issue 1. Revel did this purposely, because he wanted the first issue to look like a traditional war comic. He hoped to give a satisfiying hook for readers while making sure to develop his characters. My favorite part is when he develops John Francis Clayton, the human private of the tale, as a character. He did it to get Vietnam and Clayton out of the way in first issue. He wanted to make sure that the reader was up-to-date before the chimps arrive. As the book continues, we get to see Clayton grow up as he deals with his father issues. In a way, Goliath becomes his father figure.


Zoe asked him about the major themes of the book. Revel kept coming back to this question every few minutes, when the discussion brought up a new theme. One of the themes includes seeing the journey for someone not built for war become capable for that world. While some boys "go to war to become a man", this book explores the irony of Clayton learning to be a man in war from chimps. A theme for the chimps' story is Instinct vs Training. No matter what the chimps are taught, they still go by instinct and that is why Clayton is alive.



The most interesting thing I learned was Revel based all of the chimp names on Jane Goodall's chimps from her research. The names were not based on chimps' personalities, they were just used as markers. Revel used the exact names except for one. The only change was Mr. Worzel to Dr. Worzel for the story's flow.


I had only read the book as a novel, so I was interested to learn that originally it was an Image series, with each book chapter as an issue. Revel chose to keep his rights when he went to Image, which also gave him some freedom. He realized that he may have hurt himself by only going to Image at first. However, Oni showed interest when he was at Image, so when he decided to switch publishers, they were on the top of the list.


Revel didn't give away any spoilers, but we did learn that Vol.2 won't be out until April 2012, which means you have plenty of time to get Vol. 1. While I don't really want to wait a year to find out what happens to Clayton, Revel did say this is better as a graphic novel than a single issue series. I guess I will just have to be patient. 


 If you are in the area, come join us next month when the Midtown Book Club will be discussing Madame Xanadu with artist Amy Reeder Hadley.

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