NYCC '12: Day Two Highlights

Day two kicked off with a little bit of stress and a whole lot of awesome. 

Wilderowens went to a crowdsourcing panel at Kickstarter HQ with Craig Engler of Syfy, and Brad "Cheeks" Bell and Jane Espenson of Husbands. After she came back to the Javits, she spent the day interviewing a whole slew of people: Mike Richardson, President of Dark Horse Comics, Liam Sharp of Madefire, Pierre Leroux, Producer of Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth, Warren Spector, Creative Director for Epic Mickey 2. She met with RedBubble PR, Matt Inman from the Oatmeal, got autographs from DC's Ricardo Sanchez, Dark Horse's Brian Wood and ate a pop tart. She and Getsuyobi also got interviewed by a French radio station about geek culture and comic con. 

After a rough start to the day, I spent the day mostly in panels. I missed out on the Christopher Lloyd Q & A, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Instead of leaving that panel to grab lunch and then fighting to get back into the room for Sean Astin, I grabbed some lunch went in to to MTV Geek panel. I didn't even know MTV had comics. It was a great panel and featured people such as Joshua Hale, David Tischman, Sanford Greene, and Val Staples. 

Then the Sean Astin panel started, and it quickly became my favorite panel of the day, and possibly the entire con. He was funny, interesting, engaging, and extremely genuine. He was shocked at how full the room was. He was full of fantastic stories including one about his audition for Lord of the Rings. It turns out he had never even heard of The Hobbit and LoTR before he got the call for the audition. We were also treated to a surprise guest,  Terry Pratchett.

After that, I wandered the floor for a little bit, chatted with people, ran into a few friends, and finished the day by going to the Webcomics panel with Ryan Sohmer and Lar DeSouza. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but this turned out to be extremely informative. Sohmer and DeSouza did the panel Q & A style, and talked about what it takes to be a successful web creator, and it was also one of the filthiest panels I have ever been too. The dirty jokes came hard and fast. ;-) It was a great panel, and the perfect way to end the day.

I can't wait for day three! That's when the crazy really kicks in. 

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Sohmer Scoop at BEA

Last week, Wilderowens and I attended BookExpo America. We got to meet a lot of great authors and companies, and have procured a ton of books for us to read, review, and possibly give away, but one of the highlights for me was getting a moment to chat with Ryan Sohmer aka writer/creator of Least I Could Do, The Gutters, and Looking For Group as well as VP/Creative Director of Blind Ferret Entertainment and Matthew Stone aka Marketing Director Extraordinaire of BFE.



Thanks to Twitter and gifts, Sohmer and Stone were kind enough to talk to us for a few minutes. 


There were two projects we were anxious to learn more about - 


One was about the Least I Could Do animated series pilot. I'll admit I'm a little bit obsessed with LICD, and I've been wondering for a long time why some form of it hasn't been on the air. A Kickstarter was created for the project and exceed its goal and now, Sohmer is taking his time to make sure it's perfect, especially after what happened with Teletoon, but it is going to happen. Squeee! 


The other was about his upcoming book with Rebecca Dreistadt, The Bear. In case you didn't know, it's a "series of stand alone paintings detailing the bond that forms between a first time father and his son, and the discoveries they both make along the way." (behance) Since Sohmer first announced its existence, I have been waiting for its arrival. The guys gave us a peek at the book, and Wilderowens quickly picked out pages she wants as prints, and I have just decided I want the whole book plastered on my walls. Yes. The work is that good. 


What makes this book stands out is how much love has been put into it. It oozes from the pages. Sohmer even said that of all his different projects, The Bear is the one he's most proud of (but shhhhh. Don't tell Lar because then he'll cry). 


I clearly cannot say enough good things about this book. Between Sohmer's ability to blend twisted humor with loving sincerity and Dreistadt gorgeous artwork, this book will be a must-have. Luckily, it is almost done and should be out later this year. I'm already planning on giving it out as a gift to several people. 

Seriously, take a look at some of these pages. They are wonderful.

So there you have it, some Sohmer scoop (try saying the five times fast). Oh! We also finally settled a debate on how to pronounce Sohmer's name. It's SO-mer, not Sah-mer or Su-mer or Sum-mer or Saw-mer (unless you have a thick NYC accent, then it's understandable). Remember this for the next time you see him. 

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Webcomic-y Goodness!

Webcomics: one of the best types of comics around. Whether they are episodic or stand alone, they're easily accessible, quick to read (usually), more often than not, on a set schedule, and all around, a whole lot of fun. As of today, I read close to twenty different ones. Some I read everyday, some sporadically and others, I like to wait a few months and then read them all in one shot. I just love them, so I wanted to share that love with you.


To kick things off, I'm going to introduce you to my two favorite "having fun with the comics industry & geekdom" comics, Let's Be Friends Again and Gutters. Both comics have their own very unique voice and style, but the message is still the same - Geeky pop culture is fun to make fun of. Check these out -

You'll be hearing more about my slightly unnatural love of all things Ryan Sohmer/Blind Ferret Entertainment but Let's Be Friends Again is celebrating some great news - they've decided to take the plunge and make it a full-time gig. You can read more about it in their interview with Comics Alliances' Laura Hudson.

In the weeks to come, I'll be sharing some of the other webcomics I love, but I'm always looking for a new one. If you have any suggestions, send them my way at insertgeekhere@gmail.com or leave them here in the comments.


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Op/Review - Captain America: A Little Help #1

Over the weekend, I was catching up with one of my favorite webcomics, Gutters, written by the awesome Ryan Sohmer and featuring some of the best artists, known and unknown, currently around. There, it was brought to my attention that Marvel had released an eleven page mini-comic, hoping to address the subject of suicide. I found this very intriguing and immediately went to check it out.


Thank you Marvel for completely dropping the ball on this one. You had a great opportunity to reach out to so many people who are struggling, and you proceeded to turn it into a comic about watching Captain America fight an army and a robot. I think it was Hydra. What was that? Is it because the guy, instead of jumping off the building like he originally intended, just barely survived in the aftermath, now he had the will to live? Is it because he touched Cap's sacred shield that he realized there's so much more to live for? Or was it because Captain America gave him a thumbs up? What was the point?


What kills me is the first few pages started out so strongly. It set up all the reasons this guy felt like he needed to end it all. I'm not saying he was right, I just understand where he was coming from. But then, the comic went to pieces. How do you take a subject as serious as taking one's own life and make it about someone else?


They could have fixed this. If they wanted to keep all that fighting in, then there should have been an additional page or two where Captain America talks to the guy, not just gives him a thumbs up from far away. It was pointed out to me that Captain America probably didn't know what the guy was planning, hence only the thumbs up, but considering the guy was stuck on a tiny platform on the remaining part of a roof, surrounded by destruction, couldn't he have been talked to while being rescued by Captain America? See how simple that is? (Seriously, how did the guy get back to his apartment?)


I've been upset with you before, Marvel, but this one is personal and you screwed up. Big Time. I don't know how you can fix it, but I want it fixed. If there is more to the exploration of this topic and the comic, please let me know, because I don't want to be this angry at you, and I'd really like to think you would handle this subject better. 


Captain America: A Little Help #1 was written by Ursiny Dragotta and drawn by Nick Dragotta. You can see the comic here. Take a look and let us know your thoughts on it.

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