Heading Back to Baltimore!

In just over eleven days, Dan & I will be making the trek back down the east coast to Baltimore Comic-con.  And Matt Constantine, the Omega Dork, will be joining us at our table.  We'll have more books to sell, free bookmarks for the taking, and will be offering attendees the opportunity to find out what their "Sci-Fi Name" is (more on that in a post later this week).

Baltimore is a great show--Dan and I, along with a few others, attended this show, for the first time, in 2003, and had a great time meeting artists and writers (in spite of the fact Baltimore had been devastated by a hurricane only days prior).  And when we returned to the show a couple of years back, it engendered a couple of my favorite convention moments (one of those is number 4 on this list).

Focused on comic books, this show always has a fantastic list of creators on hand, and this year is no different.  If you're going to be in the area, you should check it out, and look for us, WARRIOR 27, in the program.  Also, I'll be throwing up a map with our location in a day or two, as well, just to make things easier.

Thanks,
chris

Baltimore Comic-Con here we come

Dan and I are on the road to Baltimore.  Hope to see you there.

chris

Baltimore Comic-con -- We're bringing some books to the show!

Dan and I, along with "Mouth Dork" hosts Matt & Brad, will be at Baltimore Comic-con this weekend, and we're bringing some books.  Here's a quick rundown:

-  Mainelining is the over-arching title for my series of chapbooks that include one short comic story and one short prose story written by me (with the exception of volumes 2&3, which encompasses my 20,000 word novella, "In Search Of").  Between 24 and 28 pages, these are stories that have been published in Warrior27 as well as through other publishers like Dark Recesses Press, Black Tome Books, Ape Entertainment, and Top Shelf Publications.  

- Warrior27 - the comics/prose anthology that Dan and I started in 2005.  We'll have three issues there, with comic and prose stories as well as interviews with key comic people such as Chris Staros and Gary Groth. With more pages than your typical Marvel/DC book, at 3 bucks each, they're a steal.  [and Indie Comics Horror #1 is 48 pages of horror comic stories set in space, ancient Rome, and all points in between, including my story, "Minister to the Undead," with art by Dan Lauer]

-  Reading Watchmen - my 87,000-word examination of Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons's seminal graphic novel, in 3 handy volumes.  If you love Watchmen, or are just curious about what "all the fuss" is about, give these a try. And if you want a taste of what this entails, check out our sister site.

-  New Orleans by Gaslight is the steampunk anthology in which I placed my story "You Gotta Give Good."  You'll find many more great stories and poems set in a steampunk-era New Orleans inside, as well.  

-  Warrior27: the Collection.  256 pages of all the best bits from our original issues, along with new and never-before-seen stuff, including interviews with Bryan Talbot and Joe Quesada (only a year into his tenure as EIC of Marvel) and teases of stories we're working on.  You can get the physical copy or the digital, in both cbz and pdf form.

Hope to see you there.

chris

Baltimore Comic-Con preparation - the second part

Over at In the Mouth of Dorkness, I do a very brief overview on:

-  getting artists to draw your stories
-  learning to letter your own stories
-  formatting your books, especially if you include prose, like me
-  some artistic advice regarding covers
-  brief thoughts on branding yourself

And a bunch of other stuff.  It's pretty bare bones, as these topics could take up thousands of words, if you wanted to get into the real nitty-gritty of it all.  but there are links to places that will help expand your knowledge on the topics at hand, and it gives you a good jumping off point to get your own comics, and comics writing portfolio (read:  printed copies of your stories, drawn and lettered, NOT just the scripts).

You can check it out HERE.  And, again, take a while to browse the site.  Matt & Brad are doing some great stuff at the "Mouth," and if you like all things geek and sundry, you'll enjoy the site.

Thanks,
chris

MAINELINING @ Baltimore Comic-Con

 

I've managed to get a few stories published this past year, and I'll have them at Baltimore Comic-Con next weekend. 

First, I had a short supernatural story included in the inaugural issue of Indie Comics Horror, from Aazurn publishing. 

Then, this spring, I placed my first short prose story in a print publication - "You Gotta Give Good" was my first attempt at a steampunk story, with some voudou thrown in for good measure, and was part of the anthology, New Orleans by Gaslight.

Coming this fall, I have another short comic story, drawn by Gary Fitzgerald, that will be part of Red Stylo's Unfashioned Creatures anthology, based on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.  I'm very excited for this to be published and I will have a preview at the table along with including it in my Mainelining "portfolio" edition for editors and prospective artistic collaborators. 

And there are some other exciting things happening that I'd rather not jinx.  But hopefully in a month or so I'll have something else, very exciting, to announce. 

Hope to see you in Baltimore.

-chris

4 Day to Super Show

I'll have copies of my chapbook series, Mainelining, with short comic and prose stories written by me and drawn by some fantastic artists - including Jason Copland whose Kill All Monsters! book (with Michael May) is in the latest Previews - at the CGS Super Show this weekend, April 6-7, in Reading, PA.

Convention special:  $2.00 a piece or the whole shebang for 8 bucks.  Can't beat that.  And I guarantee that, thanks to the short prose story included in each (except for 2 and 3, which are straight prose, all the way) these books will take longer to read than your typical DC/Marvel book at an equal or higher price.

So, if you're in the Reading, Pennsylvania area, stop by the Greater Reading Convention Expo Center and check out some cool comics and cooler creators.

-chris

CGS Super Show 2013

Less than two weeks and Dan and I will be in Reading, PA for the CGS Super Show on Saturday and Sunday, April 6-7.  This is a great little show - basically, as they aptly describe, a large artists' alley - with great guests like Tim Truman, Lee Weeks, Fred Hembeck, Danielle Corsetto, Dave Wachter, Action Lab comics, and us!

Laid back and professionally run by the guys who create one of my favorite comics podcasts - Comic Geek Speak - you get a real chance to talk with these writers and artists, whether seasoned professionals like Truman and Weeks or newer ones trying to make their own mark like Action Lab, a company that has really made big inroads in their first year-plus of publishing.

Also, Uncle Sal is going to be there this year. If you've ever listened to a CGS episode with him and aren't one who is easily offended, then you know why this is a big deal.  I'm really looking forward to talking with him and picking up his book, Atomika, while down at the show.

And, finally, Wild Pig comics will be there with their 50-cent boxes - over 30,000 back issues from all eras, and they're all fifty cents each.  Hoping to find some good runs to bring home and add to the ever-building stack of comics "to-be-read."

All the information can be seen here, and if you're in the area you should definitely stop in.  $12.00 for a single day or $20.00 for the weekend.  And please, stop by the W27 table and check out what we've got going on (more of which I will be posting in coming days, as we get even closer to the show).

thanks,
chris

Busy

So,

Haven't been able to update here as often as I'd like. The end of the month, Dan and I will be in Reading, PA for the Comic Geek Speak Super Show. Tim Truman, Sean Murphy, Tony Moore, and others will be in attendance. And it's such a nice, intimate show that the chance to get face time with these creators is easy.

We will have the collection there - regular $24.95 for 254 pages, Super Show Special: $20 - along with individual issues, discounted as well. And I've been working on a line of chapbooks collecting my comic and prose stories, some of which have been published in W27 with new, unpublished stories. Most of these will be between 28 and 40 pages, 8.5" x 5.5" (1/2 Letter size), with cardstock covers, each for between $1.00 and $2.00 (I haven't finished up the formatting, so I don't know my final cost yet, but I'll share that information when I have it).

Here are a couple of those covers:



I'm using the same basic imagery for each chapbook - with a variety of cover and text colors to differentiate the volumes - as a branding device. This image is also on my business cards and my avatar for those few bulletin boards I frequent. I'll also be offering these here for sale once I've got them finished up.

AND, I have begun guest-blogging at In the Mouth of Dorkness, initially offering up a series on whether we should follow the creator or the character when making comic buying choices. I'm not sure how long this will go, but each installment should go up on Mondays - the first one is here and the newest one should be up sometime today - and after that, I have a number of ideas I'm going to examine for friends Brad & Matt (purveyors of the "Dorkness" blog).

I'm pretty excited about this. It's been fun so far. And I'll be re-running those pieces here, roughly a month after initial publication. Check it out here or there, and let me know what you think on the subject.

Now, back to formatting some chapbooks and finishing up those covers.

thanks,
chris