Image Expo!

Some of the crew went over the bridge last weekend to Image Expo, and much fun was had by all!


Last year, Wonder Con announced that they would be leaving San Francisco for the wonders of Anaheim, and it seemed as though there would be a very large gap in the Bay Area convention year. But the people at Image (whose offices are actually located in Berkley) stepped up and put together a convention at the Oakland Convention Center that is sure to grow in popularity as time goes on.

Keith muttered to himself about how hard it might be to find the convention hall in the Marriott hotel, but when the elevator doors opened, we were greeted with the most conveniently placed sign imaginable.

And who should we run into as soon as we walk on to the main floor? The Two Cats Comic Book Store guys. They were in a prime location to catch everyone on their way in. And their "Magneto Was Right" shirts were selling like crazy. If you haven't been to their store in West Portal, you really should.

Christian stoically looks to the future, while Corey "Internet's Casey" thinks about pie.

The Walking Dead TV show was definitely the talk of the convention. People were lining up to get signatures from Norman Reedus and Steven Yeun at rotating designated booths. The two actors seemed pretty happy to be there in the hustle and mayhem of the floor, and had no problem signing impromptu autographs for people while they were standing around waiting to go to their next designated signing location.

We talked to the Action Lab Entertainment crew for quite a bit. Even a bit of thanks for our constructive criticism on Snowed In. Dave Dwonch showed us some preview pages from their upcoming book Double Jumpers, or as Dave continually referred to it "The Anti-Princeless." And Tony Guaraldi-Brown showed us pages from his animal zombie apocalypse book The Rabid. Which is written by J. D. Arnold, and should show up in the June Diamond solicits. We also watched him paint a sketch of a zombie nun while he was just sitting around. Really great stuff! Dylan picked up all four issues of Princeless and a copy of Space Time Condominium. Unfortunately, we forgot to grab a group photo when we were first at the booth, and when we went back Dave was on lunch. So you will have to make due with a candid shot of Tony.

Paul Roman Martinez writes and draws a book set in the 1930s called The Adventures of 19XX that is truly a treat. You can read it on his website as well as get yourself a print copy. He pointed out that a lot of amazing things happened in the 30's and it's sad that it generally gets overshadowed by the major events surrounding it. There's a lot of thought put into the world, and his graphic compositions make for some amazing posters.

Paul Roman Martinez sporting a truly dapper vest.

 We caught up with our pals Josh Finney and Kat Rocha from Zero 1 Publishing as they continue to put the finishing touches on the Utopiates re-coloring (which should be out by the end of this year) and they keep working on Titanium Rain vol 2. Josh was kind enough to show us some upcoming pages in Titanium Rain that made Keith so excited he couldn't stop talking about them for the rest of the day. We may be doing a somewhat lengthy audio interview with them at some point as well to help promote all of their projects because there are just too many to go into.

It's a constant struggle for Nicole to find a graphic novel she enjoys. Her art tastes are pretty far off the beaten path and conventions like these are usually the only chance she has to find books that catch her eye. And Bryan J. L. Glass and Michael Avon Oeming's Mice Templar seems to have done just that. You can purchase it here. Bryan was a really sweet guy that was still beaming with joy that he had just completed the latest arc of Mice Templar and has only one arc left before his epic tale of sword wielding rodents comes to a close.

Dylan met Steve T. Seagle which has been a dream of his since he started attending conventions. Which is proof you should be careful what you wish for, because Steve promptly strangled Dylan for having lesser facial hair. But seriously, he was really nice and put up with Dylan's awkward praise for House of Secrets. And gave Dylan a copy of his graphic novel Solstice, which you can bet is going to be featured on the podcast at some point. Do yourself a favor and check out any of his books.

The snapping of Dylan's neck was heard on the other end of the convention hall.

All in all, for a first year convention, the people at Image put on a pretty good show. It was perfectly manageable crowd-wise. Although they had a huge space in front of the Image booth that was rather empty most of the time, and squashed artist's alley into a really small area. It was hard to get two people in the aisles. Much less two people with a backpack. Hopefully, They will correct it for next year.

Thanks for reading the blog, we have more Firetower interviews coming, and the Very Near Mint feature episode is on the way as well. Thank you all for your continued support, and we hope you're enjoying these books as much as we are!