Age of Bronze: convention

Showing posts with label convention. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 21, 2024

Boise Comic Arts Festival

This weekend, August 24-25, 2024, I'll be appearing at Boise Comic Arts Festival at the Boise Center in downtown Boise, Idaho. I'll have a table in Artist Alley and participate on Saturday in the panel discussion on Folklore and Fairytales in comics.

The previous day, Friday, August 23, the Boise Comic Arts Festival will hold a program for librarians and educators, and I'll be speaking there, too, a the panel discussion on American History and Folklore in comics.

Entry to the Boise Comic Arts Festival is free. So come on down! Here's the link for details.

Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Rose City Comic Con Appearance Cancelled

I've just cancelled my appearance at Rose City Comic Con 2021 in Portland, Oregon, September 10-12, 2021, due to my concerns about Covid, especially the delta variant.

I'm vaxxed, of course. But evidence shows that a vax doesn't prevent contraction of Covid. It just lessens the severity.

Rose City's website explains that masks will be mandatory and that the convention will follow all CDC recommendations. That's great--as far as it goes.

Comic book conventions generally consist of thousands of people in one large room, all breathing the same air. And even if all people at Rose City Comic Con 2021 were to assiduously keep their masks in place, how could I sell any comics or graphic novels to them if they stay six feet away? Do they toss their cash or credit cards to me? Do I toss their merchandise to them? I suppose I could try to back up at least six feet whenever anyone were to approach my table. But many conventions don't have that much room behind a table.

It all just seems like a terrible idea to me, just begging to be a Spreader Event. I like meeting fans of my work in public settings, but I think this is way too early to hold conventions such as this one. I won't be participating.

Friday, August 9, 2019

Moseying on to Missouri

LibraryCon at the Library Center of the Springfield-Greene County Public Library at 4653 S. Campbell Ave., Springfield, Missouri, happens on Saturday, August 17. The event runs 10 AM to 5 PM.

This is the fifth annual LibraryCon. Thousands of people attend to find new comics, hear guests speak, and generally have fun.

I'll be there to give a presentation on Age of Bronze, to participate in the Draw-Off, and to sell my Age of Bronze graphic novels and comics.

Click here for details and the complete schedule.

Tuesday, July 16, 2019

The Magic of OzCon

The 55th annual OzCon International will run July 26-28 at Kellogg West Conference Center on the campus of Cal Poly in Pomona, California. I'll be there. Will you?

I'm looking forward to OzCon a lot this year because of two things--an article I wrote for the OzCon 2019 Program Book and a presentation I'll be making on Friday evening at the convention. Themes of this year's OzCon include: the 13th Oz book by L. Frank Baum, The Magic of Oz, which was published 100 years ago; the life and legacy of L. Frank Baum, who died 100 years ago; and the 80th anniversary of the MGM motion picture version of The Wizard of Oz.

I've always been more of an Oz book enthusiast than an Oz movie enthusiast. So I'm amused that both my contributions to OzCon this year are tied to OzCon's celebration of the 1939 movie starring Judy Garland.

Hank the Mule, drawing by John R. Neill

For the OzCon 2019 Program Book I wrote "A Musical Bubble in Two Bottles: The History of Mamzelle Champagne." This stage musical of 1906 featured the first professional script by Edgar Allan Woolf, who went on to become one of the screenwriters of the 1939 MGM Wizard of Oz. Mamzelle Champagne is notorious as the show where Harry K. Thaw committed the "crime of the century" by killing Stanford White during opening night in full view of the audience. Every history of that murder I've seen includes a reference to Mamzelle Champagne. But I'm not aware of any detailed history written about the show itself--not before I wrote that history for the program book, I mean. It turns out that Edgar Allan Woolf isn't the only Oz connection to Mamzelle Champagne. Of course I'm not going to reveal the other connections here. Read the article.

My presentation for OzCon 2019 will be "Hank's Hidden History: The Life and Legacy of Fred Woodward." The name Fred Woodward should at least ring a bell for anyone familiar with stage and screen Oz history. Most famously in Oz circles Fred played Hank the Mule in The Tik-Tok Man of Oz, L. Frank Baum's 1913-14 stage musical. But he did so much more--more, I think, than anyone else now alive but me is aware of--including having a role in Mamzelle Champagne. (There I go, revealing another of Mamzelle Champagne's Oz connections after I said I wouldn't.) How is Hank the Mule tied to the 1939 MGM Wizard of Oz? In two ways. But I'm not going to tell those here. Really. You'll have to wait till Friday evening of OzCon 2019 to find out.

Sunday, July 14, 2019

San Diego Comic-Con

San Diego Comic-Con opens next Wednesday evening, July 17, at the San Diego Convention Center on Harbor Drive in downtown San Diego. I'll be exhibiting at table BB-01 in Artists' Alley in the main exhibit hall.

I'll have the new color edition of Age of Bronze: A Thousand Ships, the beginning of the Trojan War written and drawn by me and in full color by John Dallaire. I'll have printed copies of Age of Bronze issue #34, a convention exclusive. A sampling of other publications I've drawn, written, or otherwise contributed to--Oz and otherwise--will also be available. And I'll be drawing sketches.

So if you're attending this year's SDCC, the 50th annual one, come by my table to say hello.