I was only able to attend BENTcon 2 at the Bonaventure Hotel in downtown LA on Sunday December 4th. It was, I’m told in full swing from Friday night, and I’m sure I missed some good events and panels but what can one do? I am rather kicking myself that I misread the time of the Women in Gay Comics panel and missed it. Oh well, I got to talk to lots of cool artists and exhibitors on my one afternoon at BENTcon 2.

So here’s who I talked to that day:

THE HORNSMYTHE
www.thehornsmythe.com

Cal Cotton of the Hornsmyth. Specialize in drinking horn, blowing horns. He and his wife have been making horns for 23 years and his wife was making horns for five years before they met. They are based in Westminster, CA. They do events like BENTcon, the Ren Faire in Irwindale, and various Sci-Fi and Fantasy conventions. He said his wife makes 75% of the things in their booth and he’s her helper.

Also in the picture is Jeannette Smith wearing a costume from Pendragon costumes, which was so busy I never got a chance to talk to anyone there.

ELVIS SCHOENBERG’S ORCHESTRA SURREAL
www.eschoenberg.com (please click for the swingin’ music on the cool cartoon intro)

I spoke with The Fabulous Miss Thing (and is she evah). The orchestra has been around since 1996, they put out their first CD in 1997, and now they have three CDs out. It’s a very cool and twisted hybrid of classical music and orchestrated rock songs turned on their sides. The song playing on the monitor was Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony in a jump swing arrangement which I thought was Night in Tunisia at first. The Orchestra has been trying to do more conventions and because they have a burlesque comic book feel they’re doing more comic book conventions. The Orchestra, well, part of it, offered to do some live performances at their booth, but the convention nixed it. I think this is a terrible shame because Miss Thing can really belt ‘em out.

The Orchestra has a performance coming up on December 26 at the Typhoon Restaurant in Santa Monica.

RICK WORLEY
www.rickworley.com

Rick was fighting a cold so he was on Dayquil but still lucid. Full disclosure: I have a copy of Rick’s wonderful comics collection, “A Waste of Time,” sitting on my desk waiting for a review, so I spent a little time apologizing for that. He said the book is doing pretty well, that it’s a gradual thing getting people to know it exists (like, y’know, through reviews and stuff like that). He’s had a good convention even though he’s been sick all weekend. (Everybody get a flu shot!) Rick’s been drawing “A Waste of Time” for the past four years, but he’s been drawing comics since he was a little kid. He used to make his own comics in fourth grade, usually Spiderman mash-ups, but he’s only into Grant Morrison’s work now. He worked at Borders until he got laid off, he said they were a horrible company to work for: arrogant, abusive, and stupid. This is sad because it should be fun to work in a bookstore. He’s mostly self-taught, but has taken drawing classes here and there. Rick grew up in southern California, but has lived in San Francisco for the three years now. There’s another book with the same characters in the works.

ZAN CHRISTANSEN, NORTHWEST PRESS
www.northwestpress.com

I spoke to Zan Christianen of Northwest Press, the publisher of “A Waste of Time.” Zan actually sent me the review copy sitting on my desk, waiting to be reviewed (so, as you can imagine, there was more groveling about it). Northwest Press has been all over the country, but BENTcon is the biggest and gayest convention of the year, so they got the biggest and gayest booth at the convention. He was even opening a bottle of champagne, that’s how cool this booth was. He had several big comics, one of them was “The Power Within,” a very timely comic to help kids deal with bullying. Last years, Zan and the artist on the book, Mark Brill, were trying to figure out what to do for 24-hour comics day and this is what came out of that. 24-hour comics day is in October, and the previous September there had been several gay teen suicides in the news. In doing research for the book, Zan discovered that there were eleven suicides in September 2010. So, he and Brill did the 24-page comic for 24 Hour Comics Day and afterwards they polished the work up and released it as a self-published comic in the Spring of 2011. Then Zan recruited some guest artists—Phil Jimenez, Greg Rucka, Gail Simone, to name a few—to contribute more pages. They did a fundraising event so they could do a big print run and started sending them out for free to schools, gay alliances, and other resources for gay teens. The book is designed as a life-line to isolated, alienated kids. Zan says it tells kids that they might not have a supportive family, or teachers or they might not have friends they can reach out to, but even if they don’t have any support, each kid has the strength to get over the hardest parts of their life with the power within. They can make it through and get to the better part of their life. So Zan and his people sent the book out over the summer of 2011 and Zan and Brill got an email from OUT magazine letting them know that OUT would be honoring them as two of their OUT 100 for 2011. Zan encourages anyone with any kind of skills to try to help kids who are being bullied because it’s been going on for far too long and it’s time to stop pussy-footing around it. It’s time for parents to realize they’re better off with a live gay teen than a dead one and stop freaking out about it. I asked Zan why it was getting worse, why there were more gay teen suicides now, and he said it’s actually getting better because it’s getting more attention. It’s not being swept under the rug and he thinks that people are more willing to call it what it is. When a child kills him or herself because they’re queer or harassed for being seen as such, it’s not just swept under the rug and ignored by mainstream society. Surviving your teens is tough enough without bullying, but it’s worse if there isn’t even a light at the end of the tunnel. It’s not a freight train, it’s Zan and people like Zan throwing you a rope. Sorry for the mixed metaphor. It really does get better.

Speaking of Dan Savage, Dan wrote the introduction for another Northwest press book by David Kelly (of Boy Trouble fame) called “Rainy Day Recess.” This books is about a tween boy growing up in the 70s, liking Wonder Woman and Charlies Angels, and being a very sensitive boy. “Rainy Day Recess” is a window into the life of a kid before he starts having to conform or being bullied.

Northwest Press has recently released “A Waste of Time” by Rich Worley (grovel grovel grovel), which Zan describes as Calvin and Hobbs meets lots of butt sex with adults. In 2012 Zan plans to release their first “L” book (as in G”L”BT), their first lesbian book by Lea Weathington’s “Bold Reilly.” An action adventure heroine who always gets the girl. Zan describes Bold as kind of like Conan the Barbarian except she’s a better conversationalist and has smaller breasts.

So far of Northwest’s GLBT alphabet soup, they’ve done “Glamazonia, the uncanny tranny” (T), “A Waste of Time,” “Rainy Day Recess” (G) “Teleny and Camille” (G, B), and “Bold Reilly” (L). Hopefully the Northwest press will be around for a long time and do many other wonderful titles like these and “The Power Within.”

Northwest books are available in print, but also in the iPad e-book store.

DAVID KELLY
Prism profile

Is the co-editor of Boy Trouble and more recently, the author of Rainy Day Recess. Rainy Day Recess is about a boy growing up in the 1970s in a family dealing with separation and divorce and him dealing with all the struggles with that. He finds joy in having a crush on a boy in his class and drawing this own comic, Star Woman, in which he is her sidekick, Star Boy. Lots of 1970s pop culture references. The strip ran in gay and lesbian newspapers in the 1990s, and it’s only recently that Zan Christenson and Northwest Press have collected them into the edition I saw at BENTcon.

David would like to do more young adult graphic novels with older teen characters. So there is something to look forward to.

Unfortunately I didn’t get a picture of David. This is too bad because he’s very handsome. I also could not find a link to a David Kelly webpage, so I linked to his profile on the Prism website.

ALEX WOOLFSON, YAOI 911
www.artificecomic.com

He started the Yaoi 911 project in 2006 when he wanted to write guy and guy romance comics that were in a particular action genre and involved a rescue theme. He wanted to write for a broad audience that included women, especially since he wrote his work for one woman whom is a good friend of his, he was looking to write for a predominately female audience. At this point in 2011 his audience is 60% women and 40% men. His men look like men, which takes it out of most of the yaoi genre. For Alex, plot and character come first and the erotic element comes naturally into the story, contributing to the story, not overwhelming it. Alex is striking a middle ground between yaoi comics and traditionally gay erotic comics by creating the comics he’s always wanted to read himself, and he’s very gratified that there’s an audience out there for it.

Yaoi 911 used to be a review site, but has morphed into an original comic website. He does all the writing and works with a variety of artists. So far he’s been working on a gay sci-fi comic and next year will be doing a gay superhero comic. The two artists whose work was at Alex’s booth were Winona Nelson and Adam Dekraker.

Alex’s next book will be Artifice, currently being serialized on the web (it was at page 56 when we spoke), it’s science fiction and will be collected and published as a book in 2012. His superhero comic will also be a webcomic and then a book and should be on the web sometime in 2012.

STEVE MACISAAC
www.stevemacisaac.com

I hadn’t seen Steve in a year and in this past June, he published Shirtlifter 4, two and a half years after his “Unpacking” story cliff-hanger (for me) in Shirtlifter 3. He said it will probably be two and a half more years before Shirtlifter 5 due to having a life and a day job. There’s 60 pages of “Unpacking” in Shirtlifter 3 and also 4 and he goes through a little post-partum depression after each book comes out. He said he hasn’t really written anything since Shirtlifter 4 came out, but he does have the final part of “Unpacking” planned out in his head, and he’s started working on Shirtlifter 5, so there is something to look forward to.

I bought a copy of Shirtlifter 4 because I’m totally hooked on Steve’s story, “Unpacking,” and it was totally worth the wait. “Unpacking” began in Shirtlifter 3 and was serialized on the web, which is where I fell in love with it. It’s got a good story, good characters, and bears! I don’t usually like bears, but I like these bears because they’re Steve MacIsaac’s bears. “Unpacking” can be read as a complete story, with a beginning-middle-end, in each volume, but the story wraps up in Shirtlifter 5. Well, wraps up as much as Steve wraps things up; he always leaves something open ended in all his work.

BRADLEY RADER
www.raderofthelostart.com

Brad has just had a wonderful book called “The Art of Brad Rader” published by his comic book store in Burbank, The House of Secrets, which has a publishing arm called The Art of Fiction. In December of 2009, they asked Brad to be part of their line of small art books by local animation artists. Brad provided them with 300 image files Art of Fiction culled into a gorgeous 60 page, 5.25×8″ semi-paperback book. There’s more information about how to get your hands on a copy at Brad’s website. Right now, Brad’s comics projects are in stalled-out mode while he works full time storyboarding “Bob’s Burgers.” But he said that in early 2012 when he’s on hiatus from animation, he’ll be back on top of the comics projects.

Brad said BENTcon 2 has been a fantastic event. He’s staying at the convention hotel, the Boneventure Hotel (awesome con rate of $109!!!) and it’s been a blast. The food and parking are expensive, but there’s a Subway across the street. Brad went to the film festival the previous evening and one of the standout short films for him was Michael Derry’s “Troy” 2-D, possibly flash animated, cartoon. He also said he really enjoyed Wendy Pini’s “Mask of Red Death” cartoon.

IN SUMMARY…

I am told by reliable sources that BENTcon 2 was a success! The exhibitor area completely sold out, the room block sold out, attendance was high, and there was interest from abroad in attending this one and the next one. So look forward to BENTcon 3 in 2012.

Here’s the J LHLS coverage of BENTcon 2010.

On Saturday, I had a couple of events to attend, but the first thing I was able to head to was the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art Festival, otherwise known as MoCCA. People who weren’t able to come to the city this past weekend, was definitely pretty envious as I saw from Twitter. This is a Saturday and Sunday event, that served as a fundraiser and showcase of the Museum’s accomplishments for the year. At this event, there were exhibitors, and panels. I wasn’t able to go to any panels, but I was around the exhibitor’s room, so these are pictures I took from Saturday.

Behind the MoCCA indication is the autographing area, where for an hour, artists from different publishers would be present to sign autographs.

The main activity for the exhibition room was selling and presenting products for comic consumers.

Fanfare/Ponent Mon was here! JLHLS happened to write a review for The Walking Manv. So they have became a favorite publisher of mine, to go and check out serious adult friendly titles in English. Adult friendly might not be a good way of saying their products, but the books that have been published by this company is definitely more in the tastes of adult readers. I am happy to hear that The Walking Man, is going to be getting a reprint soon, since it is a great book to know about! They had Farm 54 on hand, and other publications.

I noticed that Drawn & Quarterly, Fantagraphics, and First Second were here.

Julia Wertz! She is the author for The Fart Party (volume 1-2), and Drinking at the Movies. I was pretty happy to meet her in person, and say that I loved the architecture details in her art. There were definitely many artists to discover at this event, and to actually know one exhibiting here was definitely a cool factor!

Takashima Rica, is also another artist I was definitely aware about. As a yuri mangaka, her work recently became part of the Kyoto International Manga Museum, so meeting her was nice. She is standing with Erica Friedman, who is the founder of ALC Publishing and Yuricon. JLHLS has in the past written a review from ALC publishing.

There weren’t many people dressed up in cosplay, but I did see a person in a Superman costume, and in the distance this female convention goer dressed in lolita fashion.

Lush Comics, the type face looks cool, but definitely the name stood out for me.

This is a Jessica Rabbit type doodle shot I liked. The table was selling a Doodle type book.

I know you can’t see the detail as well as I can remember, but the Wanted posters are definitely in the style of manga One Piece. There were a variety of products being sold: posters, books, zines, even jewelry!

Even if there weren’t as many superhero type comics around, here is a Batman art that I saw. Also another one of the lesser known, but still original hero!

I definitely didn’t expect to see this booth here, normally I see them at other conventions. They are the ones with the huge squeezable and hug-able plushies, so it was a surprise to see them.

Next year’s MoCCA should be around this time, so be sure to perhaps remember of this festival next year from now.

This was the first BENTcon, a select group of GLBT comics creators in a nice little space on Melrose. According to Charles “Zan” Christensen, this is the first ever GLBT dedicated convention so I was very glad to be there. Here’s who I talked to:

William O. Tyler

William O. Tyler has been publishing Carabosse Comics for the past six years. “Fairy Tells” are comics about what the fairy saw other mythological creatures doing, and “The Goth Queen Needs a Mate” is the story of a widow whose grief was so profound, it awakens gargoyles who go out to find her a new husband. William is originally from Washington D.C. but moved here in 2006. He has a degree in film from the American University in D.C. His website is www.CarabosseComics.com.

Steve MacIsaac

Steve is as busy as ever and Shirtlifter 4 will be publishing in April 2011. More information at www.SteveMacIsaac.com

Michael Derry

Michael Derry has been drawing “Troy” comics since 1998. He went to art school for illustration at Northern Illinois University. He came out to Los Angeles and while bartending, met the founders of “Bent” magazine (no connection to BENTcon) who asked him to create a gay comic strip for the magazine. After “Bent” stopped publishing, another publication picked it up and it’s been published in Europe and South America. The magazine publication opportunities have been fading out, so now he’s working on making “Troy” into an animated cartoon. It’s online, too, at www.TroyComics.com.

Jeff Krell

Jeff Krell is the creator of Jayson comics, a strip that’s been ongoing for the post 25 years. He started Jayson because he was a fan of Archie comics and wanted to tell his stories in an Archiesque setting. He based his main character, Jayson, on himself and Jayson’s best friend, Arena, on his actual best friend. Jayson comes from a very small town called Farmville (pre the Farmville game) and moves to the city and struggles with his sexuality. The first publication Jayson appeared in was in the Philadelphia Gay Press and Gay Comics in the 1980s and Meat Men magazine in the 1990s. These two decades are anthologized in Jayson 1980s and Jayson 1990s. “Jayson Goes to Hollywood” is his first graphic novel. He’s been involved with Prism Comics for the past few years. He is also the translator and publisher of Ralf Konig’s “The Killer Condom” and some of Konig’s other works. Jeff’s company is Ignite Entertainment and the webpage is www.Ignite-Ent.com.

Charles “Zan” Christensen

Charles “Zan” Christensen lives and breathes gay comics. Is the founding president of Prism Comics. He has a publishing company called Northwest Press. It is his response to the decrease in gay publishers and distributors, especially in comics. Something like a gay Fantagraphics or gay Top Shelf. The first book published was “Tenleny and Camille,” which was adapted by Jon Macy from the novel “Teleny,” attributed to Oscar Wilde and his circle of writers and poets. The second book is Justin Hall’s “Glamazonia,” the anti-superhero(ine). The next book will be a collection of David Kelly’s “Steven” comics, which are about a gay pre-teen boy in the 1970s. This will be an all ages book and Charles feels that this is an important book in these times of gay kids being bullied and committing suicide. The book is called “Rainy Day Recess” and will be available in March 2011. Prism is planning to do more conventions in the coming year, especially on the East Coast. They plan to be at a new convention in Ashville NC that debuted last year called Fanaticon. Webpages are at Northwest Press and Prism Comics.

Tony Lawrence

Tony Lawrence publishes a comic called “Western Nightmares,” which is gay western romance with angels, vampires and werewolves who are unusual angels, vampires and werewolves. The website is at Western Nightmares.

Sean Z

Sean Z was one of the driving forces behind BENTcon. His goal with BENTcom was to celebrate and showcase GLBT creators in their own convention. The convention came together in four months in a vacant storefront. He is looking forward to having a whole year to plan BENTcon 2011. He wasn’t sure how many attendees there were, he thought it was around 100 when we talked at 3PM and there were four more hours of the show. Sean came to Los Angeles nine years ago after getting a degree in illustration from the Art Institute of Chicago. He’s publishing his work at Rated-Z.

More information about BENTcon at www.bentcomix.com.

Update December 2011: Here’s the coverage of BENTcon 2011.

Review by Kris

The law is a confusing thing. And more money that can be made, more laws are created to protect that information. In Bound By Law? we are introduced to documentary filmmaker Akiko. She wants to create a documentary about New York City. But with copyright protections, trademarks, and rights to the public domain can Akiko walk this field full of landmines unscathed?

I will be the first to admit I know very little about the public domain, copyright, and trademark law. Honestly it isn’t something that I’m terribly interested in learning a whole lot about, but me being the good citizen that I am (I vote, I stay abreast of the issues, etc.) I figured that I should take a looksie into this comic. It was created by several professors at Duke University to help bring fair use to the forefront. This creative look at something that could be so convoluted brings a relatively important law down from lawyer-speak to layman English. By introducing this topic through a comic not only makes it easy for someone like me, who happens to be a total dunce, but also makes it accessible for someone in middle school, high school, or of college age. Especially in this day and age of the internet where pointing and clicking, dragging and dropping, and right-click and saving are virtually everyday occurrences.

I must be clear on a couple points though. Even though I found this to be a great and quick overview of laws about the public domain it does get a little dry in spots. But it is about the law so it’s bound to boring in a couple spots. Another thing is I don’t read much in the way of comic books that have been created by western artists. I read mostly manga so in regards to the art I’m much more familiar, comfortable, and enjoy the manga format. This is definitely a western style. One thing I did enjoy about the art is some of the layouts that the artist created are a collage effect as opposed to being traditional comic art in boxed panels. I must say that even though I have a couple hang-ups I still feel that this is a worthy piece to pick up. By creating a fictional heroine determined to create her documentary and using this character along with the heroes of the public domain, Duke University’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain has enlightened one dumb chic and by shining a light on this issue makes it one more thing about which I can carry on a knowledgeable discussion.

Ummmmmmm…….

How to keep track of your friends in the Hall H crowds.

So, I went to Comic Con San Diego and it was a very mixed experience. On the one hand, I went to some wonderful panels and got to see “First Flight,” on the other, I could hardly get through the crowds to see or do much more than that.

I took the 8:30 train from LA and checked my suitcase at the con. I have to wonder why the bag checkers rifle through the bags, but they do. I went into Hall H and was shocked by the crowds and humidity. The Thursday crowd was as bad as Saturday usually is. This caused me to wonder what Saturday would be like: how could it possibly be worse? But felt certain that it could.

It was very sweaty in Hall H. I remember walking into the convention center in 2003 and it was like waking into a swamp This was similar, except the swampiness was confined to Hall H.

Undaunted, I shouldered my way through the crowd and wound up in the VIZ booth.

I got a big hug and a powder blue VIZ bag from the wonderful Ev Duboq.

She and Jane Lui have been wonderful to J LHLS over the years.

I continued on to the Prism Booth because I was on a mission from Brad Rader to deliver an envelope for him. I left it with Justin Hall. I assume it got where it was supposed to go, teeth marks et al.

I was hungry by then, so I went out to meet Wendy Lee of Furies Press

for lunch at The Tin Fish

And it was very yummy. Crowded as usual, but also delicious as usual.

After lunch we braved the hall again, ran into Fred Lui of Digital Manga, and stopped by Square Enix to say hello to Amelia C, who wasn’t there at that moment. I then braved the baggage check, wheeled my suitcase to La Pensione Hotel and took a shower and a nap.

A few hours later, I went off to see the Green Lantern feature, “First Flight,” and loved it. But first, I had dinner at The Burger Lounge at it was one of the best burgers ever. I ate there twice this trip. I think I got smarter this trip, I altered my route from the tram to the hotel and found The Burger Lounge and a lovely bakery to have breakfast in. I bought a three day tram pass so I wasn’t stressed about getting a ticket in time to make the trams (which do not run frequently enough on Saturday, but are great on Thursday and Friday).

I got up on Friday and made it to the Comics Arts Conference Session #5: Fan Power. There was a talk by Dr. Daniel Debowy about the Millennial generation hero, who, unlike his Oedipal predecessor, wins by not competing. He used the example of how Luke Skywalker would rather die than kill or be killed by his father in battle. Dr. Debowy mainly used examples from the TV show “Heroes,” which I’ve never seen, for his talk, but it wasn’t necessary to know the show to get a lot out of his talk. I later interviewed him about it. The next speaker was Andrew Friedenthal who had a paper on the pros and cons of how Wonder Woman became a feminist icon due to Gloria Steinem’s fangirling her. Also interesting stuff.

Then I went off to the 70s comics panel because there is nothing cooler than guys who have great careers in comics and can let their hair down and say whatever the hell they want to say. But first I wandered into the preceding panel about Gene Colon…who was not there, so Mark E and Marv W were telling Gene C stories.

That’s Gene Colon in the red hat.

As the 70s panel guys came in, they told Gene C stories. It was great! Then they talked about the 70s until Gene C arrived and then they talked to Gene until he had to leave. Then there were questions and the question that stuck in my mind, probably because of the panel before, was asked of the whole panel: “When you went into comics, did you want to be the next Jack Kirby?” And the answer was great: they all went into comics because they wanted to draw comics. Mark E had the best answer, that he wanted to be Rob Petrie: write comedy all day, trip over ottomans, and sleep with someone who looked like Mary Tyler Moore. Not a bad aspiration at all. He wrote “Welcome back, Kotter,” my favorite show of those years, so he’s a god to me. He and Marv W were very funny moderators, actually the whole panel was a riot. I’m sorry I never got Elliott S’s last name.

I would have stayed for the next panel, but I had a horrible headache and needed to get out of the crowds and stuffiness (it was stuffy on the second level). After some Advil, a shower and nap, I came back for the “Four Color Reality: Making Comics Relevant to Readers Across Cultures,” which was about getting more diversity in comics. Many fascinating things were said, but the basic message was just do it and ignore the fall out from the lunatics because there will always be fall out from lunatics. I got to meet Gail Simone and she is just as gracious as I’ve always heard she was.

And Stuart Moore, who’s editing co-writing “The 99,” which is a comic about the 99 attributes of God in Islam. The other writer, Naif Al-Mutawa, was inspired to get this comic book going because he was traveling in the Middle East and came across trading cards for kids illustrating how to become suicide bombers. Dr. Al-Mutawa felt a comic for children about Islamic superheroes would be a good thing. I think it’s overdue and I’m very impressed and really enjoying the issue of “The 99″ I got at the panel.

So, I was very tired and went back to the hotel and slept. I woke up on Saturday with a horrible headache and just couldn’t face another day at the con. I think I might have gotten a little dehydrated and it just kicked my ass, alas.

I was disappointed that I didn’t get to shop in Artist Alley and the Small Press Pavilion—too many crowds, too much stress—which was a helluva shame because I go to Comic Con to find new comic artists and see what the small presses are doing. A quaint idea, I know, but I’m funny that way.

These and more photos at Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/38976931@N06/tags/comicconsd2009/. I took some very bad photos at this con, partly because I wasn’t feeling great and I’d forgotten my camera battery charger and the camera focus goes to hell when the battery is low. Oh well. There lots of promotional stuff going on across the street from the con, and also some odd Christian protest and a guy who didn’t like the Octomom. It was a circus, yes, indeed.

Stuff I did from the program notes:

Thursday

8:00-9:30 Green Lantern: First Flight World Premiere—Warner Home Video, Warner Premiere, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Animation proudly present the World Premiere of Green Lantern: First Flight, the fifth DC Universe animated original PG-13 movie. Green Lantern: First Flight finds Hal Jordan recruited to join the Green Lantern Corps and placed under the supervision of respected senior Lantern Sinestro. The earthling soon discovers his mentor is actually the central figure in a secret conspiracy that threatens the philosophies, traditions and hierarchy of the entire Green Lantern Corps. Hal must quickly hone his newfound powers and combat the treasonous Lanterns within the ranks to maintain order in the universe. Christopher Meloni (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) leads the cast as the voice of Hal Jordan aka Green Lantern. The cast includes Emmy Award nominee Victor Garber (Milk, Titanic), Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica), Michael Madsen (Reservoir Dogs), Juliet Landau (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), and John Larroquette (Night Court). Produced by animation legend Bruce Timm, Green Lantern: First Flight is directed by Lauren Montgomery (Wonder Woman) and scripted by four-time Emmy Award–winning writer Alan Burnett (The Batman). Warner Home Video will release Green Lantern: First Flight on Blu-ray Hi-Def and DVD on July 28, 2009. Ballroom 20

Friday

10:30-11:30 Comics Arts Conference Session #5: Fan Power—Daniel Debowy (MGH and McLean Hospitals) argues that the Millennial generation, represented by Hiro and Ando of NBC’s Heroes, has moved away from Oedipal narratives of individuals desiring parental power toward quests that end with abandoning it. Andrew Friedenthal (Dartmouth University) examines the 1968 revision of Wonder Woman into a kung-fu superspy and the push by second-wave feminist activists to “rescue” Wonder Woman, and finds she is ultimately a moneymaking commodity and fan appropriation can only go so far. Room 30AB

12:00-1:30 That ’70s Panel—Comic-Con started in the nostalgic decade of the 1970s, and this panel—moderated by Mark Evanier—takes a look at the comics industry way back then. Joining Mark are comic book superstars writer/editor Marv Wolfman, and Comic-Con special guests Steve Leialoha (Howard the Duck), Mike Royer (inker, Jack Kirby’s Fourth World books), Doug Moench (writer, Moon Knight, Master of Kung Fu), Nicola Cuti (writer, co-creator, E-Man), and a few surprises. Bell-bottoms optional. Room 8

6:30-7:30 Four Color Reality: Making Comics Relevant to Readers Across Cultures— Comic book stories have become the core of American pop culture—is there a big-budget spectacular that doesn’t in some fashion owe its existence to comic book roots these days? But sales of traditional-format comic books themselves have been in decline for years. This panel explores one reason for this shrinking market: the divergence between the identities of mainstream comic icons, who are typically straight, white, male, and American, and the demographic makeup of a new generation of readers. How can the comic book industry connect with changing audiences—not just of diverse races and backgrounds, but of different cultural and national origins as well? Moderated by Jeff Yang (editor-in-chief, Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology). Panelists include Dwayne McDuffie (Milestone Comics, JLA, Ben 10: Alien Force), Gail Simone (Wonder Woman), Gene Yang (American Born Chinese, The Eternal Smile), Stuart Moore (Wolverine: Noir, The 99), and Jai Nitz (Blue Beetle, El Diablo). Room 3

Iron Man: Beneath the Armor

Review by Budd

Iron Man stormed into theaters in 2008 introducing him to a world that may have never known him otherwise. This history into Iron Man fills in the gaps and lets you know how the original story went down. This book is filled with interviews with a plethora of people who worked on Iron Man over the years.

The chapters are broken down into the different eras of Iron Man comics. There is a section leading into the movie with some neat trivia. Character bios take up the last third of the book and cover pretty much anyone you can think of or have read about to that point. The last section has a break down of the different armors, what they did, and when Stark wore them.

The really great thing about this book is the illustrations. They have covers and snippets from issues going all the way back. Mingled in are pictures of promotional items and toys. These illustrations give you a grasp on how the character and comic art have changed over the years. There are even some original illustrations that are beautifully done in there.

This book is great for comic fans or those who have just recently been attracted to the Iron Man Character. Not only that, but this book goes in depth on the state of the industry that caused the comic and all comics to go certain directions. This a very educational book and is very well put together. Highly recommeded.

Prodigal Son Volume 1

Review By Budd

Wolverine is a fan favorite character in Marvel comic books. He was first featured in the Incredible Hulk comics and soon found himself as a member of the New X-Men. His past has always been shrouded in mystery. Wolverine: Prodigal Son is a re-imagining of the Logan character in a more youthful, modern setting with manga style artwork.

The story follows young Logan as he trains in a secluded, Canadian dojo. He was left there several years earlier with no memory of who he was or where he came from. At the school, Logan must master his martial arts skills without falling back on his incredible healing factor. Like most schools, Logan doesn’t get along with everyone but has a few very close friends.

When Logan first came to the school, he humiliated the schools best student, Morgan, in a fight. Morgan soon left the school only to let the humiliation simmer into hate. Now Morgan is back and he has brought a secret military organization with him.

This was a fun read and it completely resets the Wolverine story line. They shied away from using other established characters in this manga and stayed pretty true to what is considered cannon on Wolverine’s healing abilities. They come up with a clever reason as to why he has the nickname Wolverine as well. The story was okay, but it did emphasize that Logan’s biggest weakness is his reliance on his mutant abilities. It really hammers this home and it seems as if they are setting something bigger up.

I would recommend this to Wolverine fans that can handle this new interpretation of the character. If you aren’t familiar with Wolverine or you have just seen the X-Men movies, you should enjoy this as well. The book is rated 13+ due to some language and violence.

Fables #75

Review by Budd Black

Fables #75 is not a starting off point, but it is a must read to go forward. It is the culmination of the War and Pieces storyline that brings Fabletown head to head with Homelands. The artistic team deserves acclaim for bringing these epic battles to life. Willingham knocks the story out of the park as it changes everything. Sacrifices are made, fugitives are brought to justice, and lives are lost. The uncertainty and horrors of war are conveyed with words and images in this book. My only complaint is that it seemed almost rushed. Things are wrapped up with a little bow on top very quickly once the divisive blow is struck.

As this is in DC’s Vertigo line, this title is not for children despite it being about fairy tale/fable characters. This was my first time reading the Fables comic and although I was a little lost, I was able to pick up some key plot points rather easily and enjoy the book. This issue has definitely peaked my interest in the series and I will be looking for the collections down the road. This issue can also be found in Fables Vol. 11: War and Pieces.

Batman Unauthorized: Vigilantes, Jokers, and Heroes in Gotham City

Review by Linda Yau

With the New York Comic Con approaching in several more weeks, I figure it would be a good time to review this book. Batman Unauthorized is a series of eighteen essays that explores various aspects of the franchise of Batman. Topics cover from the sidekicks, to location, to possibilities, to villians, and even the identity/health of Batman; hardly anything is left unturned in this book. I bet the various writers in this book had fun researching for this book.

This is a book that is an example of an industry trying to be taken more seriously, and the content of this book is by some aspects worth more than the original pulp paper the comic was printed on. There is criticism and annotations that is similar to the Shakespearean criticisms out there. As a librarian, I can note of these chapters being actual researched content, that are with quotes, and references. What this book lacks though are images, that can be referred to.

The franchise of Batman has been long lasting, whereas many other superheros slowly lost their popularity. There is a popularity of Batman, where the man is reinvented or reinterpreted time and time again. Is he a campy Super hero that was depicted by Adam West, or is he the tormented soul that is represented in the Batman: The Dark Knight Returns comic series? That would be the fan’s preference though, this book tries to bring an unbiased approach to the Caped hero.

My opinion is this a book to be read if you are already a fan of the series from the comic books or the movie, or wish to learn more about different aspects of the series. One last criticism I have though is the lack of mention for the Bruce Timm’s animated versions of Batman, which I feel is also an interpretation of the Batman franchise.

Comics ought to be a great type of content to read on a hand-held computer, but I haven’t been really excited about comics on a hand-held device until now. iVerse Media has created a great reading experience on the iPhone with their iVerse Comic Reader. This app could be a case study on how to make digital comics work well on the small screen. Here is a list of my requirements, and how iVerse satisfied them:

1. The text must be easy to read

I don’t want to look at tiny, blurry text, or spend all my time zooming in to read the text then zooming back out to look at the drawings. Having to manually zoom and pan all the time makes reading feel like a chore. iVerse formats their titles with one panel per iPhone screen, with the iPhone held in landscape orientation. This makes the panel around the same size it would be in a printed book, so no zooming is needed.

2. Loading the next page/panel should take no longer than turning a page on a physical book

Immediacy is a critical part of the comics reading experience. Loading the next chunk of digital content should take no longer than a second, so it feels like turning the page of a physical book. While in theory it may sound OK for a transition to take slightly longer, maybe 2-5 seconds, it fundamentally changes the quality of the interaction into time spent waiting for an aggravating device that can’t keep up with the reader. The iVerse comics change panels very quickly, with a satisfying and simple touch screen interface. I found it fun to use. They provide an option to change the transition to a fancy “page curl” effect, which looks nice, but after a while I went back to the default sliding effect, because I liked the feel of how the new panel moved over and seemed to click into place.

3. Obtaining content must be easy

The iTunes store makes it as easy to download a new comic as it is to get a song. Ideally I would also want to be able to subscribe to comics the same way I can subscribe to podcasts, and get new issues automatically when they are released. I hope this feature gets added eventually.

4. Offer a free trial

iVerse has several issues available for free (at the time of this writing), including OZ: The Manga and Neozoic. There’s really no reason not to try these out.

5. Keep it simple
I don’t need a reader to have tons of features, I just want it to work reliably and simply. The iVerse reader gets this right. It automatically remembers your place in a comic, and lets you navigate one panel at a time or with a slider. But it doesn’t clutter up the reader with confusing features.

I only have one minor problem with the iVerse reader interface: when you go forward from the last panel, it wraps around to the last panel, but if you did it by accident there is no convenient way to reverse the process. I wish that scrolling the “wrong way” from the first panel would take you to the last one, provided you have already seen it.

6. Content can’t be too short

I don’t want reading a comic to take less time than downloading it. If the content is only a few pages long, I’m going to feel kind of ripped off, even if the download was free! The iVerse comics have plenty of digital “heft” to them. When I got to the end I did want more, but I felt like I had read a full comic and not just a few panels.

7. Quality content and sensible prices

Great digital delivery won’t make a bad comic good. So far, I’ve been impressed with the quality of the iVerse comics. The black-and-white title OZ: The Manga is fun, though it does suffer a bit from not having as much visual style as the Dorothy of Oz manga. I really liked the science fiction dinosaur story Neozoic. Its colors look great on the iPhone, and it starts off with a witty explanation of why dinosaurs didn’t go extinct. The iVerse titles are all $0.99, which I think is a perfect price.

All in all, iVerse has done a great job, and I’d recommend these iPhone apps. Check out the video of the iVerse Reader in action.

Owly: Tiny Tales

Review by Kris

Owly is a kind-hearted owl who cares for all those around him. His best friend is a worm and he associates with many fun characters in the place where he lives. He has many adventures like entering the ultimate birdbath contest, to helping his many friends out of all kinds of trouble. This is a collection of comics that Andy Runton published for free comic book day at conventions and out of print collections of tales.

Owly is a new type of hero. He may not be fighting crime, cleaning up evil, and those types of things, but Owly does put others before himself. He is adorably drawn and all of the other animals that inhabit the town that Owly lives in are so cute and cuddly you just want to snuggle with them. There are lessons that can be learned from this book and can help start great conversations between kids and their parents. In a world where the self is valued before the welfare of others Owly shows us that life is much more fulfilling when you help others.

There aren’t any words in this comic and it is a title that can be enjoyed by both kids and adults. This is the fifth book in a series of many Owly tales. I enjoyed this book immensely and want to check out the other books in the series. Owly: Tiny Tales is endearing from beginning to end and can be enjoyed by all!