The Albany Comic Con goes down THIS SUNDAY at the Holiday Inn on Wolf Road in Albany.

Guests include:

Instead, I will just say what a wonderful thing you missed if you weren’t there. The Holiday Inn on Wolf Road hosted [...]]]> I wanted to do a wonderful and inspiring write-up of the day I spent at the Albany Comic Con last Sunday, but time has been in short supply and life has not.

Instead, I will just say what a wonderful thing you missed if you weren’t there. The Holiday Inn on Wolf Road hosted the festivities as they have for several years now. Unlike last Spring, Sunday’s event was back to using both rooms for the Con, which gave more walking space and room to breathe the air shared by creators from stalwart writer Ron Marz to legendary penciler and inker Dick Ayers.

I spoke with Ron, who has encountered controversy in his return to DC Comics due to the setting of the first issue of “Voodoo,” part of the company’s much ballyhooed relaunch this Fall. Me and Ron have developed a friendly rapport over the last couple years stemming from our mutual involvement in the “Mockingbird Marathon” fundraise for Literacy Volunteers of the Capital Region, so I can’t and won’t deign to be wholly objective in the discussion. In case you don’t know, basically Ron is a mysognist and a monster. Well, not really, but that’s what a lot of comic readers on the internet would have you believe. The first issue of “Voodoo,” which is marketed and identified as a Teen book (meaning for more mature/developed readers), takes place in a strip club. It does not glorify the practice, nor is it objectifying in its context: the lead character is a shape-shifting alien who is a stripper for all of the first half of the book for reconaissance. I bought the first two issues from him and read them myself. I think the book and Ron are victims of the fallout from controversies stemming from other (and lesser) offerings birthed by DC’s relaunch; in particular the over-sexualization of the Catwoman character, who ends her first issue straddling Batman on a rooftop and engaging in intercourse with him. On the other hand, the best description I have for “Voodoo” is as sci-fi noir set in the DCU, and the various settings are appropriate for what it’s trying to accomplish. Whether one thinks that’s appropriate for a DC book is something to take up with editorial, not the creators.

I also saw another guy I worked with on the Marathon, Matthew Dow Smith, the penciller for IDW’s “Doctor Who” comics. I finally picked up a trade from him to read. Thus far I’ve only enjoyed his art from afar, which unlike so many other pencilers is stylistic and expressionist rather than trying to restrict itself to modern comic mores. In that sense I feel he’s reminiscent of Mike Mignola, though I’m sure more than one person would bristle at the suggestion. Matthew, in particular, will probably be a little embarrassed by the comparison, but hey, at least it’s a flattering one.

After talking to Matthew I was greeted with a hello from a stranger at an adjacent table. Ian Struckhoff, in an aggressive but pleasant pitch, introduced himself to me and shook my hand. He’s self-publishing writer and creator with a salesman’s knack for engagement. I had a really pleasant conversation with him about the creative process and his own imprint, Black Label Comics. When I got home I read the first issue of his title “The Dark Age,” about a female homicide detective on the trail of a killer who starts hearing about an angel. The issue reveals, through flashbacks, that magic was a very real and functioning aspect of our civilization until it was exterminated by military intervention during the Middle Ages (possibly, and it may be revealed in later issues, as part of the Crusades). The heavy premise could weigh down the book, but to his credit Ian keeps it light and only tells the reader what s/he needs to know to stay in the story. I was glad that the work lived up to the pitch and I’m intrigued to see more of it.

Later in the day I was shocked to see J.M. DeMatteis, who co-wrote and drew one of my favorite books of all time, Justice League International. I fanboyed a little bit, getting his autograph and gushing over his work. I hadn’t paid much attention to the marketing leading up to the Con since I was already going, so his presence was a genuine and pleasant surprise.

Da na nana nana nana da na nana nana nana HENRY

Then, of course, there’s the people walking the floors. Enthusiastic fans chatting up anyone and everyone around them, costumed anime characters, babies dressed as Robin (that’s Eric Newsom‘s adorable and sweet little two-month-old Henry), and a working replica of R2D2. The Con is, as expected, a strange and wonderful assortment of geekdom, but it’s also accessible to the layperson.

The only regret I have is that I was unable to get a moment with Dick Ayers, a truly great and sometimes overlooked artist from the 50s whose work on Western comic “Ghost Rider” (not to be confused with Marvel’s “Ghost Rider”) was incredible. He later worked for Marvel itself and became one of the best inkers the prolific and legendary Jack Kirby ever had. Thankfully, local blog Nippertown got a word with the man in the days leading up to the Con and has a nice little retrospective on his career.

They’ll be back again in the Spring for another Con, and so will I. The official site has more info at Albanycomicbookshow.com.

RECOMMENDED READING
Doctor Who Volume 3: Final Sacrifice (drawn by Matthew Dow Smith)
Doctor Who II Volume 2: When Worlds Collide (drawn by Matthew Dow Smith)
Artifacts Volume 1 TP(written by Ron Marz)
Samurai: Heaven And Earth (Samurai Heaven & Earth) (vol. 1) (written by Ron Marz)
Golden Age Ghost Rider (Dick Ayers)
Justice League International, Vol. 1 (JM DeMatteis)
Justice League International, Vol. 1 (JM DeMatteis)

I know where I’ll be: at the Holiday Inn on Wolf Road, along with a throng of fellow eager, excited, and pathetic geeks for the Albany Comic Con. It runs 10:00am until 4:00pm and, in addition to all the great talent and swag assembled, it will help raise [...]]]>

Official poster. Click for full image.

Where are you going to be this Sunday?

I know where I’ll be: at the Holiday Inn on Wolf Road, along with a throng of fellow eager, excited, and pathetic geeks for the Albany Comic Con. It runs 10:00am until 4:00pm and, in addition to all the great talent and swag assembled, it will help raise some much needed funds for Japan. From the website:

Professionals and dealers will donate items to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. The proceeds will be donated through Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to Caritas Japan, from St Ambrose church to help the people of Japan. 100% of all proceeds from this auction will reach the people of Japan. The massive effort to relocate and house people who have lost everything, in the tsunami disaster, will be ongoing. Please bid generously to help support this effort. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Japan, in hopes they can recover fully, and quickly from this horrible disaster. Thank you in advance for your support in this effort. (2-3pm). Click here to view the items for the auction.

In addition, writer Ron Marz (who’s actually a local) will be selling an exclusive print for $10, all of which will go to Japan disaster relief.

Not bad for a form so frivolous, no?

All joking aside, I’m a huge fan of the form and excited for this Sunday. The last time I went I walked away with some fantastic stuff from the seventies and early eighties, walking away with stuff ranging from stories involving the Justice League investigating the murder of Santa Claus(!) to one of the more intelligent treatments I’ve ever read in the medium. I also had some fascinating conversations with not only artists and dealers, but also passerbys and fellow enthusiasts at the bins and boxes assembled on the various tables. The real shame is that it only runs six hours, as I could literally spend an entire day talking to people and sifting through the great stuff available withot getting bored.

I’m a bit passionate, if you haven’t caught on yet. I was reared on comic books and, contrary to popular opinion, credit the genre exclusively with cultivating my love of words at an early age. Despite preconceptions that the books are dismissively written for children, comic book writers are known and sometimes notorious for writing above the heads of children to make the books accessible to older folk, much like Pixar does with its animated films. As a result, comic books expanded my vocabulary far more than any other book, newspaper, or magazine could. If some writer used a word or described something that was alien to me, I was likely to either just take a guess using the context provided or just ignore it completely. If those same words or descriptions were used by Captain America, on the other hand, I needed to know exactly what the man in red, white, and blue was saying. After all, the fate of the world literally depended on it.

So I’m going to celebrate and give back to an industry and genre to which I owe a great deal, and to meet – again – those people like Ron Marz with whom I grew up admiring and have since developed a good rapport with and further appreciation for.

So check it out, because you won’t regret. And feel free to come find me. I’ll be the guy with a smile a mile wide.

THE ALBANY COMIC CON
Sunday, April 17th
@ The Holiday Inn on Wolf Road
http://www.albanycomicbookshow.com/