Ferret Press – PANEL Blog

Archive for April, 2008

who?

April 8th, 2008 | Author: Dara | Categories: Uncategorized | No Comments

“The best way to criticize a movie is to make another movie.”

–attributed to Jean-Luc Godard.

Appropriate in our circle too, I’d say.

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April 7th, 2008 | Author: Dara | Categories: cons, gem city | No Comments

Comic Related has started to post up pics from Sunday’s Gem City. I never saw this couple in the Indy room. Cosplayers have arrived at Gem City. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. It was bound to happen.

We all got to chat up the CR guy. Kinda neat that someone’s covering some of the smaller shows as well as the big ones.

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Gem City Wrap Up (or Thank You Matt Feazell)

April 7th, 2008 | Author: Tony | Categories: bankies, cons, gem city | No Comments

Yesterday was the third annual Gem City Comic Convention in Dayton, Ohio at Wright State University. As always, Gem City is the most comfortable convention there is as guests are treated to cushy, executive-style office chairs. The independent creators’ room is in a conference room off the main dealers’ room. The show has gotten bigger and bigger each year. While the dealers’ room has always been hopping, what started as about ten creators in a small room, has turned into a couple of dozen small-press creators showing their wares. Out in the solarium/hallway is a great mix of old-time professionals (Marv Wolfman) and newer artists (Billy Tan).

PANEL represented at the show. Andy Bennett was a featured guest out in the solarium. Dara Naraghi, Tom Williams, Craig Bogart, and I kicked it in the independent creators’ room where, according to a disembodied voice over the PA, “the cutting edge of comics was occurring.” Molly Durst wasn’t set up to sell comics, but was there (and scored a sweet set of fuzzy dice, polyhedron style). Luckily, we got there early to set up since the tables, for some reason, are first-come, first serve. While it wasn’t a problem for the most part, there were some creators who showed up later after the tables were all taken; they were forced to take hastily set up tables shoved in the middle of the room. Maybe next year, the indie room will end up being two rooms.

There seemed to be a decent amount of traffic for a Sunday show on the nicest weather day of the year so far. There were the normal lulls in traffic at the beginning and end of the day. But while there were a lot of people in the room, it didn’t seem like many people were actually looking at the books, and they definitely weren’t buying.

I can’t speak for the rest of the guys, but sales were way down, especially compared to the last two Gem City shows. Even people who were familiar with the PANEL books and had bought them before didn’t pick up the new anthologies. In fact, if it wasn’t for Matt Feazell buying three Class of 2006 books for a dollar (and trading a Cynical Man for my Pyramid Story), I would have been totally skunked on the show. I blame the economy. We need to have another show after the economic stimulus checks come through.

Having said that, I did have a good time at the show. I was able to make a good bit of progress on a freelance editing job, so I technically didn’t lose money on the show. It is always good to sit down and chat with the PANEL guys, and the show is only about 45 minutes from my house. The big pile of comics that Craig got from Bell, Book and Comic were fun to look through.

Even though my sales were low, I’m not ready to give up comics, just rethink some strategy.

No Bankies for the convention, but here are a few quotes:

Dara: “Are we going to Chipotle for lunch?” trying to continue a PANEL con tradition, but we didn’t know where the nearest one was.

Young kid: “Is this appropriate?” while pointing at Craig’s newest Ineffables comic.

Sean: “What Sandman are you drawing, the Gaiman version or the gas mask version?”
Craig (with contempt): “The Ditko Sandman.”

Did I miss anything else?

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Monday Morning "Guess the Artist"

April 7th, 2008 | Author: Dara | Categories: guess the artist | 1 Comment

I’ve managed to stump even the most stalwart of you guessers over the past 2 weeks. Let’s see if I can keep the streak going…

(click image to monstersize)

(previous weeks: 9/12/2005, 9/19/2005, 9/26/2005, 10/3/2005, 10/10/2005, 10/17/2005, 10/24/2005, 10/31/2005, 11/1/2005, 11/2/2005, 11/3/2005, 11/4/2005, 11/5/2005, 11/6/2005, 11/7/2005, 11/14/2005, 11/21/2005, 11/28/2005, 12/5/2005, 12/12/2005, 12/19/2005, 12/26/2005, 1/2/2006, 1/9/2006, 1/16/2006, 1/23/2006, 1/30/2006, 2/06/2006, 2/13/2006, 2/20/2006, 2/27/2006, 3/6/2006, 3/13/2006, 3/20/2006, 3/27/2006, 4/3/2006, 4/4/2006, 4/5/2006, 4/6/2006, 4/7/2006, 4/8/2006, 4/9/2006, 4/10/2006, 4/17/2006, 4/23/2006, 5/1/2006, 5/8/2006, 5/15/2006, 5/22/2006, 5/29/2006, 6/5/2006, 6/12/2006, 6/19/2006, 6/26/2006, 7/3/2006, 7/10/2006, 7/17/2006, 7/24/2006, 7/31/2006, 8/7/2006, 8/13/2006, 8/21/2006, 8/28/2006, 9/4/2006, 9/11/2006, 9/18/2006, 9/25/2006, 10/2/2006, 10/9/2006, 10/16/2006, 10/23/2006, 10/30/2006, 11/6/2006, 11/13/2006, 11/20/2006, 11/27/2006, 12/4/2006, 12/11/2006, 12/18/2006, 12/25/2006, 1/1/2007, 1/8/2007, 1/15/2007, 1/22/2007, 1/29/2007, 2/5/2007, 2/12/2007, 2/19/2007, 2/26/2007, 3/5/2007, 3/12/2007, 3/19/2007, 3/26/2007, 4/2/2007, 4/5/2007, 4/9/2007, 4/16/2007, 4/23/2007, 4/30/2007, 5/7/2007, 5/14/2007, 5/21/2007, 5/28/2007, 6/4/2007, 6/11/2007, 6/18/2007, 6/25/2007, 7/2/2007, 7/9/2007, 7/16/2007, 7/23/2007, 7/30/2007, 8/6/2007, 8/13/2007, 8/20/2007, 8/27/2007, 9/3/2007, 9/10/2007, 9/17/2007, 9/24/2007, 10/1/2007, 10/8/2007, 10/15/2007, 10/22/2007, 10/29/2007, 11/5/2007, 11/12/2007, 11/19/2007, 11/26/2007, 12/3/2007, 12/10/2007, 12/17/2007, 12/24/2007, 12/31/2007, 1/7/2008, 1/14/2008, 1/21/2008, 1/28/2008, 2/4/2008, 2/11/2008, 2/18/2008, 2/25/2008, 3/3/2008, 3/10/2008, 3/17/2008, 3/24/2008, 3/31/2008)

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Allied Powers- plot for the artist

April 6th, 2008 | Author: Dara | Categories: Allied Powers | No Comments

Here’s Brent’s previously seen splash page in glorious color!

I’m still loving this…

Dara asked me on the way to Gem City how much script I have written for the series; I told him I had none! As I wrote earlier, we’re doing this retro-Marvel style, with me providing short chapter summaries that he’ll illustrate and I’ll follow with script. Below is my plot for chapter three.

Chapter 3

Mister Liberty, Human Tank, Dunkirk Spirit and Code Talker have traveled to the Belorussian town of Novugrudek, having been sent to find a scientist their intelligence reports is being sought after by the Nazis. After a couple scenes of them avoiding Nazi patrols which are rounding up Jews, we see in flashback them getting their assignment in England from Churchill’s advisor (the same one seen in chapter one). Scene shifts back to present, where we see the nameless scientist being discovered in a safe house by a Nazi patrol. The Quartet intercedes and routes the Nazis (HT demonstrates in some fashion that his strength has increased recently), but before they can move on with their charge, a ragtag group of machine gun-toting individuals surrounds them.

Scene shifts to Colonel Styx and a group of Nazi soldiers; he is overseeing the search for the scientist, and is visiting a safe house they know he has been at in recent days. He is visibly displeased with his troops’ progress; to expedite matters, he gestures at a soldier and the man undergoes a gruesome transformation into a creature dubbed a “Bloodhound” (or the German translation thereof). Styx smiles as the newly created man-beast starts tracking the scientist.

ML, HT, CT & DS are led through the dense forest surrounding the town until they come to a hidden community of Jews living in the woods. The group’s leaders, the Bielski brothers (Tuvia, Zus, and Asael), give a tour of this thriving hidden community, boasting a synagogue, bathhouse, a theatre, and camouflaged dugouts built into the ground to provide shelter for their population of nearly one thousand. The Bielskis explain their mission to send fighting men into the ghettos to rescue Jews and provide them a safe haven in the surrounding forests, right under the Nazi’s noses.

Their tour is interrupted by the Bloodhound and a unit of German soldiers, who realize they have made a far greater discovery than they originally sought. The Nazis turn and race back into the woods to report to Styx what they have found; ML, HT, CT and DS, as well as the Bielskis, all get steely glares and resolve that the Nazis must not be allowed to report back. The chase is on!

(To Be Continued.)

Brent can turn that into 10-15 pages as he sees fit. I’m trying to incorporate lesser known true-life historical figures or events into the background of the sci-fi superhero story I have running over the ten chapters. The Bielski brothers and their hidden community described above are based in fact.

This chapter might be trimmed down a bit; it’s a little crowded with characters, but each one has a need to be there. I’m hoping that spreading the story over two chapters will help, but I’ll need input from Brent in order to decide, so this might not be the final version.

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Gem City Convention

April 5th, 2008 | Author: Dara | Categories: cons, gem city | No Comments

Sorry for the late notice, but tomorrow it the Gem City Comic Convention. A bunch of members of PANEL will be there. It is a great convention on the Wright State University campus in Dayton, Ohio. If you are around, stop by and say hi.

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Rantz talkin’ Tori on CBR

April 3rd, 2008 | Author: Dara | Categories: image comics | No Comments

Comic Book Resources rolled out their new look and it’s pretty sharp. My Tori editor, Rantz Hoseley talks with CBR about Comic Book Tattoo, Tori Amos, life and living it. New preview pages are up as well. Off to the left is the new cover art for it. Comic Book Tattoo is slated for release this summer.

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Another geek hierarchy

April 3rd, 2008 | Author: Dara | Categories: Uncategorized | No Comments

We’ve seen these before, but here’s another Geek Hierarchy.

I would quibble with putting sports geeks so low on the list; sadly, they command more social clout than the writer believes. Also, I would argue that people who actually make indie comics are slightly above regular comic book fans. That could just be wishful thinking.

According to this, I’m around the middle of the pack.

This question came up at the Ogre the other day — are Furries considered an official part of the geek spectrum now? I don’t think I’ve seen them listed on other geek hierarchies.

I once submitted a Star Trek script … does that make me a fanfic writer? I promise I did not put myself in it.

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