Archive for Lubbock Comic Book Expo

Dawn of the Brightest Day

Brightest Day #0

Well, the Blackest Night is finished — now it’s time for the Brightest Day. DC’s newest crossover is leaning hard on the implication that stuff’s finally going to be less bleak and horrible, but no one’s buying that too much. Still, an interesting start for this new series — Deadman is the only revived ex-zombie who’s still wearing a White Lantern Ring, and he’s just discovered that it allows him to revive the dead. The ring also takes him on a tour around the solar system catching up with the other twelve resurrected characters. Aquaman is making up for lost time with Mera but is afraid to go back in the water. Professor Zoom and Captain Boomerang are locked up in Iron Heights Penitentiary. Hawkman and Hawkgirl are remembering all their past lives while shady characters uncover the ancient bones of the Hawks’ first Egyptian incarnations. Maxwell Lord has another plan to take over the world. The Martian Manhunter wants to rebuild Mars. Jade is getting training from the Green Lantern Corps. Ronnie Raymond and Jason Rusch are stuck in the Firestorm matrix together, even though they hate each other. Osiris hopes to bring Black Adam and Isis back. Hawk and Dove are not really going to work out as crimefighting partners. So why did all these specific people get brought back from the dead?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Not the most enthralling debut ever, but it’s not bad. This functions more as a re-introduction to these characters before most of them are farmed out to other comic books, but it’s a fairly charming re-intro. Dialogue seems fine, very nice character conflicts being set up, and the art by Fernando Pasarin is very, very nice.

The Flash #1

Barry Allen is back as the Flash getting re-acquainted with Central City. He’s back on the job as a police scientist — his long absence explained away as a few years in the witness protection program — in a police department plagued by high turnover and too many unsolved cases. And the first big mystery of the day — the apparent murder downtown of the Mirror Master. Who’s behind it? The Rogues? A new player? A threat from the future? Or it is Barry himself?

Verdict: Thumbs up. A nice glimpse into the fairly rotten situation Barry has gotten himself into. The current version of Central City is no Gotham City, but it’s a place where the cops are not generally winning the fight against crime. And Barry is definitely the odd man out at his new job — most of his coworkers really dislike him, ’cause the brass have been pushing him as the golden boy who’s going to fix the department. Fighting supervillains almost sounds easy in comparison…

And hey, I definitely need to drop y’all another reminder — don’t forget the Lubbock Comic Book Expo, this Saturday and Sunday at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center. Let’s turn it over to Will Terrell, and he can tell you what’s what:

We have a great event planned for everyone, with lots of Fun Sketch Club activities for the whole family, from group drawing tables, silent panel comics and even a stick-figure drawing competition!  We also have talented comic book artists selling their own books, art and sketches.  And even costumed characters!  This event is part of the Lubbock arts festival.  The festival is $2 for adults and $1 for kids, and the Comic Expo is free!  The Expo will be 10-7 Sat and 11-5 Sun, and we will be upstairs.

We hope to see you this weekend!  This will be the fourth comic convention our group has organized.  When we first started, our intention was that if we were only able to do ONE convention, that we hoped it would be one that people would remember fondly for years to come.  We have been extremely blessed to be able to put on FOUR shows that have far surpassed our hopes and expectations.  They have all been very fun and memorable for everyone that attended them!

There ya go — be there or be square.

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Who Wants Some Burritos?!

So Batman, what do you like to eat after a long night of fighting crime?

Sounds good to me! Here, have a napkin.

This Saturday, April 10th, is going to be Lubbock Sketch Club Appreciation Day at Freebirds, at 4930 South Loop 289, Suite 250. That’s during the regular Sketch Night from 7-10 p.m.. If you’re in the Sketch Club, drop by, make some art, and chips and dip will be on the house. And if you’re not a Sketch Club member — sounds like it’d be a good time to go meet some artists, don’t it?

And speaking of meeting artists, that sounds like a nice cue to mention the Lubbock Comic Book Expo again. Remember, it’s scheduled for the weekend after next — April 17-18, during the Lubbock Arts Festival, at the Lubbock Municipal Civic Center at 1501 Mac Davis Lane. It’ll run from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Admission to the Expo is completely free! And admission to the Arts Festival is just two bucks. Dude, bring an extra two bucks and go check out the rest of the art, too, a’ight?

Don’t miss out, or there will be hurtin’.

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Lubbock’s Comics Connections: Kara Edwards

Not all careers in animation require the ability to draw — for example, Kara Edwards is a voice actress who was born in Lubbock in 1977.

She started her career working at Radio Disney in Dallas not long after graduating from high school. After working as an intern for eight months, she was hired as a writer, producer, voice actress, and children’s voice director. She became co-host of the “Squeege and Kara Show” on syndicated Radio Disney in 1997.

Her first role as a freelance voice actress was as Lime in “Dragon Ball Z.” She was soon hired to provide the voices for Goten, Videl, and Gotenks for the remaining episodes of the series. Kara also provided the characters’ voices for a couple of “Dragon Ball Z” video games. (You can see a video of Kara discussing working on the “Dragon Ball Z” shows right here.)

After going back to radio for several years, she returned to voice work, portraying Upa and Pocowatha in a recent version of the original “Dragon Ball” anime, as well as Murugu in “Yu Yu Hakusho” and Arizona in “Ask Arizona” for Highlightskids.com. She also voices Celica in a series called “Solty Rei” and a character named Razzles on a PBS kids’ series called “Raggs.”

Now I’m not expecting that you’ll be able to meet Kara at the Lubbock Comic Book Expo next month (I haven’t yet seen who’ll be on the guest list), but the thing is, you will get to meet local comic creators and artists. There are always a ton of artists who show up to meet folks, make some sketches, sell some comics, and drink in the atmosphere — you should be sure you make time in your schedule on April 17–18 at the Lubbock Municipal Civic Center so you don’t miss out on meeting some interesting folks.

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Lubbock Comic Expo coming up SOON!

Color me embarrassed, but I’d completely lost track of time — I didn’t realize until yesterday that the next Lubbock Comic Book Expo was coming up in only a month!

So mark your calendars — it’s going to be held in conjunction with the Lubbock Arts Festival again, and this year, it’ll be a two-day event: Saturday, April 17, from 10 a.m.-8 p.m., and Sunday, April 18, from 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Like last year’s Expo, this will be at the Lubbock Municipal Civic Center at 1501 Mac Davis Lane.

Not sure yet what sort of programs and events will be going on, but you can certainly bet on lots and lots of comic creators, lots of vendors, numerous programs, and the ever-popular costume contest.

More info coming ASAP!

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The Post-Expo Hangover

Well, not a hangover exactly. Alcohol in large enough concentrations is a poison, and there weren’t nothing poisonous about Saturday’s Lubbock Comic Book Expo.

We had at least 2,500 attendees, which was a heck of a lot more than last year. Part of that was because the Lubbock Arts Festival was downstairs, and some folks climbed the stairs to see what was going on. But I’m good with that. A lot of those curiosity-seekers left with a few free comics, thanks to Free Comic Book Day. They enjoyed the presentations we held. They had a blast watching the costume contest. They got to talk to a lot of wonderful artists and vendors, and they picked up a few old comics they remembered from their childhoods, or they got a sketch from someone, or at the very least, they left saying, “That was fun. What a great group of people.”

As far as I’m concerned, this was a huge success. When I left, I was actually in physical pain, and I was so tired, I went to bed at 9 p.m. and slept for about ten hours. But I would do the whole thing over again in a heartbeat.

Here’s a bunch of pictures from the event:

We’re doing it again this November, from the main exhibit hall in the Science Spectrum. Watch for more announcements about the West Texas Comicon as we get closer to fall!

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I Know, I Know, Another Reminder…

Wow, I sure do talk about the Lubbock Comic Book Expo a lot…

Actually, I really just wanted to direct your attention to this great article about the Expo that appeared in today’s edition of the A-J.

Go read it, then come on down to the Civic Center and see the show!

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EXPO!

Are you ready for the Lubbock Comic Book Expo? Well, get ready. Get your costume together, get some bucks scrounged up to buy some comics, get your head in gear to meet and talk with some of the comic artists from Lubbock. ‘Cause it’s all happening tomorrow.

Let’s summarize the particulars: The Lubbock Comic Book Expo will be held tomorrow, May 2, at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center, at 1501 Mac Davis Lane. This is held in conjunction with the Lubbock Arts Festival, so expect a crowd. Bring yer walking shoes, ’cause the parking lot is going to be jam-packed. Entrance to the Comic Book Expo is free (we’re upstairs in the Civic Center’s mezzanine), but if you want to get into the Arts Festival, too, it’s gonna cost you two bucks. If I were you, I’d bring two bucks, ’cause the Arts Festival is great fun, and they got lemonade.

What’s there to do once you get there? Well, you can meet tons of exhibitors who will be selling comics, drawing sketches, shaking hands, and making contacts. You can enjoy Free Comic Book Day (but you better get there early, ’cause the free comics will probably disappear very quickly). You can get your picture taken with Batman, the Silver Surfer, the Headless Horseman, or any of your fellow comic fanboys and fangirls.

You can enjoy a wide variety of presentations, including:

  • 11 a.m.: “The Reality of Spider-Man” with Rob Weiner – in which Rob will attempt to convince us that Spidey is real and is probably going to bite us and inject us with radioactive spider-man eggs.
  • 12 noon: “Lubbock’s Comics Connections” with Scott Slemmons – in which I read off a bunch of my old blog posts, but you should come see it anyway, ’cause I’ll be using my beautiful radio voice, which can soothe savage goats.
  • 1 p.m.: A demonstration by the Texas Tech Library 2D Lab – the first of three programs about computer aids for artists.
  • 2 p.m.: A demonstration by the Texas Tech Library 3D Lab – The folks from the Tech Library also wanted to do something with their 4D Lab, but it got lost somewhere in the Jurassic. Maybe we’ll get to see that one last year.
  • 3 p.m.: A Flash animation demonstration with Paul Davidson from South Plains College – a huge number of cartoons nowadays are animated using Adobe Flash, so this should be a good resource for aspiring animators.
  • 4 p.m.: The Costume Contest – Are you gonna let that sweaty guy in the trenchcoat, fedora, and homemade Rorschach mask beat you? NO WAY! It’s ON LIKE DONKEY KONG, BABY!
  • 5 p.m.: “The Future of Comics in West Texas” with Will Terrell and Robert Mora – in which Will and Robert emerge from the Texas Tech 4D Lab and destroy us all with Atomic Killbots from the 29th Century.

We’re gonna have a blast, and we want all of you to come say howdy. Remember, that’s tomorrow, 10 a.m., at the Civic Center! If you miss out, your future grandchildren will laugh at your lameness.

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Uniform Fetish

I do believe we’ve mentioned the Lubbock Comic Book Expo, haven’t we? Sure, we have! Remember, it’s going to be on Saturday, May 2, at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center, during the annual Lubbock Arts Festival. It’s just two bucks to get into the Arts Festival, which is one holy heck of a bargain, and if you wanna head over to the Comic Expo, it’s dead solid free, which is an even better bargain.

Now let’s talk about some of our events for a bit. The one thing everyone seems pretty stoked about is our costume contest. We had a good one last year (I’m still impressed by the guy who dressed up as Fry from “Futurama” to win first prize), but it was pretty small. We want to have a lot more people in costume this year.

So if you’ve got a costume, please bring it! I don’t care if you’re young or old — they make a lot of really cool kids costumes nowadays, but there are a lot of dedicated cosplayers out there who make their own costumes by hand. So if you have a costume, wear it and come down to the Civic Center on May 2. The costume contest is set for 4 p.m. If you wanna come before that, we’d love you there — people in costume are great for bringing in more attendance. Heck, if we like your costume, we may send you to walk around the Arts Festival to help drum up some interest in the Expo.

So seriously, if you have a costume, we want to see you there! If you look like this:

We wanna see you!

If you look like this:

We wanna see you!

Heck, even if you look like this:

We STILL wanna see you!

Costume Contest! May 2 at 4 p.m. at the Civic Center! BE THERE!

Hey, wait a sec, I haven’t listed any of our scheduled presentations yet, and time’s starting to run short, so here’s the list right now:

11 a.m.: The Reality of Spider-Man with Rob Weiner

12 noon: Lubbock’s Comics Connections with Scott Slemmons (That’s me!)

1 p.m.: Texas Tech Library 2D Lab demonstration

2 p.m.: Texas Tech Library 3D Lab demonstration

3 p.m.: Flash animation with Paul Davidson from South Plains College

4 p.m.: The Costume Contest!

5 p.m.: The Future of Comics in West Texas with Will Terrell and Robert Mora

Is the Comic Book Expo on your calendar? It better be! Or else I’m showing you my Out-of-Shape and Unshaven Dr. Manhattan costume!

UPDATE: As Will Terrell notes in comments, the grand prize for the costume contest is a commissioned illustration by him! This is normally a $150 – $200 value, so y’all should feel free to get wildly enthused and start tearing up the joint.

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Big News for the Lubbock Comic Book Expo!

Listen here, when I say “Big News for the Lubbock Comic Book Expo,” what I really mean is “Freakin’ Unbelievably Colossal News for the Lubbock Comic Book Expo.”

Now the Expo is still going to be held on Saturday, May 2, from 10 a.m.-8 p.m. So if you’ve already marked that on your calendar in pen, you’re still okay. That isn’t changing.

But everything else is changing. Y’all better hold on to yer hats.

The Lubbock Comic Book Expo is now an official part of this year’s Lubbock Arts Festival. That means everything’s going to be taking place in the Lubbock Municipal Civic Center on 1501 Mac Davis Lane downtown. We’ll be on the upper mezzanine level of the Civic Center, and we can expect an extremely large number of attendees, thanks to the 22,000 people who attend the Arts Festival every year. And it’s getting a price drop this year — admission to the Arts Festival is only $2, and the Comic Book Expo is completely free.

For more information about the Lubbock Comic Book Expo, visit the official website, and if you’d like a sneak peek at the Civic Center’s mezzanine where the Expo will be set up, check out the pix that Lubbock Sketch Club founder Will Terrell has on his website — and keep your eyes peeled for more announcements about the Expo on the way.

But ya know what? That’s still not all.

The Sketch Club now has plans for a second comic convention in Lubbock. This time, it’ll be on November 7th at the Science Spectrum. It’s on a bye week for Texas Tech football, so you know you’ll be looking for something fun to fill your weekend plans.

This is going to be a very big year for comics in Lubbock. Get on board now and enjoy the ride.

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Lubbock Comic Book Expo II: Electric Boogaloo

Plans are now in motion for the second annual Lubbock Comic Book Expo! It’s set for Saturday, May 2, at the Science Spectrum.

Looks like there are some changes in store — the location moved from the back room of the Science Spectrum to a room closer to the front entrance, and that means to get in, you’ll have to pay for admission into the main museum section of the Science Spectrum itself: $7.50 for adults, $6 for kids, but just $2 for Science Spectrum members, and you’ll still get in free if you come in costume!

There’s still room for vendors, exhibitors, creators, and of course, volunteers. Head over to the official website for more info.

Expect more announcements to come soon, and mark your calendar for May 2.

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