Storytelling and graphic novels panel report
My writing group hosted a panel on "Storytelling and Graphic Novels" with five local guests, mostly drawn from the self-published/independent comics field. The event was extremely well attended, pretty close to standing room only. Almost all the guests brought nifty freebies that were promptly scooped up by the attendees. B&N had also ordered trade paperbacks for autograph signings afterwards.
The guests included:
A. David Lewis writes "Mortal Coils", along with his own comic scholarship and lectures. Some of the papers on Serious about Comics look interesting from a meta standpoint. He mentioned starting "Mortal Coils" because no one wrote short pieces anymore in comics. It was all massive 32 part maxi sagas.
Carla Speed McNeil writes, draws and publishes her own "Finder" series, but has also drawn "Queen and Country: Operation: Storm Front". She had some amusing stories about drawing the latter. She drew two of the Queen and Country issues while nine months pregnant, no mean feat, especially when trying to find some position that didn't make the kid want to dig in for dear life. She also mentioned she had a hard time writing anything short and self-contained, but absolutely no urge to write prose. Carla signed my Queen & Country trade. I talked to her a bit about writing. She handed me and ariadnesthread a copy of "Finder: Talisman" for "two book geeks". (I resemble that remark!) Her website actually includes the full issue #19 with part of the Talisman arc. I enjoyed it a lot.
John Gallagher writes and draws Buzz Boy for his Sky Dog Comics. He created his series specifically because there weren't a lot of kiddie titles out there. He also edited two anthologies supporting the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
Steve Conley writes and draws his Astounding Space Thrills series. He also did the artwork for science fiction "Escapist 2966" story in the second volume of the "Amazing Adventures of the Escapist". He showed off his portfolio of original artwork and even drew a nice space kitty when he autographed my copy of "Escapist."
Christian Benarek is co-writing one of the more unusual crossovers with Dracula v. King Arthur. I'm still not sure how he's going to pull that one off. He also runs Silent Devils Productions.
Questions ranged from their influences to how do writers and artists find each other. One interesting comment was that most of their respective projects were started more by what they weren't seeing in mainstream comics. A. David Lewis mentioned, though, as an academic, he so liked the footnotes that appear in Carla McNeil's "Finder" books that he has started incorporating them into his book, but that is rare. (Quite honestly, there wasn't a lot of love for the Big Two publishers. Not surprising, given their backgrounds, but it does make me wonder if some of the graphic novel/ comic book division is related to split between mainstream and indie publishers.
For pictures and article, A. David Lewis wrote an article for Pulse.
The guests included:
A. David Lewis writes "Mortal Coils", along with his own comic scholarship and lectures. Some of the papers on Serious about Comics look interesting from a meta standpoint. He mentioned starting "Mortal Coils" because no one wrote short pieces anymore in comics. It was all massive 32 part maxi sagas.
Carla Speed McNeil writes, draws and publishes her own "Finder" series, but has also drawn "Queen and Country: Operation: Storm Front". She had some amusing stories about drawing the latter. She drew two of the Queen and Country issues while nine months pregnant, no mean feat, especially when trying to find some position that didn't make the kid want to dig in for dear life. She also mentioned she had a hard time writing anything short and self-contained, but absolutely no urge to write prose. Carla signed my Queen & Country trade. I talked to her a bit about writing. She handed me and ariadnesthread a copy of "Finder: Talisman" for "two book geeks". (I resemble that remark!) Her website actually includes the full issue #19 with part of the Talisman arc. I enjoyed it a lot.
John Gallagher writes and draws Buzz Boy for his Sky Dog Comics. He created his series specifically because there weren't a lot of kiddie titles out there. He also edited two anthologies supporting the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
Steve Conley writes and draws his Astounding Space Thrills series. He also did the artwork for science fiction "Escapist 2966" story in the second volume of the "Amazing Adventures of the Escapist". He showed off his portfolio of original artwork and even drew a nice space kitty when he autographed my copy of "Escapist."
Christian Benarek is co-writing one of the more unusual crossovers with Dracula v. King Arthur. I'm still not sure how he's going to pull that one off. He also runs Silent Devils Productions.
Questions ranged from their influences to how do writers and artists find each other. One interesting comment was that most of their respective projects were started more by what they weren't seeing in mainstream comics. A. David Lewis mentioned, though, as an academic, he so liked the footnotes that appear in Carla McNeil's "Finder" books that he has started incorporating them into his book, but that is rare. (Quite honestly, there wasn't a lot of love for the Big Two publishers. Not surprising, given their backgrounds, but it does make me wonder if some of the graphic novel/ comic book division is related to split between mainstream and indie publishers.
For pictures and article, A. David Lewis wrote an article for Pulse.