ZOLOCON: GAME ON Premiering July 23 & 24th

ZOLOCON is known for producing the largest toy, comic, and collectibles show in Bucks County, PA, and now that adventure continues! This Saturday, July 24th and Sunday, July 25th, THE FUGE will welcome a fantastic array of artists, cosplayers and vendors loaded with toys, video games and gaming paraphernalia at ZOLOCON: GAME ON!

Medicom Comes To the US for DesignerCon 2018

DesignerCon, the leading design and art toy show in America, and famed Japanese toy company MEDICOM TOY today officially announce their new and exciting partnership for DesignerCon 2018.  This will be the first time in MEDICOM TOY’s history, that they will participate as an exhibitor at a show in the USA on a full scale.  Apart from bringing an array of exclusive products of their own to the show, MEDICOM TOY will help to curate a pavilion of Japanese artists, to help expose them to audiences here in the West.

Asbury Park Comic Con Lands May 12th

These days, when you say Asbury Park, NJ, folks think Jersey Shore and Zombies. One drive through town and you'll agree it is the perfect location for most Troma films (take that as you will), but among the bitten up streets and closed down venues is a shining diamond called Asbury Lanes. This venue is doing its best to breathe some life back into this dusty town with Dr. Sketchy, Burlesque, films and the standard...punk rock bowling. NOW, the venue pulls a quick change and becomes the location for an actual, full blown Comic Con.

Asbury Park Comic Con will feature a wide variety of comic book & pop culture purveyors as well as many comic book creators, artists and illustrators from the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan areas. Comic fans will have a rare opportunity to meet the artists, who will be available to sign books that will be sold at each artist’s table. Commissioned sketches are also available from many of the artists for a fee. Special guests include:

• Eisner Award winner Evan Dorkin (creator of Milk & Cheese, co-creator of Beasts of Burden, writer for Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Shin Chan,)
• Sarah Dyer (creator of Action Girl, writer for such television shows as Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Shin Chan, Superman, and Batman Beyond)
• Michael Kupperman (creator of Tales Designed to Thrizzle and Mark Twain’s Autobiography 1910-2010)
• Jamal Igle (Super Girl, The Ray, Green Lantern Corps, and many other DC and Marvel books)
• Danny Hellman (cartoonist for New York Press, Time, Sports Illustrated, Screw, Village Voice, and many others)
• Steve Mannion (creator of Fearless Dawn published by Asylum Press)
• Fred Van Lente (co-creator of Cowboys and Aliens, writer for Marvel, Valiant, and Evil Twin’s Action Philosophers)
• Stephanie Buscema (illustrator for Web of Spider-Man, Girl Comics, Adventure Time Comic)
• Mike & Ming of the AMC television show Comic Book Men. The pair from Secret Stash and the podcast I Sell Comics will be doing a live broadcast from the Asbury Comic Con.

Also on hand:

CLIFF GALBRAITH • RYAN DUNLAVEY • CHARLES SOULE • DAVE RYAN • ERIC GRISSOM • PHIL SLOAN

The event features a unique location for a gathering of the comics community. The Asbury Lanes is a second home to punk rockers, hot rodders, artists, and bowlers. Built in 1963, the Lanes is like a time machine to a bygone era of low-brow bowling heaven and rock’n’roll refuge. The venue has hosted music legends and cult heroes such as Dick Dale, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Reverend Horton Heat, Mick Jones of The Clash, The Supersuckers, The Butthole Surfers, Jello Biafra of Dead Kennedys, The Gaslight Anthem, Murphy’s Law and Bouncing Souls.

And yes...there will be booze!

So hit the Asbury Lanes this Saturday, May 12th to meet some excellent comic creators, buy some comics and say hi to me! I'll be the guy buried beneath 300 Mucus Tick action figures. Come buy one!! Visit Asburyparkcomicon.com for more info

Wizard World Comic Con: Philadelphia 2011

The events are coming waaay too fast now to keep up with on a weekly basis, so I'll be throwing random coverage at you whenever I can! With that in mind, I've just put up over 100 pics from the recent Wizard World Philly Comic Con. This year's show was packed from the entrance to the back wall. What did they do different? I HAVE NO CLUE! We asked around the show and no one could pinpoint where the surge of fans were coming from but one thing is for sure, our thoughts that there are too many cons on the east coast competing with each other for your hard won dollars were unfounded. Good news for NY Comic Con I'm thinking!

Since the show essentially had a lot of the same guests and companies you are used to seeing after years of coverage, we scoured the isles for original artists and new projects to talk about. Here's what we turned up...

LickmyKicks.com - Joshua Peters strayed away from the usual sneaker enthusiast events that would normally be the ideal place to show his excellent work to be among the true geeks, and it seemed to be paying off. Designs inspired by Harry Potter, Hellboy and Dexter, among others, caught our attention and had him heading home with plenty of custom orders.

Effigyskateboards.com - Among the rows of DC and Marvel comics art, it is refreshing to see a crew with some original designs with vibrant colors and a killer artistic eye. I'd buy comics featuring this style in a heartbeat. If you were a skater back in the day, Effigy is the ideal company to provide you with a beautiful new deck to display on your wall as art...now that you are too old and may break a hip

TalesofIsolation.com - Claymation + Zombie Apocalypse = Good Times. Need I say more? Take a look...



We also caught up with friends Sarah Richard promoting her book Zomb Ebomb! and sketching like a pro, Xenescope pushing their new titles Fly? and Monster Hunter's Survival Guide, and The Black Bastard himself!
Check out the FLICKR gallery for images of everything we say throughout the day!

Of course, there were more than a few celebs on hand as well, but with nearly triple the number of guards in the area and 30 signs demanding there be NO photography in the area at all, we resigned ourselves to just saying hello and kept the cameras tucked away as to not be pummeled by security. I will give a shout out to Jennifer Blanc-Biehn and Michael who are promoting their new movie The Victim, as we love the indies here and hell, they are family! If you can't abuse your power on the Internet for friends, what good is it? I'll also mention Chandra Free, excellent author and mondo Venture Brothers fan who was pushing The God Machine and all her spooky arts.





































Since the show was so packed, me and my crew were often split up so, sadly, the adventures were at a minimum. We couldn't even take time to rescue Cherie from the Philly Ghostbusters (you'll note she was "busted" last year), but as we entered the show we found her already free. She's hot and well..they are Ghostbusters, so the math isn't very hard to figure. We did take time to visit the Norton Antivirus Captain America booth where we were equal parts inquisitive and utterly ridiculous, as always. There you could snap a picture of yourself as a S.H.I E.L.D. trainee and then, almost 10 seconds later, switch sides and watch as Hydra agents take Captain America off to his doom. It was a roller coaster of emotion, I tell you.

Special thanks to the Philly Wizard World Comic Con crew for access! Whatever you did to bring in that crowd, keep it up!

Enlighten! One Night of Light Exhibiton

Enlighten! One Night of Light is a group exhibition of table lamps featuring printed shades with artwork by an eclectic roster of over 85 fine artists and illustrators working together to support arts education for children in Los Angeles. Each artist’s lamp design will be sold in a limited edition available for one night only. In addition, some artists will also create one original, handmade shade for a lamp that will be featured in a silent auction.

A portion of all sales will benefit Inner-City Arts, an organization offering opportunities for at-risk children from Los Angeles schools to build artistic self-expression, enhancing their ability to perform both creatively and academically in challenging environments.

The exhibition is curated by Al Quattrocchi and Jeff Smith, co-owners and creative directors of the LA-based design studio Tornado Design. “A fun and unique way to bring our artistic community together, this event will raise some money to help support Inner-City Arts, an organization planting the seeds of creativity in young artists of the future.” says Quattrocchi. “Whether you are a participating artist or a patron of the arts, supporting events like Enlighten! can make a difference in these children’s lives!”

The lamps are produced by Lamp-In-A-Box in Culver City, California. Owner Daniel Cytrynowicz believes, “A table or desk lamp should reflect our personal taste, desires and lifestyle, similarly to all the other accessories that surround us.”

Participating artists include Lou Beach, Alex Beard, Sandow Birk, Calef Brown, Dave Burke, Jimmy C, Sarajo Frieden, Tom Fritz, Makoto Kobayashi, Lili Lakich, Joel Nakamura, Saelee Oh, Martha Rich, Paul Rogers, Souther Salazar, Bwana Spoons, James Victore, Keith Weesner and dozens more.

Music provided by The Icy Hot Trio
Catering by Louise’s Trattoria
Venue provided by Walter N. Marks, Inc.

To view all lamp designs: http://www.enlightenshow.com/artists-lamps