Cool Stuff at WonderCon

I won't be in attendance at WonderCon this coming weekend, but if you're going to be there, here are some programs you should attend that will be well worth your time.


My good friend, Steve Kriozere will be moderating a one-on-one Q&A with legendary Bob Layton who, along with David Micheline, is responsible for my favorite run on Iron Man. Here are the details...

Friday, April 1

3:00-4:00 Iron Man Legend: Bob Layton— Celebrating his 35th year in the comic industry, WonderCon special guestBob Layton discusses his long association with Marvel's Iron Man franchise and making the transition to working in Hollywood. Bob will preview upcoming projects, including his latest Iron Man mini series, Iron Man Forever and several new film projects. Join moderator/TV writer/producer Steve Kriozere (NCIS) for this one-on-one interview with the co-creator of some of Marvel's most memorable Iron Man stories and join in on the Q&A session! Room 236
Categories:  Animation | Comic Books | Movies | Special Guest Spotlights & Appearances

Steve will also be presenting his hot new tv series for Cinemax, Femmes Fatales. I believe something about my own involvement with that show will also be announced there. 

Saturday, April 2

6:30-7:30 Femme Fatales Revealed— Get a first look at Femme Fatales, the new television series, inspired by the bestselling magazine. Coming to Cinemax this May, the show is a sexy new crime thriller in the tradition of Pulp Fiction and The Twilight Zone. Be the first to see exclusive footage from the hot new show. Meet the cast and creators, including Mark A. Altman (Castle), Steve Kriozere (NCIS), and some of the mysterious femme fatales who are featured in this seductive new anthology television series. There will be surprise guests and free giveaways.Room 103
Categories:  Television

Also on Saturday, my good friend, Matt Wayne will be participating in what will surely be a highly entertaining panel on TV animation writing. This takes place in the same room as the Femmes Fatales panel, and just before it, so be sure to stick around afterwards. 

5:30-6:30 Writing for TV Animation— Animation writers Matt Wayne (Superhero Squad),Nicole Dubuc (My Friends Tigger and Pooh), Steve Melching (Star Wars: Clone Wars), Aaron Ehasz (Avatar: The Last Airbender), Eugene Son (Ben 10: Ultimate Alien), and Andrew Robinson (Spectacular Spider-Man) offer a pulse-pounding, no-holds-barred (okay, there are two holds that are barred, but that's it) round table talk on the ins and outs of script-writing for animated series in today's television market. They'll disucss how to break in, how to stay in; the differences between genres; how it's the same as but different from live action; and more. Probably much more. Room 103
Categories:  Animation | Television

Matt will also be participating in the tribute to Dwayne McDuffie which will no doubt be touching and heartfelt and hopefully even a bit humorous. Dwayne was one of my closest friends for over twenty-five years and is the person responsible my career in comics by introducing me to people when he was an assistant editor at Marvel, and by later offering me the opportunity to write Xombi, Kobalt, and Hardware at Milestone Media. 

Nighttime Programs

7:00-8:00 Tribute to Dwayne McDuffie— Comics and animation writer Dwayne McDuffie passed away on February 21. He left an indelible mark on both the comics and animation industries. In comics, he co-founded Milestone Media and created one of its signature characters, Static, which he later adapted into a popular Kids' WB animated series, Static Shock. He also wrote Justice League of America and Fantastic Four, along with numerous other titles. In animation, in addition to Static Shock, he wrote for Justice Leagueand Ben-10, and scripted two of WB Animation's DC Universe DVD movies, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths and All-Star Superman, which was released the day after his death. Friends and co-workers Eddie Berganza (executive editor, DC Comics), Bruce Timm (WB Animation producer), Alan Burnett (animation writer), moderator Gary Miereanu (WB Animation PR), and others pay tribute to Dwayne in this panel. Room 254/256
Categories:  Animation | Comic Books | Nighttime Programming |Television

Xombi Interview for Sci Fi Pulse

Last week kind of got away from me and I neglected to post a link to an interview that Wayne Hall conducted with me for SciFi Pulse. net. We discuss Xombi's origins and where the series will be heading in the future. You can read the interview by clicking here.

Another Xombi related item I neglected to mention was the concluding overview of the original Xombi series that Ken did over at Sequential Ink. Ken had been covering the series one story arc at a time, and finishes with a look at "Hidden Cities" which ran in issues #17-21 and leads into the current series. For you new readers whose only exposure to Xombi has been with the first issue of the new series, this is an excellent means for you to get a sense of the original series.

Click on any of the following links to read Ken's corresponding coverage.

Silent Cathedrals (issues 1-6)
School of Anguish (issues 7-11 + issue 0)
Issues 12-16
Hidden Cities (issues 17-21)

Appearance This Weekend

This Sunday I'll be appearing at the Southcoast Toy and Comic Show in Fairhaven, MA. If you live in southeastern Massachusetts or Rhode Island stop buy. This will be a great opportunity to get your copy of Xombi #1 signed. I'll bring along some of my other work for purchase including issues of The X-Files, Scooby-Doo, and others, possibly even issues of the scarce original run of Xombi. I will even have some of my collages on hand as well.

Information on the Southcoast Toy and Comic Show, including other guests and location,  can be found on their website.

I hope to see you there.

Disney's Animal Kingdom - part 3

For my final post concerning Disney's Animal Kingdom I'm providing an assortment of photos taken from around the park, mostly of the animal themed architecture and details. Click on any image to see it larger. Check back this weekend for a post that includes much of the yeti related aspects of Disney's Animal Kingdom.

The thing that surprised me the most about Animal Kingdom was the sheer enormity of the Tree of Life. Pictures absolutely do not do it justice as they simply cannot convey the scale of this centerpiece and symbol of the Animal Kingdom park. It's really impressive, and just stepping a few feet in one direction or another will reveal new details and new animals carved into the surface of the tree as if they were grown that way. I was amazed.

My favorite thing seen at Animal Kingdom was this seen close to sunset:

Crossing from Discovery island into the Oasis area on your way out to the park we came across this scene. The trees were filled with hundreds of ibises roosting for the night. These are not part of the park's captive fauna. these are essentailly wild birds who choose to reside here and can come and go as they please. As anyone who has been to Walt Disney World can tell you the ibises serve as the pigeon of the parks. They are everywhere, particularly around outdoor dining areas where they scavenge for dropped french fries and other morsels.  Even though they have been reduced to something of a nuisance, they are still a pretty exotic and welcome presence for me since living in New England I never see them. seeing so many of them gathered in one place was pretty spectacular.

I was also pretty excited when I spotted a wild armadillo from one of the buses.


   

Disney's Animal Kingdom - part 2

Like, Africa, Asia is represented by a fictitious town, "Anandapur" Sanskrit for "place of all delight" a mix of Nepal, Indonesia, India, Tibet  and Thailand set at the base of the Himalayas. I was really impressed with Anandapur and it quickly became one of my favorite places in the various Disney parks. You could tell that the Imagineers really had a great time putting it together as well. The attention to detail was quite incredible here.

The only part of Asia that I thought could use some work was at the Kali River Rapids. The ride itself is quite a bit of fun with a bit of a safe Russian Roulette aspect to it.  The raft that carries you through the rapids turns as it goes, so that no matter where you choose to sit in the raft there's a chance that as the raft turns, you'll be the one ending up getting most soaked at the drops. this was one of my son's favorite rides in all the parks. What I found lacking was the environment surrounding the river. There was quite a bit of beautiful theming arranged for the queue, but except for a bit of unnecessary forced "story" involving deforestation, there wasn't really anything to see beyond surrounding foliage. Some ruins, and even animatronic animals would have been welcome, and far more interesting than "burning" logs and a truck about to fall into the river.

Much of the theming around Animal Kingdom's Mt. Everest included Yeti motifs which will be featured in a separate post this coming weekend. Details of the signs seen throughout Asia can be viewed in this prior post and one of the trash cans can be found here.

Here are some photos taken throughout Asia at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Click on any image to make it larger.