This Wednesday at 7pm, comedian David Clark crashes the Linecutters!
David Clarke is a comedy writer and performer living in the New Jersey Metropolitan Area. He’s performs stand-up and improv all around, including the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theater. He asks that you lower your expectations. That way, neither you, nor he, will get hurt.
From Spyro’s Skylanders to Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom, from panels to celebrity guests, NYCC was a visual treat – a phenomenal mix of Halloween costumes and Halloween candy for the eyeballs, and Non-Productive.com was there to film all the juiciest bits.
People of all ages came out in full force and costume for the 2011 New York Comic Con, from Thursday, Oct. 13 through Sunday, Oct. 16.
Many of them were gracious enough to pose, but this reporter was able to snap many of them as they walked among us…
Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson signed autographs from 1:30 to 2:30 on Saturday, Oct. 15, in the Dark Horse booth, which really delivered this year.
The booth offered free T-shirts, Hellboy masks, an assortment of small buttons, posters, bookmarks and a chance to spin a wheel for prizes in the form of digital comics. The table often had an artist or a writer signing for lines that were kept organized and moved quickly.
The line for Dorkin and Thompson was long–so long, it kept them busy for the entire hour and Dorkin was unable to do sketches to ensure that everyone in line got their items signed. This reporter hopes to see those two in a Dark Horse panel next year. Anyone who’s ever been treated to Dorkin sitting a panel knows he is rapid-fire funny, candid and witty. Certainly, both should be signing at the booth for more than one hour on one day.
Still, Dark Horse was on the ball this year, bringing along copies of the duo’s Beasts of Burden hardcover, as well as copies of Thompson’s Scary Godmother collection. Fans in line had an assortment of books for one or the other or both to sign, and this reporter brought along her vinyl Milk and Cheese figurines, which Dorkin signed. The pair also signed a free copy of the Hellboy/Beasts of Burden crossover for everyone in line.
There are murmurings of a new project for the duo, presumably Beasts of Burden-related. Meanwhile, Milk and Cheese fans are looking forward to the January 2012 release of Milk and Cheese: Dairy Products Gone Bad, a hardcover collection of every comic ever made from 1989 through 2010, plus a notable amount of supplemental material.
Follow Dorkin and Thompson on Twitter at @evandorkin and @thejillthompson for more on upcoming projects.
For 36 years, a group devoted to yesteryear has held the torch. For one weekend every year, they met to celebrate a bygone golden age – where families would gather around a radio set and embrace the theater of the mind. For decades, radio was the form of entertainment for Americans, a means by which even the most isolated of homes could hear the opera, get news from around the world, and take part in engrossing mysteries, heart-felt dramas, and comedies to enlighten the soul. Without visuals to paint a complete picture for the audience, radio programs of this era both entertained and excited the imagination. There were westerns and scifi, horror anthologies and children shows, soap-operas and slap-stick — the child of theater and the foster parent of television, Old Time Radio represents a period of legendary Americana.
Celebration of this classic art form and period is the reason why The Friends of Old Time Radio will meet October 20-23, 2011, in Newark, NJ, much as they have done the past three decades or so – to relive their youth and remember a seemingly simpler day. Guests, voice-over talents, actors, and, amazingly, live performances will be par for the course this weekend, as fans gather together to share their a fascinating hobby. Sadly, however, this will be the last year that the FOTR will be meeting in a convention; sighting the endless march of time as reason to end the tradition on a high note. Committee members and guests are aging, and by now the convention seems to draw those who were quite young when the medium was already experiencing the beginning of the end.
But is it really over?
Strangely, I can trace back my love of OTR to a different, yet somehow equally distant and dreamlike period of history: The Early Days of the Internet. Wait now, hold your laughter! Before YouTube made it feasible for anyone to have their own TV channel, we had to make due with audio productions, and even they were a modern marvel. Much like with the advent of radio, the spread of audio on the internet was a revolution, and much like the far more publicized rise of music sharing, there was a sizable revival of “Old Time Radio” style content – audio dramas meant only for the mind’s eye. Many, if not all, of these took the form of scifi and horror tales, as genre supporters are ever loyal, but in these seeds we can find the rise of the podcaster – and in many ways the birth of the modern internet. We are all now the content producers. This is the golden age of the citizen broadcaster.
I still love OTR, and NewTR, and the Golden Age – no matter what form it takes. We should celebrate yesteryear, and we should adapt it for today. I can’t wait to go to the FOTR convention and meet old friends and make new ones, and together, I hope, we can all celebrate, reminisce, discover, and most of all, prepare for the next broadcast day.
For more from Non-Productive.com on Old Time Radio, please see…
returning this Fall!
or our original production of new audio drama of a classic comic book…
Organizers distributed tickets to the first signing by Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 14, sending a few fans scrambling for a coveted spot in that always long line. Unlike last year’s free signing, this free signing, which took place between 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., was far more organized. The duo sat inside one of the panel rooms, both wearing sunglasses as fans toward the front of the line speculated how late they must have stayed up the night before.
Fans brought a variety of items for the pair to sign, including DVD covers and merchandise that was on sale all weekend on the show floor, such as toy maker’s Bif Bang Pow‘s Rusty Venture Lunch Box, or tin tote, $45, which features action figures of a young Rusty Venture and Dr. Jonas Venture Sr. inside. The lunch box appeared in Season 2 episode “Escape to the House of Mummies.”
This reporter, who remains smitten with the show’s first two seasons, brought along a blue windbreaker, which the duo signed in silver Sharpie as Doc went into character and said, “Get me my blueeeeee windbreaker!”
The banter between the two was ongoing. If they were tired and if they didn’t want to be there, they certainly didn’t show it. Enthusiastically chattering away and smiling warmly for photographs with fans, they signed and engaged in badinage with each fan and with each other, prompting one fan in line to exclaim, ”Look at them now! They’re fucking ROCK stars!” One does not get the sense that the banter is forced or staged, either. These guys, despite having achieved rock star status, are genuine, remain down-to-earth and make their fans feel included, as if they were all in their living room, chattering about a show they all love.
That the pair successfully makes fans in line for signatures and photos feel as if they are being treated to a live version of their DVD commentary is notable. It was a sentiment echoed by Hammer in the Venture Bros. panel at the 2009 New York Comic Con and it speaks to their character that they remain committed to having that warm, intimate connection to their fan base even as they get bigger and bigger every year.
Adult Swim has renewed the show for two more seasons and production on Season 5 begins soon. According to a recent blog post by Publick, the budget and schedule are all set.
Actor Chad Michael Murray, most notable perhaps for his role as Lucas Scott in the CW drama One Tree Hill, has written a graphic novel entitled, Everlast, published by Archaia Entertainment and illustrated by Trevor Hairsine (X-Men), Andrew Huerta (Batman Beyond), Robbi Rodriguez (Moon Lake), J. K. Woodward (Fallen Angel) and Daniel Zezelj (Luna Park).
In this pre-apocalyptic tale, protagonist Derek Everlast has been chosen to guide others to a place of rebirth for mankind known as Haven. He’s received a gift–an instinct called the Nudge–from a higher power, which he uses to guide a little girl named Melissa to Haven before the End of Days, sweeping readers along on their wild and harrowing journey.
Books were available for purchase at the Comic Con, and Chad Michael Murray, photographed here on Friday, was on hand signing as he chatted with fans and posed for photographs with them. Although he did ask that fans neither hug nor kiss him nor request any body parts be signed, which to this reporter seemed fair enough and sensible, he was quite friendly and personable. Books are currently available for purchase via Murray’s official website’s online store.
Doctor Who was well represented at the 2011 New York Comic Con, where many arrived decked out in costumes honoring everything from video game characters to superheroes to blog and television series characters.
Fezzes were most definitely cool:
[[Show as slideshow]]The Doctors were in the house at the con:
This reporter was even encountered a couple of TARDISes…:
[[Show as slideshow]]…as well as a Dalek:
[[Show as slideshow]]
For those wondering the whereabouts of Waldo, he was spotted at the 2011 New York Comic Con.
[[Show as slideshow]]
Zach Weiner braved a cold and dense crowds lining up to see him and the fellers from Cyanide and Happiness–all whom shared a booth on the show floor at the 2011 New York Comic Con, from Thursday, Oct. 13 through Sunday, Oct. 16. There were a few T-shirts for sale as well copies of his first book, Save Yourself, Mammal!: A Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal Collection, which features more than 200 comics from the first 10 years of SMBC.
Fans who visited the booth on Saturday and Sunday got a chance to purchase the second book, The Most Dangerous Game, which features comics hand-selected by Weiner from his entire catalog through Sept. 2011. The book also includes a mini Choose Your Own Adventure section with more than 120 entries. Those who didn’t get to buy a copy at the NYCC can pre-order one via the comic site’s online store. Books are scheduled to ship Nov. 1. Both titles are published by Breadpig.
What fans will not get to pre-order were the limited-edition Gentleman’s Single-Use Unlubricated Monocle. By the time this reporter got to purchase hers on Sunday, there were only nine left. Inspired by an old SMBC comic, the monocles were rendered reality for the con by engineer Ben Peters and steampunk artist David Malki! and sold for $5 apiece.
Breadpig donates 100 percent of all non-sustainable profits generated from the sale of both books to the Khan Academy.
Zach Weiner has agreed to an interview with Non-Productive.com, as soon as he has a few days to unwind from the con and his cold. Stay tuned.
Images courtesy of BreadPig.com
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