For the holiday season, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) released a special treat, and it was produced by Comics Experience alums and Creators Workshop members!
"A Comics Carol" is written by Joe Sergi (alum & Workshop member), with art by DaFu Yu (art alum), and lettering/design by E.T. Dollman (Workshop member).
In the minicomic -- available for free on the CBLDF site, Messr. Fredric Wertham is visited by the Ghosts of Comics Past, Comics Present, and Comics Yet to Come!
Congrats to Joe, DaFu, and E.T. -- and Happy Holidays to all!
If you want to make comics, write or draw comics, or improve as a comics creator, you'll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!
The stories in the trade paperback are based in the universe of the HVZA: Hudson Valley Zombie Apocalypse novel, written by Linda Zimmerman. In that novel, an infection spreads through New York's Hudson Valley. We follow the story from the first days of infection to the last days of civilization, as told by Dr. Rebecca Truesdale, aka "Becks."
The graphic novel explores eight separate stories of some of the other characters in the HVZA universe as they struggle to survive.
The book also contains a special illustrated short story, War Dog, as well as the first chapter of the novel.
CE alums contributed to:
* Life of the Party written by Janine Frederick
* Deflated with art & lettering by Ken Frederick
* Survivor written by Joe Sergi
* War Dog with illustrations by Ken Frederick
The scripts for both Life of the Party and Survivor were workshopped by Janine and Joe on the Creators Workshop.
The HVZA graphic novel is available for sale on both Amazon and Barnes & Noble, so check it out!
Congrats to Janine, Ken, and Joe on the new graphic novel!
If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you'll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!
Back in April, we wrote about how CE alum, Workshop member -- and attorney -- Joe Sergi had written an article posted up on the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF)'s website.
Since that time, Joe has become a regular columnist for the CBLDF, writing about many aspects of the history of censorship!
And the columns have been garnering praise. Most recently, Joe's column on Frederick Wertham vs. Superman prompted none other than @neilhimself -- a.k.a. Neil Gaiman -- to tweet it was a "great article."
We also enjoyed Joe's recent article that showed censored panels from comic books before and after the imposition of the Comics Code. Here's one example from Joe's article:
In the story, entitled “The Case of the Chemical Syndicate,” a murder suspect explains how his fingerprints came to be found on the murder weapon, a knife. In the post Code reprint, however, there is no knife at the scene at all, creating odd dialogue. Granted the Code forbid “excessive and unnecessary knife and gun play” in General Standards, part A, 7, but I would think the knife was pretty necessary to these scenes.
If you have an interest in the history of comics, or the dangers of censorship, definitely check out Joe's columns and sign up for the CBLDF email newsletter!
You can view all of Joe's articles for the CBLDF right here.
Joe is a life-long comics fan and author who has written short stories, novels, comics, and articles in the horror, science fiction, super-hero, and young adult genres. Most recently, his work has appeared in the Elevator Pitch Press anthologies Aliens Among Us and Don't Be Afraid.
Congrats to Joe on his regular column with CBLDF -- we look forward to reading more!
If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you'll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!
Indie Comics Horror #1, the anthology series from Aazurn Publishing, will include four stories written by Comics Experience alums and Creators Workshop members. And two of the stories are illustrated and lettered by CE folks as well!
Indie Comics Horror is a 48-page black and white comic book featuring six complete stories in this issue.
The first issue is now being solicited for pre-order on page 228 of the September 2012 issue of Diamond PREVIEWS and may be ordered via your local comic shop. (PREVIEWS Order Code: SEP120728)
This issue features stories written by the following CE alums and members:
* Minister to the Undead written by C.M. Beckett
* The Standard written by Glenn Møane
* Immortal Resistance written by Rob Anderson
* The Belt written by Joe Sergi.
Two of the stories -- The Belt and Immortal Resistance -- also feature artwork by CE alum DaFu Yu, and lettering by Workshop member E.T. Dollman.
In Beckett's Minister to the Undead, a minister has an unusual relationship with his flock. Møane's The Standard, explores dating and guns. In Anderson's Immortal Resistance, the Spartan 300 face an undead horde. And in Sergi's The Belt, a sexy space romp turns deadly.
You can view a trailer of the issue right here:
If you'd like to get a copy, make sure to pre-order it, to ensure that your local comic shop carries the book!
Congrats to all our alums and members appearing in this issue of Indie Comics Horror!
Baltimore Comic Con 2012 was another big success for Comics Experience alums and Workshop members, and a great time as well.
Our second annual Baltimore "Comics Experience Meet-Up" happened Saturday night at Tír Na nóg.
More than twenty people showed up to talk comics (and more) including alums/Workshop members Chris Lewis, Elizabeth-Amber Love, Gannon Beck, George O'Connor, James Babbo, Janine & Ken Frederick, Joe Sergi, Joey Groah, Neil Fisher, Nick Dedual, Rich Douek, Rob Anderson, Ryan Murray, and Scott Dubin.
After the meet-up, some folks headed to other locations, including the Hyatt Bar. CE alum Amy Chu was there, post-Harvey Awards ceremony, and even filed her own "Convention Bar Report" after the fact on The Beat. You can read her report right here: On the Scene: Baltimore Comic-Con Night -- Part I.
Another highlight of the convention for many members was Tom Brevoort's Marvel Boot Camp panel.
For two hours, Tom shared the presentation he gives to new Marvel Editors each year. This was the first time the session had ever been given outside of Marvel, and attendees were asked to purchase tickets to benefit the Hero Initiative.
It was a very informative session and more than ten pages of comprehensive notes on the session are now available to our Creators Workshop members in our "Convention Panel Notes" thread. (You can see a screen capture from our forums of that topic and a few others below.)
Finally, the convention was a success for our members exhibiting at the show, with heavy crowds through most of the weekend. Some members were exhibiting at a con for the first time, while others are old pros at the convention circuit. One member, Chris Lewis, travelled all the way from Germany to debut his new comic, Drones!
Other Comics Experience-related exhibitors included Comics Experience coloring instructor Chris Sotomayor, Joe Sergi (Aliens Among Us), George O'Connor (Healed), Joey Groah and Gannon Beck (both of Space Corps), Amy Chu (Girls' Night Out), and James Babbo (The Moses Militia).
To check out more information on all these projects, including trailers and cover art, check out our pre-convention blog right here!
Thanks to all our members who attended the meet-up. It was great seeing everyone!
Hope to see you at our next Meet-Up at NYCC 2012...
If you want to make comics, write or draw comics, or improve as a comics creator, you'll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!
Baltimore Comic Con 2012 is this weekend, September 8-9, 2012, and a bunch of Comics Experience alums and Creators Workshop members will be attending and exhibiting!
In addition, we'll be holding a Comics Experience Meet-Up on Saturday night. If you're an alum and don't have the details, drop an email to rob@ComicsExperience.com.
Here's a run-down of some of the CE folks exhibiting at Baltimore!
Comics Experience Coloring Instructor, Chris "Soto" Sotomayor will be exhibiting at Artists Alley table A231.
CE alum and Workshop member, Chris Lewis, will be flying in all the way from Germany for the convention to premiere his new comic book Drones.
Drones is described as "The War on Terror - Now Playing in Las Vegas!"
Chris was recently interviewed on Liberation Frequency, where he discussed Drones and the impact of Comics Experience on his work.
Check out the comic book trailer below or visit www.epigamics.com for more info.
Chris will be exhibiting at the Epigamics table -- A5 -- in Artists Alley.
CE alum and Workshop member Joe Sergi will be exhibiting, showing off the latest Elevator Pitch Press anthology, Aliens Among Us.
Joe was a writing contributor as well as editor of the book, along with numerous other Comics Experience writing, art, and lettering alums and Workshop members -- including the cover shown by CE art alum, DaFu Yu.
Joe will be exhibiting in Artists Alley at table A105.
CE alum and Workshop member George O'Connor will be exhibiting, showing off his now-completed 5-issue miniseries Healed. In Healed, when all life-threatening diseases and illnesses are suddenly cured, it leaves confusion and chaos in its wake.
Reviewer Blair Butler of Fresh Ink Online and G4TV wrote it's "Fun, West Wing-type dialogue and I love the stories at play here."
An 8-page preview is available at www.homelesscomics.com and here's a brand new video preview:
You can find George at the Homeless Comics table -- A92 in Artists Alley.
CE alums and Workshop members Joey Groah and Gannon Beck (also on our staff as our new Art Moderator!) will be premiering the zero issue of the book Space Corps.
Gannon publishes and provides all interior art (as well as some stories), while Joey has also written a story inside. Space Corps is an ongoing comic series which gives the account of a platoon of Space Marines fighting in a planet-hopping campaign in an intergalactic war.
You can find Gannon and Joey at table A253 in Artists Alley.
CE alum and Workshop member Amy Chu will be offering her short story collection Girls' Night Out as well as CE alum Georgia Lee's scifi thriller Meridien.
Girls' Night Out is a collection of short stories written by Amy, each with different artistic teams. Georgia’s Meridien City follows a space detective in a world where the upper class dominates the only habitable living space on the planet.
You can find Amy at table A253 in Artists Alley with Gannon and Joey!
CE alum and Workshop member James Babbo will be debuting his new comic, The Moses Militia.
The Moses Militia is set during World War II, where four Jewish soldiers are determined to stop a Nazi alchemist’s plan to kill Winston Churchill with the undead. And it's set in Nazi occupied Casablanca!
The cover features work by Bill Wylie, Mark McKenna and our coloring instructor Chris Sotomayor. You can read more about the project right here!
You can find James at table A-56 in Artists Alley!
Best of luck to all our alums attending and/or exhibiting at Baltimore Comic Con!
If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you'll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!
Indie Comics Magazine #6, the anthology series from Aazurn Publishing, hit comic shops this week and features five stories by Comics Experience alums and Creators Workshop members!
Indie Comics Magazine is a 64-page black and white comic book featuring eight complete stories in each issue.
The issue on the stands features stories written by the following CE alums and members:
* Timber Tom (Don McMillan)
* The Dead and Endless Wastes (Fred Kim)
* Staying Positive (Glenn Møane)
* Animal Control SCU (Rob Anderson)
* The Zombie War of 1812 (Joe Sergi).
The genres range from crime to zombies to sci-fi.
Several of the stories also feature lettering by Workshop member E.T. Dollman. Artists in the issue include Juan Romera, Antonio Bilfuco, Leandro Panganiban, Marc Jameson, and more.
Congrats to all our alums and members appearing in this issue of Indie Comics Magazine!
Indie Comics Magazine #6, the anthology series from Aazurn Publishing, will include five stories by Comics Experience alums and Creators Workshop members!
Indie Comics Magazine is a 64-page black and white comic book featuring eight complete stories in each issue.
The genres in this issue range from crime to zombies to sci-fi.
Issue #6 is now being solicited for pre-order on page 228 of the June 2012 issue of Diamond PREVIEWS and may be ordered via your local comic shop. (PREVIEWS Order Code: JUN120752)
This issue features stories written by the following CE alums and members:
* Timber Tom written by Don McMillan
* The Dead and Endless Wastes written by Frederick Kim
* Staying Positive written by Glenn Møane
* Animal Control: Special Creatures Unit written by Rob Anderson
* The Zombie War of 1812 by Joe Sergi.
In McMillan's Timber Tom, a space alien is not what it appears to be. In Kim's The Dead and Endless Wastes, a young Teddy Roosevelt battles zombies in the Old West. In Møane's Staying Positive, office sex is far from casual. In Anderson's Animal Control SCU, designer hybrid pets have become the latest fad. And in Sergi's The Zombie War of 1812, the British army joins with the Americans to battle an unexpected -- and undead -- adversary.
Several of the stories also feature lettering by Workshop member E.T. Dollman. Artists in the issue include Juan Romera, Antonio Bilfuco, Leandro Panganiban, Marc Jameson, and more.
You can view a trailer of the issue right here:
If you'd like to get a copy, make sure to pre-order it, to ensure that your local comic shop carries the book!
Congrats to all our alums and members appearing in this issue of Indie Comics Magazine!
The recently released ComicBook Artists' Guild (CAG) anthology, Iconic II was edited by CE alum and Workshop member Joe Sergi. Joe also contributed two stories to the anthology.
The Iconic anthology series takes well-known public domain characters, and twists and turns them in new and interesting ways. For example, Joe's story contribution, Cinderfella, is a gender-bending take on the classic Cinderella fairy tale. Joe's other story in the anthology is called The Impossible Dream, based on the Don Quixote character.
The Iconic II anthology is a 192-page, 6x9 inch paperback, available for $9.99 right here. The book also includes a Foreword by Comics Experience founder Andy Schmidt.
Joe was also selected as a semi-finalist in the Who Wants To Create A Superheroine contest sponsored by the Shadowline Imprint of Image Comics, and received the 2010 Haller Award for Best Writer from the ComicBook Artist' Guild at the 2010 New York ComicCon.
You can follow all of Joe's work at his Cup of Geek website.
If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you'll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!
CE alum, Workshop member -- and attorney -- Joe Sergi recently attended a C2E2 panel on the history of censorship presented by Charles Brownstein, the Executive Director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF).
Joe is a big fan of the CBLDF and the work they do, protecting the First Amendment rights of creators, retailers, and libraries.
Inspired by the panel, Joe shared his notes on his Cup of Geek blog, along with extensive thoughts, pictures, and annotations on the history of censorship. And the CBLDF liked it so much, they published it on their own website!
Charles' presentation -- and Joe's article -- covers it all; from Dr. Frederick Wertham's campaign against comics to the underground comix movement, and from the Spider-Man "drug" issues to the more recent cases involving Manga.
Check out the CBLDF site to read Joe's article right here:
If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you'll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!
On January 27, 2012, the Eagle Awards and MCM London Comic Con announced a new competition for comic artists and writers.
The "Huntsman's Challenge" competition called on comic creators to submit a completed five page story, in color, with a plot relevant to a dark fantasy setting. The catch? All submissions -- of finished stories -- had to be submitted in a month, with a deadline of February 29th.
Despite the short deadline, members of the Comics Experience Creators Workshop community were up to the challenge, with no less than FOUR members submitting completed stories!
Since the winners haven't been announced, we're only going to share quick peeks at early character designs or panels representing each story, but it looks like a very interesting range of dark fantasy stories were submitted!
Here are the entries from Workshop members (in alphabetical order by title):
Bonita and the Creature
Writer: Joe Sergi
Artist: DaFu Yu
Colorist: John Hunt
Letterer: ET Dollman
Edge of the Village
Writer/Letterer: Paul Allor
Artist: Dwa
Colorist: Donna Gregory
Long Live the Emperor
Writer/Letterer: Amy Chu
Artist/Colorist: Cabral
The Time of Reflection
Writer/Letterer: Alex Wilson
Artist/Colorist: Silvio dB
The competition is to be judged by Titan Publishing senior editor Steve White, bestselling writer Tony Lee and Eisner-winning artist Mark Buckingham.
The Judges will select two winners: one for best design and art, and another for best writing. Both winning teams will be nominated for a new Eagle Award, the MCM Expo Award For New Visionaries and have their story included in the MCM London Comic Con show program. Both winners will also be invited to the 2012 Eagle Awards ceremony and after-party, along with industry passes to the full London Comic Con weekend.
We wish everyone the best of luck in the competition!
If you want to make comics, write or draw comics, or improve as a comics creator, you'll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!
The Gutter Magic one-shot tells a tale of sword, sorcery and sixguns in three interconnected tales of an alternate history where a magic-fueled World War II drove the world to the brink of apocalypse.
The book features art by Craig S. Yeung, Jason Baroody, and JC Grande, along with colors by Paul Little and lettering by Creators Workshop member E.T. Dollman!
Purchase a digital copy of Gutter Magic for only 99 cents on Graphicly:
Comics Experience alum and Creators Workshop member, Joe Sergi, also happens to be a Legal Eagle, and in the past has appeared on various podcasts and shows discussing law cases related to comics.
So, it's no big surprise that Joe recently appeared on the Comic Geek Speak podcast to chat about two cases very much in the news -- the Robert Kirkman/Tony Moore contract dispute over The Walking Dead, and the Marvel Comics/Gary Friedrich suit related to Ghost Rider.
To hear a discussion of the issues from the perspective of an attorney (who also happens to be a comic book creator) check out:
We've previously talked about Creators Workshop member Joey Groah's podcast, In Production. In each episode, Joey has "conversations with people making things," whether it's origin story, process, workflow, or the overall business of being creative.
And in Episode 19, Joey had an in-depth chat about DoubleFeature Comics with Four Star Studios members Sean Dove, Josh Emmons, Mike Norton, and Tim Seeley. You can hear about how these guys got together and began putting out digital comics by top creators for 99 cents.
If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you'll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!
New York Comic Con starts tomorrow, and Comics Experience alums and Creators Workshop members will be everywhere.
By our last count on the Workshop forums, more than 30 members will be attending! And quite a number of folks will also be exhibiting at the show as well.
Alum and Workshop member, Shaun Noel, will be showcasing his book, City of Walls, which you can check out at Booth 2546.
Alum and Workshop member, Monika Smyczek, will be at Booth 3047 with Moxie Comics.
And Booth 2939 will have a slew of Comics Experience creators and books, including:
Joe Sergi, Eric Drumm, Neil Fisher, and Dan Rivera of Elevator Pitch Press (see Dan Rivera's recent Guest Blog right here). Joe Sergi will also be joined by Comics Experience alum, DaFu Yu;
Janine Frederick, showing off her preview of Awaken!
This is just a sampling -- stop by and check out all these booths and ask them about Comics Experience!
If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you'll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!
For those looking forward to NYCC 2011 -- or even for those wishing they were going -- we thought we'd offer up a convention panel from earlier this year!
The "Writing for Comics" panel was presented by Comics Experience at the 2011 Comic Geek Speak Super Show on Saturday, April 30th, in Reading, PA.
The panel was moderated by Comics Experience founder, writer, and former IDW and Marvel editor, Andy Schmidt (5 Days to Die, GI Joe: Future Noir, Challenger Deep) with panelists Rob Anderson (Animal Control SCU, Rex Zombie Killer), Fred Van Lente (Incredible Hercules, Marvel Zombies 3 & 4, Action Philosophers), Drew Gaska (Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes, Critical Millennium), and Bryan J.L. Glass (The Mice Templar, Thor: First Thunder, Valkyrie). The panel is introduced by Comics Experience alum and Creators Workshop member, Joe Sergi (Sky Girl, Great Zombies in History).
Topics included: what is a story, planning/outlining your stories, collaborating with artists, methods for breaking down panels and dialogue, and more!
Special thanks to Creators Workshop member, Joey Groah, of the In Production podcast, for recording and editing the session, as well as creating the cool Comics Experience logo introduction!
If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you'll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!
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