Monday, October 29, 2018

AKRON COMICON (November 3-4)

I’m getting set for my annual trip to the Akron Comicon, which will be held Saturday and Sunday, November 3-4, at the Goodyear Hall, 1201 E. Market Street, Akron, Ohio. Show promoters Robert Jenkins, Michael Savene and Jesse Vance have put together another incredible line-up of guests for the event.

We’ll be celebrating the 80th anniversary of Superman, who was born in nearby Cleveland, the creation of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Among the Superman artists attending: Jon Bogdanove, Barry Kitson, Ron Frenz, Chris Sprouse, Brett Breeding and Bob Wiacek. There will be special panels with comics creators and the Siegel and Shuster Society. I’ll be on one such panel on Saturday afternoon.

I’ll also be doing one and maybe two Black Lightning panels over the weekend. At least one of those panel will be with Electrifying Eddy Newell, the artist of my 1995 Black Lightning series. If you have ever attended one of my Black Lightning or “Tony’s Tips Live” panels, you know you’ll get the straight scoop from me when you ask questions. No holding back except where required by some of the non-disclosure agreements I’ve signed.

The guest and vendors area of the Akron Comicon includes “Monster Alley” where you’ll find all sorts of stuff to thrill the hearts of monster kids everywhere. Appearing in the alley will be the Son of Ghoul, the TV horror host following in the footsteps of the great Ghoulardi, and Mike and Jan Olszewski, authors of several books on Cleveland radio and television.

Reb Brown, who played Captain America in some vintage made-for-TV movies, will be at the convention. Everyone tells me what a groovy guy he is, but I’ve never been able to get away from my own table long enough to meet him. I’ll try to rectify that this year.

Speaking of my tables...

I’ll be bringing copies of Black Lightning Volume 1 and 2, as well as the trade paperback of Black Lightning: Cold Dead Hands, where I reinvented my creation for today’s world. I'll have individual issues of Cold Dead Hands and other Isabella stuff. I’ll have some Daredevil and Luke Cage mini-posters. And, depending on the space I have to work with, maybe some other surprises.

As some of you already know, I charge for my signature in most cases. Here’s my signature policy:

Any items purchased from me: no charge.

Any one item not purchased from me: no charge.

Additional items: $5 each.

Items signed in front of a grading company witness: $10 each.

Photos are free.


Other Akron Comicon guests include: Dave Aikins, Darryl Banks, Mike Barr, Tom Batiuk, Jim Beard, Allen Bellman, Craig Boldman, George Broderick Jr, Robert Egeland, Michael T. Gilbert, Daniel Gorman, Mike Gustovich, Bob Ingersoll, Dirk Manning, P. Craig Russell, Paul Storrie, Karl Story, Mark Sumerak, John Totleben, Thom Zahler, and Apama creators Ted Sikora and Milo Miller. Whew!

There will be a cosplay contest on Saturday. If you’re cosplaying at this convention, especially if you’re cosplaying as a character I’ve created or written, please stop by my table so I can have my assistant take a photo of us for use in a future installment of my bloggy thing.

As I do every year, I’m looking forward to the Akron Comicon. I’ll also be doing two other conventions in November:

November 9-11: Grand Rapids (Michigan) Comic-Con

November 17-18: Great American Comics Convention (Las Vegas)

I’ll have more on those conventions soon. These will be my final conventions of the year. If you’re in near any of these fine cities on these weekends, I hope you’ll try to come by and see me and the other guests.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2018 Tony Isabella

1 comment:

  1. I'm going to a con this Saturday, but it's in Tacoma, not Akron. I'd love to have you sign my fresh new copy of BL: Cold Dead Hands, but that will have to wait for another day.

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