FANBOY EXPO 2.0 (October 18-20)

Hey, gang! My next convention appearance will be Fanboy Expo 2.0, Friday-Sunday, October 18-20, at the Knoxville Convention Center, 701 Henley Street, Knoxville, Tennessee. It’s the state’s largest pop culture event with over 30,000 fans attending the summer event. Look for celebrity guests, comic industry pros, cosplay, vendors, live entertainment and more!

Show hours are 5-9 pm on Friday, 10 am to 6 pm on Saturday, and 11 am to 5 pm on Sunday. The VIP ticket holders can get into the show thirty minutes earlier on each of those days. I’m excited about being a guest at the expo. It has probably been well over a decade since I did any event in Tennessee.

I’ll be available at my booth throughout the show, save for when I do a question-and-answer session on Saturday at 10:30 am and when I take breaks for meals and such.

Full disclosure. “Such” will likely include my wandering the guest and vendor areas to get my own fanboy on. My goal for the weekend is to buy fewer items than I sell.

What will I be selling? I’m bringing these trade paperbacks:

Black Lightning Volume One (reprinting my 1970s run)
Black Lightning Volume Two (stories not written by me)
Black Lightning: Brick City Blues (reprinting my 1995 run)
Black Lightning: Cold Dead Hands (reprinting my most recent Black Lightning comics from 2017-2018)
July 1963: A Pivotal Month in the Comic-Book Life of Tony Isabella Volume One (which defies description)

I’m bringing copies of an exclusive-to-me edition Marvel’s Greatest Creators: Tony Isabella #1, which reprints the first appearance of Misty Knight in the Iron Fist series. This signed, numbered edition is limited to 1000 copies.

Posters? I’ll be bringing three different Black Lightning posters, a Hawkman poster and mini-posters of Daredevil and Luke Cage. I’m running low on most of these, so this might be your last chance to get them from me.

I’ll be bringing as many copies of these items as I can fit into my suitcases. There’s no guarantee that I’ll be able to bring enough of these books, comics and posters to last the weekend. That’s one of the drawbacks of my having to fly to a convention.

I’ll sign any item purchased from me at no additional charge. I’m happy to sign any Tony Isabella or Tony Isabella-related items not purchased from me for a nominal fee of $5 per signature. That goes up to $10 per item if you’re having my signature witnessed by any grading company representative.

Cosplayers? If you’re cosplaying as a character I created or that I’ve written, please stop by my booth. With your permission, I’d love to take your photo for use in my blog and other online venues.

Photos with me? I’m happy to pose with you or for you. There is no charge for these photos.

Interviews? Depending on how busy I am at the convention, I’ll do my level best to make time to talk with you for your print/online articles or your podcasts.

Are you an editor, publisher or filmmaker who would like to hire me for a project? We probably won’t be able to take a long-ish meeting during show hours, but I’ll do my best to accommodate you. Failing that, you can always contact me via e-mail.

Two more things.

Don’t be shy about asking me questions. Non-disclosure agreements mean there are questions I can’t answer, but I’ll try to give you answers to all other questions.

Should you ever feel threatened/uncomfortable at this or any other convention, know that my booth will always be a safe spot for you. You can hang with me until we can talk to con personal able to help you with whatever and whoever is causing your concern.

Enough of me. Two other comics guests have been announced for this show. Animator and comics artist Robert Pope will be there. He has worked on such wonderful properties as Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Animaniacs, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, The Powerpuff Girls, Scooby-Doo, Johnny Bravo, Peanuts and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, Looney Tunes  and Peanuts.

Comics artist Don Kramer  has drawn great stuff for both Marvel, DC and independent projects. At DC, he did a Doctor Fate miniseries with Chris Golden, JSA with Geoff Johns, Detective Comics with Paul Dini, Nightwing with Peter Tomasi, JSA vs Kobra with Eric Trautmann and J. Michael Straczynski’s run on Wonder Woman.

Expect some comics guests surprises as well.

Moving over to the celebrity media guest roster, you will be able to see actors and voice actors from some of the most beloved films and TV shows ever. Here’s a quick list:

Christina Ricci
Carel Struycken
Rose McGowan
Skeet Ulrich

Camren Bicondova
Nick Stahl
Susan Egan
Noel MacNeal
Kirk Acevedo
Rick Gonzalez
Jyoti Amge
Erika Ervin
Rob Paulsen
Townsend Coleman
Cam Clarke
Barry Gordon
Tracee Cocco

I don’t know if I’ll get a chance to meet any of them at the event, but the above list includes some favorites of mine. I know the fans will have a great time with them.

For more information on Fanboy Expo 2.0, visit the event’s website. It will have the answers to your questions about tickets, autographs and fan packages, photo ops, schedules, parking and hotels.

As per usual, Tony Isabella’s Bloggy Thing and my online presence in general goes bye-bye when I’m traveling and at any conventions. I should be back online sometime on Monday.

Thanks for stopping by. I’ll be back soon with more stuff.

© 2019 Tony Isabella