Wizard World New Orleans - the first big Comic Con of New Orleans

I hope everyone made it out to Wizard World last weekend. It really did turn into a great show.  Wizard was able to bring in a number of big names like Adam West Billy Dee Williams, and Ernie Hudson from the Hollywood side of things, and then people like Phil Jimenez, Rob Liefeld, Mike Grell, and Micheal Golden from the comic industry.  Hopefully Wizard World comes back next year in and even bigger event, but for the first one it has already been the biggest comic con to come into the city.

It started off on Friday at Media Underground Comics in Metairie, LA where Phil Jimenez came in for an hour or so to do a pre-show signing and giving away a number of free comics and art by him.  He talked to everyone and joking around a bit.  For midday on a Friday, it was a good start to the con with about 30-40 people showing up.

The next morning, I got up earlier than planned, so just went ahead and drove down to the Convention Center.  I got there shortly after 9:30 and see someone walking up dressed as Marty McFly, and lo and behold its my friend Stephen ready to go find the DeLorean as soon as we get in.  By that time the line has to be around 100 or so deep and there is a still a line behind us still forming. 

Once 10am hit, the line flowed very smoothly into the hall, and after a first step through, and walking by Ernie Hudson in his Ghostbuster's uniform, we quickly found the DeLorean, and the people working the booth loved that Stephen was dressed up. I loved that this thing was in working condition and even the buttons to set the date you wanted to go to worked great.








Stephen got the full Back to the Future treatment of them showing how everything worked, he even got a video of them setting his birthday as the date.  This was one of the highlights of the show.

After that it was time to just walk around and take in the show. Running into other friends and just taking in everything else.  All of the costumes (which were actually fewer than expected) were great. The first one here to the right are a couple of friends dressed at Joker and Harley Quinn.

One of the panels that I was really looking forward too was the Chew/Sweets Panel on Saturday with Rob Guillory and Kody Chamberlain (pictured Chamberlain right and Guillory left).  They talked and took questions, and one of my favorites was Guillory talking about the origin of the term "Graphic Novel". It started with Will Eisner trying to get the first book solely based in comic art published, and he knew that the publishers would not accept it if he used the words "comic book", and thus the term graphic novel was born. In case you were wondering that book is "Contract with God" which on a side note, I have an original copy.

 Another favorite thing of the show for me was the 2 kid Batman's fight against each other when their Robin father's were standing around talking. We were just sitting around, and all of a sudden a bat fight broke out.

There are just 2 shots of the crowd and 

 My friend Rhea and her brother Mage (real Mage not listed).















Finally a Saints K-9 from Doctor Who and another friend Damon dressed as bone claw Wolverine.

Comic Events in the NOLA or Wizard World New Orleans the Prequel

With Wizard World New Orleans only a weekend away, it seems like a number of comic events just keep popping up. New Orleans never really had a large scale Comic Con until now, and it seems many are embracing it.

Last Saturday was the Flying Zombie Launch Party held at BSI Comics.  Flying Zombies a new self published comic by Matt Gravin and Monty Smith.  They ran pretty late and they had tons of food and alcohol to appease the masses.  It was a lot of fun, and you got to get your picture taken with a tire, a fancy tire painted red white and blue with hands and eyes, but a tire none the less.  For more information check out the website: Flying Zombies

Last night, was an Image Comic signing party at the always fun Crescent City Comics.  CCC knows how to put on a party, hell they put on enough it should be second nature, and of course free beer always brings the crowds.  Every few months they put a great party, and this time was no exception, maybe even more fun since they Nathan Edmondson of the new comic Who is Jake Ellis?, Kody Chamberlain of Sweets: A New Orleans Crime Story, and Rob Guillory of Chew.  New Orleans got lucky with this tour in that, it is one of the few Who is Jake Ellis tour stops that involve other writers/artists, though Rob and Kody are no strangers to New Orleans.  Each were there with their comics, and Rob Guillory with comics, hardback covers of Chew, and Poyo shirts.  Stop by CCC over on Feret Street, great shop with some good people.

This coming Friday, from 2-3pm Media Underground Comics will have Phil Jimenez signing comics, and there will be free stuff to give away.  This one is a little harder to do with it being during many people's work hours on Friday, but if you can make it, have fun and bring a comic or two to get signed.

Finally, More Fun Comics on Oak Street will be having their own sales event from Friday through Sunday where they will be staying open late, and will also be having some Live music and a DJ at times.

So next Saturday and Sunday, be at the convention center.  It will be a lot of fun, and if you miss(ed) any of the above signing, everyone but Nathan Edmonson will be at Wizard World to sign even more stuff.

P.S.
Don't forget that 4 months from now NOLA Comic Con will moving downtown to the Westin Hotel in Canal Place this year.

First Post

First Day. First Post.  Still working on everything, name, location, etc. I hope to put up at least something once a month, preferably once a week, but I'm sure it will take a bit for me to get into.

Hoping to post about comics and comics in NOLA.   Local comics, and comic writers and artist, and maybe some comic book movies.

It is a good time to be a comic book nerd in New Orleans.  Not only do you have a number of movie filming here, like Green Lantern, Red, The Expendables, Jonah Hex (even if not all that great), then talk of the third Nolan Batman here, but right around the corner is Wizard World New Orleans, then NOLA Comic Con a few months later.

This is the first year Wizard World is coming to NOLA, and they seem to be bring a hell of a group.  Adam West and Burt Ward, Billy Dee Williams (Lando for the none Star Wars crowd out there), Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters' Winston) to just name a few movie/television stars.  Of course there is also at least six Buffy actors showing up as well.  I'm not even sure where to start off with the comic writers and artists.  Semi local guys (from Lafayette, LA) are Kody Chamberlain who is currently creator, writer and artist on SWEETS: A New Orleans Crime Series, and then Rob Guillory who is the artist for the Eisner Award winning CHEW (If you haven picked this up yet, you should. the writer John Layman is also going to be there). Rounding out the local crowd is Kurt Amacker, who is based in New Orleans, and his work on Dead Souls and Immortal: 60.  Phil Jimenez, David Mack, Mike Grell, Micheal Golden, Renee Witterstaetter, Cameron Stewart, and of course Rob Liefeld, and that is just to name a few.

For a full list check out the website: Wizard World New Orleans - Last weekend of January

Then we will be following that that up in May with the NOLA Comic Con.  This will be the 3rd year that Ronnie Prudhomme at Media Underground Comics will having this Comic Con, and this will be the first year it has moved downtown, and will be at The Westin at Canal Place.  Wizard World has teamed up with Nola Comic Con and will hopefully be helping with some special guest, but as far as I know, no one has been announced yet. 

More information can be found here. NOLA Comic Con