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.

Favorites of 2010

Chew - Chew started around October 2009, and 2010 was its first full year, and it has been great. The artist and writer both won the Eisner Award, and Harvey Awards, and was nominated for 2 Eagle Awards this year.  Above all, check this book out.  Great concept in Tony Chu, an FDA agent,  who gets psychic impressions from things he eats

Sweets - Artist created, written and illustrated work, Sweets is a crime story that takes place in New Orleans, and written by Kody Chamberlain who now lives in Lafayette but used to live here in New Orleans.  Classic noir feel, and looks and feels like New Orleans.  Many books have tried to get that look, but without being here and living here, it misses some of the nuances.






 
Blackest Night - Blackest Night started in 2009, but finished up in 2010, and with the introduction the of all of the new lantern corps, this series has continued to bring new stories to DC.  In the grand scheme of things, it may have looked just like a super powered zombie story with the Black Lanterns bringing back those that have been dead for years.








Superman: Earth One - I'm not sure I have seen single book get more pre-release press than this book this year, and unfortunately most of it was all wrong. It was billed as a Superman version of Twilight, and it could not be further from that.  I'm generally not a Superman fan, he is usually too powerful and ends up being to boring of a character, but Straczynski did a great job in telling a story of young Clark Kent, struggling with wanting to help his parents, wanting to just be a regular person, or whether to use his powers to help others.


Criminal Vol. 5: The Sinners -  Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips finished up this series this year, and if you are not in any of the superhero or any "metahuman" this series was just about regular people, except for the career criminal of the people of the story.  This book brings back the main character Tracy Lawless trying to solve some mysterious murders. Always well done, always a good story in all of these books.




Parker: The Outfit (Richard Stark's Parker) - I have mentioned this one before, but just wanted to mention it again here, because it is so good.  I love a good noir story whether its in comics, movies, or books, and these stories are based off of a good noir book series, and when you add in the art style of this book and its just a really great book.


 Here are two examples of the art style of the book.
 

Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer Volume 2: The Great Puppet Theater  - This one is just a mention, not an all time favorite for the year, but a good quick book to read that makes to laugh when you think of Pinocchio slaying vampires.  This series is directed at the younger audience like teens, for what it is, it is good, and it has stepped up from the first volume.