Posts Tagged ‘lora innes’
11 items.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” -Margaret Mead
Wednesday, January 11th is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. To participate, we formed the Comic Creators for Freedom– a group of over 100 comic book creators who volunteered our artistic talents to raise money and awareness for this cause. You may not know it, but there are currently 27 million enslaved people worldwide- more than double the number of enslaved Africans during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. UNICEF estimates that 1.2 million children every year are sold into slavery, most of it sexual. The US Department of Justice estimates 16,000 victims of human trafficking are brought into the United States every year. Unlike slavery in the past, what is happening today is happening in secret. It won’t end until awareness is raised, and people like you and me take a stand.
So here’s what we did: each creator contributed an original drawing of one of our own female characters, and combined them into a single wallpaper image! The wallpaper features characters from all over the web, including Girls with Slingshots, The Dreamland Chronicles, Kukuburi, Earthsong Saga, Looking for Group, Love and Capes, The Dreamer, and tons more! Donate today to download this unique, once-in-a-lifetime wallpaper.
The Donations Drive will last for two weeks, from Monday January 9th – 20th. All proceeds will be split evenly between Love 146 and Gracehaven House- two organizations working on rehabilitation of victims and prevention of this crime.
To learn more about the CCA visit www.comiccreatorsforfreedom. To learn more about the problem, visit http://love146.org/slavery. (Note: contains adult themes and actual accounts of sex slavery.)
”Comment
So the odyssey of conventions continues, with back-to-back shows with NYCC last week and Mid-Ohio Con this weekend. And boy oh boy, did I find myself exhausted. In a good way. A different show always means different fans, exhibitors, and experiences. And Mid-Ohio has etched itself into my heart for some very specific reasons. But I’ll get into those in the daily breakout.
FRIDAY
Early in the morning I waited for my ride, Alan (Rival Angels) and his wife, who were driving down from Wisconsin. Since I’m on the way (and because they’re both awesome people), they picked me up and we began our 6+ hour drive to Columbus.
I only get to see Alan a few times a year, and his wife even less. Over the years we’ve become good friends, and it was nice to have time to catch up with them on life and projects during our car ride to the convention center.
We made excellent time, hitting no traffic along the way, and arrived with enough time to drop off our stuff at our tables before meeting up with Lora (The Dreamer) and her husband for dinner.
Lora was busy making an apple pie when we arrived (what she and her husband continued to refer to as “the greatest apple pie of all time,” which had a lot of hype around it…I was anxious to try it out), so we were a little late meeting up our friends at Lora’s favorite local pizza place.
We met up with several comic creator friends: Thom Zhaler (Love and Capes), Paul Storrie (The Green Hornet, The Muse), and Sean McKeever (Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt, Onslaught Unleashed). It was another opportunity to hang out with old friends and catch up.
Writer Paul D. Storie and I at the pizza place.
While at the pizza place, I found out they had ingredients for my new favorite drink: root beer liquor, whipped cream vodka, and coke (I’ve heard it called “The Widow Maker”). The bartender made the drink and later came up to the table to say she made one for herself, and it’s going to become her new signature drink!
After dinner we went back to Lora’s to sample this famous pie. And let me tell you, the hype was justified. It was a buttermilk cream apple pie – and it was amazing!
By that time it was late and we all had an early morning (and a full day) ahead of us.
SATURDAY
After a quick breakfast, the group piled into cars and headed over to The Greater Columbus Convention Center, where the show was being held. This was the first year Wizard had taken over the show, but it was nice to see the Henry brothers were still involved – as they greeted us upon our arrival.
The show was in a different hall this year, which featured a large glass wall that let in natural light throughout the day. The ceiling, too, had lights that were multi-colored and very cool to look at. Additionally, the show played music instead of doing announcements – but the music was at a level that wasn’t distracting or too loud, but was instead enough to enjoy when you could and ignore when you needed to.
Mid-Ohio has always been a very strong family show, and this year was no exception. There were a lot of families, parents with kids, or younger fans running around the show floor. This has historically lead to high sales for me, with the bulk of my books being all-ages. I did see a lot of Saturday only badges, however, which made me a little nervous for Sunday’s traffic – but I’m getting ahead of myself.
Saturday was a strong day filled with good sales, and great fans both new and old. I had people who read the comic (or my twitter or facebook) coming up to the table all day to say hi and support the work, and also had new fans who hadn’t heard of the projects before but loved the ideas and purchased from me for the first time. It was a good solid day of socializing with friends new and old, and selling high quality books.
After show hours, the group headed off for a local Asian fusion place called Lemongrass. The food was tasty, the sushi was great, and the sake was just what we needed after a day on the floor.
After dinner, it was off to a quick taste of Jeni’s ice cream. Jeni’s is usually a post-convention tradition for our group, but this night we just had a craving for it before going back to the hotel for the after-party.
So many options, so little time….
At the after-party I split off from the group briefly to chat with David Mack (Kabuki) and actor Doug Jones (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy). David wanted to get his dance on, and Doug was trying to re-enact scenes from The Matrix with him. It was an entertaining night, to be sure.
After a while I went back over by my friends and chatted them up some more, before we all retired for the evening back to Lora’s.
SUNDAY
Traditionally “kid’s day” at a convention, I honestly think I saw more kids attending the previous day. I did get to meet with some great Reading with Pictures supporters, sold a few copies of my books, and ultimately finished the show as strong as we could.
As we thought, traffic on Sunday was a lot lower than the previous day – as most of those people had single-day passes. This meant that sales on Sunday were lower than expected, but books still went flying off the table.
After the show ended, the group packed up and loaded up cars – then met at Jeni’s again for our post-con tradition.
The gang hanging out at Jeni’s Ice Cream, a post-convention tradition.
The final outing with the group was too brief, because we had to get on the road to get back to Illinois at a decent hour. We all said goodbye and parted ways. All in all, Mid-Ohio was another successful show. Not just because sales continued to be strong, but also for those reasons I eluded to earlier in this post: because of good friends.
I’ll miss my friends, as I probably won’t see them again until next year, but we all continue to stay in touch online. And a special thanks to everyone who stopped by the booth – either for the first time or for the 30th time – as your continued support fills me with joy and creativity.
I have the best friends and fans a guy could ask for.
I’m at MOC this weekend, table #1033 in artist alley. Going to be a fun time, so be sure to swing by and say hi!
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” -Margaret Mead
Tuesday, January 11th is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. In honor of the event, I teamed up with the Comic Creator’s Alliance–a group of over 100 comic book creators (both web and print!) who volunteered our artistic talents to raise money and awareness for this cause. You may not know it, but there are currently 27 million enslaved people worldwide- more than double the number of enslaved Africans during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. UNICEF estimates that 1.2 million children every year are sold into slavery, most of it sexual. The US Department of Justice estimates 16,000 victims of human trafficking are brought into the United States every year. Unlike slavery in the 19th century, what is happening today is happening in secret. It won’t end until awareness is raised, and people like you and me take a stand.
So here’s what we did: each creator contributed an original drawing of one of our own female characters, and combined them into a single image! This year’s theme was “The Brady Bunch.” There is so much going on in this image–you can look at the wallpaper for a long time and still find something new! All of the artists included in the drive are amazing and some of the fan favorites are: Scott Sava (The Dreamland Chronicles), Adam Hughes (Star Wars, Wonder Woman), Sarah Ellerton (Inverloch), Bryan Glass & Victor Santos (Mice Templar), Beau Smith (Wynonna Earp: The Yeti Wars), Billy Tucci (Shi), Mookie (Dominic Deegan), Crystal Yates (Earthsong), Lora Innes (The Dreamer), Thom Zahler (Love and Capes), and Alison Action (Bear Nuts). View the full listing of contributors here: http://comicalliance.weebly.com/the-people.html.
Donate today to download this unique, once-in-a-lifetime wallpaper. Or, this year you can buy a print! The Donations Drive will last for two weeks, from January 11th – 24th. All proceeds will be split evenly between Love 146 and Gracehaven House- two organizations working on rehabilitation of victims and prevention of this crime.
To learn more about the CCA and to donate visit www.comicalliance.weebly.com. To learn more about the problem, visit http://love146.org/slavery. (Note: contains adult themes and actual accounts of sex slavery.)
Carl speaks with the strange white creature guy.
And there’s a review of Iron Man 2 up, you know. 
Plus, I just did a guest strip for The Dreamer.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
-Margaret Mead
Monday, January 11th is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. To participate, we formed the Comic Creator’s Alliance–a group of over eighty comic book creators (both web and print) who volunteered our artistic talents to raise money and awareness for this cause. You may not know it, but there are currently 27 million enslaved people worldwide- more than double the number of enslaved Africans during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. UNICEF estimates that 1.2 million children every year are sold into slavery, most of it sexual. The US Department of Justice estimates 16,000 victims of human trafficking are brought into the United States every year. Unlike slavery in the 19th century, what is happening today is happening in secret. So it won’t end until awareness is raised, and people like you and me take a stand.
So here’s what we did: each creator contributed an original drawing of one of our own female characters, and combined them into a single wallpaper image. The wallpaper features characters from The Phoenix Requiem, Girls with Slingshots, Earthsong, Looking for Group, Shadowgirls, Marsh Rocket, The Uniques and three IDW Publishing titles: Fallen Angel, The Dreamland Chronicles and The Dreamer, and lots, lots more! Donate today to download this unique, once-in-a-lifetime wallpaper. The Donations Drive will last for two weeks, from January 11th – 24th. All proceeds will be split evenly between Love146 and Gracehaven House- two organizations working on rehabilitation of victims and prevention of this crime.
To learn more about the Comic Creator’s Alliance visit www.comicalliance.weebly.com. To learn more about the problem, visit http://love146.org/slavery. (Note: contains adult themes and actual accounts of sex slavery.)
Comic Review: The Dreamer
Writer / Artist: Lora Innes
Publisher: IDW
Website: www.thedreamercomic.com
Plot: Beatrice is your average teenage girl who wants to get the lead in the school play and to date the cute boy. But when she falls asleep she dreams about living a life during the Revolutionary War. As she delves deeper into the life of the characters fighting to create an independent nation, she starts to question if she truly is dreaming…or if there’s something else going on.
Lora Innes is the twice-Harvey Award nominated (and winner of multiple other webcomic awards) writer and artist of The Dreamer, and also a good friend of mine. Her pages are absolute gold, and you can see her style evolve even within the first six issues collected in her first trade from IDW. The characters are interesting and believable, the dialogue is delivered realistically, and the level of detail put into the outfits – in both modern times and the past – are absolutely spectacular. Whenever Bea dreams is when this comic shines, and it’s a fascinating and historical ride.
Lora balances tense dramatic scenes, action, and even a little comedy into the mix for a story that spans the ages. By the end of the first book you want to know not only what’s going on with Bea and her time-spanning dreams, but also how her trips may affect her in the present.
Lora has also just started a charity auction (which includes Thom Zahler, Barb Jacobs, Alan Evans, myself, and about 50 other creators) to create a wallpaper to help raise money to put a stop to human trafficking (AKA: modern day slavery). She has some frightening statistics and a personal story about it on her website, so be sure to check it out and help contribute.