SiDEBAR - COMICS, ART & POP CULTURE

Ep. 63: Dragon Con's THOM TRAINOR Promotes the Big Show

Of course, this is going up a little late, but hey, we tried. Actually, there was a freak accident with some mylar bags we won't go into here...

Dragon Con is indeed the big show for the Southeast and truth be told, it's the second largest pop culture convention in the country. The craziness goes down every year on Labor Day weekend in Atlanta, GA and draws in about 30,000 frenzied fans of all kinds. Comics, fantasy, sci-fi, Star Wars, Star Trek, actors, animation, anime, games, toys, costumes, clothing, pop art, vinyl—you name it, it's there!

Thom Trainor is our good buddy and he's the Comics Director for the show. We thought it'd be cool to bring him on and chat up this year's D*C, and maybe talk a bit about 2009 as well. Our conversation with him ended up being a short one, but I think we covered a lot of the bases and got a few laughs out of it too.

One aside, Thom couldn't mention during the interview some of the names lined up for next year, but we can give you a few of 'em now—Mike Mignola, Darwyn Cooke, Humberto Ramos and Dan Brereton! Pretty sweet!

http://www.dragoncon.org/

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Ep. 28: Spinning from Vertigo with DC's BOB SCHRECK

DC Editor Bob Schreck has lived about five lifetimes and seems to have a few more to go. He's a lot like The Highlander in that he just might be immortal and there's definitely only one! We became acquainted with Bob earlier this year at the first Atlanta Comics Expo and found him to be a terrific guy, a great storyteller and someone with a true heart for the comics biz. Joining us from his desk at DC, Schreck caught us up on the All-Star line and some of his other projects including a new Madame Xanadu book through Vertigo. This one will feature writing by the great Matt Wagner and art by talented newcomer Amy Hadley. Bob also reflects a bit on the year coming to a close, wading through the Vertigo waters and on his past with Creation Cons, Comico and of course Oni Press. Plus, a funny story about him "meeting" Frank Miller at a NY convention and why he fights the good fight for creators like Kevin Smith, Scott Morse and Paul Pope. Oh yeah, and Pellucidar!

**This episode features several snippets of music: Jethro Tull's Aqualung, Procol Harum's A Whiter Shade of Pale, Science Fiction/ Double Feature from The Rocky Horror Picture Show and U2's Vertigo. And we have to give props to Schreck's Assistant Editor Brandon Montclare for suggesting the Amy Hadley hotness for Madame X...turn it up loud, Captain!

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Ep. 22: MARK CHIARELLO - The Artist and The AD

Mark Chiarello's been one of our favorite guys for a very long time. Outside of being a kick ass artist and painter, he's also the Art Director up at DC, he launches and edits unique and adventurous projects and still finds time to write books that promote the medium (see: The DC Comics Guide to Coloring and Lettering Comics with Todd Klein). After his name came up glowingly on several other shows, we decided to track Mark down and invite him on for a chat. In the conversation, Chiarello discusses going from artist to AD, his great books Solo and Batman: Black & White, discovering Darwyn Cooke and why he has the best job ever...most of the time.

**Dwight got stuck in traffic and joined this interview a bit late. Apparently, the highway was jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive (that's a little Jersey reference for Mark).

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