Way, Wood @ Laughing Ogre in October

Wednesday, October 8: Daniel Way signing from 4pm-8pm
Writer of Wolverine: Origins and Deadpool

Daniel Way is an American comic book writer. He received the Xeric Foundation's Xeric Grant in 2000 for his first publication, Violent Lifestyle #1. Through Violent Lifestyle, Way was introduced to Marvel Comics editor Axel Alonso. Way's first published work for Marvel was the "Heartbreaker" storyline in Spider-Man's Tangled Web #16-17. This was followed by Gun Theory, a mini-series with artist Jon Proctor under the revived Epic Comics imprint. Way's subsequent work for Marvel includes Agent X #12, Bullseye: Greatest Hits, Ghost Rider, the "Prelude to Planet Hulk" storyline in The Incredible Hulk, Sabretooth: Open Season, Supreme Power: Nighthawk, Venom, What If: Enemy of the State, Wolverine, and Wolverine: Origins. Currently he is writing the new Deadpool series.

Saturday, October 11: Brian Wood signing from 3pm-7pm
Writer of DMZ and Northlanders

Brian Wood is a writer, illustrator and graphic designer living in Brooklyn, New York. Wood both writes and illustrates graphic novels and serialized monthly comics for a variety of publishers. During his comics career, Wood held a day job for several years as a staff designer for Rockstar Games, designing for video game franchises such as Grand Theft Auto, Midnight Club, Max Payne, Smuggler's Run and Manhunt. He is also one of the most distinctive graphic designers in the comics industry, having created covers for Warren Ellis' Global Frequency, his own DMZ and many others. Wood's illustrations have appeared in Punk Planet, Bail Magazine, the SF Bay Guardian, and short films for Nike.

The Laughing Ogre
4258 North High St.
Columbus OH 43214
(614)A-MR-OGRE

Google map

Thanks for a great Mid-Ohio-Con

Just a quick note of thanks to everyone who showed up at the Con and helped to make it a wonderful show. I hope to get around to writing a more detailed post on my website and here about the whole weekend. Chuck Moore (of Comic Related) posted some photos of the show. If you don’t know Comic Related, get to know it.

Jeff Stahler at PM Gallery

Friday night, I was on my way to the pre-Mid-Ohio Con party at Barley's. (No offense meant to Panel, the party's sponsor, but it wasn't quite as good as the GOGs of old. GOG being the Great Ogre Gathering, the pre-con parties put on at the Laughing Ogre comic book shop by its former owners. At least one year, I skipped the con, but made sure to make the party.) Before I left home, I discovered an ad in Columbus Alive! touting an opportunity to meet Jeff Stahler. Jeff is the editorial cartoonist for the Columbus Dispatch and was at the PM Gallery that night signing copies of 21st Century Confusion: A Moderately Confused Collection, the latest collection of his syndicated panel daily comic Moderately Confused and kicking off an exhibition of several MC originals, which, if you've got $200 burning a hole in your pocket, you can purchase.

The exhibit consists mostly of cartoons that were part of a caption contest sponsored by the Dispatch and include the winning reader submitted punchline. A few panels with Stahler's punchlines are included as well, and those ones also appear in the book.

I picked up a copy of the book, complete with Stahler's autograph, and handed him in return a copy of my own Wasted Paper, collecting the first year of my web-comic Wasted Potential.

The Stahler exhibit at PM Gallery is slated to run through October 30.

Mid Ohio Con (Part One)

Just a quick few links to share with you what's gone on so far at this year's MOC. Comics Related has a load of coverage at their site with a podcast and page of photos and Max Ink wrote up a brief post about his own personal experiences on Saturday.

craft festival in Merion Village 10/4

"The Merion Village Association will hold its 16th Annual Crafters & Artisans Market this weekend.

'The event, the major fundraiser for the civic association, will take place 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 4 at Gates-Fourth United Methodist Church, 1234 S. Fourth St.

"'It's amazing to me that that is the 16th year,' said Bob Leighty, president of the Merion Village Civic Association. 'I don't know where the time goes.'

"Proceeds benefit the association's upkeep."

the full story

Gallery Hop and other events this weekend

Hello all. My name is Rich Watson and I'm the newest member of Sunday Comix, not to mention being a new resident of Columbus as of this summer. I'm originally from New York City, and I've been involved in small press in one form or another since 1993. I've been a writer, artist, self-publisher, editor, journalist and even retailer. I've recently started an autobiographical webcomic about my time here in C-bus called City Mouse Goes West, at Web Comics Nation. I also write a blog about black comics and creators called Glyphs, at Pop Culture Shock (hence my username - my blog used to be on Blogger).

In addition to posting about the goings on here at Sunday Comix Central, I'd like to also post about the cool arts-related stuff in Columbus. Its thriving cultural environment is perhaps the major reason I moved here. This place styles itself as the "Independent Art Capital of the World," and the moniker is a justifiable one. The visual and performing arts are almost as much a part of the town's identity as Buckeye football, and part of my intent here will be to highlight it as much as possible.

This weekend, obviously, is the Mid-Ohio Con (which, I regret to say, I'll be unable to attend), but it's also the weekend for Gallery Hop, the Short North tradition held on the first Saturday of every month. The galleries along this stretch of North High Street will stay open later than usual for everyone to check out their wares. It's a very festive occasion, something I look forward to every month. You can read more about it here.

In addition:
- The Wexner Center is currently running the "Andy Warhol: Other Voices, Other Rooms" exhibit. (I went to this recently with Jonathan, Ray, Mike L. and Fearless Leader Max and I found it an overwhelmingly vast experience. Worth seeing.) This Sunday marks the first of in a series of First Sundays Drag Day at the Wex - free admission! (Admission is also free Thursday evenings for the duration of the Warhol show.)

- The Columbus International Film Festival continues tonight at Studio 35 with How Ohio Pulled it Off, followed by the Vice-Presidential debate.

Plus:
- The North Market Harvest Festival is this Saturday.

Sunday Comix taking Mid Ohio Con By Storm!

Russ Merritt, Max Ink, Mike Lucas, Ray Tomczak, Jonathon Riddle and Molly Durst are only a few of the artists crawling out of the woodwork for the 28th Annual Mid Ohio Con which will be held October 4–5, 2008 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio.

Show Hours:
Saturday
10 a.m.–6 p.m.
Sunday
10 a.m.–5 p.m.

Keep an eye out for those zany Sunday Comix folks, get your con sketches, pick up some indie books, enjoy your Mid Ohio Con and keep Sunday Comix going strong!

Rich Watson & Via Colori

Rich Watson, a member of Sunday Comix who in the summer moved to Columbus from New York has been featured in the Columbus Dispatch on their article about Via Colori at Goodale Park.

Check out the article here for more details!

Night Falls on the Day Prize, but the Night Is Filled Stars...

The finalists for the 2008 SPACE Prize were announced on Monday. The winner will be picked from three voting bodies. Two rotating judges will have one vote each and one "popular vote" will be culled from votes by all the registered SPACE 2008 Exhibitors (via emails sent to SPACE Coordinator, Bob Corby). The judges for this year are the 2007 Day Prize winners, Matt and Carol Dembicki (acting as one legal entity), and the “God-father of Small Press Comics,” Tim Corrigan.

The finalists were chosen from all the books that were collected for the Howard E. Day Memorial Prize at SPACE 2008. It wasn’t until afterward that Dave Sim revealed that he was disbanding the Day Prize (and all future convention appearances) in order to focus on writing and drawing comics. Says Corby, “Losing the Day Prize is small consolation for having regularly produced Dave Sim work on comic store shelves. We'd like to thank Dave Sim for having the Day Prize here at SPACE for the last 7 years and wish him the best on his projects.” Among the finalists are local talents Craig Bogart (The Ineffables) and Max Ink (Blink). Max also happens to be the coordinator of Sunday Comix (and the author of this blog entry). "There were a lot of great books submitted this time around and I'm honored to be included," says Ink.

The winner of the SPACE Prize will receive a cash prize of $300.00 and a plaque. The plaque presentation will be held during SPACE 2009 on April 18 and 19, 2009 at the Aladdin Shire CenterColumbus. in

THE 2008 SPACE Prize Finalists:

Birth
Alterna Comics
Michael S. Bracco
23 Trumpet Lane Suite A
Levittown NY 11756
$12.00
(buy online)

Blink: Barefoot in America,
Breakfast in the Park
ONWARDStudio
Max Ink
1440 W. Rich St. 5
Columbus OH 43223
$4.00

(buy online)

Breathers 1
Justin Madson
708 Birch St.
Baraboo WI 53913
$6.50

(buy online)

Clockwork Creature: Chapter One
Ambrosia Publishing
Kyle Strahm- Artist Writer
Wesley Craig Green-Editor
96 Wilcox St.
Timmins Ontario, Canada P4N 3K9
$6.95
(buy online)

Concepcion
Pretentious Comics
Rickey Gonzales
P.O.Box 14376
Chicago IL 60614
$3.00
(buy online)

The Secret History
of the Ineffables Part 1
Mystery City Comics
Craig Bogart
2714 Ruhl Ave.
Bexley OH 43209
$3.00

Lackluster World 5
Gen:Eric Publishing
Eric Adams
2245 Hannaford Ave.
Cincinnati OH 45212
$7.00
(buy online)

The Serial Squad !
Bad Place Productions
Paul E. Schultz- Writer/Artist
Jon Hodges- Editor
P.O.Box 18755
Cleveland Heights OH 44118
$5.95 & $2.00 S&H
(buy online)

A Thorn in the Side
Carbon-Based Books
Bill Knapp
2526 Rainbow Dr.
Lafayette IN 47904
$14.95 & $2.25 S&H
(buy online)

Autumn Cons

The San Diego Comic-Con is seen as the premiere comic book convention. Well, sure-- for the Summer comic book conventions. But here in the east side of the Mid West, the Mid-Ohio-Con is the "must-attend"reigning champ of and Autumn comic book conventions. This year, it's moved from its usual late November Thanksgiving weekend to an early October (4 & 5) show date. This year's guest list is building up to an impressive one. (The recent addition of Chris Claremont is quite a coup.)

Here in Ohio and beyond, there are a few other conventions that are deserving of your attention: Canton Comic & Sci-Fi Convention (Sept 14), INDYFEST (Sept 21), Screaming Tiki Con (Oct 17-19), Toledo Comic & Sci-Fi Convention, (Nov 16) and the XCape Con (Nov 22-23).