My day began with a fruitless search for the charger for my camera's battery, followed by an equally fruitless search for a store that might sell me a replacement, so I'm afraid I must begin with an apology for the lack of on-the-scene photos. I'm hopeful that some of my fellows at the Alliance will be able to pick up the slack in this regard. But enough about that: It's the first day of SPX, ...

I was doing my monthly "will work for store credit" day of moonlighting at the comic store yesterday and there was one question that kept coming up customer after customer: "Do you know when Punisher #51 is coming out?" Given that #50 came out over two months ago, and given that that double-sized issue ended on a jaw-dropping cliffhanger, the slight edge of hysteria in the tone of some of the ...

Matt Kindt is not yet a household name in the comics field, and this fact borders on the criminal. You see, Kindt has quietly been producing noir masterpieces with almost frightening consistency for a number of years now, first in collaboration with Jason Hall (Pistolwhip volumes 1 and 2, and Mephisto and the Empty Box), and then on his own as the writer/artist of 2 Sisters and the just-released ...

Regular readers may recall Greg McElhatton's preview post a few weeks back alerting us to Harvey Pekar's then upcoming appearance on No Reservations, Anthony Boudain's excellent show on the Travel channel. For those unfamiliar with the Emmy-nominated series, each episode centers on a specific city or country, with Bourdain sharing insights on the local people, culture, sights and, most ...

This past weekend was my first time at the Baltimore Comic-Con since 2002, and wow, has this show ever come into its own! Sure, New York and San Diego had movie and tv stars –and those shows certainly basked in the reflected glow of Hollywood glamour as a result– but what the Baltimore Comic-Con has to offer is, in some respects, even more special: an honest-to-goodness, old-fashioned ...

Jose Villarrubia, comics artist and professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art, moderated a conversation with award-winning artists James Jean and Paul Pope on Sunday afternoon at the Baltimore Comic-Con. The three men spent a more than generous two hours talking about their work, with both Jean and Pope presenting slideshows of recent works for the capacity crowd. The majority of the ...

Unlike their Marvel-ous competition, the DC crew arrived in Baltimore with a bunch of exclusive announcements in their back pocket. You've probably already read a few of those announcements in Dooley's coverage of yesterday's DC Nation panel, but this afternoon's DCU panel offered plenty more of the same. Joining Dan DiDio and Bob Wayne on today's panel were Jann Jones, Mark Waid, Jim Shooter, ...

Day two of the Baltimore Comic-Con started for me (and for many others) with a Mike Mignola Q&A in which the writer/artist engaged in an hour-long exchange with his fans that was as thoughtful as it was personable. Not surprisingly, many of the questions centered around the Hellboy 2 movie, with Mignola explaining that the sequel was a tough sell until writer/director Guillermo del Toro's ...

I was as surprised as anyone to learn of Mike Wieringo's untimely death at the age of 44 last month due to a sudden heart attack brought on by a congenital, hereditary problem with his aorta. Having never had the pleasure of meeting the artist, whose work I've long admired, it seemed a no-brainer to attend the tribute being held in his honor at the Baltimore Comic-Con today by some of his closest ...

Being the first post-summer show, the Baltimore Comic-Con is at a bit of a disadvantage as it lands after the mega-shows of the summer and before the big retailer meetings of the fall. What this means is that while both of "the big two" establish a presence in Baltimore (an increasingly large presence as the show grows), for the most part, the appearances represent an opportunity for fans to put ...