Erik W Hendrix sent out 'Event Invites' to those fans of his FACTION Facebook Fan Page this past Friday....  

I realize this is a little late for those out of the immediate local area to attend this event, especially since it is on a weekday, but I wanted to give notice of this event in my Blog today.

That's because Tina and I first met Erik W and Amanda Hendrix back on the night of May 30th at Sky High Comic's "A Night Of Art - Music - Comics In San Marcos California!"  (click here for that post).

Erik showed us several pages of his entry into the 2009 Small Press Idol Contest, (SPI).  Tina and I were impressed with his enthusiasm, and after that I blogged a few more times about his entry, which kept going further into each round of the SPI.  Finally it was at the end of the rounds, (Round 4), and then came the crucial point in the contest.  Would any of the final entries 'sell' as a pre-order comic?  

Well, FACTION and the other remaining entries did sell... with FACTION coming out on top as the #1 entry! 

So, I'm pleased to blog about the Event that is coming up this Wednesday in San Diego that has two of the FACTION creators signing copies of Issue #0!

Here's the details for this event:

Date: Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Time: 11:00am - 5:00pm
Location: Southern California Comics
Street: 8280 Clairemont Mesa Bl. #124
City/Town: San Diego, CA

Here's the message from Erik to FACTION fans:

"Come and meet the creators of Faction in San Diego. Erik Hendrix, creator and writer of Faction, and Arnie Gordon, artist of Faction, will be appearing at Southern California Comics in San Diego on November 11th. Tell your friends! Come get a signed copy of Faction issue 0, meet us, chat with us, and by all means see how awesome So Cal Comics is in San Diego... easily the best shop in the city."

The above are Erik's words, but I would have to agree that SoCal Comics is at least in the 'Top Three' of all comic book shops in the San Diego County area for sure! That's where we get the majority of our comics supplies, even though they are approximately 30 miles away from us here in Carlsbad.

Please Note:  SoCal Comics is very hard to find if You have never been there!  Seriously folks!  If you are thinking of going  there for the first time, please see the following map for directions.  This comic book shop is in an industrial warehouse / office buildings district, off of the main road, and even with a little bit of signage inside the commercial area, it is very hard to find the first time.  Especially since this event will be on a weekday and the area will be full of cars, making it harder to spot where all the comics action is!

Here's that link:  (click here).

If you are able to attend, and want to signify that, then please the following link and click the 'Attending' button.  Or if you are a fan of FACTION, and maybe can attend, or even can't be there, feel free to click those additional 'maybe' or 'won't' be there buttons also.  Here's the link:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=194302558242
 

Thanks again to Erik for sending me an invite to this event! I am looking forward to attending this event, as I have not yet met Arnie Gordon, who is the artist of this issue!

I realize that this blog post is being published a little late for those out of the immediate Bakersfield / Southern California area....  

But I wasn't aware of it until Scott Shaw! created an 'Event' on Facebook, to which I was invited to attend.  Thanks Scott for doing so!

Although Tina and I are unable to attend... I wanted to blog about this because of a few factors:

1)  Sergio Aragones will be there!  He's always a 'Fun Guy' to see at any Con! 

2)  Scott Shaw! will be presenting his 'Oddball Comics Slide Show'... Which is worth the price of admission alone to this con.

3)  Several established comics creators, including Tone Rodriguez and Alex Nino, Plus several up-n-comers like Mike Hampton will be there!

Here's the PR for the 2nd Annual Bakersfield Comic Con:

Start: Nov 8, 2009
End: Nov 8, 2009
Time: 10:00am
Price: $5 / Children 8 & Under - FREE!
Contact: Steve Wyatt | supercon@super-con.com
Location: 3100 Camino Del Rio, Bakersfield, CA 93308

For additional info on the Con:

I stopped by the Com.X booth at the recent Long Beach Comic Con, (LBCC), basically to meet Andi Ewington in person....  

As Andi and I have been Facebook Friends for a while; but with him based in the United Kingdom, and myself based in the San Diego, California area, we had never met.

So an added plus for me attending the LBCC  a couple of hours North of me was to meet Andi.  Besides showing me the Special Edition Sampler, (more of which is shown in the bottom "Convention Photos Featurette", he also introduced me to Benjamin Shahrabani, Producer for Com.X.

Benjamin showed me a few of the projects that Com.X will be producing this year, as well as showing me a couple of others that have already been published.

This blog post is on the graphic novel 'Path' which is created, written and artworked by Gregory S Baldwin.  I had not seen it before, nor heard of it when it first came out in the UK.  Com.X has opened a Venice, California office. 

So what is this graphic novel about?  Here's the PR for it:

"Doppler is a neurotic bunny who doesn't have much in the way of people skills, but when he is cornered by a pack of hungry crocidogs, Dodge rescues him. Dodge is an older Elephant who doesn't see so well, but he needs help getting to his destination and against all odds, Doppler and Dodge form a very special friendship."

Product Details
Comic: 80 pages (graphic novel format)
Publisher: Com.x; 1st edition (2008)   Cover priced: $12.95 USD
ASIN: B0019RSI0W
Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.6 x 0.3 inches 

The comic book shown above was released just last month, and should still be available for sale at Your Local Comic Book Shop (LCBS)!

Before I get to my review on this issue, here is some of the PR info that was used to promote the comic book:

"This comic series has been featured on CNN, Fox News, and OK! Magazine.

Actress, Producer, Entrepreneur, and talk show queen. She turned her wounds into wisdom and survived an abusive family to become one of the most powerful and influential people in the world. See the humble beginnings of Oprah Winfrey."

Following are the credits for this issue:

Writer and interior pages penciler: Joshua LaBello
Colorist:            Michelle Davies
Letterer:          Wilson Ramos, Jr.
Cover art:        Vinnie Tartamella 
Type:               Comics 
Genres:            Biography, Non-Fiction
Publisher:        Bluewater Productions 
Pub. Date:      October 06, 2009
Availability:   Released 
ISBN:              978-1-4276-3998-1
For ages:       13+

I read the above comic book this weekend along with a few others from Bluewater Productions.  I blogged about the Tribute issue to Michael Jackson already this week. (Click here for that blog.)

The reason I read this one and am blogging about it quicker than normal, is that comics like these that have big potential mainstream interest, have a way of being underordered by LCBS, and then sold out before my Blog readers can get to their LCBS for shopping.

This issue is just one of several in the 'Female Force' Series by Bluewater Comics.

Here are my thoughts on it, as well as a few points of interest by my wife Tina, who also read it:

The storyline that the writer, Joshua LaBello, laid out was well told.  I had not known of all the background scenes that Joshua laid out in this comic book.  The early years were well covered, and the later years were more of a 'scattered montage', to use Tina's phrasing of it.

Not that we didn't like the comic book, it truly is one that holds up well as an individual bio-comic and as one in the 'Female Force' series.   When Tina says 'scattered montage', that's because there was so much history to capture in such a small format (comic sized instead of graphic novel sized), that there had to be some 'cutting' done in presenting Oprah's long history.

The interior pages pencilling is finely illustrated also.  In this case the writer and penciller were the same, so he had the complete say as to how to layout the story he was telling.  Good job on this Joshua!

Michelle's coloring accentuated the pencilling.

Wilson's lettering was his usual good performance, and fit well within the parameters of the story and art. 

Plus after seeing so many great covers by Vinnie Tartamella, I just had to run a photo of him near the top of this blog post.  It's because of his front covers, and OK... also the personalities / subjects of these different series by Bluewater, that make me put these issues near the top of my reading stack!  Another great cover, Vinnie! 

I found this to be a good read, and also informative.  Yeah, there's been times when I've caught Oprah on TV, especially on her road trips with Gayle King.  Those were fun episodes!  And yes, Tina also found this to be a good read! 

BTW, I have already blogged about a few other issues in this series, including: Princess Diana, Condoleeza Rice, and Caroline Kennedy.

To see more news about this comic book series, and / or other comics that are being published by Bluewater Comics, please check their web site at:    http://www.BlueWaterProd.com !

Yesterday, late afternoon, I received a message from John Tighe, Administrator of the 'Fans of Shel Dorf, Founder of the San Diego Comic Con' Facebook Fan Page.  

The message was copied from Charlie Roberts communication:

I just spoke with Shel's brother Mike. Shel passed away at 1:15 PM Pacific Time today, Tuesday November 3rd at Sharp Hospital in San Diego after a lengthy illness.

I also received an email from Mike Towry from the ShelDorfTribute.com site, as well as from other Facebook Friends.  This blog post is just to mention the services that are being held Today in San Diego.

So as to get this blog posted quicker, I am just going to refer you to my earlier blog post from October 7th, about when the ShelDorfTribute.com site was first set up... (click here for that blog).

Shel's passing has been noted already on at least one TV Station in San Diego, as I saw a mini-feature on him during the 7:30 AM spot on KUSI-TV. Shel was duly noted as the Founder of the Comic Con.

Also, you can go to this page for more info on the services for today, (click here).

I am sure there will be more information and also stories about Shel in the upcoming days, so  please check the following websites at:

http://www.sheldorftribute.com/ 

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=93720774140