Nightmares Illustrated 045 Northwest Cornered

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Top Five Picks…Buy These Right Now.

1. Lazarus #1 (Image).

2. Heavy Metal #263 (Metal Mammoth).

3. Larfleeze #1 (DC).

4. Elephantmen #49 (Image).

5. Grimm Fairy Tales #86 (Zenescope).

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I am writing this in Seattle. A striking contrast from New Orleans, I must say. For some reason, though, I still have the convention on my mind and so I thought I would unburden myself of some of these thoughts.

There are a number of different conventions fans can attend hoping to get a little information for and entertainment from horror comics. Interestingly, it is easier to do one or the other: horror or comics. The combination of the two is surprisingly challenging for the specialist. There are three big(gish) ones: World Fantasy Convention (WFC), World Horror Convention (WHC), and ComicCon. Let’s dispense with the last one first. Everybody knows about ComicCon. It is essentially a consumer affair, an extended attempt to sell you stuff. It has grown very large and it now covers not only comics in all their forms but also television and film and other media products. It is a big goat dance in many ways, but if you are looking for comics you will find them here, horror and otherwise. In addition, there are many, many other comics conventions of smaller size sprinkled throughout the year and the country. Horror comics specialty conventions, not so much, but you do find horror comics at generalist gatherings.

The other two are not comics scenes – they are more writing-oriented conventions – but they do have a little overlap. The WFC is the bigger convention. It is better run, usually has bigger writers and artists, and typically sports a bigger book room and art show. It is the more serious of the two writer conventions, you might say. The WHC is smaller, amateurish, and a pretty seat-of-the-pants situation. Nobody is minding the store. That does not mean it isn’t fun or worthwhile. It just means expect a lot more ad-hockery than at the WFC, the names of the panelists are not as familiar, and the glitches are a little more frequent. The 2013 WHC was an exception in that there was one big sponsor, Samhain Publications, who poured a metric ton of money into the affair and made it better than usual. Plus, WHC 2013 was combined with the Horror Writers Association’s annual Bram Stoker Banquet, which does not always happen either. So 2013 was a positive outlier of WHCs.

So, what to do if you are not independently wealthy with nothing but time on your hands? Which one do you go to if you can choose only one? You will be happier if you lean one way or the other, horror or comics. If it is comics, then go to a comics convention, the big one or a regional one. Easy enough. If it is horror, then you go to WFC or WHC, whichever is closer. Do not expect much comics-wise and you won’t be disappointed. Besides, you can find plenty of comics people at the WHC and WFC if you look around a little. Maybe there is not much in the way of official programming, but there are people there, you know. Go up and talk to them. Most folks are pretty friendly at these conclaves. The next World Horror Convention is in Portland, Oregon. A fun city and a good convention, so if you are in the Pacific Northwest next year in early summer, WHC it is. The next World Fantasy Convention is this November, but it is in England so forget that. Now, the 2014 WFC is one for the ages. I know it is far away in the future, November 2014, and it is in Crystal City, Virginia (basically, the airport on the edge of Washington, DC). But, Stuart David Schiff is the Guest of Honor. Holy crap, Stuart Schiff! That’s the man behind the legendary Whispers Press. Do whatever you have to do to get to this one. And keep your fingers crossed for a little comics programming. Tell you what: I’ll talk to somebody, see what I can do.

You understand I have absolutely no pull with anybody, but I will ask…

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Marvel could not let the summer go by without some kind of event, right? Infinity. All right then. This is a Thanos book, and even though “infinity” is a fairly generic word, it might still ring a bell because of all the other “infinity” events from the past like Infinity War and Infinity Crusade and Infinity Gauntlet. From the same cloth, ladies and gentlemen. The hero is Black Bolt, king of the Inhumans. Not so long ago he was taken over by a skrull … but I digress. Kind of. I actually enjoyed the Infinity books. They usually had above-the-mark story and art, plenty of gritty content, and a few genuine surprises. The problem with this “event” and so many others is they are reruns. How many times? This is why I am not reading the new Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy and Starlord. I really enjoyed the last couple of times their stories were told and just do not want to hear it again. To the point, I can pull out comics and books from the last time around that I have already purchased and read them again instead of buying a new retelling. These redressed reloads are fine for readers who are new to comics or at least to the books in question, but for almost everybody else they are just depressing. Besides that, the last iteration of these characters was particularly good. The last Nova reboot was excellent and the Green Lantern retelling surrounding Blackest Night was superb. It is hard to imagine how a new retelling is going to be better than the last retelling, and since the last retelling was so recent, well, why, why, why, you know?