TOMMY LEEʼS SOAPBOX Durham’s ULTIMATE COMICS just celebrated their It’s thrilling to see this city brimming with activity 15th anniversary, so that means that I first met local and growth, and I love sharing downtown Durham with shop owner Alan Gill way back in 2003. I didn’t want to so many creative friends and colleagues traveling here meet him. I didn’t want to talk to anyone (as usual back from around the world. So much of this experience is in those days) and risk having to share that I made about sharing. Creators get to share their work, cre- comics as a living. Alan noticed a particular thing about ative inspiration, and professional insights. Aspiring my two young kids, writers and artists get however, as they would to share their portfolios go through the racks with industry giants and of comics and say stuff publishers. Fans get to like, “Hey, it’s Bernard’s share their love of read- new book,” or “Look at ing, watching, and telling JP’s cover!” They knew stories. And everyone not only the characters leaves NC Comicon hav- in the books, but also ing made new friends, the creators. I didn’t guaranteed. really think about it, as Our “theme” for this that was our life and year’s BULL CITY is “col- those were my friends. laboration”. Comics don’t What I did think about, get made without collab- was that my kids real- oration. Without collabo- ly enjoyed this comic ration, movies don’t get shop. Our family visits seen, games don’t get to friendly and welcom- played, and books don’t ing Ultimate Comics get published. Without became a regular thing, collaboration, NC Com- and I finally let my guard down and told Alan who I was. icon wouldn’t exist. Without Brockton, Eric, Matt, Before I knew it, the shared love of comic books was ChrisP, C-Fergie, Moose, Stacey, Siena, Jeremy, Robyn, bringing me out of my shell and had me talking with Tara, Quin, our families, dedicated volunteers, faithful more strangers and making new connections in the fans, and so many more, you wouldn’t be reading this. community. I’m so grateful you’re here to share this weekend When Alan started NORTH CAROLINA COMICON in with my friends and me. Thanks for the support, and 2010, I offered to attend and invite renowned creators see you next year. like Howard Chaykin, Steve Niles, David Lafuente, and Onward! others to attend. It was fun and more gratifying than I could’ve imagined. It didn’t take long for me to start imagining the “ideal” comic convention and the pos- sibility of bringing something to our community that I yearned for as a young comics fan and aspiring cre- ator. I eventually became co-owner of NCC, and part of a team of wonderful local folks who put so much work Tommy Lee Edwards and love into what you are experiencing today. Co-owner/Senior Director NC COMICON STAFF Alan Gill Chris Ferguson Moose Wehrwein Owner/ Art Director Master of Cosplay President Matt Connor Siena Fallon Tommy Lee Edwards Panel Director Social Media Creative Officer Co-owner/ Chris Poirier Jeremy Tarney Senior Director Media/ Volunteer Coordinator Brockton McKinney Communications Director Robyn McGlotten Creative Director Stacey Willard Ticketing Manager Eric Hoover Guest and Quin Melvin Event Director Events Director NCC Talent Scout Cover Art by Shawn Crystal, Tommy Lee Edwards and Chris Ferguson 2 1 SCHEDULE FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9 Exhibitor Setup: 8 a.m.–11:45 a.m. Show Floor Open: 1 p.m.–7 p.m. ComiQuest Film Festival begins: 7 p.m. (see page 34 for full schedule) SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10 Exhibitor Setup: 7 a.m.–9:45 a.m. Show Floor Open: 10 a.m.–6 p.m. ComiQuest Film Festival continues: 12 p.m. (see page 34 for full schedule) Guardians of the Gala Party (at Durham Armory) 8:30 p.m.–12 a.m. (see page 29 for details) SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 11 Show Floor Open: 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Cosplay Showcase Contest: 4 p.m.–6 p.m. (see page 26 for details) ComiQuest Film Festival continues: 7 p.m. (see page 34 for full schedule) Exhibitor Breakdown: 6 p.m.–10 p.m. NC COMICON HARASSMENT POLICY ITEM! NC COMICON is dedicated to providing a safe, harassment-free experience for everyone. We do not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form. Harassment includes offensive verbal com- ments, deliberate intimidation, stalking, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of pan- els or other events, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome attention. Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately. The event organizers reserve the right to sanction or expel participants violating these rules. If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact a member of the conference staff imme- diately. NC COMICON staff will be happy to help contact venue security or law enforcement, provide es- corts, or otherwise assist those experiencing harassment to feel safe for the duration of the convention. 3 GET YOUR HANDS ON OUR EXCLUSIVE TRADING CARDS! COLLECT 42ALL CARDS! These highly collectible trading cards will be available at each guest’s table, as well as at their signings and panels. Be sure to pick up your checklist and other specialty cards at the officialNC COMICON merchandise table. Your collection won't be complete without them! r 1. NC COMICON r 22. JAMES ROBINSON r 38. ASTROBULL 1.0 (CANETE) r 23. CHRIS RYALL r 39. ASTROBULL 2.0 (CYPRESS) GUESTS r 24. MATTEO SCALERA r 40. ASTROBULL 3.0 (MAHFOOD) r 2. AERON ALFREY r 25. BEN SEARS r 41. SKETCH CARD r 3. JEREMY BASTIAN r 26. EVAN “DOC” SHANER r 42. CHECKLIST r 4. BEN BISHOP r 27. CHRIS SIMS r 5. CHAD BOWERS r 28. ROBERT VENDITTI r 6. GREG BURNHAM r 29. GERARD WAY THIS IS IT! YOUR r 7. BECKY CLOONAN r 30. JEREMY WHITLEY r r COMICON VALUE STAMP 8. SHAWN CRYSTAL 31. MARCUS WILLIAMS FOR THIS ISSUE! r 9. TOMMY LEE EDWARDS r 10. SARAH GAYDOS PUBLISHERS r 11. DUSTIN HARBIN r 32. DARK HORSE COMICS r 12. MATT KINDT r 33. VALIANT COMICS r 13. SHARLENE KINDT r 14. JOHN LAYMAN SPECIALTY r 15. JEFF LEMIRE r 34. MAGIC WHEELCHAIR r 16. JIM MAHFOOD r 35. UMBRELLA ACADEMY #1 r 17. CHUCK PALAHNIUK (CLOONAN) r 18. JEFF PARKER r 36. UMBRELLA ACADEMY #1 r 19. MIKE PERKINS (EDWARDS) r 20. AFUA RICHARDSON r 37. UMBRELLA ACADEMY #1 r 21. TAMARA ROBERTSON (SCALERA) CLIP ’EM AND COLLECT ’EM! 5 NC COMICON: BULL-ETINS • NC COMICON: BULL-ETINS • NC COMICON: BULL-ETINS NC COMICON: BULL-ETINS • NC COMICON: BULL-ETINS • NC COMICON: BULL-ETINS GUESTS GUESTS ITEM! GREG BURNHAM is a children’s an MFA in Sequential Art. Shawn Superman Returns, Star Wars, Indiana book author and co-creator/writer of has worked for both DC Comics and Jones, and Batman Begins. TLE recent- Tuskegee Heirs. His passion for histo- Marvel comics, drawing titles such ly wrote two animated pilots for Fox ry is only matched by his fire to inspire as Arkham Manor, Deadpool, Scarlet and Google, and is currently working children to reach higher heights. By Witch, Mother Panic, and most recent- as the production designer on a new day, Greg works in finance, coaches ly, X-Men Black: Juggernaut. He lives film from director Kerry Conran. A202 basketball and raises his two chil- with his wonderful wife (Stephanie), dren. By night, he, along with Mar- and two beautiful children (Zac and cus Williams, form the duo that has Zoe). He is also the host of Inkpulp brought Tuskegee Heirs to life. A114 Audio, an interview podcast about the creative life, which can be found on iTunes. A201 ITEM! AERON ALFREY creates unique your-own-adventure style comic with published by Koyama Press, he’s also imagery inspired by the fantastic, gro- four beginnings, seven endings and the author of Behold! The Dinosaurs!, a tesque and monstrous. His art has 25 choices in-between. More recently, folding dinosaur leporello from Nobrow been published in numerous horror Ben just wrapped up his work as the Press. He’s also the letterer on Casano- and weird fiction books, album cov- artist on Kevin Eastman’s new com- va from Image, Seconds by Bryan Lee ers, games and shown in galleries ic, Drawing Blood, which raised over O’Malley, and the English translation around the world. A118 $100K on Kickstarter and is available of The Green Hand, published by New ITEM! SARAH GAYDOS is the Editori- now. Currently Ben is drawing his butt York Review Comics. A108 off on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Tur- al Director of Licensed Publishing for tles Raphael Macro series, due out in Oni Press, in Portland, Ore. An editor December from IDW Publishing. A120 with a long history in comic book li- ITEM! BECKY CLOONAN is a writer censing, Sarah’s currently in charge and artist best known for her work of the Rick and Morty comics, and on Gotham Academy (DC Comics), ITEM! Tommy Lee Edwards has il- at her former job at IDW Publishing, The Punisher (Marvel), True Lives of lustrated comics like Mother Panic oversaw the Star Trek line. She’s got a the Fabulous Killjoys (Dark Horse), (co-created with Gerard Way), Turf special love for kid’s comics, and has and her Eisner Award winning short (co-created with Jonathan Ross), The edited anything from Disney to Jem stories collected in By Chance or Question, and Wolverine.