Happy Halloween!

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Steven

Halloween is always a big holiday at The ’Warp’s offices, and this year we’ve decided to celebrate with all you lovers of dark urban fantasy by presenting a digital sweet for your cyber trick-or-treat bag:

Head on over to the Free Comics page and download our latest offering: Heartstopper: The Legend of La Bella Tenebrosa #2, a 32-page, full-comic that features a script by Pandora Zwieback author Steven A. Roman (that’s me), and art by Uriel Caton (Pan and Annie’s co-creator), Holly Golightly (Sabrina the Teenage Witch), and David C. Matthews (Satin Steele). A soul-stealing, rock-star incubus named Corum de Sade has hit Manhattan alongside his band Hellfire, and de Sade has some nefarious plans in mind for the Big Apple. First, though, he’ll have to deal with a certain monster hunter named Sebastienne Mazarin…

 

Heartstopper: The Legend of La Bella Tenebrosa is the long-lost comic book “prequel” to our popular young adult dark-urban-fantasy series The Saga of Pandora Zwieback. Starring immortal monster hunter Sebastienne “Annie” Mazarin (currently Pan’s supernatural mentor), the short-lived series was released by Millennium Publications at the height of the 1990s Bad Girl Era, when a bestselling comic was determined by how much skin your lead heroine could display without being completely indecent. Originally planned for four issues, it was canceled with issue two—and now you can download that full-color comic for free!

Along with Heartstopper: The Legend of La Bella Tenebrosa #2 you can download Heartstopper: The Legend of La Bella Tenebrosa #1 (art by Uriel Caton and Alan Larsen), the first part of Annie’s comic adventure; and The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0 (art and color by Eliseu Gouveia), an introduction to Pan’s young adult novel series.

Free horror comics for your reading pleasure, without having to brave the elements—now isn’t that a great way to celebrate Halloween?

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New York Comic Con 2012 Report: Post-Game Analysis

Posted on October 27, 2012 by Steven

So, as you probably concluded after reading my five-part report this week, New York’s show is truly becoming the East Coast equivalent of the San Diego Comic Con, which is a good thing, especially for those of us who can’t afford to make the trip West. It’s a place to see and be seen, and to promote your projects—but how well does that work for the average small presser who’s trying to at least make back the cost of their booth? Not so well, in my case.

To be brutally honest, I made less money at this year’s con than in 2011. In fact, sales were only slightly better at NYCC than the previous month’s Brooklyn Book Festival, at which I sold as many copies of Blood Feud in one day as I did in all four days of NYCC.

How could that be, when there were even more people in attendance at NYCC than last year?

Was it the location? The past two years my booth had been close to Artists Alley, which helped to slow the normally frantic pace of the crowds and spill some of the foot traffic in my direction, but this year AA had been moved to the Javits Center’s North Pavilion— a separate building quite a distance from the main show floor—and the small-press area (where The ’Warp’s booth was) was separated from mainstream publishers by the enormous (and loud) gaming islands. Also, unlike 2011, it seemed as though librarians who might order ’Warp titles for their communities were happy to stay over by Publishers Row—where houses like TOR and Pantheon and Hachette were clustered. They didn’t seem to venture past the gaming companies, over to the south side of the hall where The ’Warp was set up.

And trust me, The ’Warp wasn’t the only exhibitor feeling the lack of love in the room. When other small-press creators come around, asking if you’re having as much of a sucky show as they are, or you see a pair of artists who are sharing a booth close up shop early two out of the four days because no one’s buying anything, you know the show’s not quite the big-con experience you were hoping for.

Was it the fact that the second Pandora Zwieback novel, Blood Reign, wasn’t ready in time for the show? No, that wasn’t it. Other than a handful of Pan-atics who stopped by to chat and pick up the limited edition Blood Reign Preview I made available (containing an unedited version of the book’s first chapter), everyone else I’d talked to was either a brand-new fan buying a copy of Blood Feud, or a potential new one considering a digital purchase from Amazon or Barnes & Noble after the con. (And thanks to all those Pan-atics who offered words of encouragement—it makes all the hard work worth the effort!)


Was it the audience? Mainstream comics fans, gaming junkies, and anime/manga devotees were the people I was trying to attract, but I’ve noticed that in the past few years fandom has become extremely compartmentalized—anime fans love anime, gaming fans love gaming, mainstream comic fans love mainstream comics, indie and webcomic fans love indie titles and webcomics. That’s it. There seems to be a severe lack of interest in trying new things, a distinct change from when I was doing con tours in the 1990s and people were willing to experiment with their reading choices.

It is true that anime fans (and there were legions of them in attendance) have little interest in non-anime things (a warning my buddy J. D. Calderon once gave me because he knows the scene), so I wasn’t surprised to see cosplayers literally turning up their noses as I tried to pitch them on Pan’s adventures, or just hand them a promotional bookmark. Not even having the leader of the Japanese vampire clan in the first two novels displayed on the banner helped—and she’s dressed in Elegant & Gothic Lolita fashion. In fact, the last sale of the con was to an anime cosplayer who wanted to know about Pan—but first had to break away from a friend who literally dragged her away from the booth while I was watching! (That girl, BTW, did buy Blood Feud. Victory is mine!)

But blaming the con attendees for poor sales would be like the Yankees blaming the fans and their booing for costing the team the American League Championship in this year’s playoffs against the Detroit Tigers.

Oh, wait, they did blame the booing…  😉

Maybe not enough people knew where to find the booth? A very good possibility. Trying to get the attention of bloggers and genre news sites is almost a full-time occupation—if you’re not a major publisher, few of them will bother to give you any coverage. Often I have to ask superfan Richard Boom and his Boom Art Department  to help spread the word about ’Warp projects—he’s got an extensive mailing list—but even that‘s not a guarantee that our press releases will be run. So, yes, lack of press coverage can be a huge part of the problem, and if people don’t know where to find you, sales will of course be adversely affected.

Was it the economy? Were attendees watching their dollars? Doubtful. Con-goers don’t usually think in terms of budgetary limits—they spend money until they’re out of cash. I’m used to hearing excuses from people like “I’d love to buy it right now, but I just spent all my money,” or “I have to get more money, but I’ll be right back” (which, 9 times out of 10, means you’ll never see them again). And in my Day 2 report I told the story of the girl who couldn’t buy a copy of Blood Feud because she’d already planned to spend the majority of her money at the Adventure Time booth… in order to obtain a free bag. (FYI, it’s not free if you have to spend money to get something.) So, fiscal responsibility—not a major concern.

Was it because I was selling books at a comic convention? I wouldn’t think so. True, you’ll never confuse NYCC with the Brooklyn Book Festival, but like San Diego Con, this show is becoming less about comic books and more about… everything. Gaming. Anime. Hollywood. Craftsman Tools had an NYCC booth, for Pete’s sake! (Nice motorcycle, huh?) So did the Hard Rock Café, the New York Times, and Hallmark (although they were selling genre-related Christmas ornaments, so they had an excuse for being there). Chevrolet was displaying cars wrapped in comic book imagery—anyone interested in a car based on the Goon comic? Or Saga? So, it wasn’t the titles I was offering—hell, I’d been promoting the Lorelei graphic novel for four days, two of them alongside one of the book’s artists, and that thing’s just a really thick comic. Besides, you had all those Publishers Row booths, and they were selling books.

So why the reduction in sales? It’s a question I still haven’t found an answer to, even two weeks later. Maybe I need to upgrade to a Publishers Row booth next year, finances permitting, and try to catch those librarians’ attention…

Guess we’ll find out in 2013, huh?  😉

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New York Comic Con 2012 Report: The Finale

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Steven

Not the best start to my day: three 9-hour days of being “on” for con-goers + not getting enough sleep = a very grumpy hour and a half to start the last show day. I just want this thing over already, but I’ve got another seven-hour day ahead of me. Still, around 11:30 I come out of my funk and get back to work.

Sales today run extremely slow. Sunday’s not always the best time for exhibitors because: a) most every attendee has spent their con money over the past three days and now they’re broke; b) most everyone’s looking for a discount; and c) for NYCC, it’s Kids Day, and kids don’t have money to spend—they’re looking for free stuff. As evidenced by one boy who picked up a Pan T-shirt and asked, “Is this free?” despite the price sign next to it. Still, Blood Feud, Lorelei: Sects and the City, and Carmilla continue to interest potential readers.

Next door, the students from Alfred University’s Drawn to Diversity program have packed up their booth and moved to the Javits Center’s lower level, where they’re participating in a kids’ craft show. For the past three days director Dan Napolitano and his students have been entertaining kids (and some adults) by showing them how to make their own superhero action figures with clothespins, pipe cleaners, and pieces of fabric for capes, while explaining the program’s goal “to teach history, inspire artists, cultivate dialogue, and fight ignorance using popular art and media forms.” Considering how busy the booth was, I can only imagine how overwhelming the craft fair must have been for them on Kids’ Day!

Drawn to Diversity’s absence leads to an unexpected plus. I ask if I can borrow their booth for an hour to accommodate Steve Geiger, who has another Lorelei signing scheduled in the afternoon, and Dan says I can have the booth because they’re done with it: “If you want, go ahead and move the pipe-and-drape between us so you can spread out.” Well, that was mighty neighborly! And when Steve arrives that’s exactly what we do.

It didn’t take him long to have his first customer of the day. “Can you draw a stormtrooper?” a young boy asks him, and shows Steve a Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith action figure. Steve gets right to work to meet his request. And if you take a closer look at the photo, you’ll see another sketch Steve had been working on before the Star Wars kid came along—one of a certain teenaged Goth girl who might be familiar to ’Warp fans…  Can’t wait to see the final, Steve!

Of course, Steve was really there to promote Lorelei, so whenever a copy was purchased he put aside his pencils to add his signature to the title page. (That Lori-and-zombie frontispiece is by the late Tom Sutton, by the way, who was Vampirella’s first artist, way back in the Warren Publishing days.)

And then five o’clock rolled around and the lights of the Javits Center began going dark as the loudspeaker announcement was made that the show was over. Over! Another four-day marathon survived! Time to pack up and go home, and try to catch up on much-needed sleep.

So, there you have it: New York Comic Con 2012, as experienced by the guy who runs this horror madhouse. A round of applause goes to Rich White, Dave De Mond, J. D. Calderon, and my brother Frank, who all pitched in to help to keep The ’Warp on track while I juggled conversations with readers new and old, reporters, and the legions of passersby who wanted to know what was going on with that Goth chick on the banner. Thanks to Steve Geiger and his fiancée Kristie for making the long trip from Upstate New York to promote Lorelei: Sects and the City. And, of course, thanks to all the Pan-atics and ’Warp fans who came out to offer words of encouragement.

We’ll see you all next year!

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New York Comic Con 2012 Report: Day 3

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Steven

Saturday. The day every exhibitor both fears and looks forward to. The day when the full strength of fandom is unleashed and the aisles are filled to overflowing with cosplayers, booth babes, budding artists and writers, and collectors. Remember the 116,000 attendees that were estimated for the show, as I mentioned back on the Day 0 write-up? This is the day when it feels like all of them have arrived.

By the time Rich, Dave, and I reached The ’Warp booth at ten o’clock, the show was once again in full swing and before you knew it I was pitching The ’Warp’s wares to everyone who stopped by. Next to the first Pandora Zwieback novel, Blood Feud, our illustrated classic Carmilla drew quite a bit of attention, especially when I explained it predated Dracula and was an influence on Bram Stoker (where do you think the idea for the count’s vampire brides came from?). What sealed the deal every time was when I flipped through the book to show off the fantastic illustrations by Pandora Zwieback and Lorelei: Sects and the City artist Eliseu Gouveia.


Then our first pro visitor of the day stopped by: Dwight Jon Zimmerman, former editor and comics writer, now bestselling historian with a bunch of hit books to his credit. Dwight and I used to work together as editors, back in the days of ibooks, inc.; he was even my editor on my X-Men: The Chaos Engine novels. Dwight was set up over in Artists Alley (located in a separate part of the Javits Center, quite a distance from the main show floor), promoting his most recent release: Lincoln’s Last Days, an adaptation for younger readers of TV host Bill O’Reilly’s bestselling biography, Killing Lincoln. We traded books; I signed Blood Feud: To Dwight, It ain’t Lincoln, but it does have vampires!

There were other friends who visited (though I didn’t have a camera at the ready), sometimes while I was juggling conversations with new potential Pan-atics. So an apology and a shout-out to: Uriel Caton, Pan and Annie’s co-creator (you’ll get your chance to draw Annie again, I swear!); Grey, former comics artist and now gallery owner; and Mike Sargent, host of WBAI radio’s Niteshift.

Welcome to Gothopolis

“So, what’s this about?” the woman asked, pointing to the Pandora Zwieback banner. I gave her my slightly updated pitch (“Sixteen-year-old Goth who can see monsters but has been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic for the last ten years, teams up with a 400-year-old shape-shifting monster hunter. The first two books are about how they get caught in the middle of a vampire war.”), then the jokey punch line (“It’s like Ellen Page and Salma Hayek in a Hellboy move.”).

Intrigued, she wanted to know more. I told her the story of my pleasant encounter with a concerned father at Baltimore Comic Con, when his 11-year-old daughter bought Blood Feud, and followed it up with an explanation of Pan’s characteristics and motivations.

“Wow! That all sounds fantastic,” she said.

I smiled. “Thanks.”

“Is the woman who wrote the book here?”

Er…

I pointed to the cover byline, then to my badge. Her eyes grew wide.

“Oh, it’s you! But you… “

Are a dude?

“You get it!”

Apparently I do; I’ve heard similar comments from other women, who’ve expressed amazement at how a middle-aged guy can express the inner thoughts of a complicated teenaged girl so well.  I can’t figure it out, either, to be honest. It just happens.  😀

That woman bought a copy of Blood Feud, by the way. Another satisfied Pan-atic!

Meet the Press

“Hi,” the man said, and introduced himself. “I’m working on an article for a romance Web site and I’d like to talk with you about how women are portrayed in this book.”

Inwardly I groaned. He had to mean the graphic novel Lorelei: Sects and the City. I’ve been getting grief over that character for years—she’s pornographic, she’s objectified, she’s an unrealistic physical portrayal of a woman—usually from critics who’d never read the material and reached their politically correct conclusions based solely on the covers, or who didn’t understand/care for the kind of horror stories I was trying to tell. I thought I was past those days, but apparently not. The last thing I needed was bad press.

I quickly launched into a description of the plot, the concept of the book being a tribute to 1970s horror comics like Vampirella, the strength of the character. See? I was practically saying. If you look closer you’ll understand it’s not porn.

“Oh. Okay,” he said when I was done. “But I meant the other book.” And pointed at Blood Feud.

That one? Oh, hell, then lemme introduce you to the woman who wrote the book…  😉

When I was done with my mini-lecture on Ms. Zwieback, he looked impressed. “You put a lot of thought into that character.” I nodded. “Maybe we should do an article on just her alone…” He handed me his card and promised to get in touch.

He was followed by another reporter, this one working on an article titled “The 5 Coolest Superheroines at New York Comic Con.” By the time I finished explaining Pandora to her, she was considering an expansion of the article’s roster…

The Artist in Residence

Around 3:30, The ’Warp hosted its first official signing, with the arrival of Steve Geiger—one of the artists for Lorelei: Sects and the City—and his fiancée, Kristie. (Sorry if I misspelled that!) And as usually happens with such events, sit an artist at a table and he’s gonna draw a crowd. In fact, Steve already had one fan standing by to meet him!

Henrik had brought along a stack of Steve’s Incredible Hulk comics, and asked him to sign them, which Steve was more than happy to do. Henrik then asked if Steve was willing to do a sketch. “Sure!” Steve said. “But you have to buy a copy of the book I’m here to promote.” And pointed at Sects and the City.


Sold! In fact, while he was signing Henrik’s copy another fan bought his own for Steve to sign. Hey, maybe I should have these artist-guys show up more often—they seem to draw crowds…  😉

 

 


Then Steve got to work on the sketch: a head shot of the Hulk’s old pal, Rick Jones, after he’d turned into a Hulk himself. Even in the rough pencils you can tell that Rick-Hulk is one angry dude.

 

 

 

 


And there’s the end result. Nice, huh? Now you know why I hired him for Lorelei; I thought he showed a lot of promise as an artist. 😀 (Yeah, okay, so Marvel hired him first, and there was that period when he was their art director, but so what? He was at NYCC to promote The ’Warp!)

 

 

 


And here’s Steve (center) with his first two fans of the con. Before you knew it, though, the day was over and it was time to head for dinner. Saturday was over, and we’d all survived!

Tomorrow: Is It Over Yet?

 

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New York Comic Con 2012 Report: Day 2

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Steven

Friday got off to a quick start. Saturday is normally the busiest, craziest day of the con, but for me it was Friday because I had so many folks stopping by to say hello and catch up on things.

First off, ‘Warp webmaster Dave De Mond (that’s him on the far left) had flown in from Chicago the night before to join the crew, and chronicle the con for an upcoming video he’s now editing. (I’ll let you know when that’s ready for viewing, and where.) After he got settled in, old friends just seemed to come flying in:

 First up was Sal Quartuccio (aka Sal Q), owner/publisher of SQP Art Books, home to many adult-themed “good girl” and “bad girl” collections, as well as The Savage Art of Bob Larkin, a book I highly recommend since it showcases the work of our favorite Pandora Zwieback cover painter. I’d include a link to the SQP site, but it’s Not Safe For Work—or for under-18 fans of The ’Warp and Pan. (Lorelei fans, though, are a different story.) I will say this, however: Sal is one publisher who definitely knows his audience!  😀

 

 Amanda Sprecher dropped by with her mother, Kim. Amanda is the creator/writer/artist of The Adventures of Jade and Butch, a small-press comic about two kids who are constantly thwarting the invasion plans of an evil alien race. Here, she’s modeling the Jade & Butch T-shirt and alien-eyestalks hat that she sells, along with her comics, at her Web site. Go check it out!

 Super Pan-atic Julie Zannino came by with her husband Joe to chat about Pan’s upcoming adventures (yes, including the still-in-the-works second novel, Blood Reign), and to take a gander at a preview of Eliseu Gouveia’s art and color work for next year’s Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1. It’s some amazing stuff! I caught a glimpse of their daughter, Abby, on Sunday, but she was riding hellbent-for-leather for a presentation of the new CW show Arrow. You don’t get in the path of someone that dedicated!  😀

And Enrica Jang, publisher of Red Stylo Media and writer of the crime-noir/apocalyptic comic series Azteca, stopped by to chat. Enrica told me that Red Stylo’s expanding into a new book-publishing imprint. Go check out her growing list of acclaimed titles, and then keep an eye on her company for all the latest news!

Also paying visits were Matt McElroy of DriveThru Fiction, one of The ’Warp’s e-book distributors; artist Vince Evans, whom I hadn’t seen since my days as an editor for ibooks, inc.; and my buddy J. D. Calderon, who was handing out bookmarks to promote his Kickstarter campaign for publishing a hardcover collection of his Oswald Chronicles webcomic.

Damn! That was like two days of activity packed into one afternoon!

Sales-wise, our Goth adventuress Pandora Zwieback picked up a few more fans with the purchase of Blood Feud copies and Pan T-shirts, as did Lorelei, the star of our Mature Readers graphic novel Lorelei: Sects and the City. Pan might have gained even more readers, but there were a lot of potential buyers who had their eye on other items; as one teenaged girl remarked, “I can’t buy [Blood Feud] yet. First I have to find out how much money I have to spend at the Adventure Time booth so I can get the free bag! But I’ll be back.”

No, she didn’t come back. (Hey, it happens.) And… spending money in order to get a free bag? Definitely a Comic Con thing. But that’s what you have to expect when you’re an exhibitor at… Thunderdome!

Tomorrow: Unleash Hell!

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New York Comic Con 2012 Report: Day 1

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Steven

Thursday isn’t really a full convention day, even though as an exhibitor you’re working a full day; Day 1 is open only to professionals, press, and four-day-pass buyers, and the doors don’t open until three p.m. Which is great because, in The ’Warp’s case, that meant enough time for setting up the booth and getting ready to meet the attendees.

As he’s done for the past couple of years, my buddy Richard C. White—author of the novella Star Trek: Echoes of Coventry, the novel Gauntlet: Dark Legacy, and the recent e-book The Demon’s Head  —came up from Maryland to help run the booth. This time he brought along his Chronicles of the Sea Dragon comic book and merchandise to see how con-goers would receive his pirate-fantasy story line.

 

 

 

 

Before he could find out, though, it was time to plant the SWC flag—or, rather, the Pandora Zwieback banner—and stake our claim to the fairly small-ish booth. Once that was done, it didn’t take all that long to put the displays together, and then—in my case—throw on my con “uniform”: black shirt, jeans, frock coat, and skull-decorated tie. The candy-corn lapel pin—actually a Halloween eraser that I superglued a pinback to—was a new addition. Then we were ready for action!

Except it was too early in the day for action.  😀  So with plenty of time to kill before the show opened, Rich and I wandered the aisles to check out the other exhibitors—a whole lot easier to accomplish without yesterday’s construction materials in the way. We found:

 

 • The Lego island protected by the Incredible Hulk, while close by stood Gandalf and Bilbo Baggins from the upcoming movie version of The Hobbitt.

 • Some nice-looking statues at the DC Comics island: (right to left) Death from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comic book series; the new Harley Quinn from Batman behind her; and Supergirl (with Wonder Woman behind her) from the DC Bombshells line I’d never heard of that line before—looks like they’re going for a 1940s pinup-girl design.

• A set of Death-and-Sandman bookends. Gee, those would look nice in The ’Warp offices…

• And best of all, over at the Doctor Who Store, a replica of the World War II Dalek featured in the episode “Victory of the Daleks.” Unfortunately, it lacked the voice to tell me “I. Am. Your. Sol-dier.” And it never offered me make tea. (There you go—a shout-out to my fellow Doctor Who fans!) That TARDIS is a bit rubbish, though…

Soon enough the con officially started, and I had my first visitor: old college pal Sholly Fisch, who’s been impressing everyone (no doubt including his biggest fan, superstar writer Grant Morrison) with his work scripting the backup stories for DC Comics’ Action Comics, and the lead story in the new Action Comics Annual #1 (on sale Halloween!). Sholly also writes Scooby Doo for DC, and received some well-deserved acclaim for writing two of DC’s popular kids’ comics series: Super Friends and Batman: The New Brave and the Bold.

Not only that, but he and comics legend Ernie Colon (co-creator of Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld) have crafted a fun eight-page story for our own Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1, which is scheduled for release next April. The basic setup? “A demon walks into a bar…”—but don’t expect it to be your typical horror story!

After Sholly headed off to one of the DC Universe panels in which he was participating, James Ferguson and the crew from the Web site Horror Talk  stopped by to chat. They all loved Lorelei: Sects and the City, our Mature Readers graphic novel about a succubus battling a cult of Elder Gods worshipers; in fact, James had given it a four-out-of-five-star recommendation back in September. The question on their minds: Would there be further Lorelei stories? I told them that depended on sales. At the moment, Diamond Comic Distributors is mulling over whether to pick up the book; if things work out, then more Lori stories are a good possibility.

Overall con sales were slow, but the day ended with a sale of the Official Pandora Zwieback T-shirt (still available from our webstore)—a reproduction of the T that Pan wears on the cover of her first novel, Blood Feud. A man walked up to the booth, took one look at the shirts, and asked, “You wouldn’t have one in a double-XL, would you?”

I reached under the table and pulled one out. His eyes lit up. “It’s like it was waiting for me!”

Indeed.

Tomorrow: Welcome to Thunderdome!

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New York Comic Con 2012 Report: Day 0

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Steven

116,000 attendees! That’s the figure that New York Comic Con has calculated for the number of people who filled the Jacob Javits Center from October 11–14; it would have been even greater if there hadn’t been a construction site taking up a good portion of the third-level show floor and the entirety of the fourth. And somewhere in all that madness was the crew from StarWarp Concepts.

Of course, it didn’t start out a madhouse…

Wednesday, October 10, was move-in day for a lot of the larger exhibitors, as well as the day to pick up exhibitor badges, so I figured I’d get that out of the way first thing. After grabbing my allotment of passes I wandered around the Javits Center to see what was going on, and to find The ’Warp’s booth.

And there it was: booth 2139. Supporting walls to be used for the Snail Games island across the aisle (who says StarWarp Concepts isn’t neighborly?), but definitely there. Yeah, I know, it doesn’t look like much: considering what the con charges for a small-press booth (close to a thousand dollars), all you get for your money is a space on the floor with pipe-and-drape assemblies around it—you have to provide your own table and chairs. It sucks, but the alternative is to rent material from the Javits Center, and that’s insanely expensive.

Still, the location was pretty sweet. Lots of open space in front of the booth, placed right near a major intersection, and once you moved all the construction junk out of the way there was little chance of passersby not seeing us—as you’ll notice in this next photo I took from the SWC home base the next day, when the con was in full swing:


Nice, right? I think that’s a DC Comics’ Nightwing cosplayer in the blue-and-black costume on the right-hand side. And the Devil May Cry video game consoles behind him were busy all four days of the con, as were photo sessions with the cosplayer dressed as “Hello Kitty Chun Li” (off-camera) for Capcom’s honest-to-God mash-up of Hello Kitty and the video game Street Fighter. (No, I didn’t pose with Hello Kitty, but here’s a picture I found on Flicker.)

With the booth location noted I headed off to check out some of the other exhibitors. Not the easiest thing to do—the place was a very active construction zone, with forklifts and mini-cranes and the like roaring up and down the aisles, signs and lights being hung from the ceiling, and some booth walls leaning at dangerous angles as they were being set up—but I still managed to get some shots of:


 

• The Marvel Comics island in progress. Spaces like this (DC Comics and the gaming companies had similar ones) are called islands because they’re separate from the average connected booths, and so much larger they could have their own zip codes. I’m not sure what’s going on with the image on the wall of the conference room being built—whether it’s a promotional image or a comic cover—but it looked nice.

• One of the DeLoreans used in the Back to the Future movie trilogy, complete with “Mr. Fusion” fuel processor and “Outatime” license plate. To the right of that, under the tarp, is the Batcycle that Adam West and Burt Ward rode in the Batman TV series. (Sorry, guys, but the Batgirl cycle with 1966-era Yvonne Craig is the only one I care about.  😉  ) Next to the Batcycle, off-camera, was the Batmobile, also under a tarp. (Okay, that one I care about.) And don’t ask “Which Batmobile?” As with Highlander, when it comes to Batmobiles in the end there can be only one:

 

• The Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo. No Great Danes running loose (or whatever kind of breed Scooby’s supposed to be), or shaggy-haired stoners behind the wheel, but that thing must get a ton of stares while it’s tooling down the highway. And people constantly asking for Scooby Snacks. But y’know what’s really funny? That license plate. I didn’t know the Scooby Gang was from New Jersey.

And those weren’t the only vehicles on display! Down by the main entrance to the Javits Center, where fans would be lining up to get their tickets the next day, I also found… the Buffymobile. Seriously? I guess the Onstar button puts you in touch with the best help available in tracking down vampires to slay.

 

One final shot before I left the Javits: these are the steps leading from the fan entrance up to the main show floor. This year the steps were wrapped in a giant advertisement for the Tomb Raider game relaunch. Man, I thought, there were gonna be a lot of people stepping on Lara Croft’s face over the next four days…

Tomorrow: Welcome to Thunderdome!

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StarWarp Concepts Book Festival Kicks Off Tomorrow!

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Steven

For all you worldwide StarWarp Concepts fans and Pan-atics unable to attend this week’s New York Comic Con—and even for those of you who are attending—there’s no reason you can’t have a convention experience of your own by attending the first StarWarp Concepts Book Festival, a special online show being held at the SWC Web site.

The festival runs from tomorrow through Monday, October 15, with discounts on all our titles—both print and digital. All sales are conducted through Paypal—but not to worry if you don’t have an account because Paypal accepts credit cards. That means there’s no excuse for you to not purchase our fantastic products.  😉

But that’s not all! A convention’s not really a convention without attendee badges, and the SWC book fest is no exception. Just print out the card, sign it, cut it out and put it in a lanyard (if you’ve got one handy), and bingo—instant con badge.

So come join us tomorrow for all the excitement, and we’ll see you at the con!

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Lorelei: Now in Handy E-book Form

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Steven

Just in time for the Halloween season comes this spectacular treat: Lorelei: Sects and the City, our critically acclaimed Mature Readers graphic novel, will be available in PDF format this coming Thursday!

Reintroducing The ’Warp’s first horror heroine—who made her comic book debut in 1993—Lorelei: Sects and the City is the tale of a soul-stealing succubus named Lorelei Munro who gets drawn into the machinations of Elder God worshipers attempting to summon their ancient masters to rule over the Earth. An homage to 1970s horror comics and classic horror films, this graphic novel adventure features a cover painting by comics legend Esteban Maroto (Vampirella), a script by Saga of Pandora Zwieback author Steven A. Roman (that’s me!), and art by Eliseu Gouveia (The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0), Steve Geiger (Web of Spider-Man), and Neil Vokes (Fright Night). Plus there’s a one-page history of succubi drawn by Ernie Colon (Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld), as well as pin-ups by Louis Small Jr. (Vampirella) and Tom Sutton (Werewolf by Night).

A word of warning, though: This graphic novel features sex, nudity, violence, and a ton of F-bombs, and is meant for an adult audience (hence the parental advisory on the cover). If you’re a teenaged fan of my Saga of Pandora Zwieback work… well, you might want to avoid this one.  😉

The Lori e-book will debut exclusively at our first annual StarWarp Concepts Book Festival, which is being held right here at the SWC site from Thursday, October 11 to Monday, October 15. Best of all, this 152-page tome will be available at the low, low price of $3.99!

After October 15, the e-book price will rise to $5.99— still over half off the cover price of the print edition!—and be available from the StarWarp Concepts webstore and our DriveThru Fiction page.

If you’re a fan of old-school horror comics, Hammer horror movies, and fantastic “good girl” art, or (even better) a longtime Lorelei fan who wants to see what your favorite succubus has been up to since you last saw her, then this is the graphic novel for you!

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Twice the Convention Madness This Week!

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Steven

The 2012 New York Comic Con is being held October 11–14 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, so come out and meet the StarWarp Concepts crew!

Booth 2139 is where you’ll find me, as well as author Richard C. White, manning the StarWarp Concepts post; just look for the Pandora Zwieback banner. We’re directly across from the Snail Games USA island, and two aisles south of the Marvel Comics command center.

On sale will be copies of the Pandora Zwieback novel Blood Feud; the illustrated classic Carmilla; the Mature Readers graphic novel Lorelei: Sects and the City (for you readers who are 18 and up); the Official Pandora Zwieback T-shirt; and Rich’s pirate-fantasy comic Chronicles of the Sea Dragon.

Joining Rich and me on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for signings will be Steve Geiger, one of the contributing artists of Lorelei: Sects and the City. Steve is a former Marvel Comics art director, and was the artist on Web of Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, Sectaurs, and Silver Surfer: Loftier Than Mortals, among others.

New York Comic Con’s show floor
is open at the following times:

Thursday, October 11: 3:00 PM–9:00 PM
(Only open to professionals, press, VIPs, and 4-day-pass fans)

Friday, October 12: 10:00 AM–7:00 PM

Saturday, October 13: 10:00 AM–7:00 PM

Sunday, October, 14: 10:00 AM–5:00 PM

 

Steve Geiger’s Lorelei: Sects and the City signing schedule:

Friday, October 12: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

Saturday, October 13: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

Sunday, October 14: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

Steve will also be available for commissioned sketches, so if you’d like to have him draw Lori or Pan or Sebastienne for you, then be sure to talk to him during his appearances.

The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center is located at 34th Street and 11th Avenue in Manhattan. For more information, head over to the NYCC Web site.

October 11 also sees the debut of the StarWarp Concepts Book Festival, an online convention at the SWC Web site, where you’ll find all our titles—including the various e-book editions of Blood Feud—on sale at sure-to-be-irresistible discount prices. The con runs from October 11–15, so if you can’t make it to New York Comic Con to see us in person, then drop by the Book Fest and join us in cyberspace.

See ya at the shows!

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