The folks at ReedPOP are a little more than a week away from kicking off the inaugural Special Edition: NYC, a sister show of New York Comic Con that is focused entirely on comics. Matt and I will be heading down to the show, which has a great lineup of guests and programming set for both days.
We’re planning on getting a healthy amount of interviews for the podcast, as well as taking in some of the panels while we’re there. I figured I’d put a quick list together of some of the creators I’ll be looking to interviews and some of the panels I’m looking forward to at the show.
Creators
I will definitely be looking to catch up with our friends and former guests of the Secret Identity podcast, but there are several people we’ve never interviewed for SI that I personally would love to talk to.
Gail Simone
Not only is Gail one of the best writers in comics today (see her current work on Batgirl, Red Sonja and Tomb Raider as examples), but she is an ambassador for comics and is constantly striving to make the industry and its fanbase as diverse and welcoming as possible.
Francesco Francavilla
I fell in love with Francesco’s art during his run on Black Panther: The Man Without Fear. Between his creator-owned series Black Beetle and the amazing Afterlife with Archie, Francesco is a rock star.
James Tynion IV
James Tynion IV has written some of my favorite comics over the last couple of years, and his horror comics in particular are standouts. His series The Eigth Seal on Thrillbent.com is amazing. He also contributed to the mammoth In the Dark horror anthology, and his new series at BOOM! called The Woods is fantastic.
Marguerite Bennett
I recently raved about Marguerite's Lois Lane one-shot, and my desire to see her write an ongoing for the character. Marguerite has written some great horror stories as well, most recently contributing to the in the Dark anthology. She also just co-wrote the batman Annual #2.
Will Sliney
The man who is drawing the new Spider-man 2099 series. That alone puts Will at the top of my wish list for interviews. As if that wasn’t enough, his recent run on Fearless defenders was a major reason that book was so special, and so mourned when it was canceled before its time.
Panels
Self-Publishing (Sunday 12:15-1:15)
As my webcomic Mo Stache gets closer to its conclusion, artist John Cordis and I have already begun planning to put a print edition together. Looking forward to hearing about Amy Chu, Amy Reeder, Brandon Montclare and Greg Pak’s experiences with self-publishing, as well as crowdfunding like Kickstarter.
Creator-Owned Comics (Sunday 3:00-4:00)
Al Nickerson, Kurt Busiek , Mike Allred will be discussing the merits and challenges of Creator-owned versus corporate-owned comics. I’m always fascinated by the perspectives of creators who have had experience in both environments. As a comic creator myself, I’m also looking to hear about how creators work with publishers like Dark Horse and Image.
Creating Comics: Inside the Art of Visual Storytelling (Sunday 4:15-5:15)
Former Marvel comics Executive Editor Carl Potts will be talking about his book The DC Comics Guide to Creating Comics: Inside the Art of Visual Storytelling, and doing a Q&A with panel attendees. I am a process nerd, and any insight I can gain into storytelling, be it visual or otherwise, is of interest to me.
So those are just some of the people and panels I’m looking forward to seeing at Special Edition: NYC this year. You can find the full guest list and all of the weekend programming over at www.specialeditionnyc.com. And if you’re there on Sunday, look for Matt and I and say hi!