It's that time of year again, the start of the
Armageddon Expo season in New Zealand. And this year it's extending it's scope, with it's first Hamilton based expo. Taking place this weekend, April 14-15th at the
Claudelands Event Centre, bringing it's circus of all things sci-fi and geektastic to the heart of the Waikato!
Above: a cover from the acclaimed comic series 100 bullets, by Dave Johnson. Copyright Vertigo/DC Comics 2012.
As always there'll be a health presence of local and international comics guests.
Headlining this year's guest list is Dave Johnson, comic artist and award-winning cover artist of such books as:100 bullets, Punishermax, Batman, Unknown Soldier and many more. He also collaborated with writer Mark Millar on the highly acclaimed Superman mini-series Red Son, which recast Superman as a communist Russian superhero. Aside from his comics work, he's also a veteran animation designer, working on such shows as: Batman Beyond, Justice League, Legion of Super-heroes, Venture Bros. and Ben 10.
Above: A Witchblade cover by Stjepan Sejic. Copyright Top Cow Productions 2012.
Ron Marz is a long-time comics writer, having written for just about every major comics company in the business, including DC Comics, Marvel, Top Cow, Dark Horse and CrossGen. He's often been the go-to writer for fantasy with a cosmic scope, leading to extended runs on such titles as:Green Lantern, Silver Surfer and Star Wars. In Green Lantern he co-created the popular character Kyle Rayner, who replaced a temporarily crazy Hal Jordan (it was the 90s, look it up kids!). More recently he's been writing the Witchblade franchise for Top Cow productions, and it's spin-off titles Magdalena and Artifacts.
Above: The Inhabitants, by the Sheehan Bros. Copyright Sheehan Bros 2012.
There will be a strong NZ Comics presence at the event, with myself and Kelly Sheehan (one half of the Sheehan Bros) manning the NZ Comic Creators Booth. We'll be selling a wide variety of local comics, from creators all across the country. If you missed the Comics Generation exhibition that recently took place in Wellington (see last months posts), we'll have stock available from those young creators for you to check out!
Above: Cover of Moas #2 by James Davidson. Copyright James Davidson 2012.
James Davidson will be there with copies of the latest issue of his full-colour all-ages adventure series
Moas. Set in Colonial New Zealand, it features Possum Von Tempsky and Kiwi Iti, two Moa riding adventurers. It looks to be a rollicking great yarn in the Carl Barks tradition, so be sure to seek out a signed copy!
Above: Blastosaurus: The 'Fries With That' Caper' issue 00, by Richard Fairgray & Terry Jones. Copyright Richard Fairgray & Terry Jones 2012.
A permanent fixture on the local convention scene,
Blastosaurus creator
Richard Fairgray will be on hand with a new print issue of
Blastosaurus:The 'Fries With That' Caper' issue 00. If you'd like a preview of what to expect, you can check out two free issues of the new full-colour
Blastosaurus series at the official website
HERE.
Above: Ghost Ghost Squared by Richard Fairgray. Copyright Richard Fairgray 2012.
He'll also a copies of Ghost Ghost Squared available, a sequel to Ghost Ghost, a comic he wrote as a child and redrew recently.
Above: Armageddon Expo and Beyond Reality Media head-honcho Bill Geradts, with copies of The Inspiration Duncans Hardcover collection.
Leading NZ webcomics site Beyond Reality Media will be well represented, with print copies of two of their titles available for the first time! The Inspiration Duncans series written by Bill Geradts and Richard Fairgray with art by Gonzalo Martínez, will be available in a special 80-page Hardcover edition. The Warden series, written by Bill Geradts and Christian Gossett with art by Alan Robinson, will also be available in a softcover collection. Keep an eye out for both of these eye catching books and the creators signing at the Beyond Reality Media booth (as well as the Warden in person!).
The Armageddon Expo Hamilton is on this weekend at the Claudelands Event Centre, open from 10am-6pm. Tickets are available on the door and from Ticketek HERE. I'd strongly recommend buying tickets in advance to avoid the endless lines that can sometimes build up at these events, as no one wants to spend an hour waiting in line!
If you can't make it to Hamilton, fear not, it will all be happening again NEXT weekend in Wellington, 21st-22nd at the TSB Bank Arena ((whew!)). For more information on other events taking place over the weekend at the Armageddon Expo, check out the official site for news and updates HERE. We'll see you there! (I'll be the person NOT in costume).
-AK!
Posts
