Hello again!

Here’s a final wrap-up of our fantastic weekend at APE 2010.

As I introduced myself yesterday, I forgot to mention that I am also the author of Sim-I, announced today as part of Semantink’s 2011 lineup. Sim-I follows the comical misadventures of a lab monkey on the run from a mad scientist.

Today’s APE adventure was more low-key, mostly on account of the rainy weather. Our morning was low-key, warming our hands by the heat of coffee. Daniel and Kevin’s pencils burned through several on-the-spot sketches, which they then handed out for free to some lucky visitors to the booth.

Ben hands lucky winner Todd the MYTHOI lithograph from Avitech Graphics

We sold out of the Mythoi graphic novels on-site, and one lucky winner, Todd, walked home with the limited edition (1 of 3) Mythoi Lithograph. The lithographs were donated to Semantink by the very generous and talented folks at Avitech Graphics. A huge thanks to Avitech (go check out their stuff!) and congratulations to winner Todd!

More friends

‘Stache!

Skirting past the rest of the expo hall, we met Daniel Davis, at Steam Crow, who, among other artistic endeavors takes vintage movies and books and regenerates the titles using original art concepts built out of the Steam Punk genre. And he has a mustache he intends to grow and sculpt for at least another year before perfection.

There was also Jules Rivera, who created, writes, and draws her self-published stories of Marsh Rocket, a superspy in the vein of James Bond but without those pesky jetpacks.

Armadillo!

And then there’s Amelia and her drunk armadillo, Emilio.

I even got a custom drawing of my cat Sneakers munching dog brains from Charlotte with a Kay!!

More Treats

There were two snack areas within the concourse, the first served pastries and delicious chili dogs with a touch of beer flavoring. The second bar is … well … a bar. The smell of booze hovered around some folks as they passed by our booth, but that only increases the smiles when discussions occur. When I ordered two beers, one a Blue Moon, the bartender put an orange slice in the other, a Sierra Nevada, despite confirming I would want it in the Blue Moon. But I digress…

Mythoi writer James Ninness was interviewed off-the-cuff by G4. Pretty sweet! Check it out…

Comics Collaboration Connection

Z Blade XX

At Wondercon this past year, I attended a small “speed-dating” style talent convergence, wherein artists and writers gather in a room to hopefully find a collaborator on their next projects. You pitch, you show what you’ve done, and hopefully come away with a new talent connection. They tried this at APE this year, and on Sunday there were about ten writers to meet with three artists. Chatter aplenty, followed by an exchange of information occurred. A festival staff member said they’re hoping to integrate this type of program into all three Con events (Wonder, APE, SD Comic-Con) in the next year or two, and hopefully bring some balance to the experience, as well as make it more like true speed dating.

I think it’s a great idea and brings the idea of collaboration back into the world of comic creation.

APE is a great place for young artists and writers of comics to come together and celebrate their works, no matter how big or small. A booth is just as big as it needs to be. There’s no Marvel Thor throne, there’s no Green Hornet car. There’s just people (most talented, and even a few who could use improvement) who like to talk and look at comics and art. That’s it.

Until next convention, keep on reading the Undergrounds, Mythoi, and (upcoming) Sim-I!

Oh hey! Here’s a sneak-peak at Sim-I, a sketch that Daniel Touchet zinged off while sitting at the booth all weekend! Enjoy!

Joe P.

Greetings readers! If you have been checking out our site this week, you might have noticed that we have begun running our blogs in a slightly different manner. I know that change can be scary, so I just wanted to give you a run down of what you can be expecting from us here at Semantink every week:

Every Monday you will get to read the newest strip in our web-comic, THE UNDERGROUNDS. You can also find an archive of all posted UNDERGROUNDS strips at the-undergrounds.com.

Tuesdays still give you Sgt. Angle and his weekly Cinegasms column, dealing with all things movie.

On Wednesdays Akatzen regails you with his weekly Book Report delving into the world of books that don’t have pretty pictures.

Mr. Wolff still owns Thursday with his Hump Day Rant.

Friday sees new Semantink blogger Dr. Cellus delve into all things paranormal on his blog Cognitive Alchemy.

Saturday gives you Admiral Eo’s Soft Shoe Diaries, wherein the good Admiral looks into the world of theater.

Sunday, you will be stuck with me as I talk comics in my weekly Comicopea column.

Not a bad line up right? Well our new blog schedule is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of news here at Semantink. Over the next few months, our site will be getting a bit of a face lift courtesy of the fine gentlemen at SanBox Inc. All of the content that you love will still be here, but the whole place will be prettier and easier to navigate.

For our MYTHOI lovers, I have some great news, our latest issue of the MYTHOI Birth series, TAROS will be out this week. Here is the cover art to the upcoming issue to whet your appetite:

April is going to see the last issue of MYTHOI Births, TOUCH, hit the internet. As always, MYTHOI will be brought to by the electrifying team of James Ninness and Jed Soriano.

The MYTHOI Birth series coming to a close means two things, 1) MYTHOI proper will pick up again in June with issue #2, and 2)the MYTHOI Birth graphic novel will be available around the same time. All of our MYTHOI issues are available for digital download, but this graphic novel will be the only place you can find the whole Birth series collected in in one place. The GN will be chock full of original content as well, so make sure you pick up a copy when it comes out!

This fall we will be launching two new series, THE HEAVEN’S and SIM-I. THE HEAVEN’S will be written by James Ninness and illustrated by spectacular newcomer Turbo Qualls! THE HEAVEN’S is a steampunk power struggle set on the alien desert world of Terra. Joe Pezzula will be writing SIMI-I, the madcap tale of a super intelligent monkey trying to evade vaporization. I will have more information and pretty picture-tude on these soon.

Next month is also the start of convention season for us here at Semantink. We will be at WonderCon and Wizard World Anaheim in April, The Phoenix Comicon in May, the world famous San Diego Comic Con in July, and the Alternative Press Expo and Long Beach Comic con in October.

So, to make a long story short (too late), 2010 is an exciting year for us here at Semantink, and I just want to say thank you for being a part of it. Keep an eye out here for more details on our upcoming projects, and if you have any questions you can always drop me a line.

Benjamin Glibert