On January 24th and 25th, 2009, the Busy Gamer Reckon Crew made a visit to the Richardson Civic Center to pay homage to the Dallas Comic Con. In typical Reckon Crew fashion, we arrived late, left early, and drank in between. But not before meeting and interviewing Thomas Jane of Punisher and The Mist fame and the very talented Terry Parr, artist and creator of Gemini Force. And somewhere during the chaos, we managed to admire the artwork of some of the very fine artists who attended the event.

No stranger to famous folk, the Dallas Comic Con has been gathering some of the most geek and fanboi worthy names in the business for the last eight years and 2009 was no exception to the rule. On hand for the event were James O’Barr, Tim Bradstreet, Cat Staggs, and Scott Harben, just to name a few. We wandered amongst the various artist tables, saying hello to some old favorites and learning the names of a few new ones.

Several vendors were on hand with merchandise to tempt our pocket books and none of the Reckon Crew escaped without at least a couple of purchases. And then there was the sweet, sweet swag to be had for those numbers who had made their way to the event. T-shirts and movie posters from The Punisher movies, My Sweet Valentine 3D, and the upcoming Coraline. There were even free comics if one was so inclined to grab a couple when making their way past the Lone Star Comics table.

It should, of course, be noted that the very lovely Amber Alert, one of our first Gamettes, was there to offset the Reckon Crew ugly with her good looks and gracious nature. She even suggested a locale for Saturday night’s festivities and managed to get Timothy Danger to dance, no small feat. Or perhaps, no small two left feat.

After everything was said and done, the beers were drank,  and some monstrous burritos had been consumed, the Reckon Crew left Dallas knowing that there was a new stop on our list of worthy events to visit when the next opportunity (August 29-30, in case you were curious) rolls around, the Dallas Comic Con.

 

Gritskrieg – End of Line

You may know actor Thomas Jane from his recent hits THE MIST and THE PUNISHER, but you may not know he is a huge Sci Fi and horror fan, and now, a comic book publisher. While meeting up with Thomas Jane at Dallas Comic Con, he took the time out to answer some questions by Timothy Danger…

BUSYGAMER: So What brings you out to this Con?

Thomas Jane: Good looking women, pre code horror comic books, and my friends… Tim Bradstreet, James Daly, Todd Farmer, Bernie Wrightson, Bill Stout, Joe Jusko, Howard Chaykin, these are my pals, and they are all here, we have some good times together.

BUSYGAMER: Yeah I see that, looks like you are all working on a big project together, is that right?

Thomas Jane: Yeah, I mean we all work on stuff, we like to group up as much as we can.

BUSYGAMER: That’s right, you know a lot of people in mainstream America, they see you in the movies and stuff, they don’t know you actually are a big comic book guy.

Thomas Jane: That’s right I am, and now I’ve become a publisher and we’ve put out two titles, BAD PLANET and ALIEN PIG FARM, and we’re putting out a third this year called THE LYCAN. A band of werewolf hunters in the 17th century and we are having a blast. We put out a book called SHOCK FESTIVAL with IDW. It’s got great reviews, we’re putting out a couple of graphic novels. We are having a lot of fun, I get to work with some pretty terrific guys.

BUSYGAMER: Yeah… so you are the publisher then?

Thomas Jane: Yeah, I’m the publisher, and I wrote BAD PLANET, also helped conceive ALIEN PIG FARM, Todd Farmer wrote the script.

BUSYGAMER: How long have you been into comics?

Thomas Jane: When I was like 8 years old, I think I bought a copy of MAD MAGAZINE, and my dad said “you know that used to be a comic book, when I was a kid it was MAD COMICS??? I was like, no way. That led to comic book shops. I never got into superheroes, I think they are soap operas, I’m not really into guys in tights, I’ve never been into it. I never got into soap operas.

But I love stories, I love westerns, I love science fiction, crime comics, horror comics, war comics, so many more you know? I love the comics that comprise the other 3 percent of comic books OK? Charles Burns, Will Eisner, Art Speigelman, these guys are artists, and the art of comics and the art of graphic storytelling is absolutely fantastic. I’m happy for the superheroes, I guess it keeps the industry afloat. I think in a strange way it also hobbles the industry by keeping in a world of daytime Fucking soap opera. So FUCK YOU Superman alright? You’re time has come and gone.
(more…)

We love conventions. They give us a reason to check out what’s going on, meet new people, talk to artists and industry people, meet actors… and of course, drink copious amounts of alcohol.

That’s just what we intend to do this weekend at the Dallas Comic Con. Besides special guests like Tom Jane (The Punisher) horror movie writer Todd Farmer and our own friend Terry Parr, also attending will be artist Tim Bradstreet.

Tim Bradstreet is an incredible artist and illustrator who is best known for his work with comic book covers. He has also done visual work for movies and movie posters.

Bradstreet uses a pretty interesting style that is sort of photo realistic. He uses photos mixed with pencils and inks to create a unique style that brings out the grit of his characters he is famous for portraying (most notably his work on HELLBLAZER and THE PUNISHER)

You can catch him this weekend at the Dallas Comic Con / Sci-Fi Expo January 24 and 25 at the Richardson Convention Center.

His website is www.timbradstreet.com

-Timothy Danger