July 6, 2012= Art show at Scum of the Earth Gallery in
Denver, Co. I’ve been going to this
church for much of this year and it’s been pretty great. Oddly enough, since the curator is at
Cornerstone Festival, I’m kind of managing the night. I have one ridiculous painting of a “catfish”
that’s up. It’s $100 and you could theoretically buy it with paypal if you can't make it to the show. [I'll post pictures after it debuts.] Friday, the show is from 7-10 pm and has lots
of other artists. This should be a great
time. I’ll have special book plates of
my painting to go in HF2 and my usuals for sale, including paintings that aren’t
on the walls. This show will be
displayed through July. Come if you can!
http://scumoftheearth.net
July 11-15= San Diego Comic Con International! I’ll be with my publisher, Lamp Post, in
Small Press Q-01. That’s, in my opinion,
one of the best spots for the convention.
We’re against the back wall, but perpendicular to the first row of Small
Press. We’ll be on a corner and actually
have a lot of space in front of us. You
can enter at Hall B at the Mile High Comics display, continue past DC, Oni, and
others and get right to us! 
In case you didn’t realize it, convention season is upon
us! We just had the first Denver Comic
Con a couple weeks ago and all the press has
been pretty much amazing.
Everyone had a great time. Over
20,000 tickets were sold! That doesn’t
include kids [who were free], press, volunteers, staff, or any vendors,
artists, guests or the like. So that is
thousands more who were there! I hear
the numbers were that about 1.3% of Denver’s population attended the convention.
[of course, many people were not from Denver.] But, think of it this way. That means that more than 1 out of every 100
people in the city and county of Denver went to a convention about comic
books! For comic books? What!?! Just think about that for a moment…
Best occurrence, however, was getting in contact with Allen
Bellman. I was one of a couple people
who actually had one of his original comics to get signed. He is credited [which was unique since lots of artists went uncredited at the time] in one of my favorite comic
books that I own, Boy Meets Girl #4
from 1950. This was already one of the
prized pieces in my collection. Now, not
only do I have it signed on the title page of his story and the cover, but an
amazing memory of the experiennce. We’ve kept in pretty
good contact on Facebook, too. If you go
to the new Heaven Forbid “fan” page, you’ll
see how he described HF as “Work of a real pro.” And this was by an actual professional who’s
been in the industry for 70 years!
What!?! I would call this a “dream
come true,” but I would never have dreamed of this… Guess what quote’s going on
the back of my next book? There’s a good
video of Allen looking through my copy of BMG #4 on youtube that’s really well
put together by my friend Rio Herrera.
Check it out! The second Heaven Forbid book is about to be released!
There's been so much going on lately, it's hard to keep on top of things! I haven't done a blog post since December! I've been thinking about how I'd like to do a new page on my site with some recent publicity I've been getting [and add some previous ones, too]. Not sure when I'll get to it, so I think I'll post some here:
Most recent, photo by Javid Rezvani www.TheRezvaniProject.com as featured on the Westword Blog http://blogs.westword.com/showandtell/2012/03/photos_denver_comic_cons_second_saturday.php
This one is from the 2nd Saturday event at Wazee Union on March 10, 2012. It was an awesome show! I love this photo and it is on the front page of the link above! I think a glimpse of me is in a few other pictures in the series, too. I really like how this picture captures me and some of my new paintings and pretty much all my books!
And just over a month ago, here was my first time in the Westword [online version], at the debut of my artwork featured at the Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave! If you didn't know about it, I did the focus piece of the new 2012 exhibit called, "Buffalo Bill Super Hero." It'll be up through January 2013 and features some up to 100 year old pulps, dime novels, and comics as it analyzes how Buffalo Bill influenced the modern super hero archetype.
http://www.westword.com/slideshow/buffalo-bill-superhero-exhibit-opens-36222700/#2
http://www.buffalobill.org/Exhibits%20Events%20at%20the%20Buffalo%20Bill%20Museum/temporary_exhibits.html
If you've talked about comics with me personally [or seen much of my art...], you probably know that I'm a big Blindwolf Studios fan! I love the comics by Art Baltazar and Franco, especially Tiny Titans and Patrick the Wolfboy. It seems that year after year, my favorite comic of the year turns out to be one of theirs. Their Aw Yeah podcast is also my favorite podcast! Anyway, I wrote a letter to them, which they read on the air, gave me a shout out, complemented me and my art [see above- Art even said he'd pass it on to his editor at DC Comics!], and discussed my questions for like 20 minutes! John Siuntres even called it the "Dan Conner segment of the podcast!" If you've not listened to their podcast before, you should check out that Episode, #39 "Grab Your Hammers!"
They also just released the last issue of their landmark series, Tiny Titans #50, so make sure to pick up your copy before they sell out!
http://awyeah.libsyn.com/webpage/aw-yeah-39-grab-your-hammers-
If you've missed them, check out these others:
I was on a clip about Comic Con last summer on Denver's NBC 9 News, you'll see me on this link, about two minutes in. Just a photograph, not video of me, still cool:
http://www.9news.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=1073829904001&odyssey=mod
http://www.facebook.com/wonderhiphop
Phil "Wonder" Porto is an awesome rapper from Florida. He contacted me last year about doing some artwork for him and has been displaying it online for a while. It always makes me happy to see on his profile.
I'll admit, I've never been much of a hip hop fan, but when he sent me a couple of his records, I couldn't stop listening to them! Listening to one is pretty much like hearing a Bible study on top of beats and samples that sound better and more diverse that what I hear in mainstream rap, while also dropping tons of fun references. Even if rap isn't your thing, I promise you, checking his stuff out will leave you encouraged!
I've had it linked on my site, but in case you've missed it, R-Squared Comicz ran a really fun interview with me last fall, where I pretty much got to talk about everything about me and comics! More than you'd ever want to know! Make sure to check it out!
http://www.rsquaredcomicz.com/2011/09/27/c-3-interview-21-dan-conner/
http://www.milehighcomics.com/newsletter/103111.html
http://www.milehighcomics.com/newsletter/010612.html
Do you subscribe to the Mile High Comics newsletter, which typically gives you a promo code for steep [up to 60% off!] discounts of their massive inventory? You should [I have a hard time not spending all my $$ because of those deals!] If you do, you may see me mentioned now and then. The first link is a photo from the Halloween party 2011, where I debuted an exclusive mini comic. I’m technically in a cowboy costume, but the only difference is the handkerchief and how I trimmed my beard into awesome sideburns connecting to a mustache!
The second one has info about the dream-come-true deal-of-a-lifetime signing we got to do with Chris Claremont! It was so cool! I think I was the next closest artist to him!
I do regular signings and events at their stores, where I typically give free sketches and make new friends. Their new mega store is amazing and you need to give them your business if you buy comics, and you probably do, if you’re reading this.
From March 2011, Kris Bather provided a very encouraging review of Heaven Forbid vol 1 with Sight Magazine in Australia! Check it out here:
http://www.sightmagazine.com.au/stories/comics/heavenforbid14.3.11.php
This one is actually from a couple years ago, but Her Comics continues to show support of my work online. I really like what they're about. They gave a very encouraging Heaven Forbid review before the first book even came out! Check out this link and keep up with the Her Comics blog!
http://hercomics.wordpress.com/2010/06/23/heaven-forbid/
I was featured in article in the Spring 2010 issue of Gateway Magazine. I even got to draw a full color comic for them!
You can read a pdf of it at http://www.ggbts.edu/about/gateway.aspx
Before these, I was featured on the Geek Tragedy podcast while I was exhibiting at APE 2009. They were really cool and you should listen to them! Check it out, here:
http://www.npccomics.com/geektragedy/?p=208
Batton Lash, I believe, was on that one, too!
That’s it for today, friends!
