Comic Con

RCCCC: Spotlight on Greg Rucka

Saturday, September 10th 1:30-2:20 pm 

Topic:

Multiple award winning writer currently writing such blockbuster hits like Wonder Woman, Lazarus, Stumptown and Black Magick. Wonder what makes one of the best writers in comics tick? Come find out.

Panelists:

  • Greg Rucka

Discussion:

First things first, I felt so lucky to see a panel spot lighting this man, his work in comics has been huge and hearing how he tackles projects was like getting to see how a magic trick is done.

This panel featured Greg Rucka being interviewed by one of his closest friends (whose name escapes me). The panel starts by addressing that a few years back Greg has a public outing when he left DC comics, but since then he has come by to them and as mentioned currently writes Wonder Woman. This was brought up because admittedly Greg writes from anger or rather he can and often has written from anger and currently his Wonder Woman book is hopeful. Greg Rucka explains just cause I have and can write from anger doesn't mean I am angry all the time.

Greg then spend a majority of the panel explain his approach to working on the current run in Wonder Woman for DC.  The most important thing isn't being continuity driven but is simply on how you approach the character (this goes for any superhero story). The approach for Wonder Woman is to ask what is she and what make Dianna tick.  Greg says the "wonder" in her name isn't for wonderful but for the true meaning of wonderment and curiosity, with that being the prime factor it was easy to make Dianna decisions and make her level her paradise to save the world and wonder how everything else works. 

The panel continued but in that moment when Greg is on stage talking about the detail of Wonder Woman ( a fiction character) he revealed just the level of care and how serious he takes writing and that carries on into all of his amazing works.

This was a an amazing 50 minutes. I highly recommend picking up any and all  of his work. As a creator working his way up from self publishing my own comics to working in the industry I strive to understand and learn on how to create better stories. Greg Rucka looks at fiction and makes it real, he take principals of life and applies them to all stories he tells and like a good writer he studies and researches. The level of care he has is what I aim to do in my own writing.

The Paper Robots Episode 61: Mike Olivares

Who is Mike Olivares? He is a busy guy helping the comic scene in Tucson as well as many other creator projects. Mike runs Xpanded Universe Toy/Art Gallery, founded Tucson Comic Con, creates designer toys and does a few other things I can't mention yet.

We chatted at the shop and I had a chance to pick his brain about getting started in this comic-con culture. It was such a blast!

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AACCC: Amazing Arizona Comic Con 2016

It had only been a month and here we are for the second convention of 2016. This weekend at Phoenix Convention center in downtown Phoenix, Arizona is the 6th annual Amazing Arizona Comic Con. The convention runs two and half days of programming and events from Friday 12th - Sunday 14th.

This con has amazing guests no pun intended, but the line up is full of talented artists and writers and creators;  Kevin Eastman, Chris Claremont, Rob Liefeld, George Perez, Ryan Ottley, Kyle Higgins and more like a fashion show, cosplay contest and anime. 

Here are some panels Im excited about through out the weekend.

Friday

Arrival

"Waiting Nightmares 2" Comic Book Release with Logan, Joshua and Tania

Saturday

10:30: Kevin Eastman signing (TMNT)

12:00: Captain America with Steve McNiven and Charles Soule

2:00: TMNT Q&A

3:00: This is X-Men with Chris Claremont

4:00: Writers Unite

5:30: Amazing Fashion Show 

Sunday

12:00: Marvel Mutant Mayhem

1:00: Amazing Geek Fashion

3:00: The Voice! (Voice Acting Panel)

Now not all panels will be covered but you can expect lots of photos and article covering this con over the next week following the con. 

SFCCC: Michael Welch

If you are not familiar with the name Mike Welch, that doesn't matter. Chances are you have seen him acting in something; I can almost guarantee it. He has been acting for nearly 20 years on shows ranging from Star Trek, to Frasier, to Walker, Texas Ranger, to Stargate, to The X-Files. This guy is all over the place. 

Some of his work may not be for you, but I don't think anyone can deny that this guy's got talent. After all, he's been working for 20 years and that's something you can't accomplish if you're bad at your job. 

However, his work is not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about rejection. Michael Welch is a talented actor. But all actors, no matter how talented, will face rejection...a lot of it. At the recent Santa Fe Comic Con, I sat in on his Panel and asked how he dealt with the rejection, and here is what he said:

I realize that this is an actor talking about rejection during the audition process. However, think about how many times you have been rejected from something that you love to do. How often does that push you into a state of depression, or self doubt? Probably quite often. It's easy, it's familiar, and every single artist that I know, myself included, has gone down this road.

I have a challenge for you. Next time you are rejected, instead of feeling sorry for yourself, try to apply Mike's approach to your situation. Look at that rejection as just another opportunity to showcase your work to a new person. Another opportunity to hone your craft. Another opportunity to do what you love. Take pride in the fact that you did the absolute best that you could, and know that what you're doing is worth doing. Now go kick some ass!

Follow Michael Welch on Twitter @MichaelWelchAct
Check out SFCC: www.santafecomiccon.com/