Anmph's FallCON 2009 Report part 1

:::The following is taken from Anthony Hary's personal Blog:::

2009 FallCON report – part one

There wasn’t much denying it, the excitement could not be cooled by brisk weather here in MN this weekend. The 21st annual MCBA FallCON comic book celebration was the largest and most ambitious effort made to date by the MCBA and I would like to share with you my experience from this years FallCON.

-Last minute bad news

This year’s FallCON was more than just the 21st time this show would take place, but it was the FIRST time that A.N.A. Comics would appear as a group in a show. Sadly due to health issues that are not my place to disclose, Nicholas P. Myers was un able to be there for the show. It was disappointing, but also a blessing in disguise. In the end it turned out to be a good thing, let me explain:

At last year’s BIG 20th anniversary show, I shared a table with another creator as part of Blue Collar Studios, a joint venture we were trying out. This was our 3rd show appearing together at a table. Needless to say after two years people were getting used to seeing us together. A couple months after FallCON2008 I had to make some changes to my priorities, and that I was going to need to back off the projects we had going on to get things right with my family and my home life. I was spreading myself too thin and it was either make this call or burn out, and I emailed him about these things I needed to do. In all of this I never said I wouldn’t have any interest in working with him in the future, but rather that I still wanted to. These other things, my family, had to come first. I soon got my reply from this other creator. He simply said “ We are done, I have nothing left to say to you.” He was an unmarried man with no one to care for but himself, and perhaps that made it hard to grasp the importance of my decision. Regardless I emailed back expressing my apologies and that I had no ill feelings toward him and didn’t understand his anger, but wished him the best. From that moment on, as he said, We were Done.

Fast forward to this year’s FallCON2009 and here I am at a table all by myself; in fact it was in the same spot that I was in last year just one table over. He was there also, but on the other end of the room at a table with a different guy… wouldn’t you know PEOPLE NOTICED!! On top of that, they asked me about it. And so I wanted address it openly to avoid any unnecessary rumors. We have decided to go separate ways. He is doing his thing and I hope nothing but success for him. I have gone on to get my projects tightly organized, co-founded A.N.A. COMICS and things are going great.

Though it was hard to hear that my table mate was dealing with his health situation, it was fun to be the star for a weekend. I won’t lie about it. I loved it. Loved having the table for myself and just rocking it out. Look for Nick to be at MicroCON though, let’s keep hoping.


-All the UN-Usual suspects


I had Meghan with me again as my assistant for the how. She is the best. MicroCON2009 she was my assistant and it was my best MicroCON EVER, true to form, she is helped make this my best FallCON EVER!!! Ben was there also, He was going to be Nicks assistant but with that not being a factor, Ben stayed true to his pattern and did some shopping, took a few photos of the show that I will post in part two of my FallCON2009 report. He also helped with covering the table and was a real pinch hitter during the weekend. Their help make it possible for me to just focus on the attendants , talking with them and doing sketches for fans.

Seemed that all the local favorites showed up this year for the show, with a nice sprinkling of new faces. FallCON2009 boasted over 225 total guest creators, which included comic book artists, writers, sculptors, puppeteers and prop makers. Along with those crazy cats we also had loads of dealers offering new and classic comics, toys, games, and specialty products. We even had a guy that had a book where he sold creative supplies. That was fun.

One thing that is fun for me at the show is that it is pretty much the only time I get to catch up with or say hello to other creators that I respect and have developed friendships with. I didn’t get to visit as much this year, which is NOT a bad thing. Just means I was busy. I did get to say hello to some of my favorite creators such as: My good buddy Tom Nguyen (inker on GL&GLC also an author through impact publishing art instruction books), Chad Spilker & Chris Rich-Mckelvey (who I think of as the dynamic duo of hot chick art work, were there), Doug Mahnke popped in for a quick cameo Saturday and rocked the show Sunday, it’s always a pleasure to see him. Brent Schoonover, one of the brightest stars shining here in MN brought it to the show. Always a highlight for me is seeing Gordon Smuder, If you haven’t checked out TVTV you are missing out. Then to round it all out I had a great time visiting with JJ, Christina, and David Kocholek, the minds and hearts behind the McGuffin Exchange (great comic, read it, especially if you want to get a break from the normal boring superhero format out there).

The best part of my weekend was all the awesome folks that stopped and visited with me at my table. Met some new faces and a whole slew of familiar ones, let’s take a moment to thank: Lisa, Mike, See, John, Alex, Mike, Mark , Steve, Kelly, Brian, lil’ Justus and his family, Austin & Kristi, Chad, Willis, and a guy I just loved visiting with over the weekend, Jeff. You are the man! Thank you to all the other fans and friends that stopped in, my Mom for sneaking in at the end of Saturday just to see her son chasing the dream!

See, it was tops visiting with you, and I can NOT wait for the awesome art we are going to create over the next few months.

-All in for Canada


The big goal for me this weekend money wise was just to make enough to make it to C4 in Winnipeg Canada the 31st of Oct-1st November. It is one of the fastest growing shows with an attendance well over 16,000 in 2008 (from 1200 in 2005!) and it is Central Canada's largest convention celebrating the best in comic books, science fiction, gaming, anime, fantasy, horror and pop culture!

AND I AM GOING!!!

Big thanks to everyone who bought sketches, ordered commissions and purchased BRETHREN: Beginnings. Thanks to you I can make this show without putting some abnormally dumb stress on the family finances. That is always my goal in my work in comics, Can I keep making enough to keep making comics. This past weekend brought all that to a whole other level. If you plan to go to C4 or want to check out its info visit: www.cccomiccon.com and I will be a guest in artist alley, come by and say hello!

This year has been a humbling year of seeing how much what I do is so reliant on whether you awesome people out there support it with your hard earned cash, and please know that I don’t take that for granted. Thank you very much for making this my most successful year in comics. My most eventful year as an artist, and I hope you keep thinking I am good enough to keep around.

Stay tuned for Part 2 coming soon….with PICTURES!!

Wild & Wonderful Wednesday (late) - FallCON 2009 Edition

Hello everyone!

Anthony Hary here! Thanks for tuning in.

Tomorrow marks the start of the 21st annual MCBA Comic book Celebration lovingly known as FallCON! This will be my 6th FallCON, and this year I will be joined by Nicholas P. Myers, Creator of Harijan and The Precarious Adventures of Newton Von Brisby – web comic appearing on anacomics.com. Nicholas is also the VP of IP Management at A.N.A. Comics and founder of Floating Island Press. This is his FIRST appearance at FallCON and we are both very excited for the show.

BRETHREN begins NOW!!

Huge news for the show is the release of BRETHREN: Beginnings! Inside you will find the first part to the upcoming BRETHREN mini-series that starts Spring 2010. It’s an exciting first look at the world of BRETHREN. You are introduced to our two main characters: Tax and Lotus, along with a view of the mystery behind the origin of the world they live in. BRETHREN: Beginnings is a jam-packed Primer that is a MUST READ!

We’ll have a limited number of copies available at FallCON for purchase.

BRETHREN: Beginnings was Written, Illustrated, Lettered and formatted by Anthony Hary, who will be at the show to sign Your copy when you come to pick it up! Additional merchandise for BRETHREN is also available!! We’ll have an 11/17 inch Mini-Poster and Special Convention Exclusive BRETHREN Bookmarks. Be sure and stop by to meet the creator and get your merchandise right away on Saturday so you don’t miss out!!

A.N.A. Comics invades FallCON!!!
Along with the release of BRETHREN: Beginnings, the guys from A.N.A. Comics are bringing another FallCON special!!

A.N.A. Comics: Welcome to Our World

This book contains around 40 pages of previews of art and story, along with an interview with the Founders of A.N.A. Comics – Adrian Wilkins (President), Nicholas P. Myers (VP of IP Management), and Anthony “ANMPH” Hary (EIC/ VP of Brand Management)! Within those pages you will get a rare look at the projects coming out through A.N.A. Comics in the next year. It is also the ONLY book that you can get printed pages from Nicholas P. Myers’ web-comic TPANVB. There is too much awesome stuff in this book to not pick it up for just $5!

Visit www.midwestcomicbook.com for all the info on admission cost and hours for FallCON!

We will See YOU there!!!

A.N.A. Comics, BRETHREN, TPANVB, Web-comics, & FallCON!

A.N.A. Comics, BRETHREN, TPANVB, Web-comics, & FallCON!
9.14.2009

A Message from me to you.

We’re half way through September and I have a lot to share. It’s been a few weeks since I updated blogs, either on my personal blog, A.N.A. Comics, or on Deviantart.com so we’re going to be posting this on all three sites.

First things first, I need to say thank you to some people.

September 1st marked the launch of anacomics.com full site. Huge thank you goes to Robert Muller and the team at Dauntlessdev.com. I would recommend no one else for your web development needs. Definitely look into them if you are in the market for a professional high quality website for either personal or professional purposes.

Also need to send a big thanks to the fine chaps at http://comicnews.info who have proven to be a great support and outlet for us at A.N.A. Comics. Many of us in the industry hit up Newsarama.com or Comicbookresources.com for our industry info, yet we miss out on a lot of great independent news. Please check out http://comicnews.info and see for yourself the results of passion and dedication to our field in the way of reporting.

A.N.A. Comics invades Minnesota!!

Myself (Anthony Hary) and Nicholas Myers of A.N.A. Comics will be at the biggest and Best comic book convention in Minnesota on October 10&11th for FallCON. http://midwestcomicbook.com has all your important information for the show. Mark your calendars now and make a plan to grab some friends and stop by!
BRETHREN:Beginnings #0, 20 page comic book written/illustrated by Anthony Hary will premiere at the show. Along with a 11/17inch mini poster, book marks, and more. Nicholas Myers will have the first 3 issues of his epic miniseries Harijan! In this special appearance, for those of us in MN, make sure you come out and get a signed copy of All 3 issues!
For the most up-to-date info on our appearances and plans for FallCON and other events, you can check out our event calendar on anacomics.com. You can also find links on the site to follow the founders of A.N.A. Comics on Twitter, Myspace, Facebook, and Deviantart.com in the contact area. If you are one of the many on Facebook.com, and don’t want to go all the way to our site, you can just do a search for us on there and become a fan.

By becoming a fan on Facebook.com, or following us through Twitter, Blogger, or even registering at anacomics.com in the forum, you put yourself in line to receive FREE stuff from us! Beginning in December 2009 we will be drawing names from the many members we have and those individuals will receive free art, comics, prints and more. You only have to register once, and everyone in your house can do so as well. Everyone has the chance to be a winner. Make sure you get signed up and logged in today.

Fun tidbit of info also, order A.N.A. COMICS: Welcome to Our World and BRETHREN:Beginnings and you’ll find in the pages of those book and fun and in-depth interview with the founders of A.N.A. Comics that you can ONLY read there. Learn about our history, our present, and where we see ourselves in the future. Soon you’ll be able to order copies of the books through Indyplanet.com, AND anacomics.com. anacomics.com will offer bonus packages, and signed editions exclusively. Keep an eye out for that.

“Please say hello to… Newt?“

September 15th marks the launch of TPANVB on anacomics.com. Don’t miss an update! This new web-comic from the mind of Nicholas Myers is brilliant! With new updates every Tuesday and Thursday you’ll want to subscribe to it TODAY! Myself, I have read the first 15 strips. Love it. Nicholas’ clean & strait forward art makes it easy to read. His imaginative illustrations make it captivating. Be there for every update!!

We have a couple other projects in the works to be done as web-comics. We are also looking for other creators who have their own web-comics, but don’t perhaps have a home to properly display them. If you would like to have A.N.A. Comics host your web-comic please join the forum because in the coming weeks we will be posting guidelines and details on how hosting your web-comics works with anacomics.com.

BRETHREN: This is just the beginning

September also primed the release of BRETHREN:Beginnings #0, which is now at the printer for its October release. Some people have been with me so long that they know all about BRETHREN, and have been hassling me for a while now on when this first issue would be done. Well its DONE, and yes. I did say FIRST issue. Many out there have a lot of questions so I thought I would share some info to help us all get on the same page.

BRETHREN was originally created by Anthony Hary and Robert Muller and appeared as a web-comic, and actually started under a different title until becoming BRETHREN and eventually finding a home on carbonhallway.com. The original web-comic started with the initial meeting of Tax and Lotus and went from there, yet only ran for about 8 months. There were a couple more sporadic updates that popped up at Anthony’s deviantart.com gallery, subtitled “winds of change” and it was these strips that gained BRETHREN its initial burst of attention. However these pieces of the story have basically been scrapped in favor of moving the story in a direction that combines the original outlined done by Anthony and Robert, and new ideas formed by Anthony in the “winds of change” story arc. There were some things revealed in the web comics that exposed pieces of the puzzle which won’t be in this #0 issue. However, ALL the pieces of the puzzle are still here. Lets run through some of them shall we, and pay attention, this will be the ONLY time I give any advance info. After this, you’ll just have to read the story. Ready? Ok.

BRETHREN takes place in an alternate future, semi post apocalyptic, but not. Just post a big flippin’ war and a LOT of stuff got ruined. The war involved the use of Biological Weapons, but not in the sense of germs, viruses and the like. Biological in the sense of living breathing weapons, fun huh? Some people have asked “I saw dragons in your other pages and in your preview pages I think I see one, are their dragons?” – Kinda, there is a sort of dragon like creator or two. Some things that are NOT in BRETHREN, there is NO magic, sorcery, or anything like that in BRETHREN. It’s more Sci-Fi Fantasy, then anything else. Tax first met Lotus first met in an alley while Lotus was running away from these people he had just stolen from. This first meeting is mirrored in this new comic to pay homage to the original strip. Originally Tax, not really knowing why, ran defense for him and from his imposing size and stoic demeanor Tax scared the men off. Ever since Lotus has been attached to Tax, as he was the first person to give Lotus a chance, and to be on his side of a fight. He would watch Tax, saw him fight and was just in awe of why this guy would live the life he does. Tax fights his last fight and walks out on Gills, the fight bookie. Lotus follows Tax to his farm and Tax catches him in the barn. While they are both inside the doors close and the barn is set on fire. Tax initially suspects Lotus has something to do with it, but Lotus points out he is trapped in there with him and they need to trust each other. Gills stands outside the barn yelling, angry that Tax his biggest draw just quit on him. Tax and Lotus escape via an old well inside the barn. Jumping down into a river passing below the ground and they came out into the lake nearby. In a way this new comic picks up shortly after this event. They have been together for a little while, traveling, and Tax has agreed to fight one last fight which we see in this issue. This will give them the funds they need for their trip… and this first mini-series is about that trip.

BRETHREN:Beginnings #0 is what I would call the warm up to the first of three planned BRETHREN Mini-series. The first is titled BRETHREN: The Sojourn of Tax and Lotus. It will run 3 full issues of at least 22 pages. I say at least because if it takes a couple extra pages to really tell the story, we will happily go over the standardized 22 pages per book. This will then be followed by two other BRETHREN mini’s set to feature Tax and Lotus, which titles will remain unannounced at this time.

The story is a very exciting mix if adventure and mystery. Be sure to pick up every issue to piece together the bits of the past and enjoy the full ride into the unknown future. Each issue will also contain bonus content and minimal ads so as to not take away from the story itself.

You are the FEATURE!!

A.N.A. Comics has as part of our mission statement the desire to help developing talent to grow and get exposure in the industry. Part of that mission is going to be realized in our ‘Featured Creator’ column that is set to start In the next couple months. Would you like to be interviewed by anacomics.com and be one of our featured creators? Sign up in the blog! And send an email to us @ business at anacomics.com.

Thanks for reading folks!! More to come soon.

Anthony ‘ANMPH’ Hary
VP of Brand Management / EIC A.N.A. Comics

Notable links from this blog:
A.N.A. COMICS WEBSITE – http://www.anacomics.com
Deviantart A.N.A. Comics page – http://anacomics.deviantart.com
Comic News Info website – http://comicnews.info
MCBA FallCON info – http://www.midwestcomicbook.com
A.N.A. Comics Facebook.com fan page – http://www.facebook.com/inbox/?ref=mb#/group.php?gid=49569193546&ref=ts
BRETHREN:Beginnings #0 Facebook.com fan page – http://www.facebook.com/inbox/?ref=mb#/pages/BRETHREN-Beginnings-0/152253494953?ref=ts
Thanks for reading and visiting these links.

First Audio Blog

Take a listen, enjoy, its our first Audio blog. Hope to fine tune it to be some thing special.

Enjoy!

Click here to listen to the Audio Blog!!

Press Release

Here is a press release from www.comicnews.info regarding the release of our site: http://comicnews.info/?p=9172 Take a gander at it. :)

Also, just wanted to let you all know that TPANVB will begin on September the 15th. Prepare yourself for what I hope is a very unique adventure/fantasy tale. Just make sure to click here and save it to your favorites: http://web.anacomics.com/tpanvb/

I promise to give you an honest, hard effort to give you the best story and make it enjoyable and endearing.

Thanks for your time,

Nicholas P. Myers

Expletives concept picture.. enjoy

Wild & Wonderful Wednesday #6

Click here for FallCON info
08.12.09

All of us here at A.N.A. Comics are hitting it hardcore as we gear up for FallCON 2009, we look forward to see you there. Until then, keep supporting the industry we all love. Here are the comics released this week!!

NEW COMIC BOOKS - 10AM WEDNESDAY AUGUST 12, 2009

COMIC BOOKS
Action Comics #880
ADVENTURE COMICS #1
Amazing Spider-Man #602
Angel Only Human #1 (of 4)
Archie & Friends #134
Archie Double Digest #201
Atomika #10 (of 12)
Batman #689
BLACKEST NIGHT #2 (OF 8)
Blackest Night Batman #1
Booster Gold #23
BPRD 1947 #2 (of 5)
Cable #17
Cartoon Network AP #40
Darkness #79
Deadpool #13
Descendant #2 (of 3)
DMZ #44
Dominic Fortune #1 (of 4)
Escape From Wonderland #1 (of 6)
Existence 2.0 #2 (of 3)
Fables #87
Farscape Dargos Trial #1
Final Crisis Aftermath Escape #4
From the Ashes #3
G-Man Cape Crisis #1 (of 5)
GE Chronicles of Wormwood LB
Gen 13 #31GI Joe #8
GI Joe Special Helix
Gold Digger T&C 2nd Semester
Green Arrow/Black Canary #23
GREEN LANTERN CORP #39 - BN
Grimjack Manx Cat #1
Hack/Slash Series #25
Hellboy Wild Hunt #5 (of 8)
Hercules Knives of Kush #1
Hero Initiative Benefit Comic Book
Incredible Hercules #132
JSA VS Kobra #3 (of 6)
Kabuki Reflections #14
Killer #10 (of 10)
Lockjaw & Pet Avengers #4 (of 4)
Looney Tunes #177
Mangalicious Tick #2 (of 4)
MA Super Heroes #14
Marvel Divas #2 (of 4)
Marvel Spotlight SE
Mice Templar Destiny #2
MV Presents Berserker #2
Ms Marvel #43
Ninja High School #172
Pride & Prejudice #5 (of 5)
Prototype #5 (of 6)
Rebels #7
RED CIRCLE INFERNO #1
Red Herring #1 (of 6)
RED ROBIN #3
Scourge of the Gods Fall #2 (of 3)
Sherlock Holmes & Kolchak #3
Sonic the Hedgehog #203
Star Trek Nero #1
Star Wars Clone Wars #8
Starstruck #1
Street Fighter Turbo II #8
Superman Secret Files 2009 #1
Thor Tales of Asgard #4 (of 6)
Titans #16
Toy Story Mysterious Stranger #4
Transformers BOTUK Prey #1
ULTIMATE COMICS - AVENGERS #1
ULTIMATE COMICS - SPIDER-MAN #1
Uncanny X-Men First Class #2
UNWRITTEN #4
Walking Dead #64
WEDNESDAY COMICS #6 (OF 12)
Werwolves VS Vampires OTM #3
X-Men Forever #5


GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS
10 Beautiful Assassins GN
Bakegyamon Vol 3 GN
Batman Complete Hush TP
Battle of Genryu Vol 1
Battlestar Galactica Vol 1 OB
Brit Vol 3 TP
Charlatan Ball TP
Code Geass Novel Stage 2 Knight
FABLES VOL 12 TP
Fahrenheit 451 GN
Ikigami Ultimate Limit Vol 2 GN
Inu Yasha Vol 39 TP
Invincible Vol 11 TP
Magic Touch Vol 3 GN
MA Spider-Man Vol 13 Digest
Oishinbo Vol 4 GN
Old Man Winter & OST GN
Punisher War Zone TP
Robin Search for a Hero TP
Runaways Pride & Joy TP
Sandman By Kirby & Simon HC
Showcase Flash Vol 3 TP
Some New Kind of Slaughter HC
Sonic the Hedgehog Vol 11 TP
Supreme Power Hyperion HC
Thor Vol 2 TP
Tick Special Complete Works TP
Universal War One Revelations HC
Vampire Dance TP
WALKING DEAD VOL 10 TP
Wolverine Flies to a Spider TP
X-Men First Class Finals TP
Zorn's Revenge Vol 958


MAGAZINES
Comic Shop News #1156 - FREE!
Illo #2
Lee's Toy Review #201
Lost #24
Mad #501


PRECIOUS TREASURES
Cosbaby Catwoman Figure
Bobba Fett Bobblehead
Chewbacca Bobblehead
Classic Marvel Figurines
#96 Nighthawk
#97 Blink
#98 Gladiator
DC Superhero Figurines
#14 Supergirl
#15 Shazam
#16 Riddler
#32 Superman Prime
#33 Hawkman
Green Lantern Mini Neon Sign
Marvel Legends Icon Phoenix A/F
Marvel Universe Assortment A/F
Mephisto Statue
Stormtrooper Bobblehead
Tinker Bell Tea Rose Figurine