Fan Expo 2010 – Page 2

Fan Expo 2010 – Longbow Games Interview

September 10, 2010September 20, 2010 Doug Groves Fan Expo, Fan Expo 2010, Hegemony, interview, Jim McNally, Longbow Games, PC gaming, RTS, Show, Video game16 Comments

Toronto developer Longbow Games was on hand at Fan Expo demonstrating and selling their new real time strategy game Hegemony: Philip of Macedon. Developed by a staggeringly small team of about 5 people, the game maps out a huge area around ancient Greece, and includes a smooth zooming engine for navigating between field level battles to overall strategies. Longbow president Jim McNally was kind enough to talk to us in detail not only about Hegemony, but the challenges and opportunities that arise in a small game development house.

Fan Expo 2010 – Uyugomiak

September 9, 2010September 20, 2010 Doug Groves Comic, Fan Expo, Fan Expo 2010, interview, Show, The Chubby Bounty Hunter, Uyugomiak, zine2 Comments

We sit down to talk with Toronto based writer/artist Uyugomiak in artist alley at Fan Expo. On hand were the first few issues of The Chubby Bounty Hunter, a post apocalyptic alternate world story, as well as his Uyugomiak Miniatures, which collects his non serialized work.

A shadowy figure reviews Long Pigs

September 8, 2010September 8, 2010 Paul L cannibalism, event, Fan Expo, Fan Expo 2010, film review, horror, laroquod, Long Pigs, review, shadowy figure4 Comments

[ Shortly after seeing Long Pigs while attending Fan Expo with rgbFilter, I found this transcript, JPEG-and-all, on my server’s HD. Hacking a server to randomly express an opinion about a movie seems unlikely, but since I pretty much agree with it, here it is. —PLQ. ] A shadowy figure says, “A painted grid of some kind. Quite large. Big enough to fill this whole pit. And again I see there is a three-jewelled sigil, on the far side. Always on the far side. More runes below the grid seem…

Fan Expo 2010 – Freelance Blues

September 8, 2010September 20, 2010 Doug Groves Comics, Fan Expo, Fan Expo 2010, Freelance Blues, Ian Daffran, indie, interview, Mike Leone, Robohorse, webcomics15 Comments

Freelance Blues is a new indie comic from the minds of Mike Leone and Ian Daffran. A comedic take on Lovecraftian horrors mixed with the real horror of moving from job to job, the third issue was launched during Fan Expo this year. Although the series artist, Vicki Tierney, wasn’t on hand, we sat down and talked with the writers… well, more like stood there while they talked about what Freelance Blues is about, and what else they may have in the works. You can check out the first issue…

Fan Expo 2010 – Jarett Cale Interview

September 7, 2010September 20, 2010 Doug Groves Fan Expo 2010, interview, Jarett Cale, Jeremy, PC gaming, Pure Pwnage, Show, Showcase, Starcraft 2, uber micro2 Comments

Every time we get a chance to talk to the guys from Pure Pwnage, it’s always a blast. We catch up with Jarett Cale at Fan Expo this year, to talk about what’s happening with season 2 of the TV series, and where the web series stands… “Honestly, it’s a bit depressing working on the web series, having to rewrite because of what happened to Troy and being able to have the ending we originally envisioned. So I get kind of bummed out, so I work in small intervals, I…

Fan Expo 2010 – Caanan Grall Interview

September 6, 2010September 20, 2010 Doug Groves Caanan Grall, Celadore, Comics, Fan Expo 2010, interview, Max Overacts, Show, webcomics3 Comments

While make our way through artist alley, one of the many tables that caught our eye was that of Caanan Grall, creator of Max Overacts and Celadore, the latter which originally appeared as part of DC Comics ZUDA online experiment. After taking a look at some of his work on Celadore, we had a quick chat about the upcoming graphic novel release of Celadore. Be sure to check out the Max Overacts webcomic.

Fan Expo 2010 – Jamie Toghill Interview

September 5, 2010September 20, 2010 Doug Groves Battle Grids, Fan Expo, Fan Expo 2010, interview, Jamie Toghill, Propaganda Games, PS3, Show, Syndicate, Tron Evolution Battlegrids. Tron, Tron Interceptor, Tron Legacy, Wii, Xbox 3604 Comments

There was no mistaking the big push that Disney was making this year for Tron Legacy, the long awaited sequel to the classic sci-fi film. The Tron Legacy booth was the largest on the show floor, complete with a 20 foot tall Interceptor. Beside the usually merchandise that goes along with modern sci-fi movie, the video game Tron Evolution was on the floor and playable on multiple consoles. Also on hand was Jamie Toghill, lead designer for the Wii version (Tron Evolution Battle Grids) from Propaganda Games. We had a…

Fan Expo 2010 – Camilla d’Errico Interview

September 4, 2010September 20, 2010 Doug Groves Camilla derrico, Comics, Fan Expo, Fan Expo 2010, How to talk to girls at parties, interview, Neil Gaiman, Show, Sky Pirates, SwagBag 2010, Tanpopo5 Comments

One of our first stops at Fan Expo this year was at Camilla d’Errico’s booth. She has a unique art style that bridges the gap between anime and western style comics work, which she’s using to full effect in her book Tanpopo. The book uses the text of classic literature, such as Faust, accompanied by her characters. You don’t have to take our word for it though, as you can catch some examples at her website. As an added bonus, she’s donated some of her work to our Swagbag 2010…

Fan Expo 2010 – Pressure valve

September 3, 2010September 3, 2010 Doug Groves crowd control, Fan Expo 2010, Metro Toronto Convention Centre3 Comments

As we briefly touched on in our initial Fan Expo write up, the convention was overcrowded this year, with attendance up by about 10,000 people. It didn’t help that Expo was moved from the larger south building of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, to the north, which has approximately 20% LESS square footage. The intention of Hobbystar all along was to keep it in the south building. After all, Fan Expo moved from the north to the south a few years back precisely because of increasing attendance. This year, however,…

Fan Expo 2010 – The Anthology Project

September 2, 2010September 20, 2010 Doug Groves Comic, event, Fan Expo 2010, interview, Nick Thornborrow, Show, SwagBag 2010, The Anthology Project2 Comments

Last year at Fan Expo, we spoke with Nick Thornborrow of The Anthology Project, which was aiming not just to put out a quality collection of shorts from a variety of artists, but to really care about the physical quality of the book itself… to make a beautiful “artifact” as Nick put it. Well, the book was released a few months ago, and he has no worries in that department. The artwork from each of the contributors really pops in this hardbound, and really does them justice. Nick also mentions…

Fan Expo 2010 – Lar deSouza Interview

September 1, 2010September 20, 2010 Doug Groves artist, Fan Expo 2010, interview, Lar deSouza, Least I Could Do, Looking For Group, Show, webcomic3 Comments

Lar deSouza, the rather prolific artist of Least I Could Do and Looking For Group, let us sit down with him ‘in booth’ during Fan Expo this year. Despite almost constantly drawing and signing, something I gather he does all the time no matter where he is, he found the time to talk about the different approaches he takes for each of the webcomics he works on, and the value of trying to copy another artist’s style, not for the end result, but to figure out their process.

Fan Expo 2010 – Jeff Lemire Interview

September 1, 2010September 1, 2010 Doug Groves Comics, Essex County, Fan Expo 2010, interview, Jeff Lemire, Krypto, Superboy, Sweet Tooth, The Atom1 Comment

Peter B. sits down with Jeff Lemire, creator of Sweet Tooth (see Peter’s review) and Essex County, to talk about his influences, and the recurring theme of small town life in his work. The next chapter of Sweet Tooth will give readers more insight to Jepperd’s background. Jeff also mentions that the mysterious event that led to the current day situation will get an explanation, though he drops no hints. He also talks a bit about his upcoming Superboy comic (the Kon-El Superboy), and that both The Phantom Stranger and…