Attend sixth annual Bing Comic Con on Oct. 27Date: 10/18/2018 SPRINGFIELD – For the sixth year, pop culture artists and enthusiasts will meet for a day-long event at Asbury Hall at Trinity Methodist Church on Sumner Ave. to benefit the Bing Arts Center on Oct. 27.
Bing Comic Con will open its doors at 11 a.m. and will feature guests such as Richard Pini of “Elf Quest,” Andy and Veronica Fish, Jim Lawson and Marty Langford, among many others.
“This is a home-grown pop culture convention that allows attendees to truly interact with a large group of talented artists, writers and craftspeople,” convention co-founder Mark Masztal told Reminder Publishing.
Features of the show include a cosplay contest and the “art fight” in which artists must compete against each other to fulfill a suggestion from the audience. Cosplayers include Donnie Francis as Arrow and Jamie Dolan known for her interpretation of Wonder Woman.
New to the show this year are artists Andy and Veronica Fish. Andy is a noted comic book artist, illustrator and painter whose work has been published all over the world and exhibited in galleries as far away as Sydney, Australia. One of his paintings is in the collection of the National Gallery in Washington, DC. He studied with Will Eisner, Jack Kirby and Paul Ryan as he learned the craft of comics and graphic novels.
Veronica’s paintings have been shown in galleries around the world, and she’s done a lot of character design, storyboarding for film and TV, apparel design, and editorial illustration. She developed “Helmutt the Dog” for the Worcester Art Museum. She joined the reboot of “Archie” for issues #5-10 and has drawn “Silk” and “Howard the Duck” for Marvel. She is also the artist on “Pirates of Mars” by JJ Kahrs and “The Wendy Project” by Melissa Osbourne. She is currently drawing “Spider-Woman” for Marvel Comics and “SLAM!” For Boom! Studios.
Pini is a returning guest who enjoyed his appearance at Bing Comic Con last year so much, he asked to be invited again, Masztal said. Pini and his wife Wendy are celebrated for their lengthy Elf Quest series.
Lawson was one of the key artists at Mirage Studios illustrating the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series and has continued with a series of his own projects.
Langford, a Film Studies faculty member at American International College in Springfield, MA, and a freelance writer/producer/director in the corporate, commercial and independent film world, has received rave reviews for his documentary “Doomed! The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s the Fantastic Four.”
Some of the other guests include:
• Jennifer Allis Provost writes books about faeries, orcs and elves. Zombies too. She grew up in the wilds of Western Massachusetts and had read every book in the local library by age twelve. (It was a small library). An early love of mythology and folklore led to her epic fantasy series, “The Chronicles of Parthalan,” and her day job as a cubicle monkey helped shape her urban fantasy, “Copper Girl.” When she’s not writing about things that go bump in the night (and sometimes during the day) she’s working on her MFA in Creative Nonfiction.
• Brett E. Swanson is an artist who specializes primarily in comic book and cartoon art and dabbles occasionally in fine and abstract art. He is a graduate of the Joe Kubert School of Art. Brett has published several cartoon strips for local newspapers and national magazines, and exhibits in various art shows and festivals. He also self-publishes his own line of comic books. “Power Kid Comics” is a series for kids (and kids of all ages) and Brett also publishes “The Sentinel: America’s Military Man of Might.”
• Scott Bowmanchester has been creating artwork for children, daycares and private buyers for over a decade. He also designs promotional artwork for plays, charity events and gaming conventions, including the “Deacon 18” graphic novel. He lives in the Capital Region of New York.
• Katherine Bailey is the owner of Nox Felis Designs, founded in August 2013. “All of my items are handmade. I make mostly cat toys and beaded jewelry; I try to put a bit of a goth, geeky or alternative style to what I make. I also do commissions: usually either cross-stitch, crochet or beadwork. At Bing Con I will bring Geeky catnip cat toys, beaded jewelry (earrings, bracelets and rings) and other odds and ends,” she said.
• Stephanie Kelleher will be offering a small selection of jewelry and accessories made using classic chainmail techniques. “I’ve also been starting to branch out in to colorful tapestries woven in chainmail. And I offer commissions for custom armor pieces for LARP or cosplay,” she said. At the show she plans to have her weaving “rig” that she designed with her to make a few pieces so that anyone interested can see and interact with the weaving as well.
• Aaron Wood is a graphic designer currently residing in the state of Massachusetts. When he’s not creating artwork that has a social media or pop culture angle to it, he’s probably trying to cook up a plot to score some lobster.
• Frankie B Washington is an alumna from Butera School of Art with 27 years experience in the art industry as a commercial illustrator. He’s worked on two Miramax films (“Squeeze” and “Next Stop Wonderland”), animation at Olive Jar Studios, advertising (Digitas LBI), editorial art (“SoCo Magazine,” “Motif Magazine”), comic book art at Vector Comics, Dark Horse & Asylum Press), sketch and trading cards at Upper Deck and Sunstone Games, and toy designs for SCS Direct Inc and personal commissions.
• E. Hanby is the artist and writer behind “Black Peak,” a webcomic about isolation and obsession in space. Originally a graphic designer, she branched out her skills to include illustration and comics and dedicated her free time to creating and self-publishing Black Peak. She now works freelance doing art commissions and designs for clients out of Albany, NY. She currently works with Daniel Rowley writing and drawing “Whitewater,” her next webcomic available for free online.
• Jeff Haas is a second-generation comic book geek. When not teaching high school ELA, he is busily writing thrilling comics teeming with horror and action.
Bing Comic Con admission is $5 and it’s a family friendly event. There will be free parking in the church’s lot and food service at the show. For more information go to http://www.bingcomiccon.org or follow it on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bingcon2014
|
