Steven Philip Jones at Cedar Rapids Comic Con

I’m going to be at the Cedar Rapids Comic Con. Will you?

Last year’s inaugural CRCC was a huge success, and CRCC II is going to be bigger and better with more vendors, programs, games, and a larger venue at the downtown Doubletree Hotel and Convention Complex.

And that ain’t all!

The totally incredible Justice Corps of Iowa and Iowa’s own comics maestros S. Clarke Hawbaker (Table 41) and Phil Hester (Table 17) will be there. So will Cedar Rapids’ own Steven Philip Jones — where have I heard that name before? — and I’ll be selling my books, graphic novels, prints, and CDs, along with a free mini-print giveaway, as well as giving away free candy. I’ll also be joined at Table 61 by Dave Arnold, publisher of CR’s first comic book company, Sundragon Comics, and Jayden Barrett, program director for Sportability of Iowa adapted sports program.

FREE 2016 MINI-PRINT GIVEAWAY!

Everybody loves free stuff, and free stuff doesn’t get much better than this mini-print featuring my teenage-sort-of-vampire-superhero — yep, you heard that right — Vanguard by Christopher Jones, artist on the upcoming new series Also Known As as well as such DC Comics as Young Justice, Batman Strikes!, Batman ’66! Don’t say I never gave you anything, because I’m trying!

SUNDRAGON COMICS

It’s time to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Sundragon Comics! Many dream of becoming a comic book company publisher, but Dave Arnold did it AND he did it in Cedar Rapids with Sundragon Comics. It was a tough comics market in 1996, and Sundragon only published a few comics despite putting out high-quality products created by an excellent line of talents including Bud Hanzel, Clarke Hawbaker, Phil Hester, Christopher Jones, John Olson, Mark Stegbauer, John Thompson, and Freddie E. Williams II (Robin) and featuring some wonderful characters like the absolutely marvelous Mighty 1.

Dave will be at my table with Sundragon’s comic books for sale! Stop by and talk with Dave, check out these great books, and learn a little CR comic book history!

SPORTABILITY OF IOWA

Adapt! Overcome! Sportability of Iowa is a nonprofit organization that provides sports and recreation programs to help people with physical disabilities enjoy an active lifestyle. Basketball! Tennis! Sport camps! And more! Interested? Find out more about Sportability at Table 61 from Sportability program director Jayden Barrett! You can also check out the Sportability of Iowa website!

BOOKS AND GRAPHIC NOVELS

I’ll be selling copies of many books including the mystery-adventure King of Harlem, Young Adult fantasy-adventure Talismen: The Knightmare Knife , and Comics Writing: Communicating with Comic Books, as well as several graphic novels, including Curious Cases of Sherlock Holmes, Talismen: Return of the Exile, Dracula, Worlds of Lovecraft, and Nightlinger w/Vanguard. There may never be a better time to start building that SPJ library!

PRINTS

I’ll be selling prints for the first time anywhere at CRCC II. No, I’m not an artist — I wouldn’t keep something like that from you — but each print does feature either a character or a series I created, adapted, or have written a proposal for, such as these three prints for Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft by Octavio Cariello.I’ll also be selling prints featuring my masked mystery man and knight-errant against the supernatural forces of darkness, Feril Nightlinger, from the Caliber Comics series Nightlinger (a.k.a., the guy on the left side of this website’s banner). The first print is by Christopher Jones and shows Feril having a little one-on-one time with a certain Dark Knight, while the second is by Clarke Hawbaker and shows Feril having a little one-on-one time with a really creepy but cool statue:

Speaking of Clarke, I’m offering three more prints featuring his artwork. The first is a piece for my science fantasy series Bounty Hunters from Mars. The second features an original Warlord piece that accompanied a story proposal Clarke and I pitched to DC Comics back in the day for this great Mike Grell series. The third is a panoramic piece showing the rebirth of my horror-adventure superhero Vanguard:

Finally, I’m super excited to be able to offer two prints for Talismen by series co-creator Barb Myers (formerly Barb Jacobs). The first presents most of the series’ main characters, while the second presents a pivotal scene from the currently out of print fourth adventure, Talismen: The Boy in the Well. These prints go beautifully with the novel Talismen: The Knightmare Knife and the graphic novel Talismen: Return of the Exile.

And, listen up! Barb is the creator, writer, artist, colorist, and letterer of the award-nominated Romantic fantasy webcomic series Xylia Tales. Do yourself a favor, click the link, and check it out!

CDs

Numbers are limited! I’ll be selling CDs of my Sherlock Holmes pastiches “Adventure of the Petty Curses” and “A Case of Unfinished Business.” These are full-cast professional audio dramas produced by Jim French Productions and broadcast internationally on Imagination Theatre.  Each production features the incomparable John Patrick Lowrie as Holmes and Lawrence Albert as Dr. John H. Watson!

SEE YOU AT THE SHOW!

That’s everything! I don’t know about you, but I’ve been waiting a long time for this con, and it’s hard to believe it’s almost here! So rather you’re looking to buy or just want to stop by and say howdy to me and Jayden and Dave, or just want to pick up some free candy, I’m looking forward to meeting everyone at the show! See you there!