Well, it’s convention season once again. This statement doesn’t mean as much as it used to, when there actually was a convention “season.” Now it pretty much runs from the beginning of spring (Glenn was at WonderCon and will be posting his pictures sometime before next year’s show) and ends the following March at San Francisco’s MegaCon… give or take.

My schedule includes Chicago’s C2E2 next week, maybe Heroes in Charlotte in June, San Diego in hell, Baltimore in August and New York in October, held each year at the only spot in all Manhattan that is inaccessible to humanity. For me, it started last week at one of my favorites, New York’s Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art, a.k.a. MoCCA Fest.

Being in our back yard, ComicMix was well represented: Vinnie Bartilucci, Glenn Hauman, Adriane Nash, and Mike and Kai Raub. Traditionally, Martha Thomases is in attendance but this year the she was in Japan at the time and the commute would have been a bitch.

I enjoy MoCCA because there it covers the widest spectrum of self-published, small-published, and web-published “independent” comics. If your thrills are limited to capes and masks from the Big Two, this event would either bore you… or transform you, opening your eyes to all sorts of really interesting stuff people do with our coveted medium. So if you’re into comics, it’s certainly worth a try.

If you could bottle the enthusiasm in the room, you’d have enough energy to replace Chernobyl. By and large, these people aren’t getting rich, although some make a living and others would like to eventually. They’re there out of their love for the comics art medium and to employ our unique storytelling concepts to communicate their stories. Each time I’m there, and I think I’ve been to eight or nine of their shows, I come away renewed and rejuvenated. So up yours, Ras Al Ghul.

Despite the quantity of behatted hipsters, this isn’t necessarily a young person’s show. Fantagraphics, perhaps the leading bookstore publisher of these sorts of efforts, was well-represented, as was Abrams and other staid outfits. While trying not to be overly creepy in my contacts with the younger folk, I also hung out with fellow geriatrics including Craig Yoe, Denis Kitchen, J.J. Sedelmaier, and Paul Levitz.

It comes as absolutely no surprise that of all the shows I attend, MoCCA routinely attracts more women per capita. Well, having made that statement I might have just put the kibosh on that, so let me say there isn’t as much semi-naked cosplay as I see at capes shows. I suspect that this is because the show is all about your desire to express yourself and tell your own story and not so much about who was the Avenger villain who crossed over into Amazing Spider-Man #214. (No, no; don’t Google that – I pulled it out of my ass.)

A high-point was when Vinnie, Glenn, Adriane, Mike, Kai and I semi-inadvertently all wound up at the Popeye’s Fried Chicken across from the venue. There was a point when ComicMix had actually taken over the joint. I’m glad to say that we didn’t spontaneously burst out in rousing song – MoCCA isn’t a science-fiction convention.

As it turns out, this column is sort of a crossover. My friend and fellow columnist Denny O’Neil was also there, and he will be waxing poetic about his MoCCA experience tomorrow, same-Bat-Time, same-Bat-Channel.

THURSDAY: Dennis O’Neil

FRIDAY: Martha Thomases

As a student at Rutgers, FDU and Wroxton College in the U.K., I often competed for writing scholarships. The awards proved invaluable on numerous levels:

With Joe & Adam Kubert at 2012 Scholarship Ceremony

This year’s award ceremony will take place next month and I plan to be on-hand once again to meet and congratulate winning students. This will be the first year my friend Joe Kubert is not there to emcee the event. But in contemplating that loss, I’ve decided to add a third scholarship (as yet unamed), which will be funded by selling signed comics. Today’s collectors like their comics signed and, fortunately, I am able to pick up the phone and ask some old friends for signatures. Stan Lee, Walter Simonson and George Perez were among the first to offer help.

I invite your participation in this new scholarship, too. If you have any signed comics that you are willing to part with (even one), please send them to: Clifford Meth (attn: Kubert Scholarship), 179-9 Rt. 46 West, Rockaway, NJ 07866. Or email me at cliffmeth@aol.com  Donated items will be auctioned on Ebay under the account DaveCockrumEstate (which is currently in use to fund the Cockrum and Colan Awards).

Scholarships helped me and kept me going forward. I am delighted by the opportunity to maintain the circle of life.

Thank you in advance for your kind support.

Read the original at The Clifford Method.

Hauntings aren’t contained to just spooky castles or forests. SyFy has added a new member to their ghost-hunting line up of shows with DEEP SOUTH PARANORMAL, looking at the scary part of Dixie. Jonathan Hodges and Keith Ramsey explain their unique method to the art of ghost-busting, plus more with David Goyer and Tom Riley on what we can expect from DAVINCI’S DEMONS in the weeks to come, and here comes CUJO again.

Take us ANYWHERE! The Point Radio App is now in the iTunes App store – and it’s FREE! Just search under “pop culture The Point”. The Point Radio  – 24 hours a day of pop culture fun for FREE. GO HERE and LISTEN FREE on any computer or on any other  mobile device with the Tune In Radio app – and follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.

Ahead of tomorrow’s new Lone Ranger trailer being released around 11 a.m. EST, Disney has released a handful of attractive character-specific one-sheets. Take a gander:

In case you forgot, the film stars Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer, Tom Wilkinson, William Fichtner, Barry Pepper, James Badge Dale, Ruth Wilson and Helena Bonham Carter. It’s being directed by Gore Verbinski for producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio and Justin Haythe turned out the classic western hero’s story.

Here’s the official Disney details:

From producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski, the filmmaking team behind the blockbuster “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, comes Disney/Jerry Bruckheimer Films’ “The Lone Ranger,” a thrilling adventure infused with action and humor, in which the famed masked hero is brought to life through new eyes.  Native American spirit warrior Tonto (Johnny Depp) recounts the untold tales that transformed John Reid (Armie Hammer), a man of the law, into a legend of justice—taking the audience on a runaway train of epic surprises and humorous friction as the two unlikely heroes must learn to work together and fight against greed and corruption.

Native American spirit warrior Tonto (Johnny Depp) and man of the law John Reid (Armie Hammer) are opposites brought together by fate and must join forces to battle greed and corruption.

Orson Scott Card does not like gay people. In fact, I think it’s fair to say he hates gay people. Orson Scott Card is writing Superman stories for DC Comics. A lot of people are pissed over that, but DC is standing by their man.

But will Orson Scott Card still stand by DC?

Why, you ask, would I ask that? Because DC Comics now has a transgender character the first ever in comics…except for Johnny Storm but he is on the down low and come on, that’s so freakin’ obvious. DC’s new transgender character is also…wait for it…wait for it…

Wait for it… Bisexual!!

But wait! There’s more!

Alysia Yeoh is her name (I think she’s Asian and if so…hot!) is the roommate of Batgirl!

Batgirl is living with a bisexual transgender hot Asian woman. Clearly Orson Scott Card won’t want to write Batgirl and who knows he may just quit Superman after his extreme right wing hate buddies start bitching about the Gay Mafia which is now clearly running DC Comics.

Man, I’d love to write that book but the odds of me writing anything for DC are about as good as Obama getting an A rating from the NRA.

Wait. That’s not true. I almost forgot I wrote a piece for the Static Shock Dwayne McDuffie tribute issue. That’s a good a sign as any that someday I’ll work on another DC Comics project. Hell, that’s not a good sign, that’s a great sign.

On the other hand, they still haven’t paid me for that piece… which could be considered a sign also.

Shit.

But I digress (sorry Peter hope you are doing well my friend). Orson Scott Card may not even care that Batgirl, an iconic major character in the DC Universe is shacking up with an bisexual transgender hot Asian woman.

Yeah, right.

Someday soon a reporter, journalist, creator or fan will ask Card in a public forum for his reaction to the bisexual transgender hot Asian woman living with Batgirl and when they do I hope Card responds and doesn’t dodge the question.

Will he stand by his homophobic hateful views and then have to answer what will surly be a follow up question along these line “Will you continue to work for the company that considers this type of lifestyle, which you abhor, a legitimate one?”

That is the rock and hard place that Card will find himself between. Hope for his sake neither rock or hard place are names of guys but just a metaphor.

WEDNESDAY: Mike Gold

THURSDAY: Dennis O’Neil

This Saturday and Sunday, April 20 and 21, a new comics and pop culture convention will debut in Washington, DC: Awesome Con! I’m super-excited about this, given that there hasn’t been a comic con in DC proper in lo, these many years since I have lived here. Okay, okay, maybe I exaggerate a bit. As it happens, there was a comic con here as recently as 2005. But it’s still been quite awhile. There are comic cons in the general area, yes, like the excellent Baltimore Comic Con, as well as cons in Richmond, and Annapolis; but for those of us who are Metro-dependent, those cons are not so easy to get to.

Now, finally, we’re getting a con right in the city, at the Washington Convention Center, a three minute walk from the Mt. Vernon Square metro station (or 11 minutes from McPherson Square or Metro Center stations, for orange/blue line folks). Yay! The con will run from 10 AM to 7 PM Saturday, and 10 AM to 5 PM Sunday, and tickets are very reasonably priced at $15 for one day, or $25 for both (unless you opt for the $75 VIP package, which includes exclusive items).

Not only is the con convenient and affordable, but it looks set to be every bit as good a draw as other, already established area cons might be. Created by the guys behind Annapolis Comic Con, the guest list to date includes celebrity guests like Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s Nicholas Brendon, Futurama’s Billy West and Phil LaMarr, Ghostbusters’ Ernie Hudson, and The Walking Dead’s Theodus Crane, along with over eighty artists and comic creators, including Larry Hama, Herb Trimpe, Justin Jordan, Ben Templesmith, Noelle Stevenson, Nick Galifianakis, and many more. The con is advertising “a wide assortment of comic books, collectibles, toys, games, original art, cosplay, and more,” and special events to include “discussion panels, costume contests, trivia contests, gaming tournaments, and a whole lot of activities for kids.” There’s even going to be a Mind of the Geek comedy show starring comedian Arnie Ellis. Sounds…awesome!

Given that this is a newly minted con, and that I’m a convention co-founder myself and am always interested in that aspect of things, I thought I’d check in with comics dealer Ben Penrod, co-founder of Awesome Con, and ask him a question or two. Here’s what he said:

What spurred the creation of this new Washington, DC comics convention?

As long as I’ve been doing cons, there hasn’t been one in DC. Awesome Con is something we (Steve Anderson, owner of Third Eye Comics, and I) had been kicking around for a while; we knew a lot of people wanted a con in the District.

What’s your previous involvement with comics and convention-running, and how did you get involved in organizing this con?

I’ve been selling comics on eBay since 1999. In 2008 I started selling comics full-time, and Steve and I ran the first Annapolis Comic-Con in 2011. The Annapolis Comic-Con was something we had discussed since 2009 or 2010, probably.

What’s the planning experience been like? Any roadblocks, or smooth sailing?

I don’t know that I’d call it smooth sailing, but things are good. It’s definitely a lot of work. I have met a lot of great people, and I’m so excited about Awesome Con; it’s a really fun job. But it’s a lot of work.

What are some highlights of the upcoming con, and what are you most looking forward to?

If I didn’t have responsibilities and could just attend the con as a fan, I’d probably try to get to as many of the guest Q&As as I could, and probably early Saturday before it gets too busy I’d find some artist I’d never seen before and commission some artwork.

What have you got on the schedule for kids?

We have a lot of stuff for kids. The Kids Are Awesome room will be fantastic. Any time during the show, kids can find art supplies in the room and get to work drawing or coloring. We’ll also have a kids’ costume contest and an art show both days. On Saturday there will be a children’s book reading and an art workshop. On Sunday we’ll have a game show with kids and pro artists paired up!

Is this planned to be a yearly event? What are your goals for the show?

This will be an annual event. The goal is for this show to be a fun event that the people of the DC area can look forward to every year. For too long, DC was the only major city without a con, and now we have one.

And I hope it’s here to stay!

As the website says, “Awesome Con DC is a comic-con that embraces all aspects of geekdom and pop culture.” Sounds good to me! So if you’re in the area April 20 and 21 and looking for something fun to do, come to Awesome Con! I’ll be there both days, so if you see me, feel free to say hi.

And until then, Servo Lectio!

TUESDAY AFTERNOON: Michael Davis

WEDNESDAY MORNING: Mike Gold