Tuesday, December 11, 2007

INDIE ISLAND :: Ottaviani! Prince! Rugg! Wick!

What, are you kidding? I'm super-stoked to announce the addition to our HeroesCon Indie Island guest list of the following sweet peeps, half of whom I met at SPX and have been begging since, the other half of which I've never met ever! And all of which will be attending their very first HeroesCon next summer!

First of all, the ones I met: Liz Prince is another one of my favorite young cartoonists, and it was she who indirectly caused me to pick up Kaz Strzepek's The Mourning Star, which I have missed no opportunity to mention. With a whole book under her belt (Will You Still Love Me If I Wet The Bed? from Top Shelf) and another on the way (Delayed Replays), plus a host of strips online through her many different web identities. Like Ziggy Stardust, this girl is the naz. Not long before I met her, I met Jim Ottaviani, the writer behind Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards, as well as a ton of others. Jim was chatting with veteran artist Doug Wheatley (Sandman, Star Wars) when I rudely elbowed my way into the conversation and started introducing myself left and right. Jim has chosen to overlook my lack of couth and attend the show anyway; we'll have to see about Doug. He's from Canada, and their manners are a lot better up there. I'll let you know if he gets in touch.

Maris Wicks, pictured above at the right with Liz and their creation Duddits at SPX, I've never met. But sharp-eyed indie rack perusers will remember her from AdHouse Books' Project: Romantic anthology, as well as Superior Showcase. She also is someone with a large readership online, mainly through her excellent blog. I hope sincerely that when I meet her, she's as longsuffering as Jim Ottaviani.

Another sweet artist I've never met, but who comes highly recommended by AdHouse Books: Jim Rugg is the artist behind Street Angel, as well as the monstrously funny and more than a little suggestive Afrodisiac. Chris Pitzer has been bugging me to invite Jim forever, and after reading Street Angel at the optometrist's the other day, I was in complete agreement! Jim is known for drawing in a ton of different styles--all of them, I think--so he's sure to be in high demand for sketches. You sketch jockeys are warned!

Not only that, but as I'm typing, I'm looking over at the minimum two more updates I need to get to for Indie Island, but couldn't fit into this announcement. Seriously, next year's Indie Island is going to be one of the biggest indie comics gatherings in the country, I think. Stay tuned!

2 comments:

Andy Mansell said...

WOW-- can you throw a copy of (Will You Still Love Me If I Wet The Bed?)in my box. This sounds great!!

Dustin Harbin said...

Will do, Andy. It looks rough at first, but her style really grows on you. Although I like her stuff better when it's more finished--she's a pretty great cartoonist. If you've been watching the Fistacuffs site, her Mick Mollusk character was pretty spiffy.

Speaking of which, the finals are going on right now, so if anybody is still wanting to vote on this anonymous cartoonist duel, and has a working Blogger profile that links to a valid blog, you should go here: http://www.fistacuffs.blogspot.com . Pretty cool site.