Englishman In San Diego

ECCC 2019: In Conversation with Vita Ayala (Emerald City Comic Con, March 2019) ReedPOP's Emerald City Comic Con once again takes over the immense WA State Convention Center in Seattle, attracting tens of thousands of comic book and pop culture fans from across the globe, by showcasing some of the best creative talents there is to offer - our man on the ground, Dan Berry, has been very lucky to be invited along as Press, meaning hes got the chance to speak one-on-one with members of this outstanding creative melting pot. One of the freshest and vital voices in comics in 2019, Vita Ayala is a truly exciting new comics talent. Making an impression on books such as SUICIDE SQUAD; SECRET FILES and SUPERGIRL for DC Comics, TWISTED ROMANCE and BITCH PLANET for Image Comics, and THE WILDS for Black Mask, Vita builds on that experience in 2019 by taking on one of Marvel's young and intriguing characters, SHURI, in a guest two-issue story, in which the Wakandan meets up with Miles Morales, SPIDER-MAN, in Brooklyn.

ECCC 2019: In Conversation with Jonathan Maberry (Emerald City Comic Con, March 2019) ReedPOP's Emerald City Comic Con once again takes over the immense WA State Convention Center in Seattle, attracting tens of thousands of comic book and pop culture fans from across the globe, by showcasing some of the best creative talents there is to offer - our man on the ground, Dan Berry, has been very lucky to be invited along as Press, meaning hes got the chance to speak one-on-one with members of this outstanding creative melting pot. Jonathan Maberry is having one hell of a time, deep in the middle of a creative windstorm in many fronts which is keeping him very busy, with new titles on the way, the promotion machine for the PATIENT ZERO novel continues to roll on, and adaptations of his books are either heading towards production or barrelling on full steam to hitting screens for fans to enjoy. Jonathan talks to Dan about what is keeping him distracted at the moment, spilling a whole bunch of wonderful anecdotes

ECCC 2019: In Conversation with Vault Comics - Damian and Adrian Wassel (Emerald City Comic Con, March 2019) ReedPOP's Emerald City Comic Con once again takes over the immense WA State Convention Center in Seattle, attracting tens of thousands of comic book and pop culture fans from across the globe, by showcasing some of the best creative talents there is to offer - our man on the ground, Dan Berry, has been very lucky to be invited along as Press, meaning hes got the chance to speak one-on-one with members of this outstanding creative melting pot. What a time we are in in comics, with some incredible talents across the board creating some dynamic and thrilling stories, contributing to increased sales and, in the main, positive responses from readers and retailers. Indeed, the industry is looking at improved sales versus this period last year, and we're not just talking at the big companies, either, but also the smaller and more vital independent publishers. One company that has benefited from its stunnin

ECCC 2019: In Conversation with Michael Moreci (Emerald City Comic Con, March 2019) ReedPOP's Emerald City Comic Con once again takes over the immense WA State Convention Center in Seattle, attracting tens of thousands of comic book and pop culture fans from across the globe, by showcasing some of the best creative talents there is to offer - our man on the ground, Dan Berry, has been very lucky to be invited along as Press, meaning hes got the chance to speak one-on-one with members of this outstanding creative melting pot. One of our favourite books on the shelves right now is the very-much-in-your-face sci-fi romp WASTED SPACE, published by Vault Comics, written by Michael Moreci, art by Hayden Sherman, colours by Jason Wordie. WASTED SPACE is a book which ticks all of our boxes: strong, deep sci-fi worldbuilding, sharp, acerbic characters and a sense of humour and panache that brings comparison to books like PREACHER and HELLBLAZER. As the book gets into a regular series beyond its original limited ru

ECCC 2019: In Conversation with Tim Seeley (Emerald City Comic Con, March 2019) ReedPOP's Emerald City Comic Con once again takes over the immense WA State Convention Center in Seattle, attracting tens of thousands of comic book and pop culture fans from across the globe, by showcasing some of the best creative talents there is to offer - our man on the ground, Dan Berry, has been very lucky to be invited along as Press, meaning hes got the chance to speak one-on-one with members of this outstanding creative melting pot. In conversation with Dan in the first couple of days of the show has been Tim Seeley, which has been quite the lucky coincidence as Tim was announced as the new on-going writer for Valiant Comics' BLOODSHOT as of September this year, as one of the big Valiant announcements of ECCC. Bloodshot is a character that has has in incredible history, not just in the pages but also out, so it was great fro Dan to get the chance to talk about how Tim looks at approaching the character, especially as

ReedPOP’s Emerald City Comic Con once again takes over the immense WA State Convention Center in Seattle, attracting tens of thousands of comic book and pop culture fans from across the globe, by showcasing some of the best creative talents there is to offer – one of our esteemed correspondents, Samantha Beard, has been very lucky to be invited along as Press, meaning she’s got the chance to speak one-on-one with members of this outstanding creative melting pot. Samantha managed to squeeze some time with someone she's been a fan of for some time, fantasy writer Django Wexler, the chap behind such books as THE SHADOW CAMPAIGNS series, THE FORBIDDEN LIBRARY cycle, and the more recent JOHN GOLDEN books. Django has two new books for 2019 - DEEPWALKER, due later in the year, and SHIP OF SMOKE AND STEEL, published in January and the first of a new series of books called THE WELLS OF SORCERY. Here, on a very crowded ECCC floor, Django talks to Samantha about these, as well about his process and influences... Than

ReedPOP’s Emerald City Comic Con once again takes over the immense WA State Convention Center in Seattle, attracting tens of thousands of comic book and pop culture fans from across the globe, by showcasing some of the best creative talents there is to offer – one of our esteemed correspondents, Samantha Beard, has been very lucky to be invited along as Press, meaning she’s got the chance to speak one-on-one with members of this outstanding creative melting pot. Samantha settled down beside comics writer Zack Kaplan, a talent whos star has risen fast and furious over the past couple of years, with his debut sci-fi series, ECLIPSE, making an impression with every one who read it, including us. Zack followed this up with the equally impressive PORT OF EARTH, also published by Image Comics - here, Zach talks about the lessons he has learnt and the relationships he has developed that has influenced his writing, Thanks to Zack for taking his time to talk to The Convention Collective, and to Samantha for hostin

ECCC 2019: In Conversation with Phillip Sevy (Emerald City Comic Con, 14th March 2019) ReedPOP's Emerald City Comic Con once again takes over the immense WA State Convention Center in Seattle, attracting tens of thousands of comic book and pop culture fans from across the globe, by showcasing some of the best creative talents there is to offer - our man on the ground, Dan Berry, has been very lucky to be invited along as Press, meaning hes got the chance to speak one-on-one with members of this outstanding creative melting pot. Somebody that Dan has had the opportunity to talk to is someone we've been a fan of for some time - writer/artist Phillip Sevy, the chap behind the excellent work on books such as TOMB RAIDER, PARADOX and TITHE. Here, talking on the very busy floor of the first day of the con, Sevy gets into all of the latest books he's working on, including THE FREEZE, written and created by Dan Wickline and published by Image Comics/Top Cow, and horror/thriller THE HOUSE, written by Sevy and featur

ECCC 2019: In Conversation with Magdalene Visaggio (Emerald City Comic Con, 14th March 2019) ReedPOP's Emerald City Comic Con once again takes over the immense WA State Convention Center in Seattle, attracting tens of thousands of comic book and pop culture fans from across the globe, by showcasing some of the best creative talents there is to offer - our man on the ground, Dan Berry, has been very lucky to be invited along as Press, meaning hes got the chance to speak one-on-one with members of this outstanding creative melting pot. One such creative is hugely talented and highly prolific comics writer Magdalene Visaggio, who has a number of books on the go at the moment - MORNING IN AMERICA (Oni Press) with Claudia Aquirre and Zakk Saam and CALAMITY KATE (Dark Horse Comics) with Corin Howell and Valentina Pinto. Both books come at the fantastical from different directions, one from an ensemble cast and one from a solo voice, both approaches of which are new to Visaggio, as she explains in this interview

On Sunday, January 27th 2019 at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, the Pasadena Comic Con once again set up shop, bringing a whole raft of mainstream and independent comics talent and publishers to their con floor, to meet and greet with fans, new and old alike. One such publisher who has been making incredible headway into establishing themselves as purveyors of incredible books is Fanbase Press - our man on the ground Dan Berry was lucky enough to spend a brief spell talking to co-CEO of Fanbase, Bryant Dillon, about what the publisher has been up to since we last caught up with them, what titles we can expect from Fanbase in the near future and the exciting news of accolades being heaped on their books. Thanks to Bryant for his time during a very busy convention, and to dan for setting up and recording this interview.

DesignerCon 2018 - Camilla d'Errico in conversation with Dan Berry (17th November 2018) DesignerCon 2018 has taken over the Anaheim Convention Center this weekend(16th-18th November 2018)with an expanded show, including a Preview Night on the Friday - this really has demonstrated the appeal and draw of this unique show, bringing together some of the countries most talented creatives, with artists, sculptors, innovators and storytellers showcasing their work. One of these incredibly talented people is artist Camilla d'Errico who brought to the show her new book MERMAIDS AND OTHER SEA CREATURES, a wonderfully rendered all-ages book which has been a labour of love for a couple of years. Here, The Convention Collective's US Senior Contributor talks to Camilla about the inception of the book, along with updates on her latest projects. Thanks to Camilla for her time during a busy DesignerCon, and to Delia Mendoza and Nicole Rodrigues of NRPR Group for arranging this conversation.

This is the audio version of the Talkin' Con A Cup O' Tea with An Englishman In San Diego podcast, the YouTube show broadcasting live every Sunday in which Leonard Sultana hosts a show celebrating the events and culture that make up the fandoms we love. This is season 6 episode 11 broadcast on Sunday 4th November, one week after MCM London Comic Con and six days before the crucial San Diego Comic Con Open Online Badge Registration, basically the general sale and the last chance for anyone to land badges to next years event. As is our want, we split the show into to two, the latter half talking the badge sale, but for the start we bring on special guest CJ who is one of the host of the Live Stage at MCM. It was great to talk to CJ as it gave a real perspective on how the show changed and evolved specifically over the past twelve months, under the auspices of ReedPOP. And we also have regular contributor Mark Searby chiming in as well - a fun show, this one. If you do enjoy this hangout and want to hear mo

LACC 2018: Keith Giffen, In Conversation with Dan Berry (October 2018) Over the course of the weekend of Saturday 27th-Sunday 28th October, Dan Berry served as our 'man on the ground' at Los Angeles Comic Con (formerly known as Stan Lee's Comikase), taking a load of photos, watching some incredible panels and interviewing a couple of the beautiful people, the great and the good, that had been invited as honoured guests. Here, Dan speaks to one of those true legends of the comics industry, someone who carved out a very unique voice in comics with his work on books such as JUSTICE LEAGUE, JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL and the LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES. His artwork on those books helped serve as a contrast to the 'dark and brooding' era of the late '80s, dominated by the success of WATCHMEN and THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS. Enjoy. Intro Music: 'Punky', bensounds.com

LACC 2018: Tom Bilyeu (Impact Theory Comics), In Conversation with Dan Berry (October 2018) Over the course of the weekend of Saturday 27th-Sunday 28th October, Dan Berry served as our 'man on the ground' at Los Angeles Comic Con (formerly known as Stan Lee's Comikase), taking a load of photos, watching some incredible panels and interviewing a couple of the beautiful people, the great and the good, that had been invited as honoured guests. One of those interviews was with Tom Bilyeu, co-founder of and creator for Impact Theory Comics, a new publisher making its mark on the landscape of independent produced comics - a bold thing to set out to do in 2018, when there are so many titles and publishers on the racks. Here, Tom explains what he feels makes Impact Theory stand out from the pack. Find out more about Impact Theory Comics at their homepage (https://comics.impacttheory.com) and also their Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/itcomics/)

Over the course of the weekend of Saturday 27th-Sunday 28th October, Dan Berry served as our 'man on the ground' at Los Angeles Comic Con (formerly known as Stan Lee's Comikase), taking a load of photos, watching some incredible panels and interviewing a couple of the beautiful people, the great and the good, that had been invited as honoured guests. One new company brought a whole bunch of guests with them, to interview on their own dedicated stage at the con: LEGION M, the world's first 'fan owned entertainment media company', an organisation we've been following for some time. We've spoken to a number of the main players in the company, along with several of the creative teams, but here, we felt it was time to talk to someone who is directly responsible for getting the message out there, Terri Lubaroff, who talks to Dan about where Legion M is at the moment and the brand new projects the company has coming down the pipe... Intro Music: 'Jazzy', bensounds.com

The jewel in the crown of the MCM / ReedPOP convention schedule, The MCM London Comic Con - taking over the ExCel Centre in London's Docklands over the weekend of Friday 26th-Sunday 28th October - was truly a breathtaking collection of the world's best media creators, from the world of comics, to manga/anime, to film and television, to role-playing and beyond. It was truly a sight to behold. And An Englishman In San Diego was part of it! Leonard Sultana hosted a number of panels and presentations at the show, both on the Comic Stage, the Centre Stage and also at a couple of satellite panels for invited VIP's - these are those recordings! The CBLDF (Comic Book Legal Defence Fund), represented by Alex Cox at the show, charged MCM to hold a roundtable discussion about the current state of comics coming from the US, taking on board recent arguments and conflicts within both fandoms, readership and creators themselves about diversity and representation, about the stemming of the tide of apparent falling sales an

The jewel in the crown of the MCM / ReedPOP convention schedule, The MCM London Comic Con - taking over the ExCel Centre in London's Docklands over the weekend of Friday 26th-Sunday 28th October - was truly a breaktaking collection of the world's best media creators, from the world of comics, to manga/anime, to film and television, to role-playing and beyond. It was truly a sight to behold. And An Englishman In San Diego was part of it! Leonard Sultana hosted a number of panels and presentations at the show, both on the Comic Stage, the Centre Stage and also at a couple of satellite panels for invited VIP's - these are those recordings! A true titan in the world of creative comic endeavours... but Chris Claremont was determined that, while we talked about his formative years in the industry and his many groundbreaking storylines as X-MEN writer over the years, we looked forward to his future output, not making this some kind of end-of-career Lifetime Achievement Panel! Here, Chris talks about his relationsh

LICAF 2018: Comics Laureate Interviews (Charlie Adlard & Hannah Berry), Lakes International Comic Art Festival 15th October 2018 As part of the festival - held annually in the Lake District town of Kendal - a post has been created to advocate the art form of comics to the wider world: an esteemed postion which seeks to do so much good, not only for the medium but also for those that maybe haven't embraced it before. Two legends of the comics industry have held the two-year allocated position previously, first WATCHMEN artist Dave Gibbons from 2014-2016, and then in 2016 THE WALKING DEAD artist Charlie Adlard. Now, for the 2018-2020 allocation of the role, the duty falls on the shoulders of Hannah Berry: a name that maybe not-as-well-known to the mainstream audience but for those who follow independent comics, are fully aware of her talent, her incredible and evocative output, her passion for the medium and her enthusiasm to spread the word far and wide, making her the perfect person for the job. Here we s

Comics Uncovered 2018 - What's Next? (In Conversation With Artist Ian Richardson) (Sunday 16th September 2018) I was very lucky to be invited along to the ICE International Comic Expo in Birmingham this past September to host a couple of panels at the event, but it also gave me the opportunity to participate in the following days companion event, Comics Uncovered, a hands-on collection of demos, panels, reviews and workshop sessions for both aspiring and established comics creatives to fine-tune their skills and approaches under the watchful eye of some of the best in the business, including John McCrae, James Peaty, Tony Lee, Ian Richardson and Steve Tanner. Speaking of Mr. Richardson, Ian spent a fair amount of time at the bar in the foyer of the Birmingham Conference and Exhibition Centre - not pouring drinks, although I can imagine he could knock up a half decent Singapore Sling if pushed! No, he was more looking over work of aspiring artists and giving some really practical advice where needed - he als

Comics Uncovered 2018: In Conversation with Daniel Chabon (Dark Horse Comics) (Sunday 16th September 2018) Leonard Sultana, An Englishman In San Diego: I was very lucky to be invited along to the ICE International Comic Expo in Birmingham this past September to host a couple of panels at the event, but it also gave me the opportunity to participate in the following days companion event, Comics Uncovered, a hands-on collection of demos, panels, reviews and workshop sessions for both aspiring and established comics creatives to fine-tune their skills and approaches under the watchful eye of some of the best in the business, including John McCrae, James Peaty, Tony Lee, Ian Richardson and Steve Tanner. Also in attendance were colour artist John Paul Bove and Senior Editor for Dark Horse Comics Daniel Chabon who kicked off the day with a keynote session, in which Daniel gave his perspective on the industry today, what editors are looking for in contemporary comics and how to best get into making comics on a pro