Mad Scientist Studios goes BLIND

Mad Scientist Studios will be premiering it's latest book, BLIND, at Staple! this year and as a special deal at this show only, you get a free print when you buy the comic. BLIND is a story of robots, isolation and civil rights told from the point of view of an AI longing for the old days.

Space-Gun Studios Stapling Austin, TX

Space-Gun Studios will be exhibiting for the first time at the STAPLE! convention. We've heard a lot of great things about the convention from fellow Dallasites and look forward to a great weekend with everyone. Hopefully Ka-Blam will pull through and we'll have our books ready for the show as well. one:OFF is a collection of stories and sketches from each of our studio members while The Dark Conspiracy Art Book is a collection of original artwork created for the pen-and-paper role-playing game The Dark Conspiracy from TGC.


Studio member Matthew Warlick will have copies of Evolution Special #1, an anthology from Terminus Media in which he inked and colored a story.


At the very least the kru will have prints, original artwork, and will be doing sketches/commissions. We're going to located at tables 39 and 40 next to fellow Dallasite Nate Bramble along the wall. We're looking forward to seeing old friends and making new ones. Drive safe, looking to be a chilly weekend.

Evan Bryce
Jake Ekiss
Matthew Warlick
Vinh-Luan Luu

Lord Vile cometh!

In his own evil words:

"Lord Vile is Austin's resident villain. From his Lair he and his Henchmen have been waging a war against complacency. He has chosen to appear at STAPLE! because he has a fondness for comic books and values independence in any field."

Lord Vile will be recruiting henchman and holding an evil rally at STAPLE! at 1pm in the Theater.

I for one am afraid.

Security at STAPLE!

After last year's tagging incident we decided to get some securtiy for the show this time. STAPLE! Exhibitor Santanu Rahman, instructor at the Austin Kung Fu Acadamey put me in touch with a couple of his advanced students, Seth Barton and Mike Temple, who have graciously agreed to volunteer as security for the show. Seth is a big comics fan, so be sure to hook him up with some swag, and check out Mike's band Hazard of the Industry!

FREE BEER from OUT OF THE GUTTER

Hello Staple!

Out Of The Gutter Magazine for Pulp Fiction and Degenerate Literature is happy to be apart of this Independent Media Expo.

Reading Out Of The Gutter is like slumming without the crabs. Based out of Oregon, we are independently published in small runs of 500. OOTG has several contributors from Austin in issue 4 ("Hard Times"): John Rubio (cover art left), Thomas Reidy (illustrator for "Dodging Bullets"), and Justin C Gordon (wrote the story "Rules" and illustrated others). Issue 4 is due out the first week of April, but stop by our Staple! booth #46 for a preview, purchase back issues, and try for a chance to win prizes.

"Wait, where is the free beer from the title?"


DRINK DIRECTLY OUT OF THE GUTTER!

Friday, Febuary 29 from 8-11pm at Austin Books and Comics, Out of the Gutter Magazine has convinced Schiltz to provide free malt liquor in OOTG brown bags. Duh, you have to be 21 years of age, not behave like an asshole, and be one of the first 50 into the party.

We look forward to meeting everyone at both of these events.


OOTG PIMP

Outoftheguttermagazine.com

Monarch Fun

Hey everybody!  It's Kristin Hogan from Dead Squirrel Girl.  I work at Blue Genie Art Industries, and we held our Christmas Art Bazaar at the Monarch Events Center in December, so I was there all month.  The space is REALLY nice, the rooms are HUGE.  The people who run the place are really nice.  I thought I'd leave some tips:

-- bring something with long sleeves, there were days when i was really cold

-- there is a great thai place called Thai Village in the same shopping center, they have an inexpensive lunch menu.  There is also a Smoothie King next door.....mmmm smoothies.

--Jerry's Art-o-rama is next door, if you haven't checked out this  great little art supply store, you must check it out, they carry things you won't find at the corporate art stores (and notice their ridiculously large Little Jerry sculpture/sign -- a Blue Genie original)

--Office Depot is next door, for all your last minute needs, be aware they have one cashier for the entire store, expect to wait in line.

-- Also, there is a huge SPEC's nearby.  Or as we refer to it at Blue Genie "the alcoholic's wet dream"

Hope that helps y'all out.  I just got back from the Antigravity show in New Orleans, and it went VERY well, so I'm hoping for a rockin' Staple!

See y'all on Saturday!

A Dummy's Guide to STAPLE!

hey there, Joe Eisma here. I'm a video game artist making my first foray into comics, and I'm totally stoked for my first ever STAPLE! this weekend. I'm looking forward to meeting Brian Wood and checking out what Kristian Donaldson has been up to. I'll also be glad to see my buddies Jake and Luan from Space-Gun, Pat Loika and John Sitton from the Bendis board, the Stumblebum crew, and writer extraordinaire, David Hopkins. And I look forward to meeting all the rest of the exhibitors and seeing what everyone's created!

I'll be at table 2B, in the auditorium, next to Viper Comics. Speaking of Viper, I'll have some preview art from my new series from them, A Dummy's Guide to Danger: Lost at Sea, which goes on sale mid-March. This is the sequel to the original series from Jason M. Burns, and it's a fun, twisted whodunnit set on the high seas.
Here's a look at the first issue's cover:

I'll have plenty of other eye candy as well, including a look at my sci-fi graphic novel, Project: Serpo. So please drop by and say hey!

Nice write-up

Looks like STAPLE! got a nice little mention in Sunday's Austin American Statesman. Spunky indeed!

Bramble Vine Comics table preview

Hello fellow Staple-ers. I am Nate Bramble and this will be my first year exhibiting at Staple. I self publish my own comic books out of Dallas and my work is mostly black and white funny cartoon short stories. On my web site, Bramble Vine Comics, I post pages from whatever book I am currently working on, scans from my sketchbooks and photos I take at the various cons I attend, but right now I want to share with you some of the things I'm going to have on hand at my table during Staple '08.

If you come by the Bramble Vine Comics stall you'll find all my recent books on sale. At Staple I'll be debuting a mini-comic called Gadgeteria #0. This is a preview book of my next comic book series and the first couple of stories out of that series will be in this mini. It tells the story of a private investigations firm set up to service all the online worlds popping up on the internet and the various community problems growing around them. Think "Tron" meets "Office Space". I printed these up just for Staple and I can't wait to see how people react to it.

I'll also have my recently self-published full sized comic Bramble Vine Comics #1. This book is hot off the presses, debuting just a few short months ago on Dallas area comic shop store shelves. It's a collection of silly short stories packed with humor about greed, the environment, con men and much, much more!

Another recently self-published mini-comic will be found at my table, Normal. This is a short, tragic story of a man who was cursed to never change throughout his whole life. This story is also part of the Synesthetic Anthology, a book of collected works from various Dallas area comic and cartoon artists.

I'll have a few more books of mine and some surprises at my table, so please come by and say hello!

Josh @ STAPLE

"Everyone needs to post more stuff to the blog!" said Uncle Staple, so OK!

Hi, I'm Josh, and this is my second year at STAPLE. I have been doing webcomics since like 1997, and sort of live off them. I am an Austinite, having lived here for 11 years... a graduate of UT, a Riverside survivor, and fan of Fastball and The Small Stars.


Girly Is one of the 3 comics I'm currently working on. It's about cartoon relationships. It's hitting its fifth anniversary in April. I plan to celebrate by wearing a hat. If you like really organic cartoon art, an art form that tragically seems so dead these days, do consider checking it out. I'll be selling its first two collections at the con. There will be a third volume on the way once I figure things out.

I also do a comic called "Doctor Voluptua". As the title suggests, it's not exactly safe for work or kids or Canadians, so you'll have to go out and find that. I'll be selling a little booklet featuring that comic as well, printed at the local Alphagraphics. They're such good sports.

I do other comic-related things, but those two items are what I'll primarily be featuring at my booth. SEE YOU THERE GUYS.

Couple of 7000 BC Collections

At the 7000 BC table, we'll have (among other things) two anthologies of work from New Mexico-based comics creators:

The second printing, hot off the photocopier, of Jams Volume 1 collects the six jam comics made at our monthly meeting. See what happens when a bunch of comic book writers and artists get together and tell stories, exquisite-corpse style.

And we'll have a CD with a PDF of 24 Hours In New Mexico with nineteen comics (that's 389 pages — now you know why we didn't print it) produced for 24 Hour Comics Day 2007 — and it's free for the asking. You can also download the Zipped PDF at MediaFire

  

Free stuff at STAPLE!

Nate Southard, here. I'll have 100 free copies of a STAPLE!-exclusive chapbook, "A Team-Building Exercise," at table 38a. If you want one of 'em, better haul butt to see the bald guy sitting next to Eric Powell (ahem, that bald guy would be me).

See you there!

Hey everyone

Quick post. I will be at table 41b with some prints and other fun bits. But the coolest thing is a new webcomic that I am working on with Dave Justus called Girl and Robot. Here is a peak at the cover of the book.



So check us out for some cool prints, skateboard decks, and a really weird web comic preview. Name is Thomas or Goatboy to some of the people around the Austin art community. I will also be participating in the live art show so please come by and say hi.

Thomas
Full of Monkey

Table Assignments!

Hey Folks! Below are the official STAPLE! table assignments. We're in two rooms again this year, but this time they're much more equal in size and attraction. If you have requested to sit next to someone else I have attempted to accomodate you. If I was unable to do so in any cases I do apologize and would advise you follow the wise words of the old song - "If you can't be with the one you love, then love the one you're with."

Half tables marked "a" are toward the front of the room (bottom of map) and those marked "b" are toward the back (top of map).







AUDITORIUM

1, 2a - Viper Entertainment, Inc. Jessie Garza, Josh Howard, PJ Kryfco
2b - Viper Comics, Devil's Due Joe Eisma
3 - David Hopkins
4 - Hopper Comics Publishing Carlos Samudio
5 - PALFLOAT Chad Hopper
6 - Monkeywrench Books & MCM Authoring
7a - Leadpoint Comics Cristina Benavides, Erica Taht
7b - Orthocomics Sean McGrath
8, 9 - TNT-138 Ltd. Alex Henle, Terry Thielen, Brandy, Amanda
10 - deadsquirrelgirl.com Kristin Hogan
11 - Seraphemera Books Marc Moorash, Heather Stanley
12a - Cranium Comics Anthony Rezendez, Brandon Church
12b - Keith Quinn, Susan Kath
13a - GINK Press Jenner Carnelian
13b - Josh Eiserike
14 - 7000 BC Bram Meehan
15a - Perry Alter
15b - Mascot Wedding & billanderik.com Mac Blake, David Jara
16 - Ape-Gear John "Ape" Mosteller
17 - Rubberband Press Comics David Olivares, Dan Garcia, Andy Perez, Mike Garcia
18 - Big Head Press Frank Bieser, Scott Bieser
19 - Soldier Of Fortune & Art Love Magic Joshua Boulet, Mike Lagocki
20 - Girls With Slingshots Danielle Corsetto (yay!)
21 - The Fiction Circus John Thornton, Justin Humphries
22 - Paul Adam
23 - Mad Scientist Studios Dan Gaitan, Phil Gaitan, Kirk Chavarria
24 - El MacFearsome & Comic Squares Vernon Smith, Karen Chen
25 - Playground Ghosts, Fluffinbrooklyn, Wondermark! Colleen AF Venable, Marianne Ways, David Malki !, Mikey IQ Jones
26a - The Onion - America's Finest News Source
26b - Bivage Salvage, Ltd. Dave Lamplugh
27a - Little Engine Studios Toby Craig
27b - Antigravity Magazine Leo McGovern
28 - Voodoo Maverick Publishing Ted Walley
29 - Baton Rouge Cartoonist Society Robert Bienvenu, Erik Van Buren
30 - ECPrinting Jim House, Greg Kernkamp
31 - Austin Creators Group Alan Porter
32, 33, 34 - Austin Sketch Group Geoff Sebesta, Ismael Cavazos,Sam Hurt, Patrick Joseph, Amalia Litsa, Zach Taylor
35, 36 - Top Shelf Productions Chris Staros
37 - Eric Powell
38a - Nate Southard
38b - Du the Fu Santanu Rahman

HALL

39, 40 - Space-Gun Productions Vinh-Luan Luu, Evan Bryce, Jake ekiss, Matthew Warlick
41a - Bramble Vine Comics Nathan Bramble, Paula Bramble
41b - Full of Monkey Thomas P. Reidy III, Dave Justus
42 - Evil Twin Comics Fred Van Lente, Ryan Dunlavey
43 - Kristian Donaldson
44 - Brian Wood
45 - Feeping Creatures/Studio NDR Dylan Edwards
46a - Aftershock Comics Mike Dolce, Keith McCormack
46b - Out Of the Gutter Magazine Justin C. Gordon: Gutter Pimp
47, 48 - John Cboins, Mike Gregor
49 - Absolute Tyrant Rob Osbourne
50a - Kit Lively
50b - The Bucky, Kevin
51 - Rodent Boogaloo & Swordwaltzer John Sitton, Xero Reynolds
52 - Staple Pop Tim Doyle, Lauri Watt
53 - Strange Matter Comics & Lunasea Studios Rebecca Hicks, James Hicks
54 - Lucy Blue Studio Jennifer Bryan
55a - Fanboy Radio/Heroes 4 Heroes Scott Hinze
55b - River by Night Christine Pointeau
56 - Mr. Oblivious Mark Gonyea
57 - Bassanimation Diana X. Sprinkle, Shawna Bass
58 - Manly Art Jason Chalker
59 - Azteca Productions Michael S. Moore, Jennifer Giannou, Ethan Wampler
60 - Studio Zoe/Slipshine Josh Lesnick
61 - Stumblebum Studios Dana Place, Paul Milligan, David Sherrill, Melissa Sherril
62a - The Gold County Paper Mill William Cardini, Jak Cardini, Dr. Chuch
62b - Fortune Cookie Press Jon Sukarangsan
63 - Lonnie Allen, Jeff Bent
64 - Flea Circus Kelly Burns, Jeremy Fletcher
65 - Paul Maybury, Steve Goldman, Nikki Cook
66 - HATsume Comics Will "The Mangler" Rodriguez
67 - Halfpixel - PvP Online, Starlip Crisis Scott Kurtz, Kris Straub
68 - Sonambulo Rafael Navarro

More STAPLE! World Premieres!

As has become something of a tradition, it looks like lots of brand new comics will be seen for the first time at this year's STAPLE! Fred's new book Comic Book Comics, and some new stuff from the folks at 7000 BC (see below) and tons of other stuff, I'm sure.

Not to be left out, I will also have a new book making it's first public appearance at the show. Inspired by a true story, its a supernatural black-comedy entitled That Damned Cat which Dave Lamplugh and I have been working on for the last few months. Here's a preview panel:



Dave will have a limited amount of TDC Issue #1 at his table at STAPLE! for a special convention price, along with some freshly hand made volumes of our previous effort, a 200+ page noir/thriller graphic novel called You Chose Right The First Time, so be sure to stop by. Hey, what's the use of doing a comic book show if you can't pimp your own books?

Anyone else bringing some new stuff this year?

COMIC BOOK COMICS #1 premieres at STAPLE '08!

Heigh-ho, Staplers! Fred Van Lente of Evil Twin Comics here! Just wanted to say that my partner in crime, Ryan Dunlavey, and I are psyched to see you all at our first-ever STAPLE... and we are 110% on schedule to have the first issue of our new series, COMIC BOOK COMICS, debut at STAPLE almost a full week before it shows up in stores!

As I told Randy on the STAPLE podcast earlier this month, COMIC BOOK COMICS is the inspiring, infuriating, and utterly insane saga of the American comic book industry, told in our award-winning ACTION PHILOSOPHERS style.

To wet your appetites, here's a page from one of the stories (click on it to view bigger image) exclusive to the STAPLE blog:



For the other 39 pages, check out CBC #1 at the Evil Twin table at STAPLE on March 1, and, of course, check out the EXCLUSIVE Comic Book Comics tale in the program.

Looking forward to meeting you all in Austin!

Happy Valentine's Day

Here's hoping everyone enjoys their VD today.

xoxo,
Uncle Staple

Mike Baron at STAPLE!

Big Head Press is pleased to bring legendary comics writer Mike Baron to this year's STAPLE! Baron is the author of two graphic stories published by the company: The Architect, with artist Andie Tong, and the web-only story The Hook with Gabe Eltaeb. Baron will be on hand to autograph copies of his books and talk to fans.

Baron helped spark the first boom of independent, creator-owned comics stories back in the early 1980s when he co-created the Eisner-Award-winning NEXUS with artist Steve Rude. He has spawned other creator-owned titles (such as BADGER) and for years wrote stories for some of DC and Marvel Comics' company-owned characters including The Flash, The Punisher, Deadman, and various Conan-The-Barbarian derived titles.

Baron has recently reprised his original characters NEXUS, published by RudeDude Productions, and BADGER, published by IDW.

Fanboy Video Covering Staple

Fanboy Video is coming to Staple this year to talk to as many artist and writers we can. If you would like to set up an interview please e-mail fanboyvideo@gmail.com

Also for a taste of our past interviews please check out Fanboy Video.com

Luke
Fanboy Video Producer