Apparently not having learned their lesson from my previous times as a panelist, LosCon 39 (Nov. 23-25) has invited yrs trly back for another go-round:

Fri 4:00 — Chicago Room
Creating Language
Language and culture are linked.  What concepts need words?  How does the environment affect the language?  What does it take to create a realistic, usable language?
Lorien Gray, David Gerrold, Buzz Dixon, Sarah Joy Adams

Fri 5:30 — Scottsdale Room
Comics: Marrying Words & Pictures
An in-depth look at the art of bringing together the story, the dialogue, and the images that make comic books and graphic novels a unique art form.
Marv Wolfman, Neo Edmund, Shaene Siders, Joe Pearson, Buzz Dixon, Jim Krueger

Sat 10:00 — Chicago Room
What If Superpowers Were Real?
What effects would there be on society if there really were people with superpowers?  Would government’s just let superheroes act?  Would near absolute power corrupt?  Would the existence of superheroes ultimately bring forth supervillains?  Or would there only be supervillains?  What toll (or benefit) would the world see from years or decades of superpowered derring-do?
Jacqueline Monahan, James Hay, Edward L. Green, Buzz Dixon, Kenn Bates, Robert N. Skir

Sat 11:30 — Dallas Room
Animation & Science Fiction
Animated science fiction on U.S.  television goes back to Colonel Bleep and Tom Terrific (both 1957) and The Jetsons (1962).  What are the unique aspects of creating and writing science fiction for animation?  What’s around today and what’s coming in the future?
Buzz Dixon, Robert N. Skir, Len Wein

Sat 4:00 — Chicago Room
Good Villains
No one wakes up and says “what can I do that’s nasty today?”.  Or do they?  Do you need just as much motivation and backstory for your villains as for your heroes?  How do you create a good bad guy?
Len Wein, Nancy Holder, Laurie Tom, Buzz Dixon, Kenne Estes, Fred Patten

Sat 5:30 — Saddlebrook Room
The World’s Most Useless Superpowers
Sure, super strength, invulnerability, being able to fly, being invisible are all really cool powers.  But not everyone can be blessed with good, useful powers.  Someone’s got to be Allergy Boy or Mr. Droopy Socks.  What are your ideas for the world’s most useless superpowers?
Genny Dazzo, Kenn Bates, Shaene Siders, Buzz Dixon, Neo Edmund

Sun 11:30 — Dallas Room
Religion In Genre Books & Movies
Religion is frequently ignored in science fiction and fantasy.  But sometimes it isn’t.  How is it treated?  Do we see standard Earth religions or all-new ones?  Or ones that just think they’re all new?  Some authors seem to think that, come the future, all people will just abandon their religious beliefs.  Does that seem likely?
Allison Lonsdale, Buzz Dixon, Bradford Lyau, Laurie Tom, J. Michael Straczynski, Fr. John Blaker

Sun 2:30 — Scottsdale Room
The Ethics Of Cloning
At some point, it seems pretty likely there will be clones.  Body parts at first but, eventually, cloned beings.  What rights would they have?  What rights won’t they have?  What about for robots or androids?
Fr. John Blaker, Buzz Dixon, Scott Campbell, Richard Dean Starr

Big tip o’ the space helmet to
Craig Miller for all his generous help

(part two)

We’re off to the San Diego Comic Con!  Be sure to visit us at the Christian Comic Arts Society table in the Small press area (P-08) of at one of the events below:
Christian Comic Arts Society Open Mixer, FRIDAY, JULY 13:  8:00PM – 10:00PM, Room 23ABC
Come join the Christian Comic Arts Society for their annual fellowship mixer.  Open to all comics, media, and pop-culture fans!   Hosted by CCAS members Scott A. Shuford (FrontGate Media), Leslie Ezeh (Stop N Go Productions), and Ralph Miley (New Creation), fans and creators alike are invited to join an informal after-hours time of Christian fellowship, networking, laughter and prayer as we “talk shop” about the Christian comics movement.

Spiritual Themes In Comics, SATURDAY, JULY 14: 6:00PM – 7:00PM Room 4
This always lively CCAS panel examines spiritual themes in both contemporary comics and pop-culture in general, with a special nod this year to Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus” and Terrence Malick’s “The Tree Of Life.”

Panelists include:

WAYNE GARDINER         Crucidel Productions              http://www.crucidel.com
SERGIO CARIELLO          The Action Bible                    http://www.sergiocariello.com
LEO PARTIBLE                Behind the Screen: Insiders on Faith, Film and Culture http://www.actoneprogram.com
CHRISTOPHER KOELLE  The Book Of Revelation          http://www.christopherkoelle.com
moderator: BUZZ DIXON    Savage Angels                       http://www.buzzdixon.com

CCAS Sunday Devotional & Christian Comics Panel, SUNDAY, JULY 15:  10:00AM – 11:00AM Room 32AB
Join fellow Christian fans and creators for a brief devotional period, followed by an in-depth analysis on interpreting the Bible in graphic format.  Open to all who wish to attend.

Panelists:

SERGIO CARIELLO                The Action Bible                        http://www.sergiocariello.com
CHRISTOPHER KOELLE         The Book Of Revelation             http://www.christopherkoelle.com
BILLY TUCCI                           A Child Is Born                          http://apostlearts.com
moderator: BUZZ DIXON           Savage Angels                          http://www.buzzdixon.com

Continuing our quest for the right cover for SAVAGE ANGELS, talented artist Holly Knevelbaard turned in a series of cover concepts.

Pulling another scene from the book, she did a concept she called “Procession”.

We liked this one a lot because it gave the reader a good idea of the characters and their personalities, even though seen at a distance.

…but we still weren’t 100% satisfied (picky, picky, picky!)

There were a few issues re costume designs, particular Sister Agnes’ wimple, which in this version looked more like a hijab than a nun’s habit.

So even though we found this design promising, we passed…

We gave the extremely talented Holly Knevelbaard a sneak peak at the manuscript* and asked her to work up some ideas.

You’ve already seen one, her airplane concept.  Here’s another try:

Holly called this one “Pray” and it depicts a scene that takes place shortly after the girls manage to reach the island.

Better than the airplane idea, but not quite there yet.  The girls are too small in the image, and there’s no sense of the story itself, what they’re doing there or how they arrived in such a predicament.

So Holly took another swing at a cover idea…

*  She loves it, BTW, and says she would even if we weren’t paying her!  ;)

Snokie Stories (and Buzz Dixon) will be there!

If you’ve never attended
SDCC before, here are a
few tips from Tom Spurgeon
a.k.a. The Comics Reporter.
170 tips, to be exact…

Quite a month…

We’re back now, posting afresh.  This time we’ll try to avoid collisions on the Hollywood Freeway.  Hopefully that can keep us on schedule…

There’s a couple of three or four ways to go.

Solid color, with big text…

…meh.

Generic landscape photo…

…better, but still not good.

Classic pulp adventure…

…uh…yeah…right.

 I’m looking for something a little less visceral.  Savage Angels is going to be a fast paced adventure story, but I want a cover with a little more artistic sensitivity, something like…this:

Fortunately, I know an artist who can work in that style:  Holly Knevelbaard

I sent Holly an early draft of the novel after I edited the dinosaurs out.*

She started churning out ideas immediately.

Here’s one of her first roughs, based on the scene where the girls’ airplane is shot down.

I passed on this one.

Why?

Mostly technical reasons — the interior is far too modern looking & does not match what a real DC-3 cabin looks like — but a crucial point is that the story takes place mostly on a desert island, not inside an airliner.

So she took another swing at it…

…which we’ll go into in a future post.

Holly will be at San Diego Comic Con this year. 
Be sure to swing by the Christian Comic Arts Society table
and ask her about painting Harry Potter’s shorts.

*  That’s a JOKE, people…