Geppi’s Entertainment Museum Welcomes Bouchercon Crime Authors Come to Baltimore

In celebration of the arrival of Bouchercon XXXIX, the preeminent annual gathering of crime fiction authors, editors, artists and fans, and in conjunction with Crimespree magazine, Geppi’s Entertainment Museum (GEM) will host a signing on Friday, October 10, 2008, from 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM, at the museum’s 301 West Camden Street facility in Baltimore.

Guests for the signing at GEM included crime comic book writer Brian Azzarello (100 Bullets), artist Jill Thompson (Scary Godmother), novelist and comic book writer Greg Rucka (Whiteout, Queen & Country), crime novelist and comic book writer Duane Swierczynski (Severance Package, The Immortal Iron Fist), crime novelist and online comic book writer Tim Broderick (Cash & Carry, Children of the Revolution), crime novelist and comic book writer Gary Phillips (Shooter’s Point, High Rollers), crime novelist, comic strip writer, comic book writer and filmmaker Max Allan Collins (Road to Perdition, Ms. Tree), and crime novelist and comic book writer Victor Gischler (Shotgun Opera, Punisher).

Like other major conventions ranging from the realms of science fiction to coin and currency collecting, Bouchercon selects a different host city each year. For this year’s October 9 – 12 event, Baltimore is the host city. Anchorage, Alaska (2007), Madison, Wisconsin (2006), and Chicago, Illinois (2005) have hosted the recent Bouchercons. Indianapolis, Indiana will host the 2009 event.

“We are extremely happy to welcome our friends at Bouchercon to Baltimore, and we’re very pleased to welcome some of the convention’s crossover guests who are also known for their comic book work to our museum,” said Melissa Bowersox, Executive Vice-President of GEM. “This is a great opportunity to introduce the convention’s many other attendees to our fantastic facility and to Baltimore itself.”

“Geppi’s Entertainment Museum is something that every fan of popular culture should see at least once, if not more,” said Jon Jordan, Editor of Crimespree. “Crime fiction has long been a vibrant, vital part of American pop culture and it can be found in the pulps, comic strips, comic books, radio programs, television shows, and movie material featured at GEM.”

“The old walls between the world of prose fiction and non-fiction on one side and comic books on the other have been shattered in the last few years by people like Max Allan Collins and the other Bouchercon guests who will be signing here at the museum,” said Dr. Arnold T. Blumberg, GEM’s Curator. “This is a great celebration of that.”

In addition to the creators signing at GEM and a legion other crime authors, the convention’s guests of honor include Lawrence Block, Distinguished Contribution to the Genre, Laura Lippman, American Guest of Honor, John Harvey, International Guest of Honor, Mark Billingham, Toastmaster, Robert Rosenwald & Barbara Peters, Lifetime Achievement Award, and Thalia Proctor, Fan Guest of Honor.

Bouchercon also hosts the Anthony Awards, which recognize the achievements of creators in the crime genre in an array of categories ranging from Best Novel to Critical Work, as well as panels and discussion groups. A presentation from DC Comics on their new Vertigo Crime line is also scheduled.

In addition to the cities mentioned above, since its debut in Santa Monica, California in 1970, Bouchercon has been held in Toronto, Las Vegas, Austin, Washington, DC, Denver, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Monterey, St. Paul, Nottingham (UK), Seattle, Omaha, Pasadena, London, San Diego, Minneapolis, San Francisco, New York, Culver City, Oakland, and Boston. It was previously held in Baltimore in 1986.

Geppi’s Entertainment Museum, which opened to the public in September 2006, is dedicated the promoting the awareness of the inexorable link between the history of popular culture and general history, with a specific focus on the role of popular culture in the United States in educating children since the nation’s founding. The facility is designed to guide guests along its walk-though timeline, showing each of the eras of popular culture in detail.

The museum is located at 301 West Camden Street, Baltimore, MD 212201. Additional information is available at www.geppismuseum.com
Tim

Crime Comic Book Creator Signing at Geppi’s Entertainment Museum

Friday, October 10, 2008, from 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM, a number of crime comics creators will be at a special signing event at Geppi’s Entertainment Museum, 301 West Camden Street in Baltimore.
The event, coinciding with the big mystery convention Bouchercon, includes
- Max Allan Collins (Road to Perdition)
- Brian Azzarello (100 Bullets)
- Greg Rucka (The Complete Whiteout)
- Jill Thompson (Scary Godmother)
- Tim Broderick (Cash and Carry)
- Duane Swierczynski (The Immortal Iron Fist)
- Gary Phillips (Darker Mask)

For more information, visit the museum’s website at http://www.geppismuseum.com/

Good day Friday, with the signing at Geppi’s Museum and the panel where Vertigo introduced their new Crime line.
First the Vertigo panel:
I’d met Jason Starr at Chicago’s Love is Murder con, and he took me aside to show me some advance pages – they were beautiful. And the story is intriquing too. It was definitely something I wanted to sit down and read.
So I was looking forward to seeing the rest of the books and I can say that I was not disappointed.
First off, the books are all constructed with in the tradition of the novel – a self-contained story with memorable characters who (if they survive) could go on to be used in subsequent stories. The art for all of these books is black-and-white, some with grayscale while others are more stark.
And the stories look great. Jason’s features a young woman dealing with a significant and violent change in her life, Brian Azzarello has a disgraced college football player being hired to watch out for a rich man’s daughter in the sixties. Gary Phillips has a black detective and a white detective being forced to team up to solve their crime.
Finally, Ian Rankin works with the character John Constantine. Keep in mind that these were just quick previews so I don’t have a lot of info.
But I think it’s great news – and something I’ve been waiting for.
Kudos to DC for taking a serious step into real graphic novels – not just repackaging monthly comics. And they’re doing it with their eyes wide open to the challenge.
You see, they’re not just marketing this to comics readers, they’re doing this with the idea that these books should be shelved in the GN shelves of bookstores AND the mystery section.
Exactly what I’ve been preaching all these years, so I feel pretty good that others have seen the same potential.
I’ll blog more about the signing later.

So here’s my Bouchercon wrap up, looking at the Geppi Museum signing and Saturday afternoon/evening.

Friday’s Geppi Museum signing wasn’t well attended, but who cares. It’s a terrific place and I recommend people go. Brian Azzarello and I were in a large room with hundreds of comics behind glass. Probably just a small representation of the entire collection, but there was the first Superman comic, the first Batman comic and it went on from there. I saw famous covers from comics I’d only read about. Amazing.
And speaking of cool:

I’d never met him before, but Gary Phillips picked up a copy of my book sight unseen. That’s him above, in the center talking with fans.
But I met Brian for the first time, as well as his beautiful wife Jill Thompson. I’m a small-press guy and they treated me like a seasoned pro. That’s pretty cool.

Cut to Saturday afternoon, and I’m getting ready for the Batman panel. I’m bummed out that Greg Rucka wasn’t able to make it, but DC editor Will Dennis did a nice job stepping in. Victor Gischler was there (and o hoot on the beer panel afterward) and McKenna Jordan did a nice job of moderating.

Directly afterward was the beer panel, and as I said before, it was my downfall. Started drinking at 4 pm, hit a party or two afterward and hung out in the bar as late as I could. Met a few new friends: Lori Armstrong, who held her own on the beer panel against the always hilarious JA Konrath; Brett Battles, who cheered on the Tampa Bay Rays loudly; and Chris Kuzneski, who patiently put up with us amusing drinkers.

So would I do it again? Absolutely. I had a terrific time, saw old friends and met new ones (hi RJ!), introduced myself to some new fans (I hope) and learned a lot about the craft.

OK, let’s finish it off with some photos:

Here’s me and Brian Azzarello at Geppi’s Museum. (Brian is the cool one)

Here’s Lee Child hanging outside on Sunday.

Last year, I shared an artist alley table with Dirk Tiede and we had a great time and did very well.
This year, I was given an opportunity for something different. This year, I won’t be in artist alley, but in the main publishers area with Crimespree Magazine! And not only that, but the Crimespree booth looks like THE place to be next weekend. While I’m going to be there all weekend, look who’s going to be visiting:

Schedule for signings at Crimespree Booth, Booth # 1433
Friday
Raymond Benson 1:00 – 3:00+
Brian Azzarello – 4:00 – 5:00
Marcus Sakey 4:00 – 5:00
B Clay Moore 11:00-12:00
RD Hall 12:00 – 1:00
Saturday
Raymond Benson 1:00 – 3:00+
Brian Azzarello 2:00 – 3:30
Jason Aaron
B Clay Moore 11:00 -12:00
Mark Kidwell 3:30 – 4:30
RD Hall 3:30 – 4:30
Sunday
RD Hall – 12:00 – 1:00

Holy freakin’ crap! And that’s not all: JA Konrath will be there all weekend too! And, Jon Jordan of Crimespree may have a whole bunch of surprise comic goodness to give away at the booth.
I’m going to have Cash & Carry for sale, plus two all new “Noir Detective” prints. And, I have a surprise up my sleeve too! I’m not the only comic creator in the house!
So make your plans to attend Wizard World in Rosemont next week, and stop by the Crimespree booth – number 1433. We’re right next to the Suicide Girls. Yow!

I was a finalist for the 2009 Crimespree Magazine awards!

Favorite comics writer
Brian Azzarello (winner)
Tim Broderick
B. CLAY MOORE
Ed Brubaker
Jason Aaron

And yes, it is an honor just to be mentioned! Congratulations to all the winners!

A bit of buzz around the net and in print. Here’s who’s talking:

• Crimespree Magazine has an interview with me in Issue 31 – the one with Brian Azzerelo on the cover. The big news: I don’t know if Diangelo will survive his current adventure. UPDATE: That interview is now online here.
• Robot6 over at Comicbookresources picked up my book at Comiccon. His reaction: “Start reading Cash & Carry while they’re making my lunch. The book’s very good.”
• Couple of other observations about Comiccon from Jon and Ruth Jordan over at the Crimespree blog. Among them: “Tim Broderick could work as a Circus Hawker but seeing his daughters sell out their first comic? Even better.” Yeah!
• Finally, I had stopped a nice girl on preview night to see if she’d be interested in “Cash & Carry.” Turns out she was a new reporter for the Chicago Tribune’s new high school section Mash. She was going to try and come back to talk to my girls, but she missed them. So instead, I ended up in the story. BTW, when I say “freak show of mammoth proportions,” I mean that in a good way!