SDCC 2013

UPDATED (panel info has been added as well)
All week, the city of San Diego has been battening down the hatches in preparation for the flood of fanboys and fangirls inundating the streets tomorrow in time for Comic-Con.

While the SIUniverse team had hopes to be there this year (we're still listed in the program at booth #1221), schedules and circumstances have prevented us from taking part in this year's festivities (plus side? More room for Bernard Chang and his BLVD boys!).  Also, this year marks the first time in over a decade that Epic Proportions will miss the party in San Diego.

But just because we won't be there doesn't mean the SIUniverse won't be well represented at the biggest con of the year. Check out below to find where in the exhibit hall members of the extended SIUniverse family can be found. And use this link to find a searchable map of the hall.

• Bernard Chang: #1223
• Giant Robot: #1729 & 1731
• Erwin Haya: #D06
• Martin Hsu: #4531
• Benton Jew: #DD-23
• Dustin Nguyen: #FF-04

Moreover, several SIUniverse alums can be found on panels throughout the week.

Thursday, July 18

• 2:00pm - 3:00pm: DC Digital: Dustin Nguyen (Li'l Gotham) joins other DC Comics creators to discuss DC Entertainment's digital comics initiative. [Room 6DE]
• 7:00pm - 8:00pm:  Horror Comics from the Monsterverse: Benton Jew and other Monsterverse comic artists discuss upcoming projects. [Room 28DE]

Friday, July 19 

• 10:00am - 11:00am: DC Comics: My Secret Origin, or How I Broke into Comics: Bernard Chang (Green Lantern Corps) give you an inside look at how some of DC Entertainment's top talent made their careers crafting the tales of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and others.[Room 6DE]
• 12:00pm - 1:00pm: CBLDF: Raising a Reader: An all-star panel of kids comics creators (including Flight's Kazu Kibuishi) and educators discuss ways to get children excited about reading, encourage creativity, and cultivate a love of literature using great graphic novels and comics. [Room 30CDE]
• 4:15pm - 5:15pm: DC Comics Superman Unchained: From Concept to Page: Meet the entire all-star creative team of the highly acclaimed Superman: Unchained, including pencilers Jim Lee and Dustin Nguyen. [Room 6DE]

Saturday, July 20

• 11:00am - 12:00pm: Avatar the Last Airbender: Beginning and Beyond: Gene Luen Yang and others will be on hand to share their experiences and answer questions about Avatar: The Last Airbender. [Room 29A]
• 12:45pm - 1:45pm: DC Comics Green Lantern: Recharged!: Bernard Chang and others offer an exclusive look at what's in store during this new and exciting time for the Green Lantern Corps. [Room 6DE]
• 7:30pm - 8:30pm: Angry Asian Media Makers: Lela Lee (creator of Angry Little Asian Girl, Angry Little Girls), Phil Yu (blogger, Angry Asian Man), and Wesley Chan and Ted Fu (Wong Fu productions) discuss the ways that each of them create content and how they grow an engaged fan following. Join them for this Q&A session moderated by fan and dedicated follower Victor Lee.[Room 8]

Sunday, July 21

• 10:00am - 11:00am: Kids: Comics in Action!: Kazu Kibuishi will compete in an action-packed, high-stakes, no-holds-barred drawing championship for your approval![Room 7AB]
• 1:30pm - 2:30pm: Shattering Convention in Comic Book Storytelling: Moderated by Racebending.com, this panel of comic book authors discuss their experiences writing diverse and innovative work for big franchises, indie, small press, and web comics. Gene Yang (Avatar: The Last Airbender) joins Brandon Thomas (Miranda Mercury) and Gail Simone (The Movement) to discuss diversity without stereotyping, creating compelling heroes and villains, and reader advocacy. [Room 23ABC] 
• 3:30pm - 4:30pm: First Second: Gene Yang and Paul Pope In Conversation: First Second authors Paul Pope (Battling Boy) and Gene Luen Yang (Boxers & Saints) discuss their creative process, their magical-realist storytelling techniques, and their exciting upcoming books -- projects that each author has been working on for the past five years.[Room 26AB]
  

Hope everyone has fun in sunny southern Cali, and we'll see you all at New York Comic-Con this fall!

The Crew (with Kelly Hu and Cliff Chiang) at SDCC in 2009.

The SIUniverse at New York Comic Con!

Come by Epic Props booth 1113 and get a copy of SHATTERED before it’s in stores.

Also, stop by the booths of other members of the SIU family:

Bernard Chang will be in Artist Alley at C8!

Cliff Chiang will be in Artist Alley at N1!

Greg Pak will be in Artist Alley at K18!

Larry Hama will be at Epic Proportions Booth 1113!

Ming Doyle will be in Artist Alley at B2!

Sean Chen will be in Artist Alley at C9!

Sonny Liew wil be in booth U12!

Billy Tan will be in booth P2!

Dustin Nguyen will be in booth H1!

Greg LaRocque will be in booth O5! (Saturday only)

Louie Chin will be in booth 448!

SI Draw Off! Even More Optimus

The SI Draw-Off mentioned last time was not exclusive to the four editors. In fact, this meme is open to the whole SI Crew, so if any of you have an Optimus Prime picture itching to "roll out," then feel free to send 'em our way!

As promised, here are a few more Optimus portraits from real artists. To your left is our friend Bernard Chang's contribution to the challenge. To make things more difficult, Bernard drew The Heartbreak Prime in less than five minutes while playing poker with Parry and friends.Had no idea the Autobots were down with wrestling factions from the mid-90s. Does this mean the Dinobots are the nWo?

Up next is a take on Optimus by our very own Senior Artist Jef Castro. The second Jef heard about the meme, he knew he had to take part, so he whipped up this sketch in a matter of minutes! And look at him. All dramatic and stuff. And if you notice, all the real artists (Jerry, Bernard, Jef) actually drew windshield wipers on the chest. Damn artists and their attention to detail!

So, is there anyone else out there in Secret Identities Land that wants to step up to the plate with their own Optimus?

SDCC '09 Jam Piece Winner

San Diego Comic Con 2009 was a huge success and 153 lucky people walked away with their newly purchased copies of Secret Identities.

With each signing we had everyday, an artist sketched either an existing Asian Superhero or one in "Secret Identities" as a part of a collage/jam piece to be raffled off to one lucky winner at the end of the convention (although Snake Eyes gets a pass on the Asian theme since hey, it's a Larry Hama original and "Asian Hulk" in the b.g. by Bernard Chang as well -- unless Hulk scribe Greg Pak writes it into reality at Marvel?).

However in order to get an entry, folks needed to first show us at least 10 collected signatures in their copy of "SI" from the 22+ contributors spread throughout the convention.

In the end, 30 folks had collectively compiled over 300 signatures/sketches and the winner is... Cecil DeClaro or Orange, CA. So thanks to everyone for playing along and great meeting you all!

Thanks to all the artists who jammed on this: Bernard Chang, Jimmy Aquino, Benton Jew, Tiffanie Hwang, Jerry Ma, Ming Doyle, Larry Hama, Gene Yang, Walden Wong and Sonny Liew.

Bernard Chang Battles Sean Chen on MTV

Last weekend at the Asian American ComiCon, folks from MTV Iggy stopped by to film some "drawing battles" between some of the industry's best artists. We had no idea what they were talking about. Of course, this is why they're professionals because what they got on film was awesome! First up is round one between BLVD studio mates Bernard Chang and Sean Chen:

mtviggy.com | chinese

PREVIEW: "The Citizen" - Video 6 of 8

"THE CITIZEN" can be found on page 56 of "Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology".

The story follows Frank Murakawa, a Sergeant from the Arizona National Guard who was exposed to unknown chemicals during a training accident endowing him with amazing abilities -- turning him into... THE CITIZEN.

Incarcerated for attempting to arrest the former President of the United States for war crimes, The Citizen finds himself released from prison by the new Commander-in-Chief, enlisting his help.

Director and Marvel writer, Greg Pak (Incredible Hercules, World War Hulk, Skaar: Son of Hulk) wrote the story and directed/edited the trailer. The art was provided by Bernard Chang (X-Men, Deadpool, Wonder Woman). Visit: PakBuzz.com and BernardChang.com

Book/Comic store info:
ISBN: 9781595583987
Diamond: JAN094645D

New York Comic-Con '09: The Secret Identities Panel!

Secret Identities E.I.C. Jeff Yang here. I guess I'm the last SI Guy to post on this thing, so I might as well kick in here with this video, an edited-down "highlights version" of one of our two New York Comic-Con panels—the one focusing on the book itself, and featuring myself, E.A.L. Keith Chow, contributor Greg Pak, with an assist from his partner on "The Citizen" Bernard Chang, and Senior Artist Jef Castro. Providing insightful moderation of our little circus was Giant Robot's Anne Ishii, who'd just come off of moderating a previous panel on the manga version of Bat-Man that was published, well ahead of its time, in Japan in the late 1960s. Ningin.com did a nice writeup of the panel here.

And now, on to the video! (Parry's not the only guy with editin' chops around this here ranch, kids...okay, I suck compared to him, but still...represent!)

Big thanks to Keith's bro Raymond for manning the Canon HG10 for us on this one. Sadly, he wasn't around the following day, so I don't have any footage of the equally terrific panel I moderated called "The Multicultural Mask," featuring Stuart Moore (Iron Man; Firestorm), Perry Moore (Hero), Robert J. Walker (Delete), and Jann Jones (Coordinating Editor, DC Comics)—not to mention Greg Pak again, who pulled double duty for us at NYCC, all power to the Pak. However, a nice writeup on that panel is right here. And I'll see if I can find any still photos around somewhere.

Coming up next: A highlights version of our most excellent ECAASU workshop, which was videotaped in whole by our bodyguard/host representative Dave From Toronto. Very cool guy. Really helped keep the paparazzi at bay. Not that I, Jerry or Keith had to worry—the kidz all made a beeline for the man who put the bacon in BLT, our M.E. Parry...