Comic-Con
2010:
Rafael Navarro Knows Your Dreams...
and He's Bringing Friends to Booth 2206
For
years, I unwittingly watched this man's work on television,
as he'd been in animation since the early nineties, working
on shows as diverse as Pinky and the Brain and
The Batman. Then I discovered his booth at Comic-Con,
intrigued by his character Sonambulo, a retired masked wrestler
who lives in a twilight Los Angeles (is there any other
kind?), now blessed/cursed with the ability to walk in people's
dreams and using that knowledge as a private detective.
It's
a mash-up of several of my favorite genres, and the only
downside to reading Sonambulo is that Rafael Navarro
is so busy storyboarding animation, he doesn't have enough
time to do the book on a monthly basis.
Since
finally meeting Rafael (thank you, Anna Warren), the sight
of him at Comic-Con is the moment that I know it's old home
week. He's not just a talented creator, he's a heck of a
nice guy. This year, in fact, he did take time out of his
schedule to collaborate with me on a short story for Bela
Lugosi's Tales from the Grave, which I still can't
believe he did -- and I've seen both our names on it.
At any
rate, this year he'll be at Comic-Con sharing a booth with
two other creators, one I've met before and interviewed
on the podcast, and one I'm very much looking forward to
meeting.
 Mike
Wellman, co-owner of The Comic Bug in Manhattan Beach, turned
pro several years ago when he created the book Mac Afro
as an independent publisher with Atomic Basement Comics.
This past year, he joined Battlestar Galactica
star Richard Hatch in writing a TokyoPop manga based on
the recently wrapped SyFy series. Our interview with Mike
can be found in our podcast
archives, and if memory serves correctly, we were both
soundly trounced in a game of Lunch Money by Joshua
Dysart.
The
third person sharing the booth is Kevin Altieri, a dynamite
animation director and creator who first rose to prominence
working on Batman: the Animated Series and went
on to direct one of the most famous "lost" direct-to-video
animated films in fandom -- Gen 13: The Movie.
He's got a book of his own, Joshua Warrick, Werewolf
for Hire (and I'm sure much more that I don't know
about yet but will soon), and I'm going to guess his sketchbook
will also blow me away.
So if
you're going to Comic-Con, stop by Booth #2206
and tell them Fanboy Planet sent you. You will be glad you
did.
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