First-Ever EPCON This Weekend!!!

My friend Julian Lawler has been working his arse off to make this weekend's EPCON event a success. He's been all over the place advertising this inaugural Comic Con for the Sun City, which will feature pretty much all of El Paso and Juarez's comics community and many, many other gamer-, cosplay-, fantasy-., sci-fi-, horror-related organizations.




I'll be moderating some panel discussions on Saturday and can't wait to see the crowd and all the creators.



Come see Julian Lawler and his Broken Tree Comics line of books and creators; 656 and Adversary Comix; Jimmy Portillo of Jimmy Daze Comics; Brett Booth, Jaime Carrillo, Martin Montiel, Eric Basaldua, and guest of honor Joe Benitez!

And, as the saying goes, SO! MUCH! MORE!

It's history in the making, so if you're in the area, please stop by EPCON and join the party!


From the El Paso Times:



Make plans
What: El Paso Comic Con.
When: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Where: Wyndham Airport Inn, 2027 Airway.
How much: $15 for one day, $25 for both days, at the door. $5 discount for active-duty military; free for children 10 and younger.
Sponsors: The event is organized by El Paso's Broken Tree Comics with sponsorship help from Bersal's Chop of Horrors, Beanie Planet, Agent of Chaos Productions and HappiRobot.
Information: www.ep-con.com.Schedule highlights
Saturday: Panel discussions, artist talks and question-and-answer sessions moderated by UTEP professor James Bucky Carter.
Sunday: Yu-Gi-Oh card game tournaments.
Both days: Belly dance troupes; vintage horror movie screenings; appearances by the 501st Legion, a costumed "Star Wars" troupe; costume contests; bands each evening at the hotel.
What else: Club 101, 1148 Airway, will host the official after-party at 8 p.m. Saturday on its second floor.

Trailer/Review for _Infestacion: The Mythology_

I hate zombies like Indiana Jones hates snakes. They're just not my thing. Marvel zombies, Kirkman zombies. Zombie movies with Woody Harrelson or cheeky Brits. Doesn't matter. I hate'em.

However, I do respect that the zombie mythos has had a resurrection in popularity over the last ten years or so, and I also acknowledge that often zombie-related media projects are laced with allegory. This is certainly the case with the graphic novel Infestacion: The Mythology, by 656 Comics, which features insidious ticks infecting living beings, killing them, and then reanimating them into flesh-eating undead.

Worse yet, these undead are Mexican undead, and they're "dead set" on crossing the American border! It's Lou Dobbs' Halloween nightmare come to life as citizens of Ciudad Juarez try to escape dangerous living/undying conditions by fleeing to El Paso, a city in a nation that may or may not see them as worthwhile living beings even if they're not infected.

While some of the nuances of its allegory may be lost to those who do not reside in the Borderland, what makes Infestacion: The Mythology scary, and thereby an intriguing read, is the same thing that makes all great zombie thrillers scary: the fact that with some minor tweaks to the plot here and some slight alterations of the setting there, what is a work of regional horror fiction about the walking dead reveals sometimes unpleasant global truths about the walking living.

Infestacion: The Mythology is available now via 656 Comics. Here's a trailer (for mature audiences) to further whet your appetite:

Halloween Shout-Outs!

Chris McCay, a longtime friend of mine from my days as editor-in-chief of OutcastStudios.com and their journalism efforts via Comicbookinsider.com and the Outsider Views section of the main site (check them out at the wayback machine at archive.org someday), has published another comic just in time for Halloween.

Offspring is described as a story featuring "a child abandoned who returns home to a world of shadows and blood just in time for a war with her father's greatest nemesis! Will she accept the power that courses through her veins and stand against the creature that attempted to slay her as an infant?" Hey, the title has product tags such as "werewolf," "vampire," and "zombie." What else can you want for late October comics reading?

Learn more here.

Also, if you're in El Paso this Halloween, check out the signing for local studios' graphic novel, Infestacion: The Mythology.