Amber Benson

Monday Midnight Maniacal Mumblings- FANGO COMICS ROCKS THE BURBANK W.O.H.!!!

NOTE- It’s midnight, I’ve been at a monster mega con all weekend, and I’m seriously sleep deprived. Please forgive the grammatical errors, but I wanted to get this out while it’s fresh..........

Well, I’m back from Burbank and man, WHAT AN AMAZING SHOW!!!!

Great crowds, great vendors, great guests- it was fantastic. Crowded as hell, but fantastic!!!

And the crowning glory for Fango Comics- well, in addition to the 100% positive response from the attendees to the comics (we had preview copies of issues 1 & 2 of BUMP and issue 1 of BENEATH THE VALLEY OF THE RAGE for the masses to check out as well as tons of other pages from the other books coming later in the year), we rocked the panel Saturday by having our newest creators Patrick Durham and MICHAEL MADSEN (along with a bunch of Michael’s comic co-stars including Amber “BUFFY” Benson and Rachel “PENNY DREADFUL” Miner) on hand to talk about their upcoming book SHIFTER (first ish hits October 3rd.). Joining the SHIFTER crew was F/X master Robert Kurtzman, Fango main man Mark Kidwell, colorists supreme Jay Fotos and Jason Jensen.

Right after the panel the guys and ghouls did a massive signing, with Michael and the SHIFTER gang signing over 1000 posters, which we were giving away. Likewise for the RAGE and BUMP posters, and it was good to see the all the panelists hands cramping and smiles beaming. They truly enjoyed the experience, and the crowd was just awesome to them. Many pictures were taken (though don’t get me started on my pic with Michael!), interviews given and a great time had by all. So great we’re going to do it again, very soon. I’ll spill the beans on those (hmmm, that implies more than one!) very soon.

Some non-comic (but related) show highlights-

Number one, a preditor named Bill Hall. Yeah, that’s right, he’s a preditor. What’s wrong with- Oh no, wait- I didn’t mean a “hey, watch your kids” kind of pred-A-tor, I meant a pred-I-tor, some weird hybrid of film editor and bass player or something. I don’t know, go ask Bill, he loves making new friends. Anyway, he is the greatest part of the show, every locale, every time. I wish we saw more of him, but he’s is LITERALLY the hardest woi’king mo-FO in show bidness, and he OWNS (not literally, but figuratively) the W.O.H. for the Fango camp. He is the heart, soul, pancreas AND spleen of Fango, and I tip my doo-da (and no, that’s a botched Mork and Mindy reference, get your minds out of the gutter!) to him. I am proud to call him brother musician and friend.

As always, the master of ceremonies Fangoria magazine master Tony Timpone was making it all run nice and smooth. And he brought a guest list that blew me away! He rocked it hard and turned it up to a HUNDRED and eleven! Consider this- I’m backstage with Michael Madsen, next to Henry Rollins listening to Eli Roth and Bijiou Phillips on stage ten feet in front of me. Oh yeah, Amber Benson, Rachel Miner, Kristy Pierce and Sabrina Maahs were there too! And that was only on Saturday!!! Neil Marshall, ROB ZOMBIE (!), Clive Barker, Thomas Jane, Shawnee Smith- I was and am awed, sir. Thanks again, bud! You throw one mean party!

Another noteworthy addition is our own lovely advertising and marketing director Rita Eisenstein (who also happens to be assistant publisher of Fango mag), who is the hardest woi’kin’ female mo-FO in the bidness. Again, never see enough of her ’cause she’s always working. Even Sunday morning, at 9 am. She’s a MACHINE!

One of my absolute favorite things about the con was seeing my great friend Jeremy Meza from the bands FRANKENSTEIN and 45 GRAVE (both bands on tour again starting this weekend in Germany) and finally meeting two great guys face to face, our talented and so resourceful SHIFTER bro Patrick Durham and the GREATEST CLOSE-UP ILLUSIONIST I HAVE EVER SEEN- AND I AM NOT KIDDING YOU ABOUT THIS! UNDERSTAND BY MY ANNOYING USE OF CAPITAL LETTERS THAT I AM DEAD SERIOUS! I DON’T EVEN THINK HE’S MERELY HUMAN! HE IS, AT THE VERY LEAST, TREMENDOUSLY-ABOVE-AVERAGE-BUT-NOT-QUITE-SUPER-HUMAN!

And he blew all our minds- for three and a half hours straight from 1 ’til 4:30 in the morning! AFTER he did a killer set at the Fango party, which included DOUG BRADLEY (PINHEAD HIMSELF) proclaiming- and I quote (or at the very least coming close but I think I got the jist of it) “HOLY F**K” after assisting in the performance.

His name is Dexter, and you need to check him out. http://www.magicofdexter.com/ If he’s performing around your area, do yourself a favor and go see him. I’m hoping to have him at some of our shows to mystify the readers at the booth, stay tuned to this site for updates.

Also a huge pleasure for the weekend was seeing wonderful people like Brinke Stevens, Debbie Rochon, Voltaire, Sean O’Bannon, John Esposito, Kevin Sean Michaels, Scott from Chicago’s Stray Toasters, soon to be Fango madman Jeff Rebner, going to a killer DARK DELICACIES party (the greatest horror bookstore ever) and seeing Del Howison and Sue Duncan again after too long a time, and talking with the always beautiful Jovanka Vuckovic and one of the the most talented tattoo artists on the f’ing PLANET Bob Tyrrell, and just WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much more fun and friends then I can seriously pull out of my massively sleep-deprived mind. I met so many wonderful new people and saw so many great old friends that my mind is still reeling.

We all had a great time, and want to thank the attendees for all their kind words and overwhelming encouragement. Can’t wait ’til next year, where we’ll have a bit more elbow room when we move to the L.A. CONVENTION CENTER!!!

It’s gonna be big....