Joe Quinones, Maris Wicks, Jacob Chabot, Annie Wu, Chrissie Zullo, and many more sign at Acme Comics on Saturday May 4, 2013 for Free Comic Book Day!
Press Release:
Come out an help us celebrate our 30th anniversary serving the Triad as the area’s original and largest comic specialty store! Now in its 11th year, FCBD 2013 at Acme will give you the opportunity to try out 52 different titles, meet with more than a dozen comic creators, take photos with your favorite costumed heroes, and try your hand at trivia contests with the biggest door prizes in town!
You might wonder how we can improve on our internationally recognized festivities, but we’ve got a few ideas and partners to strive and top ourselves!
2013 IMPROVEMENTS
*We’ve ordered in excess of 32,000 books this year, over 5,000 more than 2012, all to be given away for FREE!
*Learning from last year’s temporary rain-out, we’ve waterproofed and cooled off the Sketch Cave by housing it in the brand new Acme Comics Presents location next to the main store, so you can duck in and get a break from the elements while getting your books signed and commissioning a personalized sketch from your favorite artist for FREE!
*Swap stories and get your picture taken with Spider-man, Green Lantern, Cheetara, Lion-O, the Joker, members of the Star Wars 501st Stormtrooper Legion and MORE for FREE!
*Hang out all night and all day and all night again at Geeksboro Coffeehouse Cinema as our pals down the sidewalk will be open straight through on Friday for the food, beverage, and facility conveniences of anyone camping out over night, all day Saturday to provide refreshments and entertainment to event-goers, and until 2 AM Saturday night for the after-party to beat all after-parties!
*Get down with the band provided by Don’s Music City! It’s a superhero dance party!
Creators appearing at Acme Comics will include:
- Thomas Boatwright – Cemetery Blues, Zeke Deadwood
- Jacob Chabot – Mighty Skullboy Army, Voltron Force
- Jeremy Dale – Skyward, G.I. Joe
- Chris Giarrusso – G-Man, Tales from the Con
- Joe Quinones – Wednesday Comics, Joker’s Asylum Harley Quinn
- Amanda Rachels – Clown Town, the Book
- Andy Runton – Owly, FCBD Owly & Friends
- Gregg Schigiel – SpongeBob Comics, Pix Teenage America Fairy
- Brian Smith – the Stuff of Legend, the Intrepid EscapeGoat
- Maris Wicks – Primates, SpongeBob Comics
- Annie Wu – Venture Bros., Wired
- Kelly Yates – MonstHer, Doctor Who
- Chrissie Zullo – Fables: Cinderella, Womanthology
THOMAS BOATWRIGHT
Long-time Acme ally Thomas Boatwright will be returning to Free Comic Book Day in 2013! Acme subscribers will instantly recognize T.A.’s style as the look of Geeksboro’s Mixed Tape Film Series, and its that same unmistakable sense of left-of-center humor and unadulterated purity that you’ll find in his series Cemetery Blues from Image Comics and Zeke Deadwood: Zombie Lawman from SLG, , co-created by Acmecast guest Ryan Rubio as well as the original Image graphic novel The Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo!
Thomas’s most recent book is Orc Girl, written by Paul Allor, he garnered a rave review from recent Acme guest Gail Simone! He can be found online at Boatwright Artwork.com!
JACOB CHABOT
Jacob will be making his third Free Comic Book Day appearance at Acme, and his fifth in Greensboro overall! Since his last visit in 2012, Jacob released the second collection of his Eisner-nominated comic the Mighty Skullboy Army from Dark Horse as well as knocking out volume six of the Voltron Force original graphic novels for Viz Media and contributing to Avengers vs. X-Men Versus #6 from Marvel.
Find out more about Jacob the Mad Scientist at Beetle Bug Comics.com!
JEREMY DALE
Jeremy Dale is a comic book artist best known for his work on G.I. Joe comics for Hasbro with creator Larry Hama as well as the Harvey Award-winning Popgun v.1 from Image Comics and Miserable Dastards (recently optioned as a feature film). He is currently working on several projects, including the creator-owned Skyward series. He is a featured guest at several shows, conventions, and signings every year.
Skyward will be officially debuting the NFL Rush Zone Season of the Guardians Free Comic Book Day offering from Action Lab Entertainment! Jeremy will be coming up from Atlanta for his fifth(!) Free Comic Book Day appearance, along with his lovely wife Kelly, the anchor of our FCBD book line!
CHRIS GIARRUSSO
A master of his style and craft, Chris first burst onto the comic industry’s radar with Bullpen Bits for the Marvel Comics letters pages, which evolved into the beloved Mini Marvels, running in the back of Marvel event books, specials and all-ages titles for most of this century’s first decade. Have you seen the Hawkeye cartoon intro?
In January 2003, Giarrusso debuted his signature creation, G-Man, in the back of Savage Dragon #104 for Image Comics during a feature called Comic Bits! Since finding their family’s magical heirloom cape in the linen closet, Mikey G and his brother Dave have completed two adventures, “Learning to Fly” and “Cape Crisis”!
Since his last visit to Acme for Free Comic Book Day 2012, Chris has been diligently working on the next installment in the saga of G-Man & Great Man, “Coming Home”, the first chapter of which has been made available via Comixology and to legions of new Chris G. fans for FREE through the Read 2 Succeed program, sponsored by Acme and WFMY News 2! Chris can also be found drawing weekly strips for Tales from the Con, written by Brad Guiger for Seattle’s premiere convention, Emerald City!
Chris makes his internet home at Chris G. Comics.com!
JOE QUINONES
Joe Quinones is a relative newcomer to the industry, having first been published by DC comics for their now defunct Teen Titans GO series in 2007. He is probably best known for his collaboration with writer Kurt Busiek on the Green Lantern serial for Mark Chiarello’s Eisner Award-winning Wednesday Comics. Since then, Joe has illustrated a number of covers and short stories for DC, Marvel and Dark Horse, with a current cover run on Captain Marvel. Joe also has some unannounced interior work on the horizon, as well as a Zatanna/ Black Canary graphic novel, written by Paul Dini, due out at the end of 2013.
AMANDA RACHELS
As the breakout star of the Free Comic Book Day 2012 festivities and a stalwart companion to Jermaine, Stephen and Riley during Comic Con International this past summer, it’s no wonder Amanda Rachels has quickly become a part of the Acme Comics family and Free Comic Book Day wouldn’t be the same without her!
Amanda’s star continues to rise in the comic industry with projects like the self-published Clown Town and her web comic the Blind Eye, written by her frequent collaborator Kevin LaPorte. She just celebrated the release of The Book original graphic novel from Arcana!
ANDY RUNTON
Hey there! My name is Andy. I’ve always loved to draw and always loved comics. After college and a career in corporate America, I finally followed my heart, started drawing comics, graphic novels, and books and I haven’t looked back since.
In 2001 I created the breakout all-ages series of graphic novels, Owly, which features a kind-hearted little owl who’s always searching for new friends and adventure. The Owly series has earned praise from fans and critics alike, winning multiple awards including the Howard E. Day Memorial Prize, the Harvey Award, two Ignatz Awards, and the 2006 Eisner Award for “Best Publication for a Younger Audience.”
I rely on a mixture of symbols, icons, and expressions to tell my silent stories, and my work showcases my love of wildlife and the outdoors. I currently reside in the greater-Atlanta area where I work full-time on my Owly comics, books, and graphic novels.
Andy has made one previous trip to Acme back in 2011, and we’re psyched to have one of the most-travelled creators in comics with us for FCBD!
GREGG SCHIGIEL
Gregg Schigiel is a regular Acme partner in crime, as well as a frequent contributor to SpongeBob Comics from Bongo and United Plankton Press, having drawn the cover and Merman and Barnacle Boy story for this year’s FCBD SpongeBob Comics Freestyle Funnies and. For over a year now, he’s produced Stuff Said with Gregg Schigiel, his cartoonist conversation podcast and a member show in the Acme Wave Projector podcast network. He continues to work on his creator-owned series Pix, Teenage American Fairy from his home in NYC and he blogs at Hatter Entertainment.com.
BRIAN SMITH
Smitty’s been a part the comic industry since the late ’90s, spending several years as an associate editor at Marvel Comics. After going to work for himself, Brian began illustrating the Adventures of Daniel Boom, a.k.a. Loud Boy for Grosset & Dunlap and penning the adventures of the Voltron Force and Max Steel for Viz Media, as well as debuting his own creations, like the aforementioned Stuff of Legend from Th3rd World Studios, co-created by Mike Raicht and drawn by fan-favorite Charles Paul Wilson III!
Over the last year, Brian has edited various titles at DC Comics, including New 52 runs on Batgirl and Savage Hawkman, but he’s recently gone back to the life he was meant to lead, freelance creation of the adventures of Thomas Fleet and humor strips like the Basics!
MARIS WICKS
Maris Wicks lives with fellow primate Joe Quinones and their cat Biggs, in Somerville, Massachusetts. She has used her opposable thumbs to draw comics for Adhouse Books, Tugboat Press, and “Spongebob Comics”, and written stories for Image and DC Comics. When she’s not making comics, Maris works as a program educator at the New England Aquarium. She is also an avid tool user and is particularly fond of bananas. Maris will have a story in the FCBD SpongeBob Comics Freestyle Funnies and her new graphic novel Primates is due out in June from First Second!
ANNIE WU
Grew up in central Florida, studied Illustration at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, moved to New York City. Enjoys improv, Buster Keaton’s early films, and making things.
Work has been recognized by the likes of SPECTRUM 17 and 18, Society of Illustrators 2009 Student Competition, American Illustration TRIBUTE, and Adult Swim for a few weird seconds. Clients include Vertigo, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, WIRED Magazine, Lacrosse Magazine, ELLE Magazine, M-Edge, Coca-Cola Brazil, Titmouse Inc. and others.
Currently working on projects of the comic book variety and doing character/prop color design for the upcoming fifth season of The Venture Bros.
KELLY YATES
In addition to being a Wednesday Acme Comics customers just like many of you, Kelly has worked closely with fellow creators Craig Rousseau and Rich Woodall throughout 2012 to launch Artist Alley Comics as a viable, creator-focused alternative to digital distribution! Yates debuted his newest project, MonstHer, via Artist Alley in June, alongside new stories from guys like Richard Case, Chris Kemple and Tim Sale.
Even though he’s a life-long Star Wars fan, Kelly has gained worldwide notoriety as a favorite artist on IDW Publishing’s Doctor Who books, having tag-teamed with Y the Last Man artist Pia Guerra on the 10th Doctor Forgotten storyline and knocking out the entirety of the 11th Doctor’s A Fairytale Life himself. In 2008, he launched his creator-owned, sci-fi, female-lead adventure series from Image Comics, >Amber Atoms>, which was met with much critical acclaim and very warm fan reception!
CHRISSIE ZULLO
Since breaking into comics via San Diego Comic Con International 2009, Chrissie has been putting together some of the most well-designed and beautiful covers of the century for Fables spin-offs Cinderella From Fabletown with Love andFables are Forever! She’s shown off her sequential narrative chops on books like Madame Xanadu, written by Matt Wagner, and Heroic: A Womanthology. She also draws a mean Samus Aran from Metroid! This will be her second visit to Acme as a creator, the first being the Heroic: A Womanthology Summit!
Acme Comics
2150 Lawndale Drive, Greensboro, NC 27408
336-574-2263
