The 18th Annual Official Buffalo Comicon! Official website www.buffalocomicon.com
Exclusive interview by Joe Tell (JT) with Queen City Bookstore's own Emil Novak, Sr. (EM) about the upcoming 18th Annual Buffalo Comicon 2017.
Thank You Emil!
JT: Howdy folks, this is Joe Tell. I'm a local music and comic book blogger covering the Buffalo scene and I'm here with Emil Novak, Sr., proprietor of Queen City Bookstore. They have been in business since 1969, almost 50 years. We're here to promote the Buffalo Comicon, which is coming up at the end of September and the beginning of October. Hello, Emil please fill everybody in on all the fine details of the show.
EM: Hey Joe, thank you for having me on today, it's a lot of fun. I really appreciate you wanting to do the interview and just to clarify the Buffalo Comicon is being held on Saturday, Sept. 30th and Sunday, Oct. 1st at the end of this month.
JT: Where is the Buffalo Comicon going to be held this year?
EM: Well this is the third year in a row for the larger show that we do which is in dowtown Buffalo at the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center. The smaller shows that we do in the spring are held at the Marriott Inn. So this one happens to be the larger show and we have a whole bunch of guests' and people coming in and entertainment and panels.
JT: Who are some the comic book artists' that you have coming in for the show?
EM: We've got some local talent that's really popular and famous who will be here again. We have Graham Nolan who's a really good friend of ours. Graham lives in the WNY area and he created the character Bane which is probably Batman's biggest villain now next to the Joker. His other characters are still popular but Bane seems to have popped up to a larger degree from the Tom Hardy movie roles. We have another good artist who's a good friend of mine and he did alot of work for Marvel in the 90's his name is Steve Geiger. He was at Marvel during the era when the guys that formed Image comics were still at Marvel, they hadn't formed Image yet. We're talking about Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee and Erik Larsen. Steve did alot of cool stuff in that era, he did alot of real famous covers and he did a spin on the Hulk for a bit. We have Tony Isabella coming in who's a real famous comic book writer. He created the Black Lightning character for DC comics after he left Marvel. We comic book panels downstairs, we're going to have a big panel about Jack Kirby. We're going to have some experts talking about different decades of Jack's work and we're going to show some video and after that we'll have Q&A it should be alot of fun. We have a lot of good artists' and vendors, it's a good time for a bunch of nerd balls to hang out and have a good time.
JT: You are having a Cosplay contest right?
EM: Yes, we have a Cosplay show and a big Cosplay contest. Later in the evening we're having a Cosplay awards banquet at the end of the night, we'll have some free finger foods.
...There will also be Queen City Bookstore Awards. We're giving out a special metallic award, one's named after my father and some other people who've done great things for comics. It's really nice because it's the first time we will be doing it. Buffalo is an older city in many ways because it's one of the pioneering cities for comics in America. Queen City is 50 years old but there was people wheeling and dealing in comics in this city in the 40's and 50's. The heartbeat of fandom sort of sprang from Buffalo in many ways, of course New York City and Chicago and those places also but Buffalo was thriving in that area and there was a lot of people who really contributed to fandom which is basically the essence of what the hobby is all about. So I could go on and on but you may want to go the website and check out all the goodies we have listed it's www.buffalocomicon.com
JT: In my opinion this show is the best one in Buffalo, other stores in town do shows but this is the one that truly highlights comics and brings them to the forefront.
EM: Well thank you I glad you noticed that, that's how it should be because that's what we do. I don't sell autographs, I don't sell sports memorabilia, we'll leave that to the people who think they are comic book people because they are not. They don't bother me, not a big deal.
JT: The Buffalo Comicon is the biggest and best comic show in town. Emil does a great job, I've been to quite a few shows and I always had a great time.
EM: You've helped out as own of our associates and worked with us and we appreciate that.
JT: If you need Buffalo Comicon tickets you can come to Queen City Bookstore.
EM: Pre Sale tickets are available at the store and on the website at a discounted price. If you wait until the day of the show you can buy them at the door for $15 for an adult for one day and $10 for Sunday, you get a better price if you buy 2 tickets. That works for Saturday and Sunday for adults and youths.
JT: It's an all ages event.
EM: Yes it is, we're giving away 5000 free comics. There's also a nice event that happens in September it's right around the time of the show, it's called Batman day. This is the third consecutive year, this particular year Harley Quinn takes over the Batman title. She kidnaps the holiday for herself. There will be three specific Harley Quinn based comics we'll be giving out free this year...
...Come to the show, buy your ticket and enjoy the day. There's so much going on, there's so much entertainment you may want to pay me more if you want to for all that the price is so low for the amount of entertainment. We definitely would like to see everyone, all ages friendly for boys and girls. We want you to stop by and enjoy the show.
JT: If you don't have any comic books and you want to pick a couple up for free to start your collection you can go to Buffalo Comicon.
EM: It's a great hobby, it encourages you to read. Comic books are American originals just like jazz, hamburgers and baseball. Comic books are as American as you can get. Be proud of it and celebrate comics. We always have time if you stop by the store or the convention. Any one of the people that are here will spend time and talk to you and tell you about the history, how to collect it's our pleasure, we don't shut up, we'd love to talk to you about comics!
Thank You Emil!
Buffalo Comicon Official website www.buffalocomicon.com
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