To the Intervention 2011 Con Book

September 16-18, 2011 • Rockville, MD
Your Online Life, In-Person™
Words from the Con Chair
Intervention is back for year two! For those of
you who even remotely know me, this isn’t a
surprise. The level of insanity and sleepless
nights that brings about an event of this sort
is the kind of thing which might have been
hardwired into my brain at birth. I remember
when I was born – I was delivered to my family’s doorstep by a giant weasel that wore a
dapper crab hat. It was probably her fault that
I am already planning Intervention 2012.
matters more than ever that we try to support
the community with events like ours. Some of
the educational programming that we offer
would be prohibitively expensive anywhere
else. The Internet has opened so many doors
for people; for me, it helped change my life for
the better. Giving this back will always be at
the core of why we do this fun party. We aim
to give you the fish and the fishing rod.
If anything goes wrong during the weekend,
make sure to tell us about it so that we can
make it right. We’ll have a feedback panel at
the end of the con so that you can meet us all
face to face, share your thoughts about how
we did, and suggest how we can make 2012
even better than 2011.
But I digress! We are here to intervene and
inspire people to embrace their inner geekiness. I’m proud to announce the expansion
of Intervention’s schedule with our new children’s programming and video game track this
year. People asked for experiences where they
could bring the whole family and we have delivered on these requests.
You can always reach me personally on Twitter @Onezumi and Facebook as Onezumi
Hartstein. Follow @InterventionCon on Twitter and “Like” Intervention on Facebook to
keep up with con-specific news and even
share your own event pictures.
The reason we could deliver is because of
your support. Most events don’t make it past
the first year. Telling your friends about us, telling news sites about us, donating your money
and time to the event, simply just attending –
all of these things help us more than you can
imagine. Sure, Intervention is a killer party, but
in these troubled times full of budget cuts it
CON STAFF
Artist’s Alley/
Programming
Robert Thomas
Blogger
Michael Fenn
Board Gaming
Andrew Zorowitz
Children’s
Programming
Helene McLaughlin
Maurice Cook
Corinne Simmers
DJ
Dave Christman
Green Room
Jonette Butler
Guest Relations
Gloria Chapa
Hotel Liaison
Colette H. Fozard
Info Booth
Grig Larson
Christopher Raven
Miles Walsh
LARPs
P.J. Simmers
Ben W
Leonard Bass
Greg Benge
Dave Christoph
Chris Cunningham
Emily Fike
Jocelyn Fulljames
Alex Herman
Chris Hosmann
James McKee
Khalid McPherson
Rebecca McPherson
Thanks so much for coming. We couldn’t have
done this without you! See you next year!
<3 Oni!
Co-con Chairs
Onezumi Hartstein and James Harknell
Reed Susie
Steve Tasker
Sarah Zeiter
Security
Frank Huminski
Illya Kuryakin
Operations
Paul DiGennaro
Technical
Isaiah Beard
Performance
Coordinator
Gil Cnaan
Treasurer
Chuck Fozard
PR
Brian Lynch
Kristyn Souder
Publications
Chris Impink
Barb Fischer
Registration
Tiffanny Walsh
Chris Cunningham
Maureen Flanagan
Video
Terry Berendt
Video Gaming
Wesley Mason
Rebecka Myott
Ernest Oporto
Andrew Rozak
Volunteer
Coordinator
Rodger Burns
General Staff
Judy Al-Ahmary
Jami Borman
Jazmyn Borman
Scott Borman
Jefferson Eng
Maria Katsos
Kathryn Marino
Aristotle Pramagioulis
Kimu Theodore
Ian Webb
Volunteers
Kevin Copeland
Eric Hardenbrook
Izzy Peskowitz
Cathryn Smith
Jennifer Truss
1
RULES AND REGULATIONS
1. Please do not damage the convention
space. We like the hotel and the hotel
likes us; we want to keep it that way. This
includes painting or sketching on walls
(except for the function rooms that have
dry-erase walls), slamming doors, etc.
Please do not hang any flyers on any wall
or other surface of the hotel or convention space; we will have a specialized area
for hanging/placing flyers.
2. Please wear your attendee badges at
all times. There will be badge checkers
throughout the convention space and you
will be asked to return with your badge
if you do not have it on you in order to
access convention areas.
3. Intervention and the hotel are not respon-
sible for missing items. Any bag(s) or other
items left unattended around the convention space will likely be picked up by
either an Intervention staffer or another
attendee and be taken to Lost and Found
in Intervention Security (the Twinbrook
room) or to the hotel; please check with
both places to locate your item. The
item may be turned over to the police if
deemed necessary.
4. Please step off the main path to take
photos. If someone asks you for a photo,
please make sure you step out of the way
of traffic, entrances, stairs, and escalators
so that everyone else can still get by and
no one gets trampled.
5. Please remember that, in your hotel
room, there are other rooms next to you.
If you and several of your friends are talking, your neighbor can likely hear you. If
your neighbor, an Intervention staffer, or
someone from hotel staff comes to your
room to ask you to quiet down, please
be considerate and reduce the noise to a
dull roar or perhaps find someplace else
to talk.
2
6. The legal drinking age in Maryland is 21.
Do not drink alcohol at Intervention if you
are younger than 21. If you are of legal
age to drink, do not carry open alcohol
throughout the convention space. Keep it
to the bar, other appropriate areas where
alcohol is being sold by the hotel, or your
hotel room.
7. Please don’t run, play tag, or throw things
inside the convention space. Please also
don’t carry a radio, iPod or other device
that is playing music at a loud volume
(only you should be able to hear it).
Please use basic common sense.
Over 18 Events: Some events at Intervention are intended for an adult audience; you
will need to present your legal ID at the door,
showing that you are 18 or older, in order to attend these events. The following IDs will be accepted: US passport, permanent resident card,
driver’s license, government-issued ID card with
date of birth (federal, state, or local), military ID.
Costume Prop Guidelines
To ensure the general safety of Intervention’s
attendees, we can’t allow people to carry the
following types of weapons or props:
Live steel of any kind including knives,
swords, axes, martial arts equipment, or
any other type of bladed weapon.
Any weapon/prop that could currently
or in the past shoot a projectile (includes
water, aerosols/sprays, Airsoft guns, toy
bows, etc.).
Anything generally awkward to carry, or
that can’t be controlled by the person
carrying (i.e., it is so heavy that you are
consistently dropping it in the hallway, or
cannot keep it from swinging into other
attendees). Intervention staff will be the
final determinant as to whether something is too awkward or too dangerous to
be carried around the convention.
“The mute button was made for having to run a staff meeting with rocketship farts.” – Oni
Any item that is deemed to be too awk-
ward or dangerous to carry must either be
taken to the attendee’s hotel room, car,
or checked with the hotel bag check, or
otherwise removed from the active areas
of the convention.
Convention Badges
Convention badges ensure your access to all
convention events and must be worn where
visible at all times while in convention space.
Your legal name will be written on the back of
your badge; you can put whatever you want on
the front. You must have your badge with you
to get into any convention event. If you find a
convention badge, please turn it into Security;
you likely will make a fellow con- goer very
happy. The Chairs or any Vice Chair of Intervention reserve the right to revoke the badge
of any attendee not following or ignoring
these rules and guidelines and to request that
person leave the convention without a refund.
Badge Replacement Policy
In the event you lose your badge, please check
with both with Intervention’s Lost and Found
as well as the hotel’s version. If neither location has your badge, you may purchase a new
badge at Registration for a reduced price with
proof of registration. If you pre-registered,
please show your photo ID to the Registration
staff and they will locate your registration in
our pre-registration list. If you registered at
the convention, please bring your receipt as
well as your photo ID as proof of registration.
Replacement for single day badge: $10
Replacement for full weekend badge: $20
Refund Policy
Generally, no refunds will be issued for atdoor registrations purchased at the convention. Exceptions may be made on the sole
discretion of either the Convention Chairs or
Treasurer. Refund requests must be made during the convention. These personnel may be
located by going to the Information Booth and
asking that one of them be contacted via the
convention radio.
Lost and Found
We know that sometimes, no matter how hard
we try, things get left behind; at Intervention, we’re lucky enough to have wonderful
people (you!) that routinely find these things
and want to do everything possible to reunite
these lost items with their rightful owners. The
lost and found department will be available
at Intervention Security for people to drop
off and pick up lost items so if you’re missing
something, come check with us. Please don’t
forget to check with the hotel, too, just in case.
Please bear in mind that Intervention and the
hotel are not responsible for missing items.
Any item that is deemed potentially unsafe
may be turned over to the police. If you lose
an item at Intervention or have a found item
you’d like to help return to its owner and you
don’t find it/have a chance to drop it off before the convention ends, please contact Security with the subject line “Lost and Found.”
If we have your lost item, we will happily make
arrangements to return it to you.
Notice Regarding Audio/Video
Recording at Intervention 2011
You will be entering an area where photography, video and audio recording may occur. By
entering the event premises and/or your participation in this event, you are consenting to
the use of your photograph, likeness or video
or audio recording in whole or in part without
restriction or limitation for any educational,
promotional, any purpose for distribution in
online and printed publications or any public
in other media. You release the event sponsor,
its officers, employees, contractors and each
and all persons involved from any liability connected with the taking, recording, digitizing or
publication of interviews, photographs, computer images, video and/or sound recordings.
By entering the event premises, you waive all
rights you may have to any claims for payment
or royalties in connection with any exhibition,
streaming, web casting, television or other
publication of these materials regardless of
the purpose or sponsoring of such exhibiting,
broadcasting, web casting or other publication
irrespective of whether a fee for admission or
sponsorship is charged. You also waive any
right to inspect or approve any photo, video,
or audio recording taken by the event host or
the person or entity designated to do so by
the event host. You have been fully informed
of your consent, waiver of liability and release
before entering the event.
3
GUEST BIOGRAPHIES
Pete Abrams • Sluggy Freelance
http://www.sluggy.com/
Pete Abrams is the creator of the highly addictive niftiness that is Sluggy Freelance, a remarkably twisted daily online comic strip that
has been appearing at
www.sluggy.com since
August 25, 1997.
Starting the comic
strip as a creative outlet, his world with the
switchblade-wielding
rabbit quickly expanded into uncharted territory and grew into over a decade of alien
vampire missile-launching fun. Since its Satanspamming beginnings, Sluggy Freelance has
attracted a devoted global following and is
one of the most popular and well-known comics on the web.
Pete holds the honor of being twice-invited
as a speaker at Harvard conventions as well
as at a Vassar convention, making him all ivyleague-ish. Pete has gained recognition not
only online, but through such high profile
appearances as the original comics included
in NY Times-bestselling author John Ringo’s
Hell’s Faire, and as part of the New York’s Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art webcomics exhibition in Fall, 2007, as well as appearances
on NPR’s Weekend Edition with Liane Hansen.
Pete is reputed to be the first person to ever
make a living by drawing a webcomic.
Currently, Pete lives in New Jersey (and doesn’t
even mind it) with his wife, Rachel, and two
daughters, Leah and Sarah.
ile, and his quest to save his kingdom from the
country of powerful, grudge-bearing sorcerers
that have taken it over. The young king must
travel far across the
wilds of his dying land,
accompanied only by a
few unlikely and unexpected protectors —
who include a wild elf
whose entire clan has
mysteriously disappeared, a shape-shifting girl from a magical
ascended race who knows little of the mortal
world, and a huge man-eating forest beast with
an academic bent.
Chezhnian has been world-building the setting in which Tamuran takes place for over
12 years. The world of Tamuran has been under the pen for five years and counting, two
of which have been spent in good company
co-writing the comic script and contributing
to design work. Writing music is also one of
Chezhnian’s passions, and an original score
soundtrack inspired by and for the comic is
currently in progress.
Eren has been drawing webcomics since
2005, when he started working on Shades
of Veil (http://www.shadesofveil.net/) as an
homage to his college roommates’ Dungeons
and Dragons campaign. Now he is focusing his
comicking mainly on co-writing and illustrating Tamuran. Eren recently spent a year and
a half teaching English in elementary and junior high schools in Japan, where his drawing
skills and love of manga ended up being just
as useful as his Japanese language degree.
Chezhnian Angelus and Erin “eren”
Fitzgerald • Tamuran
Antipode
http://tamurancomic.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Antipode/
144889438907660
Chezhnian Angelus (right) and Erin “eren”
Fitzgerald (left) are the respective creator/writer
and artist/co-writer of Tamuran, a manga-style
epic fantasy webcomic. Tamuran is a story about
a young royal heir suddenly turned king-in-ex-
4
http://www.youtube.com/user/AylaTheBellyDancer
Taking “fantasy bellydance” to the next level,
Antipode loves to mix belly dance, cosplay,
pop culture, and off-beat humor to bring congoers not just a dance, but full geek entertain-
“If my ovaries were ducks, I’d call them Mr. Bernice and Pantagonia III. Their nest would be fierce." – Oni
ment.
Antipode consists
of Ayla (choreographer),
Te r m a r i e l
(scriptwriter),
&
Merika
(costume designer)
and
will feature the Penn State Belly Dance Club
at Intervention this year. As they “aim to misbehave”, Antipode will perform “Super Mario
Belly Dance World” and “Guile’s Theme Goes
With Bellydance: An Internet Meme Tribute”.
For more information about Antipode, check
them out on YouTube or Facebook at the addresses above.
Rob Balder
Erfworld / The FuMP / Partially Clips
http://www.erfworld.com
Rob Balder is a webcomics author and comedy musician. In 2002, his clip-art comic strip
PartiallyClips (http://www.partiallyclips.com)
began running in altweekly newspapers
and magazines. Since
2010 the strip has
continued under the
authorship of Tim
Crist. Rob co-founded
the Funny Music Project (http://www.thefump.com). His songs
are often heard on the Dr. Demento Show, including the #3 most requested song of 2009,
“Gamer Funk.” Most of his time is currently
consumed writing Erfworld, an epic fantasy/
comedy comic about an obsessive strategy
gamer who is summoned to fight a real war.
Time magazine named Erfworld one of its top
ten graphic novels of 2007, and Wired.com
called it “Geekiest Comic Ever.”
Christopher Baldwin
Spacetrawler, Little Dee
http://spacetrawler.com/
Christopher Baldwin is a cartoonist, currently
producing the science fiction webcomic Spacetrawler as well being a regular contributor to
MAD Magazine. He began doing webcomics
with his strip, Bruno (http://www.baldwinpage.
co m / b r u n o . h t m l ) ,
starting in 1996 which
ran daily for eleven
years, and Little Dee
(http://www.littledee.
net/) in 2004, which
ran six years. He has
been written up in the
Washington Post, The
Telegraph, CNN Online, io9.com, and many others. He had a Hollywood option contract for
Bruno with director Jeremiah Chechik, and was
represented by United Syndicate for Little Dee.
He’s a New Englander at heart, having grown
up in Massachusetts, and currently resides in
Seattle, WA with his girlfriend and four cats.
Blue • Hello, The Future!
http://www.hello-the-future.net/
Blue, of Hello, The Future! is a geekrocker who
puts up a new song every week at http://www.
hello-the-future.net. Her music is 20% manic,
20% pixie, and 60%
dream girl. She received a “Best in Jamspace” award at PAXEast 2011, which is
awesome, and is part
of the Mink Car Cover
project (19 of your favorite geek artists covering TMBG’s Mink Car
for the benefit of the FDNY Foundation; more
at http://www.minkcarcover.com). Blue sings
about robots, monkeys, tractors, more robots,
webcomics, LARPing, Portal 2, giant robots, and
Twitter (@HelloTheFuture). There are parts in
her songs for your smartphones, so make sure
they’re charged and ready to go.
Matt Blum
Wired.com GeekDad Blog
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/
Matt Blum is the Managing Editor of the GeekDad blog on Wired.
com, and has been
writing for the blog
since the spring of
2007. He lives in
Northern
Virginia
with his wife and two
kids, all of whom are
5
also geeks, and two cats, who probably aren’t
geeks but one of whose names is “Gandalf,”
so that should count for something. In his day
job, Matt is a software engineer, and his geeky
interests include (but are not limited to) science fiction, the Muppets, LEGO, board games,
video games, and bacon.
Jennie Breeden • The Devil’s Panties
http://thedevilspanties.com/
Jennie Breeden is the creator of the autobiographical webcomic, The Devil’s Panties. Ms
Breeden has been posting her daily webcomic
since 2001, over
3,000 comic strips online and five graphic
novels that are in
comic shops and book
stores around the
world. She documents
her adventures at conventions and in life.
Really, who hasn’t
gone clubbing with pirates in Canada, hunted
dinosaurs in Virginia, and stalked zombies in
an abandoned mall in Burlington? She’s still
keeping an eye out for those pesky ninjas who
periodically steal her Sharpies. She lives with
her boyfriend in Atlanta, Georgia, where they
eat a disproportionate amount of popcorn.
T. Campbell and Phil Kahn
Guilded Age
http://guildedage.net/
An ex-stage actor and failed Internet shut-in,
T Campbell has written eighteen gazintillion pages of comics, including Guilded Age,
Penny and Aggie (http://pennyandaggie.
com/), Fans, Cool Cat Studio, Divalicious,
Search Engine Funnies, Rip and Teri, and just
a little Avengers. He spends his “spare time”
designing crosswords, drafting health care
bills and seeking the Anti-Life Equation.
A long-time Professional Neckbeard, Phil Kahn
has spent a few years
writing for various
webcomic, webcomic
criticism, and webcomic enthusiast sites
and now is trying to
take his accumulated
knowledge and put it
6
all to good use on Guilded Age. While building
a daytime career as an
A/V technician and an
IT support specialist,
he also spends a great
deal of time practicing silly voices/faces
in front of a mirror for
the inevitable day where the only thing that can
save the whole of humanity from certain doom
is his impression of Henchman #24. Out of the
three creators, he has spent the most time playing MMORPGs and is totally that Gnome Warlock who just won’t DIE ALREADY.
Dave Chalker • Critical•Hits.com
http://critical-hits.com/
As the son of a science fiction author and a science fiction fan, Dave “The Game” Chalker grew
up around science fiction, fantasy, technology
and most importantly to him, gaming. As the
founder and editor-inchief of the award-winning gaming blog, Critical-Hits.com, Dave and
his team of bloggers
have been providing
gaming news, reviews,
and editorials since
2005. Dave also is a
co-founder of the RPG
Bloggers Network, co-host of the Dungeon Master Guys podcast, a freelancer for Wizards of the
Coast, a designer for Margaret Weis Productions, and a developer for a variety of board
game companies. He once took a lot of damage
from Gary Gygax’s wild boar.
Christiann • Sticky Comics
http://www.stickycomics.com/
Christiann MacAuley is the creator of the
humor webcomic, Sticky Comics. A former
zine-ster, Christiann creates her cute but irreverent comics with
actual paper and ink
for bonus indie cred.
Christiann’s work has
been seen around the
internet on esteemed
venues like Gizmodo,
Groklaw, and Daring
“WINNIE THE POOH IS THE VIN DIESEL OF LITERATURE AND DON’T YOU FORGET IT.” – Oni
Fireball. This year, she has shown her work
at DC area art shows and is publishing a collection of her cartoons, tentatively titled The
Sticky Comics Picture Book. Christiann lives in
Arlington, Virginia.
Elaine Corvidae • Riven Sol
http://www.rivensol.com/
Elaine Corvidae’s mom taught her how to read
using Uncle Scrooge comic books, which is no
doubt why she always dreamed of doing her
own comic. When she
read her first webcomic in 1998, Elaine fell
in love with the medium. She began serializing her first science
fiction novel online in
2004, and finally
launched her first webcomic this year. Riven
Sol combines her love
of digital art, H.P. Lovecraft, and science fiction.
In addition to her online work, Elaine is the author of eleven fantasy novels and numerous
short stories and novellas. She lives near Charlotte, NC, with her husband and their adorable
cats, and enjoys brewing her own beer and
eating vegetarian food.
Cosplay Burlesque
http://www.cosplayburlesque.com/
Cosplay Burlesque is a group of burlesque performers and cosplayers dedicated to combining
the two for your entertainment. Our mission is
to take the characters fans already enjoy and
make them naughty! There is no fandom that
we’ll leave untouched in our quest for great
source material. We are fan fiction come to life!
Kara Dennison
Con Screw and
many other comics
http://www.conscrew.com/
Kara Dennison (AKA The
Heaven-Breaking Pen,
etc.) is a deadly force
of nature whose introduction into your universe comes in the form
of broken arms and shattered spirits. It’s not
surprising given her feats of fancy: aside from
making the sun go supernova in the year 7689
due to a time paradox, she’s drawn and written several webcomics, including the recentlywrapped ConScrew, and Fanbreeding for Nth
Degree Magazine (http://www.nthzine.com/).
Her acting talents can be seen in various productions (both on stage and in voice) and regular appearances with the elite Luna-C comedy
troupe (http://www.comedyoflunac.com/). Her
costuming talents have been proven deadly
enough to render a certain Japanese cosplay
idol giddy with joy (before she broke her heart).
Currently, she wanders the pop culture wasteland, searching for the truth that eludes us all.
Pray that she’s still out there....
Tony DiGerolamo
Super Frat
http://www.superfrat.
com/
Tony DiGerolamo is a
screenwriter, novelist,
comedian and writer
for The Simpsons and
Bart Simpson comics.
He’s written for Space
Ghost: Coast to Coast and Politically Incorrect
with Bill Maher. He’s the creator of the Super
Frat webcomic and co-creator of The Webcomic Factory (http://www.thewebcomicfactory.
com), a high quality, webcomic hub that posts
a new webcomic every day.
7
Eien Strife
http://eien-strife.com/
Welcome to the mystic
forest that covers the
world we know as “Terina”. The land’s breathtaking aura is so spiritually
and physically immense
that the trees’ strength
is the foundation for all
of the life that inhabits
the forest. Although there are many different
villages and cultures throughout Terina, there
is no interaction or even knowledge of each
other. While this is for their own good, that fact
is about to change so they can use their skills
together to solve the puzzles that will save the
Forest and each other.
The plan of “Eien Strife” has been set
into motion…
Chris Flick • Capes & Babes
http://www.capesnbabes.com/
Having graduated from Radford University in
1991 with a graphic design and commercial illustration degree, Chris has worked in a wide range
of graphic design fields — from silk-screen illustrator to an advertising agency graphic designer.
In between, he has done freelance commercial
illustration and caricature work.
In 1999, he taught himself html and eventually went on to co-author two books about web
design — both of which were published by
New Riders Press. It was this association with
New Riders Press that lead him to start a promotional webcomic strip for the website, Community MX (www.communitymx.com) which he
has been doing weekly since May 2004. That
webcomic is called CMX Suite and can be read
every Wednesday at Community MX.
After a few years of
working on CMX Suite,
and after talking to a
wide variety of other
webcomic
creators
such as Brad Guigar
and Danielle Corsetto
at various comic book
8
conventions he attended, Chris decided to
create an entirely new comic strip comprised
of his own characters and dealing with his love
of comic book and super heroes. In November of 2007, Capes & Babes was born. Capes
& Babes is a webcomic about a strip mall, a
comic book shop and one crazy werewolf and
can be read online three times a week.
E. Foley • Geek’s Dream Girl
http://geeksdreamgirl.com/
Since 2008, E. Foley of Geek’s Dream Girl has
been helping geeks from around the world
find love. She writes amazing online dating
profiles for her fellow
geeks and guides
them through the perilous waters of the
dating scene and out
the other side. She’s
totally proud to report
that she’s even caused
a couple of geek weddings! By day, she is
the Copywriter at ThinkGeek, where her greatest challenges are coming up with enough
Star Wars jokes that only reference the good
movies and remembering which supers are
Somethingman, Something Man, or Something-man. You can find her at GeeksDreamGirl.com or as @geeksdreamgirl on Twitter.
Shaenon Garrity
Skin Horse, Narbonic
http://www.skin-horse.com/
Shaenon K. Garrity is an award-winning cartoonist and scriptwriter best known for the online
comics Narbonic (http://www.narbonic.com/),
Li’l Mell (http://girlamatic.com/mell/),
Smithson (http://www.
smithsoncomic.com/),
and Skin Horse. She
works as a manga editor for Viz Media and
teaches at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. Her writing on
comics appears in The Comics Journal, Otaku
USA, and Comixology.com. She lives in Berkeley
with her husband Andrew and their cat Tesla.
“I just got the best idea involving flying fish, a typewriter, a bowl of wax fruit, and a tentacle of the purple color!” – Oni
Darren Gendron • Alignments
http://wizards.com/DnD
Darren J. Gendron has a plan. He wants to ride
a triceratops in the World Championship of
Jousting. The easy part will be genetically
cloning dinosaurs back to life. I mean, Samuel
L. Jackson once helped people do that. The
hard part will be to make jousting a relevant
sport again. To that end, he has become the
Dern of Dernwerks, a
writer, artist, and
known scallywag. He’s
the writer of Hello
With Cheese (http://
www.hellowithcheese.com/) and the
Dungeons and Dragons comic, Alignments.
He’s the manager of
Commissioned Comic (http://commissionedcomic.com/), and you can also hear him on the
Cheese Cast.
If you come in contact with Dern in the wild,
you can calm him and draw his attention with
the traditional call of “Heyo Dern!” Be warned
that he may still be hostile to you if you are a
hobo or a clown. Oddly, hobo clowns are not
threatening to him.
Dave Ghoul • DJ
http://daveghoul.com/
Dave Ghoul is a long-time DJ and event organizer from Philadelphia that specializes in
Dark Alternative Dance Music. He has performed at some of the
largest dark-themed
events in the U.S. and
is well known for his
energy, versatility, and
large arsenal of music.
He currently has residencies at Dorian’s
Parlor and Shadowland Lancaster.
With over 15 years of experience in DJing and
event organization, along with a strong love of
all things spooky, Dave Ghoul brings a high level of knowledge and distinctive entertainment
unmatched by most. Dave will be DJing both
nights at Intervention; Friday being a Goth/
Industrial/Darkwave theme, Saturday a Steam-
punk theme – both starting around 10-10:30pm
(and going until well past your bedtime).
Dave Ghoul can be contacted by email —
dave at daveghoul.com or visit his website at
DaveGhoul.com.
Carrie Gouldin • Web Community
Manager for ThinkGeek.com
http://www.thinkgeek.com/
It’s hard, ridiculous work being a social media
monkey at ThinkGeek.com.
Carrie heads up the Twitter, Facebook, blog,
email, and Geek Points
team at the top 200
Internet Retailer – and
with an engagingly
geeky audience, it’s
easy to get sucked
into a day of @ replies
and Facebook threads
about the dangers of
warp core breaches,
the best companion thus far, and what it
means to be a Bronie. In keeping with ThinkGeek’s mantra to be awesome, Carrie does her
best to entertain as well as assist the half a
million smart masses that follow ThinkGeek.
It’s customer service wrapped in bacon.
And ThinkGeek loves bacon.
Garth Graham • Finders Keepers
http://www.finderskeepers.gcgstudios.com
“Hey you sass that hoopy Garth Graham?
Now there’s a frood who really knows where
his towel is,” would be the words on the lips of
internet trawlers the world ‘round if we didn’t
happen to live in the unfashionable western
spiral arm of the galaxy. Instead, Garth lurks
in moderate obscurity churning out captivating comics since 2004 in an artistic style
that mystically abducts the essences of both
western comics and eastern manga; blending
them together through patent pending methods into an addictive
drug that tantalizes
the optic nerves in
ways science has yet
to be able to explain.
His latest artistic creation is Finder’s Keep-
9
ers, the dark urban fantasy of a young lady
who accidentally claims the soul of a man
who is not entirely human, thus entangling
herself in a mystery that spans the breadth
of human imagination. A mystery whose solution will most likely get her killed, but is the
only thing that can return her to a normal life
and break the bond between herself and her
otherworldly companion.
Garth is also becoming well known for his
steampunk art, though his heart will always
belong to cyberpunk.
Mike Hall and Ryan Thompson •
Darkstar Studios
http://www.darkstar-studios.com
Darkstar Studios was founded in 2007 by Mike
Hall; it currently features three webcomics:
Across the Multiverse, [sic] Productions, and the
most recent addition,
Fajita, which was created by Ryan Thompson who joined the
Darkstar ranks in 2009.
Between all three comics, the site updates
five days a week.
Mike Hall has been
drawing since his hand could hold a pencil,
but until 2004 it was always in a sketchpad
and most of those sketchpads would end
up in a box hidden deep within his closet. In
2004, an opportunity presented itself to allow
Mike to bring his work to light in the form of a
webcomic. His first attempts were, by his own
admission, “very uninspired” and he quickly
sought out the help of the international playboy Brian Godwin to get the comic on track.
Mike soon found himself with a writer and
drawing full color comics on a weekly basis.
In 2007 Mike decided to go out on his own
and launched Darkstar Studios which housed
his new comic, Across The Multiverse, and took
over hosting of [sic] Productions, which resumed updates in early 2010.
Ryan Thompson is the latest addition to Darkstar Studios lineup. Born and raised in Germany for 10 years on a steady diet of Ninja
Turtles and Pokémon, Ryan discovered webcomics at age 13. Inspired, he intensified his
already passionate work in comics, hoping to
10
someday run his own
projects. He is now
the artist and writer
for his webcomic, Fajita. A lifelong fan of
comics, and die-hard
cartoon enthusiast,
Ryan hopes to bring
his personal eclecticism, beliefs, and experimental styling’s to the
world through his work.
James Harknell • Stupid and Insane
Defenders Against Chaos / My
Annoying Life / AWSOM.org / Erfworld
http://www.awsom.org/
Harknell has been working with Onezumi for
over 11 years. After noticing that there was
very little online to help artists, he decided to
do something about it.
Harknell customized his first art-centric Content
Management
System in 2003. Today he releases Wordpress plugins at AWSOM.org and serves
as a webmaster and
guide for the online
comic and blogging
industry. His most recent accomplishments
include custom website installs for Stupid and
Insane Defenders Against Chaos and Erfworld.
Harknell co-founded Intervention and develops free iPhone apps for webcomics.
Harknell is best known for his easy to understand way of helping artists get their websites
up and running. He has been a recurring guest
speaker at places like XM Satellite Radio, Katsucon (http://www.katsucon.org), Ubercon
(http://www.Ubercon.com), Balticon (http://
www.balticon.org), and Otakon (http://www.
Otakon.com).
Today he lives in New Jersey with Onezumi
and way too many computers.
Becky Sherrick Harks
Mommy Wants Vodka
http://mommywantsvodka.com/
Becky Sherrick Harks, known to the internet
as Aunt Becky, writes the award-winning blog,
“A lot of stuff in life sucks. Focus on what you love and dance like a polar bear with king and queen ovaries." – Oni
Mommy Wants Vodka.
While she poses as a
mediocre blogger and
a mother to three children, she’s actually an
undercover CIA operative who saves the
world with her mad
skillz. Becky Sherrick
Harks also knows how to use the microwave.
Onezumi Hartstein • Stupid and
Insane Defenders Against Chaos
http://www.onezumi.com/
Fans say that Onezumi is what would happen
if Dirty Harry and
Weird Al Yankovic had
a daughter that loved
to draw.
Oni is one of the most
active contributors to
and supporter of the
webcomics scene:
She writes and
draws Stupid and Insane Defenders
Against Chaos: A Lovecraftian Horror
Comedy.
Her dev team made the Webcomics Central App Service. They give free custom
iPhone apps to other webcomics.
She founded an entire webcomics and
new media convention. Intervention is
a convention for webcomics, fans, and
creators who want to learn, have fun, or
just geek out.
She posts random art, more tutorials, and
awesomeness in her personal blog, Onezumiverse (http://www.onezumiverse.com/).
Bill Holbrook
Kevin and Kell, and other comics
http://www.kevinandkell.com/
Bill Holbrook grew up in the Space Age atmosphere of Huntsville, Ala. in the 1960s. Upon
graduating from Auburn University in 1980 he
was hired by The Atlanta Constitution as an editorial staff artist. After several attempts at syndication, his office strip, On the Fastrack (http://
www.kingfeatures.com/features/comics/fas-
track/about.htm), was
picked up by King Features and debuted in
150 papers on March
19, 1984.
Eleven days before
that, he’d met Teri
Peitso on a blind date.
They were married on
Pearl Harbor Day, 1985, and now have two
daughters. They also gave birth to a second
strip about kids called Safe Havens (http://
www.safehavenscomic.com/).
In September 1995, he began a new strip
called Kevin & Kell and sold it exclusively to
online clients, which collectively get over
three million page views a month. It has been
featured in fifteen book collections, the latest being Kevin & Kell: On Strike which will be
published by Moonbase Press in 2010. He was
named Cartoonist of the Year at the 1998 Pogofest, an annual gathering in Waycross honoring the great Walt Kelly and Pogo. Kevin & Kell
was given the Ursa Major Award in 2003 for
“Best Anthropomorphic Comic Strip”. In 2004,
it entered the newspaper domain by appearing daily in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Chris Impink and Barb Fischer
Sledgebunny
http://unseenllc.com/sledgebunny/
Studio Unseen is made up of two carbon-based
creatures: Chris Impink and Barb Fischer. They recently premiered their new project, Sledgebunny:
a sports-anime-inspired comic that takes place
in the fast-paced world of flat track roller derby.
On December 30, 2009, they closed the book on
Fragile Gravity, a strip that featured independent
comics, conventions, and (in an earlier arc) an
invasionary force of penguins. Oh, and an extrabitter stoat.
Chris Impink does the artwork and web design; he has been featured in Antarctic Press
and did much of the
graphic work for The
Babylon Project roleplaying game. Additionally, his work has
been featured at various conventions such
as Katsucon, Technicon,
11
and Rising Star. He is also mildly notorious
for co-founding Katsucon, though his team
of spin doctors has kept that under wraps for
many years. In his rare moments of free time,
Chris works with the crew from Super Art Fight
(http://www.superartfight.com), running the
Wheel of Death and notching up wins on the
championship belt.
Barb Fischer does the writing as well as merchandise assembly and convention spotting;
when not plotting out the nuts and bolts of
Sledgebunny, she supervises the geek training
of her ten-year-old son, who now enjoys listening to the themes to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the
Galaxy and Doctor Who. She hopes one day to
conquer the world with her invincible shelving
robots, but has yet to find anyone who would
buy her enough Legos to start construction.
Insane Ian • The FuMP
Insane Ian is a comedian/writer from Baltimore MD who has been in several bands and
enjoys writing third-person bios about himself. He specializes in
music about video
games and nerdy culture, but also finds
time to work in songs
about TV shows, the
Moon, and actress
Christina Ricci. After
various
comedy
“bands” throughout
high school and college, Ian found success after parodying the Foreigner hit “Juke Box
Hero” as “Guitar Hero” went on to become the
#11 Most Requested Song on the Dr. Demento show for 2008 (to Ian, 11 is just Number 1...
twice). Since then, II has been hard at work,
releasing two EPs, and two full-length CDs:
2009’s n3rds0ngs and the recently released
The Last Arcade. When not writing songs about
video games, playing games, or reviewing
games, Ian is...wait, IS there anything else?
Ben Kahan • Ansem Retort
http://www.ansemretort.org/
Ben Kahan is the writer and creator of the webcomic, Ansem Retort. Ben has been making
Ansem Retort, a Kingdom Hearts sprite comic
that has nothing to do with Kingdom Hearts,
since 2005. Holding to the commandment
12
“I AM A T REX & I WOULD LIKE A DAPPER COFFEE." – Oni
that nothing’s sacred,
nothing and nobody
is off limits – morals
are gleefully thrown
out the window. If it
can offend somebody,
he’s made a comic
about it. Originally
from
Connecticut,
Ben spends most of the year in Philadelphia,
where he is an English major at the University
of Pennsylvania. Ben has worked for the Howard Stern Show and will be published in the
upcoming Graphic Novels, an academic source
from Salem Press.
Eric Kimball • Exiern
http://exiern.com/
Eric Kimball (Drowemos) is the writer for the
webcomics, Exiern and Blade Bunny (http://
bladebunny.com). Exiern is a fantasy parody
exploring about a barbarian warrior that
gets turned into a barbarian maiden by an
errant wizards spell.
The comic explores
gender roles and selfperceptions in a humorous, light-hearted
way. Blade Bunny follows the adventures of a ninja assassin in a
Playboy bunny outfit. As for Eric, he’s just a
guy who still finds the word ”titmouse” funny.
Ben McCormick • Reality Amuck
http://www.racomics.com/
Tovias (a.k.a. Ben McCormick) began Reality Amuck in August of
2003 and made every
rookie mistake possible. After six years
of attempted starts,
he left his job as a
systems engineer and
now works full-time on the comic.
He currently lives in Southeastern Virginia in studio
full of comic books and action figures (“THEY’RE
NOT DOLLS!”) where he writes and draws Reality
Amuck into the wee hours of the night.
Brian McLaughlin • Wired.com
GeekDad Contributor, NASA
http://wired.com/geekdad
Brian McLaughlin has always been very interested in all things related to science and engineering. Brian studied artificial intelligence as
a part of his undergraduate work in computer
science: specifically, artificial intelligence
within virtual worlds such as video games and
interactive learning environments. Pursuing
his interest in space,
Brian began his career
within the NASA community supporting the
developments of the
Wide Field Camera 3
and Cosmic Origins
Spectrograph instruments for the Hubble
Space
Telescope,
which were successfully installed during Hubble Servicing Mission 4. He is currently supporting the next generation of polar orbiting
weather satellites and a mission to return a
sample from an asteroid.
Brian is also a contributor to GeekDad on
Wired.com where he generally writes about
space exploration and astronomy. Brian enjoys science fiction in its many forms. He
believes the importance of science fiction
in capturing the imagination of the general
public, as well as the next generation of scientists and engineers, can not be overstated. He
shares his love of space, science, engineering,
science fiction and many other topics with his
beautiful wife and two amazing boys, one of
whom has so much exposure to BBC sci-fi that
he says “Doctor Who” with a British accent.
Helene McLaughlin • GeekMom Blog
http://geekmom.com/
Helene McLaughlin has been a contributing
writer to the GeekMom blog since early 2011,
encouraged by her
husband and fellow
GeekDad writer. Before her life as a stayat-home-mom to two
little boys, she was
a data analyst at the
Space Telescope Science Institute. She has
discovered supernovae, explored the Orion
Nebula, scanned the Hubble Deep Field, processed Spitzer galaxy images, and analyzed
countless FUSE spectra.
Her love of science started at a very young age
and her passion for getting kids excited about
science started in high school. She has put on
summer camps specifically for 4th and 5th
grade girls focused entirely on space science.
She recently combined her love of steampunk
with her love of science experimentation into
Lady Astrid’s Laboratory (http://ladyastridslaboratory.com/), a site filled with experiments
you can do at home.
Helene is an avid Doctor Who and Torchwood
fan, and writes the weekly episode recaps of
Doctor Who for the GeekMom blog.
Sara Mitchell • NASA Blueshift
(Syneren Technologies & NASA’s
Goddard Space Flight Center)
http://universe.nasa.gov/blueshift
Sara Mitchell is neither an astronaut nor a
rocket scientist, so she’s pretty excited that
her role as a “translator” in NASA’s education
and outreach programs gives her access to
both. Younger than Voyager and older than
Hubble, Sara grew up daydreaming under the
swirling heavens at Louisiana State University’s planetarium. She’s passionate about making astronomy fun and accessible to a variety
of audiences, and has spent the past eight
years on contract to NASA’s Goddard Space
Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, collaborating
on projects to engage and educate people of
all ages. Sara appreciates the fact that doing
educational work allows her to indulge her
own desire to continue learning – meeting
interesting people, going new places, and
finding out about all of the weird and wonderful things going on in space science. She
has a “cosmic bucket list” of space-related
things to see and do, like experiencing a full
solar eclipse, seeing the aurorae, visiting a
place with 24-hour
days (or nights), and
taking a flight on the
zero-g “vomit comet.”
In her not-so-copious
spare time, Sara enjoys zombie movies,
board games, and
13
potentially dangerous kitchen experiments.
She drinks her tea with plenty of honey and
would be happy to engage you in a debate
about the best episode of Buffy the Vampire
Slayer or tell you the origin story of her olfactory superpowers.
Blueshift Twitter: http://twitter.com/
NASAblueshift
Steve Napierski • Dueling Analogs
can office romance
comic, Yellow Peril, and
co-founder of Super Art
Fight. In his spare time,
he journeys through
parallel worlds recruiting fellow Kamen Riders to join in the fight
against the evil empire,
Dai Shocker.
http://duelinganalogs.com/
Ross Nover • The System
Steve Napierski first got into webcomics in
1999 with the ill-fated Life With Fishnets about
his local Rocky Horror cast. In 2004, he began
work laying out and
coloring Bored and
Evil, a task he performed for the first
two years of that comic’s run. The following
year he launched the
daily webcomic, The
Outer Circle, and later
that year he debuted
the twice-weekly Dueling Analogs. He is also
the founder of the webcomic group, Gamers
Pair of Dice.
http://www.notquitewrong.com/rosscottinc/
Bree Rubin • Nerd Comics
http://www.sexdrugsandjunecleaver.com/
Bree Rubin is the co-founder of NERD comics
(http://www.nerdcomics.com/). She is the creator of two regular webcomics, the autobiographical Sex, Drugs, &
June Cleaver and the
irreverent story about
the business of God,
Mysterious Ways, Inc.
(http://mysteriouswaysinc.com/). She is
also responsible for
several self-published
comic titles, such as
Silly Rabbit: Revenge of the Trix Rabbit. Known
for drinking to excess and general rowdy behavior, be wary if she offers you baked goods.
Jamie Noguchi • Yellow Peril
http://ypcomic.com/
Jamie Noguchi is a DC area illustrator and cartoonist. He is the creator of the Asian Ameri-
14
Rosscott is kinda famous on the Internet. Between podcasting, blogging, and writing bios
about himself in the third person, he finds
time to write the always amazing webcomic The System, a
daily comic-strip style
mess starring iconography and graphics
most notable from
street and wayfinding
signage. Having been
written about in Fleen,
Comic Book Resources, and onward through
the blogosphere (which surprisingly does not
set off my spell check), The System and its
growing fans (known as Systemics) are sneaking up behind you and hoping that you join
their ranks, for which you may receive a cookie*. While he often travels, he maintains his
humble apartment in Washington, DC (which
is in need of a fair amount of tidying).
*Cookie currently unavailable.
Radio Cobalt Presents
“The Tombstone Teeth”
http://www.radiocobalt.com/
The Tombstone Teeth are one of the legendary
bands who regularly feature on Radio Cobalt’s
“Track of the Week”. Infamous as the first postpunk avant-garde rock band to travel through
time, the Tombstone Teeth will
be making their
first
appearance this century at Intervention. They will
be performing
“Sometimes, when staying positive regardless of the crap doesn’t work you really do have to kneelift someone up the asscrack.” – Oni
perform a choice selection of their lost classics including: “Masterson the Bat”, “Live Minnows” and “X the Unknown”.
original cartoons are also included in the
permanent collection of the Muskegon Museum of Art.
Appearing at Intervention: C W Cobalt (lyricist,
conceptual artist, internet poet and charlatan);
Lord Claudius von Vile Silencer (keyboard
maestro, philosopher, cultivator of psychotropic limes); Bread Morton (guitarist, explorer,
interstellar architect); and, making his first appearance on drums, Congressman Click Transparency (formerly of the Inter-Dimensional
Time Senate). Catch up with them at www.
RadioCobalt.com.
Tom “Devo Spice” Rockwell
David Reddick • Legend of Bill
http://www.legendofbill.com/
David Reddick is a professional cartoonist
and the creator/writer/artist of the gloriously *cough* savage Legend of Bill, as well
as The Trek Life (previously) at CBS/STARTREK.
COM, Gene’s Journal and Rod & Barry at Roddenberry.com, and he is a full-time cartoonist
at Paws, Inc., where he works on the Garfield
worldwide property.
David also worked as an award-winning
staff cartoonist at a daily newspaper for
six years where his editorial cartoons and
single-panel cartoons were distributed to
newspapers nationwide through Artizans
Syndicate, Scripps Howard News Service
and CNHI News Service. David also produces comics and cartoons for magazines
like Star Trek Magazine, Knights of the Dinner Table, Renaissance Magazine, Nickelodeon and Scholastic’s The New York Times
Upfront, to name a few, and has created
comic book work for IDW Publishing and
Tokyopop, has created product designs for
various companies like Paramount Pictures,
CBS Studios, Roddenberry Productions,
Canson, Inc. and the NCAA, has created mobile content for providers like CBSMobile
and ROK Media in the UK, and his abstract
and pop art paintings have been exhibited
in galleries and museums in Indianapolis, Florida, Michigan,
England and France,
and he has painted
wall murals in Japan.
One of David’s original paintings and 3
http://www.devospice.com/index.php
Devo Spice is a nerdcore/comedy/hip hop artist from New Jersey who has become one of
the most popular artists on the nationally syndicated Dr. Demento
Show. Devo Spice performs regularly across
the country at music
clubs, comedy clubs,
and science fiction
conventions. He has
shared the stage with
Dr. Demento, MC Lars,
MC Frontalot, Jonathan Coulton, Paul and Storm, and many others. The live show features videos and animations synchronized with the music resulting in
a hilarious show that goes over very well with
a variety of audiences.
Super Art Fight
http://www.superartfight.com/
Back by mostly popular demand, Super Art
Fight returns for Intervention 2011. Self-described as “The Greatest Live Art Competition
in the Known Universe”, they’ve lived up to the
grandiose title since their inception in 2008,
having performed in front of growing audiences up and down the East Coast. Based out
of Baltimore, Maryland, if you’ve never seen
this crew perform live, you’re living in regret
– be sure to check out one of their shows this
weekend. Strap in and be ready for the awesome – you will NOT regret it! Equal parts of
Pictionary and Pro Wrestling, this event mixes
artistic action with over-the-top entertainment and is a true original. And yes, for those
fans wondering — an Unleashed show WILL
be happening: just don’t tell the kiddies. As always, for more
details, check
out their regularly updated
website.
15
Join us at the Gaylord National Resort as we celebrate the 100th anniversary
of Japan’s historic gift of cherry blossoms to Washington, D.C.
Once again, Katsucon is thrilled to return to National
Harbor and the Gaylord National Resort. Just minutes
from Washington, DC, the Gaylord National Resort is home
to several fine and casual dining restaurants, a large indoor
pool, a lush multi-level indoor garden, and more!
As always, our schedule will be packed with:
New and Classic Anime • Video Games • Dealers’ Room •
Artists’ Alley • Art Show • Maid Café • Concerts • Anime Music
Video Awards • Cosplay • Children’s Programming • Workshops
• LARPing • Panels • Tabletop Gaming
Our guests include: Ellyn Stern (Voice Actress: Robotech, Mobile Suit
Gundam, Wings of Honneamise ) • J. Michael Tatum (Voice Actor: Samurai 7,
Ouran High School Host Club, Black Butler ) • Kyle Hebert (Voice Actor: Marvel
vs. Capcom 3, Naruto, Bleach, Gurren Lagann ) • Richard Epcar (Voice Actor:
Airbender: Legend of Korra, Ghost in the Shell ) • Megan Marie (Cosplayer)
• Yaya Han (Cosplayer) • Daniel and Jillian Coglan
(Martial Artists) and more to be announced at
www.katsucon.org.
While you’re there, register with us online
and pay by credit card or debit card. Save
a tree by skipping that tedious paper form!
Travis Surber • Hainted Holler
http://haintedholler.com/
Travis Surber is the creator of the webcomic,
Hainted Holler. He started out as a writer and
was first published in the Dec 2004 issue of
Midnight Ink, an independent anthology of
mixed media works.
After several failed
projects in both online
and print media, he decided to try his hand at
webcomics
and
launched Hainted Holler in July 2009 on the
Drunk Duck hosting service, before moving to
his own domain in 2010. With no formal training, he has managed to put out over 500 strips
and just published his second collection of
strips, Hainted Holler 2: Redneck Boonaloo. Travis
currently lives in Bassett, Va with his wife and 2
cats, and recently began work on an urban fantasy novel he hopes to publish next year.
16
“OH YES SON I BRING TEH BACON." – Oni
Michael “Mookie” Terracciano •
Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire
http://www.dominic-deegan.com/
Michael “Mookie” Terracciano is the author
and artist of the fantasy manga webcomic,
Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire. Since its humble beginnings eight
years ago. it has received acclaim for its
unique characters, addictive
storylines,
painful puns, awful alliteration and (gasp!)
reliable update schedule. Want to know
what’s so interesting
about a grumpy seer, his deformed girlfriend,
his angelic little brother, his talking cat, his
archmage mother and rock-star father? See
for yourself at www.dominic-deegan.com!
addition to having his hands in a variety of
other artistic side projects. Throughout the
years, RazorFox’s work has been published
by such companies as White Lightning Productions, Antarctic Press, Shanda Fantasy
Arts, and Angry Viking Press. The Draconia
Chronicles appears in weekly installments
at draconia.katbox.net
Jeffrey Wells • Skin Horse
Art by Shaenon Garrity
http://www.skin-horse.com/
Danny Valentini • Draconia Chronicles
http://draconia.katbox.net/
First cooked up in 1999 and served up in webcomic form since 2005, The Draconia Chronicles combines epic fantasy, heavy drama, fierce
action, and the occasional laugh, wrapped up
in a sexy anthropomorphic package with just a
twist of manga flavoring. Locked into what appears to be a stalemate, races of dragons and
tigers fight each other
in a centuries-old war
with a long-forgotten
cause, all while trying
to keep order within
their own respective
camps.
Danny
Valentini,
known online by his
nom de plume “RazorFox,” is a mostly selftaught cartoonist. Starting off as a writer in
1994, his repeated efforts to find artists to illustrate his comics were largely in vain. Thus,
out of frustration, on a spring night in 1995,
he picked up a pencil and decided to see
what he could do himself. Today, he writes
and illustrates The Draconia Chronicles, in
Jeffrey C. Wells is best known as the co-writer
and co-creator of the award-winning webcomic, Skin Horse. His short story “Torn Apart
and Devoured by Lions” is featured in the
recent Machine of
Death (http://machineofdeath.net/) anthology. He lives in the
wilds of rural Wisconsin with a wonderful
spouse, a dial-up modem, and more pets
than you can shake a stick at.
FEBRUARY 24-26, 2012
HOLIDAY INN TANGLEWOOD
4468 STARKEY ROAD, ROANOKE, VA
WRITER GUEST OF HONOR
SHERRILYN KENYON
AUTHOR OF THE DARK-HUNTER
BOOK SERIES
MEDIA GUEST OF HONOR
NICKI CLYNE
“CALLY” BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
ARTIST GUEST OF HONOR
URSULA VERNON
DRAGONBREATH SERIES
LARPING! INDIE FILM TRACK! GAMING!
ARTIST ALLEY & MORE!!
ADULT MEMBERSHIPS $30 UNTIL 12/31/2011
WWW.MYSTICON-VA.COM FOR INFO!
17
PANEL LISTINGS
Advanced Cel Shading
Learn how to use cartoon/anime style cel
shading to render figures, establish mood and
tone, and impress the hell out of your friends.
Antipode Presents:
“Guile’s Theme Goes with Bellydance:
An Internet Meme Tribute”
Come see the belly dance troupe Antipode
do their cosplay/dance performance, “Guile’s
Theme Goes with Bellydance: An Internet Meme
Tribute”, with extra dance routines picked by
your votes on the Intervention website!
Antipode Presents:
“Super Mario Belly Dance World”
Come see the belly dance troupe Antipode
do their famous cosplay/dance performance,
“Super Mario Belly Dance World”.
The Art Studio
Intervention presents the Art Studio, a room
open 24 hours a day that encourages attendees, guests, and staff to contribute artwork
or statements on the dry-erase walls of the
room. At the end of the con, the results will
be imaged and placed online. You might even
win a prize or two.
The Artist/Writer Relationship
It’s not easy to find the right artist or writer
when you’re looking to collaborate. Our panelists will discuss some common pitfalls of the
artist/writer relationship and how to deal with
them when they arise.
Audio Podcasting 101
Audio podcasting is a way to create on-demand
downloadable radio shows. Our panelists will
talk about ways to start up your own audio
podcast – the equipment to get, software to
use, and creating a website for distribution.
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Back In My Day: The Webcomic
Veterans Panel
This panel is comprised of webcomic artists and
creators who’ve been doing their work (of some
sort, not necessarily just one comic) for at least
seven years or more. They will grouse about the
“good old days” and tell you youngsters to get
off their yard. They might also tell you something that might “learn you” something.
Blue from Hello, The Future! presents:
Webcomics Webconcert LIVE!
Webcomics Webconcert LIVE! is back at Intervention! Come rock out with a full hour’s
worth of webcomic and other Internet meme
songs! Learn why T-Rex has feelings, examine the mysteries surrounding Beartato,
and have your smartphone ready to pull
up the lyrics for “Xkcd Loves The Discovery Channel”. Get bonus songs about Portal 2, LARPing, and giant robots! Music and
webcomics go together like rockstars and
models, and this show will ROCK YOUR CON!
Bringing Space Exploration
Down To Earth
This panel is a discussion of the science produced by the space program and how easy it
is to get access to a great deal of that information on the web. Did you know you can look
at images from Hubble and other space telescopes right Google Earth in Sky mode? Did
you know that you can access some of the raw
data files from some of those missions from
there as well? How about all of the Earth science data that is collected? You can even get
weather reports for the whole Solar System!
Come and have a look… for science!
Club 242 Presents “Dapper in the
Dreamlands: A Steampunk Ball”
Intervention goes retro with a dance party that’s
based on steampunk. Bring your finest goggles,
top hats, and waistcoats and dance with members of Cosplay Burlesque and Antipode. Don’t
have any steampunk gear? Wear your finest
geek, even if that’s just jeans and a t-shirt.
“Every day I feel like a man in a kilt with darling tiddlies swinging into COMICS WAR. That’s why WE AM TEH BEZT." – Oni
Children’s Programming
Friday
3:00 PM – What’s a great way to kick of the children’s programming? Letting the kids
unwind with music! Let them express themselves through song or just plain rocking out
to some great Rock Band tunes. If music isn’t their style, perhaps one of our art, science,
or game stations might interest them.
5:00 PM – Lego Art Competition: Every child has a creative side; let it shine when they
are presented with a room full of Legos. There will be an art contest for those who are
interested in competing. A given theme will be set forth and the children will be asked to
construct a model within it. A judges’ panel will then decide the most creative in specified age groups and the winners will be announced Saturday evening.
7:00 PM – Time to wind down. We have a special guest reader to come and tell her tales
at our cozy book reading panel.
Saturday
9:00 AM – Let’s wipe the sleep from our eyes and get those hands a movin’ with our arts
and crafts panel. Come create a masterpiece, puppets, masks, and more.
11:00 AM – Science of Art: Come play with color and light! Explore how colors are created
and light bounces by participating in our hands-on experiments with your child.
11:00 AM – Scavenger Hunt Begins: Calling all adventurers! Grab your pens and paper we
have an excursion of a lifetime for you! Brave the Hall of Artists as you search for special
items; be the first back to the base and you will be handsomely rewarded. Come only if
you aren’t afraid.
1:00 PM – Games! Games! Games! Put your child’s brainpower to work with an array of
board and acting games.
3:00 PM – Draw Your Own Comic Book Character: Does your child like to draw? We are
offering instruction on how to draw their own comic book character! After a lesson on
character creation and brief brainstorming session with artist Greg Benge (of SlackJaw
comics), children will be let loose to draw their own comic book character or help design
costumes for Timmy templates.
5:00 PM – Science Q&A: Everyone knows that kids have the most curious minds, so let
our panel of scientific professionals answer all of those burning questions!
7:00 PM – Dance Party: Come and boogie with your baby, Relive your junior high years with your
child as you dance the night away to some hoppin’ music. Juice bar and snacks provided.
Sunday
9:00 AM – Come away to an Adventureland with us as another guest reader shares a
thrilling story with us!
11:00 AM – Science Experiments – Spy Science: Can you be a spy? Learn how to write
an invisible ink message. Transmit messages with a handmade phone. Decode a secret
message. Learn how to dust for fingerprints. Solve a mystery!
1:00 PM – Science Experiments – Fizzy Fun: Let’s end Intervention with a bang and a few
“fireworks”! Mentos, Diet Coke, baking soda and vinegar: they all make quite a display.
Come learn how it works and let’s have some fizzy fun!
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Charity Auction: Electronic Frontier Foundation Benefit
Intervention is proud to support the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in their efforts
to defend internet freedom for all. Our charity auction this year will be to benefit their
great work.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is the leading organization defending civil liberties in the digital world. They defend free speech on the Internet, fight illegal surveillance,
promote the rights of innovators to develop digital technologies, and work to ensure that
the rights and freedoms we enjoy are enhanced, rather than eroded, as our use of technology grows. Intervention is happy to donate the proceeds from this charity auction, which
will feature items and artwork from many of our guests, to this worthy group and cause.
In 2010, we were able to raise over $500 from the auction; we want to blow way past
that number in 2011. Many of our guests and sponsors will be providing art or merchandise to the auction, which will be conducted as a “Chinese auction” over the course of
the three-day event. Stop by the Intervention merchandise table in the Vendor Room to
place your bids.
Club 242 Presents
“War at Innsmouth” Battle II: A Goth/
Industrial/Geeky Dark Dance Party
Intervention’s own Goth/Industrial dance party – with members of Cosplay Burlesque and
Antipode helping keep the dance floor moving. It goes as late as you do.
The Computer Is Willing, But the
Spirit is Weak: How to Build the
Motivation to Keep Going
Everyone hits that point in their career —
where it seems like a wall has popped up
in front of your creativity or output. How do
you find the motivation to keep on working?
Our panelists will talk about the techniques
they’ve used to move forward and keep their
motivation and creative juice flowing.
Copyright 101
This panel is a run-down from an artist’s standpoint of what copyright is, how it works, what
it does, and what you only think it does. Learn
how you can use the law to protect your work,
and discuss the grey and ill-defined line between outright theft and fair use.
Cosplay 101
Our panelists will walk you through the basics
of cosplay including such topics as making
and wearing a cosplay, what to avoid, what are
the best materials, which don’t work so well,
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places to get supplies, wig types, how to alter
wigs, footwear, etc., and more.
Cosplay Burlesque
(18+) Cosplay Burlesque is a group of burlesque
performers and cosplayers dedicated to combining the two for your entertainment. Their show
will be the epitome of live-action “fan service”.
Creative Marketing 101
So you have a great idea, but you don’t know
how to share it with the world? Have no fear!
Our panelists can show you the way to figure
out who your target market is, plan your method of attack, and generate measurable results
with your promotional campaign for your creative work.
Dating Advice for Nerds
(PG-13) Following on last year’s super-successful “Dating Advice for Nerds” panel, this year
we bring it back with even more good stuff.
More panelists! More horror stories! More advice! More questions and answers! If you are a
nerd who enjoys dating, or a nerd who wants
to know a little more about how it works, come
join us as we rapid-fire through the DOs, the
DO NOTs, and the OMG YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED THIS ONE TIME...
The Devil’s Panties
(18+) Jennie Breeden explains why it’s not
Satanic Porn... honest!
“EXPLAIN TO ME THE GENITALS OF THE PANCAKES, CAPTAIN POOPY." – Oni
Digital Painting 101
Don’t Waste Time on Social Media
Unleash the digital Van Gogh within! Never
again will you have to kick your significant
other out of living room to make space for
your giant easel and oil paints. You’ll never
worry about the cat clawing your canvas masterpiece to shreds simply to get your attention. However, if someone tries to mess with
your Wacom tablet, you may need to unleash
a can of the Whoop Ass upon them.
Twitter, Facebook, and other social sites can
be lots of fun and great marketing tools – or
just another way to fritter away an afternoon.
The tweeting machines @thinkgeek and @
NASABlueshift will tell you how to get the
most out of social media with tips on when
and what to share, tricks to keep you on track,
and what is definitely, absolutely not worth
your – or your followers’ – time.
Digital vs. Traditional:
The Pros and Cons of Each
Drop-In Dating Advice with
E of GeeksDreamGirl.com
Some artists love digital. Some artists love pen
and ink. Digital art gives you more flexibility
but traditional gives you the ability to sell originals at conventions. Join us for A FRIENDLY
discussion about the pros and cons of each.
Got a question about your dating life? E has
been helping geeks find love since 2008 and
would love to help you shine up your online
dating profile, answer burning questions, or
give advice about your love life. Stop in anytime during her “office hours”.
Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire Q&A
Care for a peek into the future? Pick Michael
“Mookie” Terracciano’s brain for any questions
and/or comments you may have about his webcomic, Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire. You
may even get a spoiler or two if you’re lucky.
Echoes of Empires LARP
The Echoes of Empires group will also be back
this year for those of you who like their undead with less shamble and more fangs. If you
want to dive deep into vampire politics and
otherworldly drama, this is the event for you.
Enabler-Only Guest Meet and Greet
Become an Enabler of Intervention and get invited to a special Guest Meet and Greet event.
We’ll bring the pastries; you bring your questions and small talk.
The Video Podcast Series
covering conventions of AnimE,
Sci!Fi, fantasy, gaming, and
beyond"
Nominated for Best Video
Podcast in the 2010
Podcast Awards
www.vidgle.com
www.congoers.com
www.vidgle.com/subscribe
Everyone Needs Help Sometimes:
Webcomic Portfolio Reviews
You have an idea for a comic or want to get
some feedback on your work? This is the
place for you. During this open workshop, our
artists will gladly chime in and give feedback
on your work or ideas and give you tips to get
going to the next level.
Everything You Wanted to Know
About Tabling at a Convention
Are you planning on selling some of your work
at a convention? Let our panelists show you
a few tips, tricks and general conversations
about having your own art or sales table.
Some of the topics to be covered are how
to go about it, what you should be aware of,
and how to be successful.
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AUTOGRAPHS
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“I want to light my tiddlies on fire, swing them above my head, and ride a war sheep into battle" – Oni
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Art by Pete Abrams
Expect the Unexpected: Strange
Tales from the Webcomic Universe
Getting Paid To Do What You Already
Love: Working With Companies
Once you place your work online and get a
certain level of success and traffic, you can expect that you’re going to have a few “interesting” situations or encounters along the way.
Our panelists will recite events or situations
that they’ve encountered that are funny, horrifying, soul touching, or purely WTF in scope.
Do you have dreams of getting paid to do your
comic or other art? These guys have done it.
Come listen to the experiences of our panelists
as they talk about how they landed their dream
jobs and still continue to do their own work.
First Time’s Not the Charm
Webcomic veterans discuss the successes
and failures of their multiple webcomics over
the years and what made them keep coming
back for more.
Gene’s Journal and Other Treks:
A Panel with David Reddick
David Reddick of the webcomic Legend of Bill,
Gene’s Journal (Star Trek), Garfield, and many
other comics will talk about his extensive
body of work and his upcoming animated TV
show based on his Gene’s Journal comic.
Getting Paid to Blog
Who wouldn’t want to get paid for their thoughts?
Come listen to and ask questions of our panelists
who have made that into their reality.
Gobwins, Dwagons, and Twolls,
Oh My! The Erfworld Panel
Meet and talk with Rob Balder, creator of the
webcomics Erfworld and Partially Clips.
Growing Your Audience by Shrinking
Your Site: The Challlenges of Mobile
Devices and Apps
It used to be true that the big deal in web development was all about adding the flashiest
new features to your site (i.e. Web 2.0), but the
new surge in web visitors using mobile devices conflicts with this mantra. How should
you set up your site to accommodate the iPhone, iPad, Android, WebOs, and other mobile
devices? Should you make a dedicated App
for your work? Is it worth the effort? And as
mobile device users in the audience – are you
upset about the design of certain sites? What
would you suggest for the future of web development or apps for mobile devices?
History of Comics as a Medium
From pulp beginnings to the dawn of the superhero, the Silver Age, the “other” British Invasion, and the “Extreme” Generation, comics
have a storied past full of spandex, heroism,
and superpowers. But are they worthy of academic study? And what would this study reveal about ourselves as comic readers?
Hitting People with Padded Sticks:
The Joy of LARPing
Our panelists will be talking about LARPs and
their love for hunting their friends down in the
woods and hitting them with padded sticks.
How to Be a Pro in Webcomics
Art by Bree Rubin
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With nothing keeping anyone from being
a webcomicker, what is it that separates the
hobbyists and amateurs from the professionals? Is it skill? Is it financial success? Is it an
attitude? Join an open discussion and help
determine how we can all raise the bar and
truly become webcomic pros.
“Running a con is kind of like being pregnant with a schoolbus." – Oni
How to Be Cool on the Internet
This panel is satirical as well as informative on
how to become popular on the phenomena we
all live in known as the internet. You don’t need
to be a plumber to be popular on this particular
series of tubes, although I can only think of one
actual plumber who meets these criteria. As
someone who has seen the internet morph and
change since 56k, come check out a panel that
looks a bit in-depth on why things are cool.
How to Create a Gaming/Anime
Website with Baltimoregamer.com
The BaltimoreGamer.com crew will talk about
the dos and don’ts of starting your own gaming/
anime website. This includes picking your web
software, recruiting staff members, organizational tools, funny stories, and a QA session.
How to Find the Doctor
Throughout Time and Space
Is It A Boys’ Club? Can Women
Be Successful In Comics?
Look around on the internet or at any comics
convention – female artists are everywhere.
But are they being taken seriously? And are
they “successful”? Is the comics field still one
big boys’ club?
Juggling Geek Life and Parenting
Keeping up with the latest nerdly trends can
be tricky at the best of times, but finding time
to keep up while raising kids? Well, that’s a
tribble of a different color. Come hang out
with our panelists as they discuss their methods of trying to balance their geek life with
the challenges of work and parenting.
Keeping Your Stuff Safe:
Strategies for Backing Up and
Preserving Your Digital Life
Do you want to be up at the front of the room
speaking on a panel? Do you want to be more
successful selling your stuff and talking with
people about your work? Get advice on how
to speak in public from the pros who have
been doing it for years.
Think about everything digital that touches
your life: your blog posts and social networking statuses, digital photographs and artwork,
text messages on your cell phone. All of these
things can grow in importance over time, in
ways that might not be envisioned or considered in the here and now. How do we make
sure these things are kept safe? Almost everyone with information stored digitally will face
at least one major, significant loss of their important data at least once in their lives. Recent
high-profile cloud computing failures have
only shown that the webcomics, blogs and
other things we entrust to the cloud is still at
risk. So, how do we keep our stuff safe? This
session will discuss some strategies for good
backup plans that can help preserve the information you value the most.
Interfection LARP
Live Music: Ditched By Kate
Do you just have to know if Rory comes back
to life again? Has the Doctor left you hanging
again? Cliffhangers are the bane of our existence as a Doctor Who fan. Let’s talk cliffhangers and our favorite ways to find the episodes
before we can watch them on TV or if the
DVR fails us. And how does the internet contribute to and expand fandom for this nearly
50-year-old series.
How to Speak in Public
Interfection, the Intervention zombie LARP, will
be making its triumphant return this year. Will
you be infected? Will you fall prey to the evil
zombie baby (like so many of our participants
last year)? Interfection was a huge success in
2010, garnering some of the highest feedback to us as a “must do” event at the con, so
we are very excited to have them return this
year for even more undead hijinks.
Ditched by Kate is a DC-based alternative rock
band with original songs that honor four decades of musical influences.
Live Music: Eien Strife
The “Adventure Rock” band Eien Strife will be
playing at Intervention to continue their quest
to save The Forest.
Live Music: The FuMP Concert
The FuMP Concert is a comedy music show
featuring songs and videos by FuMP members
Devo Spice, Rob Balder, and Insane Ian, plus
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surprise guests, maybe! The Funny Music Project (thefump.com) is a collective of top comedy
musicians, putting out two free songs a week.
With nerdcore hiphop and parody songs about
technology, fandom, and classic gaming, these
guys bring the geek humor like nobody else.
Live Music: Tombstone Teeth
The Tombstone Teeth are one of the legendary bands who regularly feature on Radio
Cobalt’s “Track of the Week”. Infamous as the
first post-punk avant-garde rock band to travel through time, the Tombstone Teeth will be
making their first appearance this century at
Intervention. They will be performing perform
a choice selection of their lost classics including: “Masterson the Bat”, “Live Minnows” and
“X the Unknown”.
Lunching with the Ladies
There will be a serious number of female creative-types at Intervention; here’s a chance for
them to get together, talk shop, and discuss anything that might happen to be on their minds
(art, commerce, roller coasters, the naming of
one’s breasts... look, that happened last year. If
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you missed that panel, then it’s your own fault).
Come on in and join in the conversation.
Manga Studio For Webcomics
Manga Studio, a software package by Smith Micro Software, is designed to give your digital artwork the same look and feel as print mangam
Come see a demo of the software in action.
Millennium City Mayhem LARP
Celebrate your secret identity in real life. Millennium City is in trouble; villains, heroes and
those in between are trapped in the thrall of
the Dread and Terrible Sub-Galactic Emperor.
Many heroes are changed, missing or worse.
It is up to you to save the city, conquer it, or
doom mankind. New players are encouraged
and welcome, Make your character on-site or
use a pregen. Also, players of Champions the
RPG and Champions Online may bring their
characters to be translated into the Live Action System. Costumes are a plus!
Mink Car Cover and How to
Do a Project for Charity
On September 11, 2001, They Might Be Giants released their album Mink Car. Ten years
“Autocorrect changes “Onezumi” to “Montezuma”. Just another reason to f33r my revenge!" – Oni
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Art by Oni Hartstein
later, nineteen artists joined together to release a full cover of Mink Car to benefit the
FDNY Foundation. This panel will tell the
story of how Mink Car Cover was created, how
we brought together the artists, managed the
project, and raised the money, and will include tips and tricks for people who want to
do charity projects of their own.
new ways — and what this might mean for
fandom moving forward in the internet age.
Net Neutrality:
How Long Will We Be Allowed To
Have The Internet As It Is Now?
(PG-13) Join Jay Joseph Jr., the writer and
director of the upcoming horror web series
Working Class Nightmare, as he shows a “work
in progress” of this series and answers your
questions on its development.
Net neutrality, or the idea that all sites should
have equal access and speed to all users regardless of internet connection, is a topic of
contention for some of the major internet service providers and wireless providers. Does
net neutrality (or lack thereof) affect the independent online creator? Will the lack of net
neutrality kill the idea of the independent creator or their ability to be seen/heard? What’s
your take on the issue?
Movie Showing: Harvey Putter and
the Ridiculous Premise
Ninjas Versus Vampires: The Winner
Is Endlight Entertainment
Movie Showing and Q&A:
Working Class Nightmare
(PG-13) Intervention is pleased to offer its
attendees a showing of the feature-length
Harry Potter parody film, Harvey Putter and the
Ridiculous Premise.
Find out how hard it is to pit ninjas versus
vampires (and zombies) by talking to the
team behind the “Ninjas Versus” movie series, Endlight Entertainment.
Movie Showing:
Ninjas Versus Vampires
OMG MMORPGS!
(R) Ninjas battle vampires for the fate of the
world in this all new action-horror-comedy
from the creators of 2010’s cult smash, Ninjas
Vs Zombies!
Movie Showing:
Toys Are Us: A Revolution in Plastic
(PG) Toys Are Us: A Revolution In Plastic is
the first ever documentary on the creative,
sophisticated, and often challenging world
of designer vinyl toys, where artists create
their own weird and wonderful figures for a
booming, adult collector’s market. The film is
a high-energy, fast-paced celebration of new
forms of artistic expression, DIY culture, and
of course, toys!
My Little Bronies: An Online Fandom
Phenomenon
“Bronies”, male fans of the new version of the
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic animated
series, are an example of how the internet is
changing and expanding traditional fandom.
Find out why these Bronies love this series,
and how the internet is allowing them to connect and expand this fandom in unique and
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This panel is an academic discussion that will
have a bit of humor intertwined throughout. It
will cover the history of MMORPGs, and discuss
some of the issues and controversies surrounding them. It will also provide a forum for the audience to discuss and share their views about
various MMORPGs, and the MMORPG industry
in general. The panel will contain updated content for 2011, discussing the new MMORPGs
have been released since last year, as well as
new trends in the MMORPG industry.
Open Source Software for
Everyday Use
Do you feel that your creativity is held back
because you can’t afford programs like Photoshop, Illustrator, Final Cut, or Microsoft Office?
Our panelists have freed themselves from the
bonds of expensive closed-software ecosystems and you can too. Whether you’re just
fed up, want to try new things, or can’t afford
to pick up the software you want, there is an
open source alternative available to you. Find
out what packages our panelists use, how to
find software that fits your need, and how to
join the amazing communities that spring up
around open source software.
“In other news — my eyeballs are on fire. Perfect time to get some more work done." – Oni
Dapper in the Dreamlands:
A Steampunk Ball
Art by Dave Ghoul
Bring your finest goggles,
top hats, and waistcoats
and dance with members
of Cosplay Burlesque and
Antipode. Don’t have any
Steampunk gear? Wear your
finest geek, even if that’s
just jeans and a T Shirt.
Dave Ghoul spins Dark
Alternative dance in the
Performance room Saturday
night from 10:30 until the
dreams fade.
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Radio Free Intervention
The Skin Horse Panel
Join us for a live broadcast of Bomb Shelter
Radio. Look over the console while the show
is going, ask the DJ technical and style questions, request a song, sit down at a microphone, suggest a news story. Bring your laptop and see what is going on in our chat room
and Twitter. This session is part performance,
part Q&A and massively unstructured.
Shaenon Garrity and Jeffrey Wells of the webcomic Skin Horse talk about their work and
where they are going from here.
Raising the Next Generation of
Nerdlings: Tales from GeekDads
and GeekMom
Helene McLaughlin, Brian McLaughlin, and
Matt Blum (of GeekMom.com and Wired.com/
GeekDad) talk about who they are and what
it’s like to help inspire the next generation to
love math, science, computers, and art.
Real World vs. Geek World:
Balancing Your Commitments
Whether you run a webcomic, a blog, a podcast, or an MMO guild, there’s a good chance
you’re not one of those who can (yet) make a
living on your geekery. Is it possible to do both
at the same time? How do you manage your
own creativity as opposed to getting your
real-world job done? And which one do you
tell people is your job when they ask what you
do for a living? Hear what the web’s multitaskers have to say about how and why they do it.
Revenue Streams: How to
Make Ten-Tenths of a Living
Books, merchandise, subscriptions, donations,
advertising, spinoff comics, mobile apps, paid
downloads, character licensing, games, animated series, movie options, speaking fees,
selling original art, springboarding your other
projects and services! It might be that none
of these can make you a living on your webcomic, but combining many or most into one
business model could.
SlackJaw Launch Party
Peej and Bengie of Slackjaw: The Working
Dead, talk about their newly-launched webcomic, and their unique multimedia additions
to the genre.
Sluggy Freelance and the
Dimension of Nuts
After over fourteen years of daily webcomic
content, people must wonder just how crazy
Pete Abrams actually is. You can ask Pete
questions, and watch him skillfully (?) dodge
the point. Pete is notorious for drawing and
sketching his way through panels, but at this
one, he’ll have to actually say something!
So, How’d We Do?
This panel is the last panel of the con. Come
give Harknell, Onezumi, and the rest of the Intervention team your feedback on the event.
We encourage you to make suggestions for
next year as well.
Steampunk Pastries and Cooking Fun
The Antipode crew can do more than dance and
cosplay, they can cook up some fantastic steampunk-inspired yummies! Come to this panel to
get some ideas on what to serve to your guests
on your next trans-Atlantic dirigible ride.
Steampunk 101: Why Am I in This
Dirigible and Where Are We Going?
Before it was a fashion trend, it was a genre:
steampunk! Learn its origins in history and literature, where it came from, what (if anything)
does it have to do with its cousin cyberpunk,
and what both genres and resulting subcultures may mean about us as a society.
Sh!t Gets Real: A Conversation with
Frustrated Webcomic Artists
Steampunk Costuming: Clothing
Beyond a Vest and Cargo Pants
(PG-13) A bunch of webcomic regulars sit
around and complain for an hour. Cursing will
be tallied and encouraged.
Learn inexpensive tricks and tips to step up
your steampunk kit. We will discuss the evolution of the Victorian aesthetic into the height of
steampunk fashion. This panel will assist you in
outfitting your entire steampunk family.
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“Now we are velcro-ing my tv so we can accommodate this Wii and this zombies and also there’s a pecan pie and there
was someone lit on fire." – Oni
Storytelling to Make Your
Comic’s UI Awesome
How do you make your webcomic, comic app,
or ebook user-friendly and engaging? In this
interactive workshop, cartoonist and app developer Rob Stenzinger will demonstrate how you
can combine user-centric design principles with
storytelling experience to design and construct
an interactive home for your digital comic.
Super Art Fight
The self-described “Greatest Live Art Competition in the KNOWN UNIVERSE” returns
to Intervention with a vengeance. Equal parts
Pictionary and pro-wrestling, Super Art Fight
is an exhausting spectacle sure to blow your
mind! Shield your eyes as artists clash on the
creative canvas, and have their bouts fates
chosen by the WHEEL OF DEATH, a random
topic generator filled to the brim with suggestions from YOU, the fans!
Super Art Fight Unleashed
(18+) You’ve seen the show. You know what
they’re capable of. Now what happens when we
give them a live microphone and zero plans?
Join the gang behind Super Art Fight as they
discuss the history of SAF, where it’s heading,
and honestly, probably whatever else comes to
mind. No filter, no set topics. Shield your eyes,
children (uh, yeah...don’t bring them); it’s gonna
get ugly. Did you know Intervention started
their ongoing “Man Train” meme?
Talking Gaming to Gaming Business
More and more bloggers and webcomics
are making the jump to working for gaming
companies or starting their own companies
to make games. Learn how you can make the
jump yourself, and learn about a few of the
realities of doing so.
Telling the Microserialized Story
Webcomics and flash fiction/microfiction often involve stringing out one long story over
dozens or hundreds of updates, with gaps of
days in between. Not every page of a graphic
novel can pack a punch to tide the reader
over. Or can it? Should it? And what happens
to surprise when fans have days to speculate
about the upcoming plot? How does it affect a
writer’s approach when the story must be told
in such tiny increments?
31
There Is a Line: Handling Potentially
Offensive Topics in Webcomics
We Are the Intervention
Since webcomic creators only answer to themselves and their audience, how do they decide
how far to go with humor, language, violence,
sex, and other situations? Does a creator have
a greater responsibility to police themselves
or does literally anything go?
Every event has a story, so what’s the deal
with Intervention? What motivated Harknell
and Onezumi to create and get this con going?
Come talk to the Co-Con Chairs of Intervention and find out directly from the founders
the whats and whys of the con, and where it’s
going in the future.
TREKOFF LIVE: A Foul-mouthed Star
Trek Comedy Podcast
Webcomic Innovation:
Standing Out from the Crowd
(18+) Endlight Entertainment, the producers
of the Ninjas Verus movie series, bring their
Star Trek Podcast live to Intervention.
Join our panelists for a discussion of innovation in webcomics. Discuss how to pool all
your resources together to experiment with
all aspects of the creative process. From artistic style to writing techniques to marketing
and exposure, use your strengths to stand out
in the crowd.
Ultimate Room Party: How to Seem
Completely Badass with Booze
(21+) This will be an informational panel describing more about different kinds of alcohol, safe
ways to drink, and useful hangover remedies.
This will be held at the Event Hotel Bar area.
Video Room: Viral/Funny/WTF
Our Video Room will be showing some of
the greatest online videos of all time. It will
be open most of the time the con is running.
Check out our con video twitter at http://twitter.com/interventvideo to see the currently
running video — or look it up in the Intervention iPhone app.
Video Game Room
Intervention 2011 will be adding Video Gaming to our already large list of
activities to do at the con. We will feature a wide range of console systems
and games for you to enjoy:
Featuring Xbox360s, Wii, NES, SNES,
N64, Sega Genesis, Commodore 64,
RockBand and Kinect set ups. One
ofthe Xbox 360s will feature kids
games of all kinds all weekend.
Webcomics “Inprov” Comedy Group
For a second year in a row, the blinding wit and
lightning-fast reflexes of people who spend all
their time in front of a computer gather together to entertain and amaze in this “inprov” comedy show. The panelists will play a number of
improv games and solicit interaction from the
audience to make a fun and dynamic show.
Come and see your favorite creators make a
fool of themselves. Two shows are scheduled;
check your pocket program for times.
Webcomics 101:
Creativity, Art, and Writing
You’re looking at a blank screen or a blank
piece of paper and you just keep looking!
Let our panelists help you figure out how to
get started, how to keep going and how now
to paint yourself into an artistic corner. Let’s
talk formatting and how to best communicate
your vision to your artist. And, if you’re an artist, how can you take advantage of the written
word to make your story better.
Friday: Noon – Midnight
Saturday: 8am – Midnight
Sunday: 8am- Noon
32
“YEAHHHHH G MONAY CRABS IN MY FACE :D“ – Oni
Art by Ross Nover
Room Hours:
Why Does Mommy Want Vodka?
A Panel with Becky Harks
Writing Unique Heroes and
Memorable Villains
Come meet Becky Harks, otherwise known
as “Aunt Becky” of MommyWantsVodka.com.
She’ll answer your questions, talk about how
and why she started her blog, and share some
blogging tips.
Tired of square-jawed do-gooders, angst-ridden
“anti-heroes”, weak heroines in little outfits, and
villains who are antagonists for trivial reasons?
Come get some tips, pointers and advice on
how to make your heroes and villains stand out
and live forever in someone’s memory.
Wits & Wagers Game Show
Gather up a team for the Wits & Wagers Game
Show, the trivia event for people who don’t
know trivia. Teams submit numerical answers
to a variety of trivia questions, for example
“how long is the armspan on the statue of
liberty?” or “how many different stormtroopers appear on screen in Star Wars?” and then
have an opportunity to gamble on which
answer they think is closest. Bring a team of
three people, or show up and assemble a
team at the event. Prizes will be awarded at
the end of the event.
WordPress 101
WordPress is the fastest growing online content management system and can be adapted
for use for comics, blogging, podcasting, video, and nearly infinite other uses. Come learn
the basics on its set-up and usage from our
panel of experts.
World Building 101
A pivotal part to any great story is the world in
which it takes place in, be it the past, present,
future, or even an alternate universe! If you are
new to story creation, or are just looking to get a
different perspective, stop on by as we discuss
the basics of creating and presenting a new, fascinating setting for your comic or game.
Writing and Creating Three
Dimensional Characters
When writing an adventure or a story, having
characters that the readers can get into is half
the battle. If the readers or players become
intrigued by the characters, then the rest of
the story will fall into place. Join our panelists
as they discuss creating vibrant and dynamic
characters that will grip your audience.
Young Punks Kicking It:
What I Learned From My First Years
of Making Webcomics
This panel covers the lessons learned in the
critical first years of making a webcomic by
creators who just went through it all! The
panel will cover issues such as advertising,
hosting, getting (and keeping) a buffer, time
management, and other important lessons.
Board Gaming
Intervention 2011 will be hosting a
huge range of board gaming events
supplied by our partner Foam Brain
Games. In addition to bringing their
incredible catalog of free-use games,
they will also be selling new games
and supplies at the con.
Open for Business and
Lending Games:
Friday: 3pm – 10pm
Saturday: 10am – 10pm
Sunday: 10am – 4pm
Events:
Jungle Speed Tournament • Friday 3pm
Are You a Werewolf? • Friday 10pm
Identik • Saturday Noon
Dominion Tournament • Saturday 3pm
Wits & Wagers Game Show • Saturday 7pm
Dixit Demo • Sunday 11am
33
ARTISTS’ ALLEY
BAR-1 Studios
http://www.peteristhewolf.com/
Selling: Graphic novels of my webcomic, Peter is the Wolf, T-shirts I’ve designed for White
Lightning Productions, RPG game books from
Palladium Books & Tri Tac Games that my work
has appeared in, prints, badges, and assorted
artwork.
Bardsworth & Fairy Magik
http://www.bardsworth.com
http://www.fairymagik.com
Bardsworth is webcomic that follows Mike
Cosley, a young man from our world attending
college in another one. While there he deals
with girls, homework,
magic, a demon who
bakes cookies, and
much more. The comic
is appropriate for all
ages, but only those
with a sense of humor
and heart.
Fairy Magik is a husband-and-wife art studio that produces cute
and whimsical fairy artwork and crafts. Working with bright colors and an assortment of
mediums, Fairy Magik will bring a smile to the
young and young-at-heart alike.
Selling: Print collection of webcomic, art
prints, t-shirts, buttons, fairy wings, cookie
plushies, art/costume commissions
Binary Souls/Other Dimensions
http://www.bsodcomic.net
William Chrapcynski is the composer and 3D
graphic artist behind
Binary
Souls/Other
Dimensions. BS/OD
is a webcomic which
is posted three times
a week on Monday,
Wednesday and Friday. In between all of
34
“yeah poundin’ ‘em like a tanooki" – Oni
that, you can expect to see original music, reviews and other bits of geekery.
Selling: T-shirts, comics, buttons, badges,
bookmarks, music CDs, commissions
Jennifer Blum
http://www.quirkycrochet.com
My name is Jennifer Blum and I am a crochet
artist specializing in
Amigurumi. Amigurumi is the Japanese art
of crocheting small
animals, people or objects. I am inspired by
things I find around
me every day. With a
geeky family like ours,
that could be characters from movies, books or games.
Selling: hand crocheted figures, accessories,
hair clips, pins
Bored in the Basement
http://boredinthebasement.com/
Tom and Ant started Bored in the Basement
(BitB) in 2010 in a Wisconsin basement with the
intentions of world domination, but failed to
see that running a legitimate business is much
harder than an evil company. They decided to
stick with creating and making artistic, clever
and witty t-shirts. BitB has been slowly steamrolling their way into the internet world picking
up artists from across the country (and soon to
be globe) spreading individual artistic creations
and names. This year, BitB will be bringing a few
Intervention Con-artists, including Jennie Z, Marie Clipson, and possibly a few more... they don’t
know for sure, they’ll
have to see if they
have enough time (or
room in the car).
Selling: shirts, posters, stickers, buttons,
and some other artsy
stuff
The Cow – A Superhero Comic
http://www.thecowcomic.com
Remember when comics weren’t all grim and
gritty? The Cow is a comic that tries to be fun.
It’s a familiar story of a man, brought back from
beyond with fantastic
powers. And of course,
with great power
comes ridiculous villains like Farmer Brown
(humble farmer turned
mafia kingpin,) Schrodinger McGee (a mad
scientist who may or
may not kill you) and
Trish the Ninja (the world’s luckiest... and
dumbest ninja.) The Cow: Taking superheroics
seriously... just not *very*. The Cow is written
and drawn by Mike Donohue, Artist by night,
supermarket clerk by necessity.
Selling: The Cow: Volume 1, Prints, T-Shirts,
Commissions
Curls Studio
http://www.curls-studio.com/
Curls Studio creates and self-publishes original comics, designs and illustrations. Carolyn
Belefski writes and draws the webcomic, Curls,
about a gal with mitten hands who hangs
out with adorable animals and a piece of
toast. She also collaborates with writer Joe
Carabeo on the comic
books Kid Roxy, Black
Magic Tales and The
Legettes.
Carolyn’s
work has been published by National Geographic, USA WEEKEND Magazine and Indie
Comics Magazine #3. Carolyn and Joe also
host a podcast called The Carolyn & Joe Show,
which is available on iTunes. Visit the Curls
Studio Production Blog at http://www.curlsstudio.blogspot.com to learn more.
Selling: Comics, Prints, Sketch Commissions,
Shirts, Greeting Cards
Deanna
Echanique
http://www.macchinacomic.com/
Deanna Echanique is
an American comic artist and illustrator. Her
main work, La Macchina Bellica, is a Neo-Victorian wartime romance/
drama graphic novel, which began as a webcomic in 2008. She loves steampunk, One Piece,
dancing her little heart out, and karaoke.
Selling: silkscreen prints and shirts, commissions, bookmarks, posters, comics, artist trading cards, journals, badges
First Law Of Mad Science
http://firstlawofmadscience.com/
Super science. Cybernetic implants. Bizarre visions. Robot girls. Sinister corporations. Ancient
subterranean
cities. Strange creatures. And a mysterious death. All in the
first issue! Check out
the comic that Broken
Frontier called “a wellcrafted science fiction
epic powered by both
enthusiasm and imagination.” It’s going to be a wild ride!
Selling: Comics
Geeks Next Door
http://www.geeksnextcomic.com
When two geeks love each other very much,
that is when the miracle known as “a webcomic” happens. Resident nerdy couple Jessi and
Matt Pascal live in an apartment with otaku
roommate Barry, and are occasionally visited
by closet-geek / glamazon Maggie. Together,
they combine their powers to mock the absurdities and celebrate
the awesomeness of
the geek life. Surviving
a frat zombie invasion,
playing various RPGs,
snack attacks, and
fighting girl scouts in
a kaiju-style monster
35
battle are just a few examples of their adventures online. Get to know the folks that could
be the geeks living next door to you!
Selling: Comics, posters, t-shirts, and cards
– all original designs. Free buttons and other
giveaways, and also commissioned sketches.
Grendel’s Den Design Studio
http://www.GrendelsDen.net
D. E. Christman’s Grendel’s Den Design Studio
is a digital art and design studio that provides
website design, graphic and print design, logo
and branding development, media packaging design, and custom art and illustration.
GDDS caters to a wide
variety of clients that
includes Halloween
events, haunted house
attractions,
steampunk-themed events,
film studios, music labels, artists, deejays, and
festivals. For more information visit Grendel’s
Den Design Studio at http://www.GrendelsDen.net.
her lack of sanity. She’s now speaking in 3rd
person, so it must be time for her meds. Stop
by her artist’s alley table for a Zorphbert and
Fred collection (the BRAND NEW second collection is NOW AVAILABLE!), a slew of Abby’s
Adventures kids’ books, or to make fun of her
for speaking in 3rd person.
Selling: books, buttons, pendants, signed
prints, commissions, sketchcards
Also at this table:
TL Collins is the artist and creator of the webcomic known as Bullfinch (http://bullfinchcomic.com/), a comic known for its bizarre mixture of magic, monsters, fantasy, and squirrels
thrown into a large blender and pulped into
a fine paste. He has collaborated on several
other comic works like Superfogeys, Th3rdworld’s Creature Feature, and Daniel Boom: AKA
Loudboy.
Selling: comics, sketches, original art
Ink & Toggery
http://www.inkandtoggery.com
Selling: framed fine art, art prints,
design services
Selling: Video game, anime, sci-fi, and table
top gaming inspired fine arts, t-shirts, hats,
bags, jewelry, pinback buttons, embroidered
scarves, as well as original art versions of the
same items.
Dawn Griffin
Interrobang Studios
http://www.zfcomics.com
http://www.abbysfanclub.com
http://www.webcomicalliance.com
http://www.interrobangstudios.com/
Dawn Griffin is the off-kilter mastermind behind Zorphbert and Fred (http://www.zfcomics.
com), a webcomic for anyone who ever felt
like an alien on their own planet. When she’s
feeling slightly more grounded, she’s also the
illustrator of the Abby’s Adventures (http://
www.abbysfanclub.com) kids book series.
When she wants to share the crazy ideas that
flutter about her head, she dishes out advice,
videos & tutorials on
Webcomic Alliance
(http://www.webcomicalliance.com).
Originally out of
Cleveland, Ohio, she’s
still a Cleveland sports
fan, further proof of
36
Kevin Bolk and Sarah Martinez are the primary
art and writing team for Interrobang Studios,
an art collective which has been publishing
original print and online comics as well as a
host of free browser games since 2005. Best
known for the parody comics It Sucks to be
Weegie and Ensign Sue Must Die! (both part
of Pot Luck Comics), Interrobang Studios also
produces the fantasy genre send-up The Last
Mystical Legend of the Fantastic Fantasy Trigger Star, the quirky auto-bio comic I’m My Own
Mascot, and the silent,
enigmatic Spinks. Recently, they’ve also
released their first
storybook,
Daddy/
Daughter Ninja Day:
My First Ninja Training Manual. A curious
“I wake up every morning & say, “Let’s light this sausage party on fire, Cap’n McBoomBoom!" – Oni
reader could lose days of their life exploring
the nearly bottomless archives at their website, so be forewarned and equip your desk
chair with fresh water and some extra Kit Kats
for the duration. Mmm… Kit Kats.
Selling: Comics, Prints, Art Cards, T-Shirts,
Novelties
Megami Jadeheart
http://www.emeraldixia.com
Megami Jadeheart has been drawing as long
as she’s been able to hold a crayon, and writing
since middle school. An interest in American
comics segued into an
interest in manga and
anime, and an inspired
art teacher in high
school as well as a degree in fine arts directed her style away from
imitation of either
genera and into a hybrid of realism, Japanese, and American comic styles. She is also a
seamstress and designer, and all-around crafty
person.
Annie: a Space Western, started with a bang
in December of 2008, adapted from a roleplaying game. With 25 chapters of the story
written, she’s in it for the long haul.
Selling: Teeshirts, silkscreened and painted
by hand; prints of art both original and fanart;
hand-made cat ears on hair clips; buttons of
original characters; commissions drawn at the
convention to order.
Catherine Lee
heading to the beach with her aunt on Tides
Ave. Things get a little weird when Lily finds
the guest book of the house they are staying
at: weird things like bags being packed, temperature dropping, and creaky floorboards.
Lily meets a spirit named Alex. Can Lily help
Alex realize what’s happening around him?
Or will he forever walk the earth alone? And
why hasn’t Alex crossed over? Ocean Tides is
updated every Friday.
Selling: Buttons, book markers, key chains,
original prints, and webcomic prints
Morlock Enterprises
http://www.morlockenterprises.com/index.php
Dana Moscariello – On the Bright Side
http://onthebrightside.smackjeeves.com/
Dana is an artist from New Jersey who has
been drawing from a very young age. She is
the artist and writer of the romantic comedy
webcomic: On the
Bright Side. It’s a story
of two best childhood
friends, Jacob and
Kaylee. Kaylee, along
with her family, moved
away, but has returned
eight years later... and
now that she is back,
life for Jacob is never
the same! On the Bright Side is updated once a
week.
Selling: Buttons, bookmarks, stickers, magnets, prints, books, sketches, original drawings, keychains
http://ametto.deviantart.com/
Paint Me A Perfect World
Productions
MonMon
http://www.etsy.com/shop/paintmeaperfectworld#
http://oceantides.smackjeeves.com/
Selling: Jewelry, artwork, 8-bit products,
clothing
My name is Monica H. or known as MonMon. I
am a graphic designer by day and a webcomic
artist by night. I run
a webcomic called
Ocean Tides, which is
about a girl named Lily
who is going into her
first year of college.
Before she focuses
on her studies, she is
Rafer Roberts
http://www.plasticfarm.
com/
Rafer Roberts is the
creator, writer, and
most-of-the-time
artist of Plastic Farm,
a post-ironic new-age
37
horror romance that chronicles one man’s
comedic descent into madness, despair,
and world conquest. Rafer lives in western
Maryland with his wife and muse and their
multitude of retarded cats.
Selling: Mini-comics, comics, TPB collections, original graphic novels, prints, sketch
cards, original artwork, poetry
John “The Gneech” Robey
http://shortstorygeeks.com/
http://gneech.com/
Creator of the popular webcomics, NeverNever
and The Suburban Jungle, The Gneech has now
joined the ranks of podcasters with The Short
Story Geeks podcast, at
shortstorygeeks.com.
He and podcasting
pals Buck Turner and
Graveyard Greg sample, review, and talk
about short fiction of
all kinds, from pulp
classics to the newest
e-pubs, as well as
sharing tips for writers and editors and interviews with authors, academics, and anybody
who might have something interesting to say
on the short story genre.
Selling: Suburban Jungle books, NeverNever
books, geeky buttons, artwork
Singed Cat Studios
www.singedcatstudios.com
www.honeyandthewhirlwind.com
www.squidsalad.net
Singed Cat Studios is a group of friends who
do art, animation, design, illustration, webcomics, go to anime/comic cons & most of all,
have good times. SCS currently hosts two webcomics, Honey & the Whirlwind (a story about
dreams, reality, and everything in between) by
Tim Ferrara and Squid Salad (a slice of the excellent: mayhem, mystery, and all the yummy
things) by Anii Stoll.
You can find, contact,
and hang with them
(and all the subsequent twitter/tumblr
and etsy shop goodness) on the web.
38
“I am very srs bznzz about my fun times" – Oni
Selling: Comics, Steampunk goggles, one of a
kind handmade jewelry, awesome 1” buttons,
posters & prints (original & fan art), handmade
books, custom commissions & sketch cards.
Skyscraper Soup
http://www.skyscrapersoup.com
SkyscraperSoup.com is home to a handful of
comics by the same
artist: Kerry Lynn
Thompson. The three
currently
updating
ones are This Is the
Worst Idea You’ve Ever
Had!: an urban fantasy
set around a group of
recent college grads
with poor decisionmaking skills, Sin Pararse: a love story
set in the same universe, and Cuanta Vida: a
fan comic loosely based on the popular game
Team Fortress 2.
Selling: comics, art prints, buttons, and
original art
Snow by Night
http://www.snowbynight.com
Snow by Night is an online graphic novel, written by Eric Menge and illustrated by Brittany
Michel. It updates weekly (twice a week starting in July). Follow the
adventures of a pair of
thieves, Blaise and Jassart, as they search for
a mysterious rival who
is beating them to
their marks and stealing from their wards.
Muskets and alchemy
replace swords and
sorcery in this tale of colonial fantasy.
Selling: comics, buttons, prints
Liz Staley
http://adrastus.comicdish.com/
http://lizstaley.deviantart.com/
Liz Staley is one of those people who have
been drawing and writing for as long as they
can remember. She came on to the scene
with a novel called The Hinomoto Rebellion,
a martial arts story set in futuristic Japan, and
then branched out in
to doing webcomics.
Currently she is doing
Adrastus, the story of a
girl who finds out the
skeleton in her family’s closet is actually a
giant alien robot. She
enjoys role-playing
games and making custom My Little Ponies
when not chained to her desk cranking out a
new comic page.
sizes and “flavors”. Come stop by and Hug a
Sushi! Or... if you’re not a big sushi fan (yet), or
are in need of something a little more manly,
check out our new wearable “Plushstaches”
and assorted steampunk goodies. You can see
and comment on our latest creations at www.
facebook.com/stuffedsushi
Selling: Novels, Comic books, bookmarks,
cell phone charms/keychains
http://thedarkenedheart.com
http://indanthrone.com
Rob Stenzinger
Selling: Darkened Heart folios (Written word
and photography, Victorian horror), steampunk props, print copies of comics, some
prints of artwork, originals (illustrations and
paintings), handmade silk-screened t-shirts
http://artgeekzoo.com
Rob Stenzinger is the creator of the comic, Art
Geek Zoo: The Way of Sound, the video game
Guitar Fretter (guitarfretter.com) for iPhone
and Android, and
Comicaster
(code.
google.com/p/comicaster), an opensource content management system for
comics hosted on
Google App Engine.
He’s also the artist half
of the creative team
for his new project, The Baby Adventures of Zoe
Zeus (babieslovecomics.com). Rob keeps out
of trouble by pursuing his passions and helping others do the same via comics, games, and
software.
Selling: comics, guitar picks, buttons
Studio Sakura Garden
http://einlee.net/top.html
Selling: Art prints
Stuffed Sushi
http://www.stuffedsushi.com/
Stuffed Sushi is a
crazy
combination
of sushi, fabric, fluff
and love for all things
japanese and/or anything geeky. We make
sushi roll and riceball
plushies in assorted
Selling: Comics, sushi plushies, t-shirts, jewelry, buttons, keychains, giant mustaches, and
random steampunk gear.
Sunken Library and Indanthrone
Tangent Artists
http://www.tangentartists.com/
Long ago a team of talented professional writers and artists tried to invent a machine that
would translate imagination into vivid brightly
animated images on a TV screen. Having no
knowledge of neurophysics, complex machinery or even simple fractions, this plan was
sadly abandoned in 2006. In 2007 the company endeavored to provide high-quality web
comics to the world once a week, and thisgoal
was met with far greater success. Thus was
the creation of three
comic series: The macabre comedy, Skeleton Crew, the celebration of nerd life, Donuts
for Looking, and the
screwball swords and
sorcery, CRIT!
Selling: Comics, books, cards, buttons, bookmarks , t-shirts, commissions
Technoangel Studios
http://www.technoangel.net
Technoangel Studios is the joint venture of
Laura “robynhime” Moiseev and Andrew
“sadboyinsnow” McLaughlin, born out of an
enjoyment of creating cute and entertaining
artwork in their spare time. The studio has
39
been spreading their
love of all things cute
and snarky across the
Mid-Atlantic region
since 2008.
Selling:
Buttons,
t-shirts, prints, and
commissions
“That’s So Cute” Buttons/Rival Hearts
http://www.thatssocutebuttons.com/
http://www.blackaswhite.com/rivalhearts
Rival Hearts – a new
web comic of “epic”
proportions, hopefully. Two people, raised
as rivals, have had to
live outside the life
they once knew, relying only on each other.
Now joined by a protective companion, they
are thrust back into the war that brought them
together, at risk of losing everything yet again.
Selling: character buttons, key chains, comics, prints
Tower of Ash Comics
http://www.claremoseley.ca/
Tower of Ash Comics is the works of Clare
Moseley, writer/artist behind The Otherkind,
Creator Confidential, Bishounen Boys Who Sing (and
the Women Who Love Them),
No Special Snowflake and the
writer of Ensign Sue Must Die!.
Offering print comics, original
and parody artwork, buttons,
bookmarks and t-shirts.
Selling: comics,
t-shirts, buttons, bookmarks,
print art
40
“Sometimes you catch more flies with Attila the Honey." – Oni
Art by Danny Valentini
“That’s So Cute” buttons offers hand-drawn
cute character images and portraits all on buttons. Choose from a large selection or request
your own choice.
Tummel Vision
www.tummelvision.com
Tummel Vision is a
small
press/indie
company publishing
comics and related
merchandise.
Our
current titles include
Grim Crew Presents:
Dead Future, Extraordinary, Stitchwork, Grim
Furry Tales, and Kidthulhu.
Selling: Comics, T-shirts, Prints, Buttons
Greg Uchrin
http://gregoriusu.deviantart.com/gallery/
Greg Uchrin is a cartoonist and satirist from
Alexandria VA. His political cartoon, Intravenous Caffeine (ivcaffeine.com), and its predecessor, Hail Dubyus!
(haildubyus.com),
have been running
since 2003. Intravenous Caffeine is also
the name of his studio. A visit to his deviantart site reveals
other humorous works, including a multipart
parody of BLEACH (part one published) called
BLECCH!, portraits, and the occasional dark
work when he is in a really bad mood. Future
plans include both humor and horror comics
in book form.
and comics for a living. You should help her
along and buy some stuff.
Selling: T-shirts, mugs, buttons, holiday cards, individual prints of art works, a
book of collected political cartoons, Bushwhacked, and part one of BLECCH!
http://lasalleslegacy.com
Kelsey Wailes
http://eattoast.deviantart.com/
Kelsey Wailes, who is called Eattoast on the
internet for some
reason, is known for
making silly comics,
drawing ugly faces,
and making cute but
sometimes ugly toys.
Because she is too
stupid to make computers work, so she
makes everything by
hand. One day, she would like to make toys
Selling: Handmade toys, original prints, comics, and high fives
Jennifer Zyren Smith
Jennifer Zyren Smith is an author and artist
residing in Maryland. Ever since she discovered ElfQuest at the age of twelve, she has
been telling stories
through comics and
has an entire file cabinet filled with character designs and comics from the last
twenty years. Her current graphic novel, LaSalle’s Legacy, is a fantasy story about the
adventures of the crew of the Laughing Panda.
When she isn’t making art, she is playing video
games and failing in her duties as cat slave.
Selling: copies of webcomic LaSalle’s Legacy,
buttons, prints, and sketchcards.
41
AREA GUIDE
Rockville, one of the largest
cities in Maryland, will host
Intervention. Considered by
many to be the technological
center of the region, Rockville also has a rich cultural
history dating back to the
1700s. The city itself is celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2010, but Intervention is sure to be the biggest
party in town all year! If this
is your first time to the area,
here’s a handy guide to area
restaurants, shopping, and
attractions to help you feel a
little more at home.
DINING
You can’t throw a stone
without hitting a restaurant
in Rockville, but we’ve taken
the liberty of picking out
some of the better food options within walking distance
of Intervention.
Twinbrook Grille
Hilton downstairs
Breakfast buffet, lunch and
dinner. General US restaurant
fare.
Distance from Convention
Hotel: zero singularity: they
do room service, too!
Riff’s Lounge
Hilton lobby
Dinner only. General
US restaurant light food
(sandwiches and the like).
Distance from Convention
Hotel: Just roll out of bed and
into the elevator.
42
Phillip’s Seafood
Restaurant
1775 Rockville Pike:
A little pricey, but don’t miss
the $4 happy hour specials
4-7pm on weekdays.
Distance from Convention
Hotel: less than 0.1 miles
Whole Foods Market
1649 Rockville Pike
Not a restaurant. It’s a grocery
store with natural and organic
foods.
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 0.2 miles
India Grill
Mosaic Cuisine and
Cafe
Rolls ‘n Rice
Fuddruckers
1761 Rockville Pike
A local favorite. Lunch and
dinner buffet options from $7
to $11.
Distance from Convention
Hotel: less than 0.1 miles
1701 Rockville Pike
Sushi and rice bowls.
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 0.1 miles
Maria’s Bakery & Cafe
1701 Rockville Pike
A Hong Kong-style cafe that
also has a bakery with a wide
selection of sweets.
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 0.2 miles
Hooters
1584 Rockville Pike
Lots of fried food, girls in
matching orange pants
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 0.2 miles
Kenny’s Sub Shop
130 Rollins Avenue
Some of the best Chinese
food in the area at good prices.
Apparently they also have
subs, but we couldn’t tell you
much about those.
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 0.2 miles
Ruby Tuesday’s
12266 Rockville Pike
Your typical family restaurant.
Often runs specials for
multiple courses and people.
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 0.2 miles
186 Halpine Road
Waffles and sandwiches by
day, steaks and seafood dishes
by night.
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 0.2 miles
1592 Rockville Pike
Very good burgers, made to
order.
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 0.2 miles
Lebanese
Taverna Cafe
1605 Rockville Pike
Perfect for those times when
you wake up in the morning
and say “I need Lebanese food
today or I’m gonna be pissed.”
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 0.3 miles
Armand’s
Chicago Pizzeria
190 Halpine Road
Nice assortment of pizzas and
Italian food. Lunch and dinner
buffets under $10.
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 0.3 miles
Baja Fresh
Mexican Grill
1607 Rockville Pike
A slightly tastier and healthier
option than most of those
other burrito joints.
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 0.3 miles
“Now we complete a day of dental hygiene, debauchery, and randomness. We only had 1 person puke.” – Oni
Noodles & Co
1609 Rockville Pike
Noodle dishes from around the
globe. You know a place must
be hardcore about noodles
when its URL is noodles.com.
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 0.3 miles
Baskin-Robbins
1617 Rockville Pike
Now you can eat ice cream for
every meal!
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 0.3 miles
Hinode Restaurant
134 Congressional Lane
Japanese food with extensive
menu. Lots of sushi options.
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 0.4 miles
Chicken Out
Rotisserie
1560 Rockville Pike
Chicken? No I mean, do you
like chicken? They got it!
Gluten free menus available!
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 0.4 miles
Mi Rancho Restaurant
1488 Rockville Pike
Tex Mex, sombrero and
trumpet atmosphere, annoying
flash menu
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 0.4 miles
Yekta Kabobi
Restaurant
1488 Rockville Pike
Cheap Persian food (the
culture, not the rug/cat)
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 0.4 miles
Starbucks
1621 Rockville Pike
The addictive coffee that
made Seattle hip.
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 0.4 miles
Mykonos Grill
121 Congressional Lane
Is Greek. You like-a the juice?
Juice is good? Don’t fight over
the lamb brain.
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 0.4 miles
Joe’s Noodle House
1488 Rockville Pike
Chinese cuisine. Vegetarian
menu available.
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 0.4 miles
Subway’s
1402 Rockville Pike
Cheap corporate subs/hoagies/
grinders, made to order.
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 0.5 miles
McDonald’s
1390 Rockville Pike
Clown themed, avant-garde
fast food. Love it ironically
only. The cheapness will
consume you.
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 0.6 miles
Ledo Pizza
1319 – H Rockville Pike
Square shaped pizza? Are
we living in Bizzaro world?
Medium pricey, but good pizza.
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 0.8 miles
A & J Restaurant
1319 Rockville Pike
Chinese food. Northern
Chinese dim sum (bread style).
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 0.8 miles
India Garden
1321 Rockville Pike
Fast & Authentic Indian,
Bangladeshi & Pakistani Dishes
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 0.8 miles
Entenmann’s Bakery
Outlet
1327 Rockville Pike
Yeah, screw that diet. Om
nom nom. Come early, though
(9am): discounted bakery
numminess is random and
runs out quick.
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 0.8 miles
Sadaf Halal
Restaurant
1327 Rockville Pike
Middle eastern food.
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 0.8 miles
Taco Bell
1100 Rockville Pike
How many ways can we make
food from just 5-7 ingredients?
Cheapest food you can get
that is still technically edible.
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 0.9 miles
Temari Cafe
1043 Rockville Pike
Best damn Japanese food
nearby that makes you realize
they export more than sushi
and Hello Kitty.
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 0.9 miles
Kielbasa Factory, Inc.
1073 Rockville Pike
Polish & European Deli
and Grocery
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 1.0 miles
Norito Hwaro
1054 Rockville Pike
Korean Grill
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 1.0 miles
Chipotle Mexican Grill
11830 Rockville Pike
Like a Hispanic TGI Fridays, but
they will deny it!
Distance from Convention
Hotel: 1.0 miles
SUPPLIES & SERVICES
Just in case you need them,
Rockville has several stores
offering supplies and services
you may need on your trip.
Even if you don’t need to hit
the stores while you’re here,
you may still want to consider a
short pilgrimage to the nearby
Micro Center electronics superstore if you’re not fortunate
enough to have one near you.
Micro Center
1776 E. Jefferson #203
FedEx Office
1750 Rockville Pike
US Post Office
143 Rollins Ave
CVS/pharmacy
1580 Rockville Pike
43
THANK YOU!
Oni and Harknell Would Like To Thank:
Pete Abrams, Gloria Chapa, Paul DiGennaro, Chris Impink, Barb Fischer, Ben Walker, RobertThomas, Rodger Burns, Tiffanny Walsh, Isaiah Beard, Andrew Zorowitz, Ilya Kurakin, Grayhawk, Corinne Simmers, Colette Fozard, Chuck Fozard, Grig Larson, Kristyn Souder, Brian
Lynch, Terry Berendt, Gil Cnaan, Jonette Butler, Wesley Mason, Sarah Showalter
You guys believed in us and stepped up when it counted. We will always remember this.
Our guests – You guys have always been willing to help in the struggle and go beyond
what’s asked.
Brunetto T-shirts for enabling our t-shirts to go to 11 this year.
You, the attendees, for supporting this event.
Our volunteers and staff for being the heart of the convention and taking on the even
greater challenges present this year.
All of our Enablers of every level – you guys really made a difference and helped
when we needed it the most.
Chris AKA Doktor242 – You believed in us before anyone else did, but you were taken
from this earth too soon. Club 242 will live on in your memory.
Arisia – for the radios
Coffee. Oh, and Chocolate too.
Oni Would Like To Thank:
Harknell for giving her enough crap to keep her from lighting anyone on fire.
Harknell Would Like To Thank:
Oni for putting up with his crap and taking care of business like a BOSS!
We would like to thank the following people for their generous donations to
Intervention. Your help Enabled us to have this event.
Cr4zyW3bChk
Patrick Perry
Frank “Grayhawk” Huminski
Shy Matsi
Snow By Night
Mona Carol
Kitchen Penguin
44
“Holy shit I organized a massive event without realizing it. @_@ And I’m already planning 2012.
I AM THE SAUCY KOOL AID MAN OF FANDOM” – Oni
Convention Map
Registration
Panels 1
(Jackson)
Art Studio
(Lincoln)
Video
Room
Workshops
(Washington)
Panels 2
(Monroe)
(Twinbrook)
Children’s
Programming
Operations
(Truman)
(Montrose)
LARPs
(Wilson)
Guest Tables/
Vendor Room/
Artist Alley
Patio
Help/Info
Desk
Foam
Brain/
Gaming
(Adams)
Performances
(Regency)
Video Gaming
(Roosevelt)
Large Panels
Open
Gaming
(Madison)
(Jefferson)
Table of Contents
Words from the Con Chair
1
Con Staff
1
Rules and Regulations
2
Guest Biographies
4
Panel Listings
18
Artists’ Alley
34
Area Guide
42
Thank You!
44
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