SDCC’15: Aspen Comics Practice Santeria for Comic-Con

SDCC 2015 hasn’t been a slouch in the announcements department especially if you’re a fan of comics.  Friday morning, Aspen Comics held their Comic-Con caucus in room 9 kicking off with a big traditional “Aloha” and leading to a couple of big teases for fans.

Frank Mastromauro, Vince Hernandez, Mark Roslan, and Peter Steigerwald were joined by Josh Reed, Beth Sotelo, BigDog Ink’s Tom Hutchison, David Wohl, Paolo Pantalena, Siya Oum, V. Ken Marion, Heather Quinley, Alex Koant, and Hannibal Tabu. So many people that actually couldn’t fit on the stage.

Frank opened with the upcoming Eternal Soulfire showing off the Century Edition cover which was an SDCC exclusive. With Eternal Soulfire debuting this week more covers for issues three and four were shown off including a large piece separated into four different covers. The Vettix sketch cover initiative cover was talked about and their lineup for auction includes Art Adams with more names to follow soon. Vettix helps armed forces men and women attend hard to score events like comic-con.

The presentation transitioned into the recently launched Fathom Blue. One of the two Aspen team books set in the Fathom universe. Some scantily clad covers and regular covers for issue 2 through 5 were showing.

David Wohl talked about his new project called Santeria: City of Fear (working title). Wohl talked about wanting to do a paramedic story. It’s about a woman who saves someone’s live and in doing so is thrust into a world of Santeria. The pitch for the book sounds like an interesting take on what the cost of saving a life could be.

Oniba Swords of the Demon by Paolo Pantalena is a series featuring a female samurai. Her feudal Japan timeline story will see the heroine battle intricately designed monsters. There’s a sketchbook available at the Aspen booth featuring some intense line art.

The Big Dog Ink rundown started with an update on Critter. Some con exclusive covers were shown which should be available on the publisher’s online store. After Critter will be Legend of Oz Wicked West in October. Wrapping up the BDI stuff is a tease for new Shahrazad stuff next year.

Jirni Volume two debuts in August. Some new covers for the series were shown and Marion’s art really bumps up his game here.

The all ages Psycho Bonkers showed off some covers including one by MLP artist Agnes Garabowska.

LOLA XoXo Wasteland Madam had some new cover art to show off by the impressive Siya Oum. She’ll return to writing the LOLA series with Vol 2 whileWasteland Madam continues to be written by Vince Hernandez.

Steigerwald talked about the delay with Zoohunters. His current DC Commitments were taking more time than they should have but he’ll be returning to the book very soon.

Upcoming trades by the publisher include Fathom Vol 2, Fathom Killian’s tale, Legend of the Shadow Clan, and Jirni Vol 1.

Following the recent movement of Aspen Novels is Aspen Novellas. The first one in the line will feature the world of Executive Assistant Iris. They’ll be shorter than the novels but an expansion into the comics’ worlds that takes prose form.

Dellec and Shrugged will have new Volumes at some point. The stories for each are in the works but current titles are the focus. Mastromauro explained the publisher can only handle a certain number of books a month.

The Scourge,  Scott Lobdell’s previous Aspen series is in talks to be a feature film and has a screenwriter.

A gorgeous Michael Turner gallery edition collecting the legendary artist’s Batman/Superman run through the lens of the original pages is currently available at the show and at Graphitti Designs. The oversized book is a must for fans of Turner and orginal art which also contains tons of cover work and designs for his various DC Comics contributions. Fans can flip through one at the Graphitti booth, but be prepared for the best impulse buy ever.

The panel announced this year’s Halloween Fest book will be a Psycho Bonkers coloring and activity book for kids.

The publisher also announced a catch up with day-and-date digital as well as the back catalog continuing to update with Comixology.

For years Aspen has always had their IP on the cusp of breaking into other mediums, while there has been movement on a few things; according to Mastromauro the thing closest to being a reality is Executive Assistant: Iris. In the group’s opinion it’s the property that would be cost effective for a studio to tackle. Even teasing that it could be a SDCC 2016 announcement.

With that the panel closed with another rousing “Aloha!”