The From The Booth Podcast Goes To Wizard World Philadelphia!

From The Booth Podcast co-hosts Ken and I went to Wizard World Philadelphia over last weekend to catch a couple of artist interviews and cover the Marvel Comics panel discussion.  We interviewed artists Phil Noto and Leinil Yu, two of the top pencilers in the bullpen, and managed to get a question answered of some of the top brass at Marvel editorial at the panel.

Jim Dietrich (myself), artist Phil Noto, and FTB co-host Ken

The Noto interview  went very well; He was very approachable and receptive to questions, but we managed to dump the audio when our recorder malfunctioned.  I had asked him if, having worked for so many comics companies on so many diverse properties, there was any title or character he regretted never having the chance to work on.  Noto replied that there were so many things he'd worked on that he was proud of, that there were no regrets.  He said that if he had to choose one, it'd likely be Micronauts or some other property that came and went before he got into the business. When asked about coming full circle with Disney (he started his professional career as a clean-up artist for the Mouse), he said that although it was strange to be (technically) working for them once again, Disney maintained a distance and were very "hands off" when it came to Marvel. I think "creatively separate" was the term used.  

FTB co-host Ken, Jim Dietrich (myself) and artist Leinil Yu

The interview with Leinil was brief, but a lot of fun.  Yu talked a little about his early influences, his current work, and his planned run on Avengers (issues 16-23)  Audio of that can be found here.

The panel discussion was informative, if a bit short on announcements about future Marvel endeavors.  Audio of the complete panel, as well as individual, select questions broken out for brevity, can be had here.

Overall, it was a fun and successful trip.  Many of the hardcore comics fans I run into disparage Wizard World Philly for being taken over by tv and movie celebrity appearances, but I have to say that the lack of depth to the offerings in Artists' Alley is overblown, imho, and they more than make up for any perceived shortfall with an unmatched level of accessibility to some of the top talent in comics.  Lines for artists are rare if they exist at all, and availability of commission sketch work, signatures, and conversation with comics creators is excellent.  

Oh, and there's this:

Don't forget to check out the podcast for more details on our trip and all the latest comics news, reviews, previews and commentary!  And special thanks to Phil Noto and Leinil Yu.