Wizard World Chicago rolls into the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois this weekend. Guests include Dan Didio, Joe Quesada, John Cassaday, Geoff Darrow, Mark Millar, Bill Sienkiewicz, Jim Starlin, Jim Valentino, Kody Chamberlain, Phil Hester, Sean McKeever and many more. And while a lot of comic-related news flowed out of San Diego, no doubt Marvel and DC held something back for Chicago.

Marvel has set up a Wizard World Chicago Central page on their site; right now it lists their panels, but watch for booth signing information. You can find DC’s information on the Wizard site, as well as Aspen, Top Cow and other companies.

If you’re a creator or exhibitor and want to share your schedule, please email me and I’ll post it. Now let’s hear from some folks who have already contacted me …

The Hero Initiative previously reported that Paul Jenkins would be in Chicago playing pool for charity; for various donation levels, you can challenge Jenkins to a game of pool and take home various prizes if you win. One of the prizes was something they called “the big dirty,” which sounds a little scary. Now they’ve got a post on their blog explaining what exactly a “big dirty” is:

ONCE a day, Paul will take a $500 challenge for a $1000+ prize package known as The Big Dirty! Said Dirty is:

• A $500 Dynamic Forces shopping spree for signed material (value: $500)
• An Ultimate Spider-Man #100 Project hardcover (limited edition of 1000) autographed by Stan Lee! (value: $75)
• A Marvel Then and Now DVD autographed by Stan Lee! (value: $75)
• An 11-by-14 Joseph Michael Linsner one-character commission drawing (value: $200)
• A CGC 9.6 or higher Crisis on Infinite Earths #1 autographed by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez (value: $75)
• The Fantastic Art of Arthur Suydam hardcover book with an original sketch inside front cover by Suydam (value: $75)
• A Paradise Comics Toronto Comicon lithograph autographed by Terry Moore, Matt Wagner AND Marv Wolfman (value: $50)

Chad Thomas will debut a brand new book:

I’m debuting a new mini called Seamonsters & Samurai about a Scottish samurai whose been given the task of protecting the Loch Ness Monster. I’ll have prints, buttons and other minis too…

Gary Reed:

Gary Reed will be in Artist Alley-table #4712. In addition to having all of his graphic novels from Penguin, Image, and Desperado, he will also have the FIVE new releases from the inaugural launch of Transfuzion Publishing including his 320 page anthology, Of Scenes and Stories. There will be free comics given away at the table as previews of some of the graphic novels that collect the stories. Gary will be signing and answering questions all four days throughout the con.

Dial R Studios:

After a successful debut at the San Diego Comic-Con, Dial R Studios sets its sights on the Windy City. Pat Loika and Dave Wachter will be joined by Andy Jewett, Noble Larimer, John Schlim Jr., Jeffery LaJaunie, and a few other surprise guests!

Copies of the latest Dial R books, including the PANTHEON 2-book anthology will be available, among others. Dave, Pat, and Andy will also be accepting sketch and commission requests all weekend.

The Dial R crew will be setting up shop at Artist Alley, at tables 3614-3618.

Sean McKeever’s Wizard World Chicago schedule

Subject to change, but this looks like the real deal:

Thursday
5:30-7pm Signing: DC booth

Friday
3-4:30pm Signing: DC booth
6pm Presenter: Wizard Fan Awards

Saturday
11am Panel: DCU New Worlds Order
1:30-3pm Signing: DC booth

Sunday
12-1:30pm Signing: DC booth

More on that panel:
DCU: NEW WORLDS ORDER
The Dave Cockrum Room
The DC Universe survived 52, but will it survive Countdown? Dan DiDio, Senior VP—Executive Editor DCU and Bob Wayne, VP—Sales are joined by Tony Daniel (Teen Titans, Flash), Patrick Gleason (Green Lantern Corps), Sean McKeever (Countdown, Teen Titans ), Will Pfeifer (Catwoman), J. Torres (Teen Titans Go!), Ethan Van Sciver (Green Lantern) and others for a peek into what’s upcoming in comics’ greatest universe!

And here’s the scoop on the awards:
WIZARD FAN AWARDS
The Dave Cockrum Room
The votes are tallied, the Fanboy statues are polished and the champagne is ordered for the most glamorous night of the year: the 14th Annual Wizard Fan Awards! Join the staff of Wizard Entertainment and all of your favorite comic creators in The Dave Cockrum Room at 6 p.m. to honor the choices YOU selected as your favorite writer, artist, hero, villain and more! Who knows? You might just get to sit next to one of your idols! Wizard staffers and teen heartthrobs Ben Morse and Rickey Purdin play host to comics’ best and brightest on an evening where the stars will shine and anything can happen.

Don’t miss the Wizard World LA 2007 Film Festival Best In Fest award winner "Tuesday" by Sean Becker & Payman Benz which will be shown
as a special screening during the Fan Awards. For more info. visit www.wizardworldfilmfest.com.

Phil Hester’s schedule, with some Ande Park thrown in for good measure:

Thursday: I won’t be there, but my inking partner Ande Parks will be manning our Artists’ Alley tables 3002-4. We’ll both be there most of
the show.

Friday:
10-Forever: Signing and sketching at AA table 3002-4. Free quick sketches and autographs to all, but full commissions will be limited this year, so come early.
4-5 Signing at Top Cow.

Saturday:
Premiere of my new Desperado book, Thirteen Steps. Copies available at my AA table, or artist Kevin Mellon’s 5218.
2-3 Signing at Top Cow.
3:30-4:30- Top Cow panel.
6:30-7:30- I get my ass handed to me by Matt Wagner in the CBLDF sketch “duel”… but I’m unarmed!

Sunday:
10-11 Signing and sketching at the HERO Initiative booth.
1-2 Signing and sketching at Marvel (tentative).

I’ll probably have some more Marvel times, but you’ll need to check their booth once you’re at the show. See y’all there!

Kody Chamberlain:

I’ll be set up in Artists Alley table # 5514. Drop by and say hi! I’ll be doing commissions, sketches, signing books, etc. Word on the street is I’ll have a few copies of Punks to show off, but can’t sell them since I’ll only have a few. But I will have tons of original art and hopefully some new sketchbooks.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 8th, 2007 at 10:47 am and is filed under Comic Books, Conventions, Creators, News & Views. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.