Saturday, March 29, 2014

Bonus Episode: Side Quest #1 (or, The Long Con)



The Cromcast recently went on an adventure... a side quest To the 2014 Lexington Comic and Toy Con!
 
We're excited to showcase some of our schwag, and we were able to snap a few pictures along the way! If you're interested, then please read on! If comics aren't your thing, then just sit tight. Episode #20 will be dropping before you know it!



This first sketch was given to us by our buddy, Justin Stewart! You remember him, right? Awesome artist and fellow podcaster? We talked with him back in Episode #15 about Conan and comics! He and the rest of the Beaucoup Pop crew were holding down the "1000 section" of the con... Kentucky Proud!


And here's a Red Sonya sketch that Luke commissioned Jay Myers! Jay's another Lexington artist and, man, he KILLED it with this commission! Seriously, this guy has some chops. Check out loads of his art here!


And then we come to Stephen Moore's piece... Stevie's the brain and art behind Studiospectre. It was awesome to talk with him about weird fiction and his interest in paleo-art.You can be sure we'll be talking with Stevie down the road. But until then, you can check out some of Stevie's work here!




And one more Kentucky Proud artist! The pics above are from Sara Turner's new mini-comic, "The Boneyard!" Sara writes The Ghosts of Pineville (buy it here), which is hands-down one of the best all-ages ghost stories out there. Do you have a "weird" little niece or nephew in your life? Daughter or son? Seriously, buy them one of these books... They will love it. Or end up peeing their pants. Maybe both.

And now how about an interview photo or two?


This first photo is of Mr. Gary Kwapisz, a comics stalwart! Gary was kind enough to talk with us about his past work on Marvel's Savage Sword of Conan and also about his upcoming work, Stonewall's Arm! Gary's run in comics is amazing. Check out his body of work here!


This second photo is the hardest workin' man in the comics industry, Victor Dandridge! Victor's on the right, calling out Mark Waid and doing one of the best "bad" Schwarzenegger impressions you've ever heard. The "mic man" is our very own Cromcaster Josh,  and Mr. Smiley there is Cromcaster Jon!

As you'll hear in the interview, Victor has a hand in a LOT of projects. The guy's energy is astounding. Check out his company, Vantage Inhouse Productions here. You can get the scoop there about U Cre-8 Comics, his line of 8 bit art, and all of his company's comics work!

And finally.... How about we wrap things up with some of our biggest scores from the con....



 

Jon made out like a villian with a slew of some comics, and was able to get killer autographs from Jim Steranko and Mike Royer. No lie, those fellows are living legends!



In addition to some Kentucky Proud sketches, Luke was able to bag over 500 pages of The House of Mystery, as well as a collection of the first issues of the original Vampirella series. Horror anthology goodness!

All in all, the Lexington Comic and Toy Convention was a huge success. 2015 will be the fourth year for this event, and it looks to be even bigger and better, with even more guests and vendors! Be sure to keep your eye on the LCTC website and think about adding it to your calendar next spring!

Questions? Comments? Curses? Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)
Also, you know you wanna follow us on Twitter!
Subscribe to our feed on FeedBurner! Or, check us out on iTunes!

Beginning theme: "Sudden Defeat" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

Monday, March 24, 2014

Episode 19: Beyond the Black River (Or, we zigged when we should have Zogar zagged...)




"...I'm a mercenary. I sell my sword to the highest bidder. I never planted wheat and never will, so long as there are other harvests to be reaped with the sword. But you Hyborians have expanded as far as you'll be allowed to expand. You've crossed the marches, burned a few villages, exterminated a few clans and pushed back the frontier to Black River; but I doubt if you'll even be able to hold what you've conquered, and you'll never push the frontier any further westward..."

Our story this week is the superlative Beyond the Black River. Originally published in May and June of 1935 in Weird Tales, you can check it out on Project Gutenberg here! Also, you can download the episode here.


...And we have a special guest this episode... Mr. Mark Finn joins us yet again! We get a chance to catch up, talk about Mark's convention schedule and projects before we get into the story! What a busy guy! Keep up with Mark on his blog, and be sure to check out his brand new collection of short stories, Empty Hearts! You can find it right here on Amazon.com!

We all agree, this is one great tale! It may even be our favorite so far!

Wild lands and hard men on the fringes of society... Hmmm, sound a bit familiar?


 

What are your favorite westerns? Let us know in the comments below! Or leave a voicemail! We can be reached at (859) 429-CROM! (that's 2766). Leave a question / comment and we'll play it on the show! (Thanks, Hattey, for the nice voicemail!)

Our next stop on the Road of Kings will be in Zamboula - read Shadows in Zamboula on Project Gutenberg. Let us know what you think!

Questions? Comments? Curses? Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)
Also, you know you wanna follow us on Twitter!
Subscribe to our feed on FeedBurner! Or, check us out on iTunes!

Beginning theme: "Sudden Defeat" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

Monday, March 10, 2014

Episode 18: The Jewels of Gwahlur & an Interview with John R. Fultz!



Conan the Cimmerian, late of the Baracha Isles, of the Black Coast, and of many other climes where life ran wild, had come to the kingdom of Keshan following the lure of a fabled treasure that outshone the hoard of the Turanian kings...

Our story this week is The Jewels of Gwahlur... Or is it The Servants of Bit-Yakin? Either title works! Originally published in Weird Tales in March of 1935, you can check it out on Project Gutenberg here! Also, you can download our episode here.


We have a special guest this episode... Mr. John R. Fultz joins us!

John is the author of The Books of the Shaper, with the concluding book just coming out this Winter! These tomes are available from many fine purveyors, but to get you started, you can check out the first book here on Amazon.


Or, if you're looking for some tales in shorter form, check out John's short story collection, The Revelations of Zang, here! John keeps a blog here, but he also keeps active on other sites, publishing in the likes of Black Gate, Lightspeed and, of course, Weird Tales!

Finally, John has some great comics to check out. You can get his first issue of Primordia for FREE on Comixology here

And speaking about comics, what's that about P. Craig Russell? Ha! We think it's more like P. Craig Awesome! Check out the cover for his interpretation of The Jewels of Gwahlur...


Our next story will be Beyond the Black River. Read it here. Get ready, because it's one hell of a ride!

Questions? Comments? Curses? Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)
Don't like email? Leave a voicemail! We can be reached at (859) 429-CROM! (that's 2766).
Leave a short question / comment and we'll play it on the show!
Also, you know you wanna follow us on Twitter!
Subscribe to our feed on FeedBurner! Or, check us out on iTunes!
Beginning theme: "Sudden Defeat" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/