Considering the characters involved, I'm sure you can figure out what happens in the next minute or so to Magica de Spell. Thank you Amy Mebberson and James Silvani for the fantastic co-lab commission!
I will not mince words. Artist Alley is where I spent the vast majority of my time while at NYCC. Well, there and trying to get a certain rainbow maned exclusive from from a certain toy company that shall remain nameless. But considering that Artist Alley alone had over 300 comic creatives, just saying "hi" to a fraction of them would have taken most of a day.
Since these are all creatives gathered in one place for the dual purpose of granting easy access to their fans and selling their wares to their fans, just saying "hi" to everyone simplely wouldn't be enough. Also, because my bags were stuff full of something from almost every MLP Creative I chatted with while in the alley, their second purpose worked very well on me.
Thankfully the organizers of NYCC had the foresight—and probably someone who realized that Agnes Garbowska's request of having Sara Richard placed next to her would be good for all the MLP Comic Staff—to put everyone who works on the comic in one spot. Made chatting with the MLP crew, and gaining little tidbits of news from them much easier than usual.
You can find out all of that information after the break!
Amy Mebberson had the biggest news to come out of the con. She's basically retired from working in the comics industry. Which means that once her last few MLP comic covers come out, that will be it for the foreseeable future. Now put your pitchforks down and delete those angry e-mails you were about to send to her. She has a very good reason why she's pulling back on her comic work.
She's working directly for Hasbro now, and has been for the past year. She creates concept art/toy-designs for a new line of toys aimed at young girls. Best of all, you're still going to be seeing her work on EQD all the time, for the new toyline she's working on was announced by Hasbro at NYCC on the very first day. And it's something you've probably seen before.
She was a little surprised when I showed her the photo of those toys, asking me where I got it, but when I answered that Hasbro just announced them, she grinned like a little school girl and "Finally! I can talk about them!" To which she did. She very happy to work with the fantastic team at Hasbro, which takes her art and refines it into the adorable dolls you see above, and she seriously cannot wait for the waves of the dolls to start rolling out. Yes, I did say waves. The chibi EQG dolls will be coming out for a while.
And where Amy Mebberson is stepping away from the MLP comic world, Tony Fleecs was more than happy to step up and take over her cover duties. Which Tony was. Ore than happy to give me a quick sneak peek at some of them. And I do mean quick. He was flipped my through his phone faster than I could blink, but I am pretty sure I spotted a rainbow mane with a second pony on the cover.
Also, for those of you curious, Tony plans on opening up an online shop to start listing his MLP comic art for sale. If you're interested in buying any of his original comic pages, be sure to keep an eye out as EQD will be linking to that page when it's up.
Jay Fosgitt is a wonderful comic creative, who has the most epic of advertisements with a Bodie Troll puppet who happ—I mean menacingly handed over the commission I asked Jay for.
The fact Bodie also gave me a heart attack also had absolutely nothing to do with his cuteness and everything to do with how terrifying the litt—BIG AND SCARY troll is! Speaking of Bodie, the second issue of his new mini-series is due out early next year from Red 5 comics.
And in pony related news, after his Friends Forever issue with Celestia and Pinkie Pie comes, Jay has another issue coming that he got the go ahead to start working on while at the con. While I can't say who exactly the comic stars, I can say that the comic features a pony and some other character.
I look forward to the speculation on that one.
Agnes Garbowska didn't have too much in the news front in way of MLP and other projects. She did after all have a recent issue starring Spike and Zecora come out literally the day before the con, so she was excited to see how that issue was received.
Aside from that, Agnes spent most of the con making quick water color sketches for everyone who came up and bought a custom one from her.
When I promoted her about what cons she has planned for next year, she said didn't have much ch planned right now. But she did express her desire to attend more Brony conventions, something about Bronycon being an awesome con made her excited to attend more. She mentioned being interested at possibly attending Ponycon in February as a guest, but pointed out that it's up to the con staff to decide who to invite.
Here's hoping Agnes gets invited to lots more Brony conventions in the future.
Katie Cook was the busiest artist at the convention all weekend. You see that line right next to her table? That line stayed that same size all four days, neither growing nor shrinking as she toiled away on her custom mini-paintings for everyone who bought one.
She was actively working on comic pages back at her hotel after artist alley closed at the con each night. Whether those pages were for MLP, Marvel, or something completely new, she didn't say. She did however say that she is very happy with how the MLP: Holiday Special turned out, and she can't wait too see it on the shelves.
Sara Richard hinted that we might be seeing some more interior comic pages from her. Didn't specify when, where, or what book those pages might pop up (for all I know, it could be something for Marvel) but she was all smiles as she hinted about that.
She did outright state that she will try her hardest to be involved with the Dark Jem arc after IDW announced that at NYCC. To say she was just excited about that arc wouldn't even be close to her truly outrageous feelings on the matter. Good luck Sara! Hope to see you're covers back on Jem for that arc!
Aside from that Artist Edition Month cover that was revealed in the last post, Andy Price didn't have too much in the way of pony related news. Siege of the Crystal Empire's first part had come out and there are a couple of sequences in there that he's especially interested in seeing the reception to.
He did finish the cover for Art is Magic and had it for sale at NYCC. No I did take a picture since I did not buy it, but he did reveal that it was submitted to IDW and that the book had gone to the printer earlier in the week. Seriously cannot wait to get my hands on that art book.
Stay tuned for more of EQD's coverage of NYCC as we go into the one aspect of the show that really wasn't talked about much, but should definitely become a mainstay at NYCC and at comic conventions throughout the world.
