Saskatoon Blitz 2012

Press Releases:
Preliminary Press Release – “Announcing Saskatoon Blitz”

Saskatoon Blitz in the news:
• The Saskatoon Metro – “Saskatoon Blitz Super Walkathon a success!”
• The Verb – “Saskatoon Blitz!, Bigger, Better Than Ever”
• Global Sasaktoon – “Comic-con in Saskatoon”
• The Afternoon Edition: CBC Radio – “Saskatoon Blitz Interview”
• The StarPhoenix – “Comic book community grows in Saskatoon”

Saskatoon Blitz 2012 Special Guests

width=200 Tom Grummett

Tom Grummett is a comic book artist and penciller. He is best known for his work as penciller on titles such as The New Titans, The Adventures of Superman, Superboy, Power Company, Robin, New Thunderbolts and Heroes.

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width=200 Don Sparrow

Don Sparrow is a writer and illustrator in Saskatoon. Over his ten-year career as an Illustrator, Don’s retro-comics inspired work has been featured in numerous publications, including Computer Arts UK, NUVO, Ohio Magazine and several others. His artwork has been shown in exhibitions in Hamilton, Oakville, Saskatoon’s Mendel Art Gallery, and most recently in Vancouver’s Seymour Art Gallery. Having recently been a featured guest at the WizardWorld Toronto Comic-Con, Don is proud to take part in a great event so close to home.

width=200 Mike Sass

Mike Sass is a Canadian fantasy illustrator and painter. His artwork can be seen in the World of Warcraft TCG, Magic the Gathering, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Dungeons and Dragons and more.
Previous to his career as a freelance illustrator, Mike was the first artist hired at BioWare Corp. in 1996 and for 12 years was a principal artist for such games as Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, KOTOR and Mass Effect. Mike illustrated numerous iconic images for magazine covers, packaging and websites.
In addition to creating fantasy art, Mike also teaches workshops in character design and oil painting, sharing his 15 years of knowledge with students.

width=200 Owen Gienni

Saskatchewan based artist Owen Gieni is the co-creator of the long-running web comic SORE THUMBS. He is also the current artist of Rob Liefeld’s AVENGELYNE, recently relaunched by Image Comics. Other notable works include HOPE VIRUS and KADE from Arcana, FRIAR & BRIMSTONE, BARKER, and CROWSCARE from Keenspot, and LAST BLOOD from Blatant. Equally passionate about comics and food, he hopes to one day combine the two into either comics about food, or perhaps edible comics.
http://avengelyne.keenspot.com/
http://sorethumbs.keenspot.com/

width=200 Scott Kowalchuk

A Calgary-based comic book artist, Scott Kowalchuk saw the launch of his first series (with writer Kurtis J Wiebe) from Image Comics in 2011 ‘The Intrepids’. His next project is a soon to be announced graphic novel from Oni Press with writers Chris Sims and Chad Bowers. It’s action-packed, hard-hitting, and will be the funniest book that will have ever been published. Honest.

width=200 Ross May

Saskatchewan writer Ross May has written for comic books including Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, magazines including cereal:geek, and DVD production content (think extras and liner notes) for releases like The Real Ghostbusters complete series. His first graphic novel Devil Dealers comes out later this year.

width=200 Derryl Murphy

Derryl Murphy is the author of the mathematics-as-magic novel Napier’s Bones, which has been called “as fun and intense an adventure novel as you could hope to find” (Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing), “literary prog-rock, stretching the bounds of what is possible” (Quill & Quire), and a “clever lark full of free-wheeling adventure and odd intellectual borrowings; a sort of winking DaVinci Code for the math set bracketed in magic and uncertainty” (New York Review of Science Fiction). But it’s possible that Derryl’s favorite review came from a reader’s livejournal, which said “This book is like putting a nerd in a blender. It hits so many nerd spots. You read it and go, ‘Oh, that kind of nerd.’… I’m really happy that this book was published, because it’s not doing a lot of the things we seem to be assuming books all have to do, but it is getting its nerd on with great gusto and comprehensiveness.” Derryl’s other books are the eco-SF collection Wasps at the Speed of Sound and the novella Cast a Cold Eye, co-written with American author William Shunn, a ghost story about spirit photography and the Spanish flu pandemic, which Locus magazine compared to The Wizard of Oz. In October of 2012 his newest book, the collection Over the Darkened Landscape, will be released by Fairwood Press. Derryl has three times been nominated for Canada’s Aurora Award, once for nonfiction for his science fiction review column in the Edmonton Journal, and twice for short fiction, for his short story “Body Solar” and for the short story “Mayfly,” co-written with Peter Watts. Derryl and his wife and sons are (kind of) recent transplants to Saskatoon.

width=200 Terri Doty

Standing in the booth, after voicing her first character in Tsubasa: The Reservoir Chronicles in 2008, Terri Doty knew what she wanted to do – make nachos. And that she wanted to keep working in the world of anime.

Since then, she has lent her voice to a multitude of characters, like Virgo in Fairy Tail, Nella/Jiji in Dance in the Vampire Bund, Kamika Todoroki in Corpse Princess, Informant’s Assistant in RIN: Daughters of Mnemosyne, Annie Chapman in Romeo X Juliet, Maria in Black Butler, Fukami/Suyama’s Mother in Big Windup, and Blue Eyes Lady 2 in El Cazador de la Bruja, just name a few.

Terri interned at Funimation Entertainment shortly before graduating college. Then she was offered a job as Voice Director for such shows as Big Windup!, RIN: Daughters of Mnemosyne, Corpse Princess, Rideback, and Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts. She has also written adaptive scripts for Corpse Princess and Initial D: Fourth Stage.

In early 2010, Terri teamed up J. Michael Tatum and Stephen Hoff to start “That Anime Show,” a podcast that occasionally talks about anime among randomness. Colleagues from the anime industry visit T.A.S. and give listeners an…interesting look into their unpredictable, and often hilarious, lives. That Anime Show is available for download through www.thatanimeshow.com and Itunes.

width=200 Kurtis Wiebe

Kurtis Wiebe is a Saskatoon, Canada based author who’s been established in the world of comic writing since 2009. His work on projects like Green Wake and The Intrepids with Image Comics has garnered critical acclaim. Never satisfied with a specific style of writing, Kurtis has branched out to novels, video games and screenplays. He spends his days at home, writing about the mad things that float around his brain, hosts The Process, a writing podcast with other aspiring authors and occasionally escapes to various cities around North America to promote his projects.

width=200 Spike Spencer

Spike Spencer has been a voice actor since the early nineties. He has voiced hundreds of episodes of Anime including such notable titles as Evangelion, Vampire Knight, Durarara, Battle Angel, Suikoden, Orphen, Spriggan, Nadesico, Mar, PreTear, Buso Renkin, Code Geass 2, and Bleach. His video game credits include WOW-The Burning Crusades, Tales of Vesperia, Dynasty Warriors 7, Saints Row 3, Steambot Chronicles, Star Ocean 2, Lunar: Silver Star Harmony, BlazBlue and many others. Spike has also lent his voice to numerous radio and TV commercials.

An accomplished actor, he has worked with such notable stars as Tommy Lee Jones, Sandra Bullock, Frank Langella, Tia Carrere, and Scott Glenn and has been on set with many other stars. Spike is also an author, including How to Be A Frickin Genius Voice Actor, Step One, What Happens At The Con, Stays At The Con?, And Dont Kill Your Date (And Other Cooking Tips)-(Coming soon). Spike is also a screenwriter with several projects in various stages. Spike is soon to begin production on his first feature film that he scripted, Dwindle Down.
An accomplished actor, he has worked with such notable stars as Tommy Lee Jones, Sandra Bullock, Frank Langella, Tia Carrere, and Scott Glenn and has been on set with many other stars. Spike is also an author, including How to Be A Frickin Genius Voice Actor, Step One, What Happens At The Con, Stays At The Con?, And Dont Kill Your Date (And Other Cooking Tips)-(Coming soon). Spike is also a screenwriter with several projects in various stages. Spike is soon to begin production on his first feature film that he scripted, Dwindle Down.
Visit his official websites:
www.worldospike.com – www.spikespencer.com – www.almostevilminions.com

****Spike teaches Voice Acting around the globe in person and via email and Skype. If you are interested in learning the art of Voice Acting from Spike contact him at: spike@worldospike.com

width=200Billy West

Billy West is an American voice actor. Born in Detroit but raised in the Roslindale neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, Billy launched his career in the early 1980s performing daily comedic routines on Bostons WBCN. He left the radio station to work on the short-lived revival of Beany and Cecil. He was also a writer and castmember on The Howard Stern Show during the early to mid 1990s, where he gained nationwide fame with his impersonations of Larry Fine and late Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott.

West is best known for his voice-work on Ren Stimpy, Doug, and Futurama. His favorite characters are Philip J. Fry (Futurama) and Stimpy (Ren and Stimpy), both of which he originated. Wests most notable film work was in Space Jam (1996) providing the voice of both Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. He has provided the same voices for other Looney Tunes films and video games.

As well as a voice artist, West is also a guitarist and singer-songwriter with a band called Billy West and The Grief Counselors.

Over his career West has been the voice talent for close to 120 different characters including some of the most iconic animated figures in television history. He has become one of few voice actors who can impersonate Mel Blanc in his prime, including characterizations of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd and other characters from Warner Bros. cartoons. In 1998, Entertainment Weekly described West as the new Mel Blanc and noted his ability to mimic well-known voices, though he would rather develop original voices.

West was the voice of the shows namesake, Geeker, throughout Project Geekers 13 episode run. West was the voice of Zim in the original pilot for Nickelodeons Invader Zim. Richard Horvitz was chosen for the series role because Wests voice was too recognizable, according to Invader Zim creator Jhonen Vasquez during DVD commentary.

West is also the voice of Red in numerous MM commercials as well as the 3-D movie I Lost my M in Vegas, currently playing at MMs World in Las Vegas, NV.

West also voices a number of characters in the series Rick Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World. He does not play a regular character in that series, but appears in almost every episode of the show voicing various minor and one-off characters.

West voiced the character Moobeard in Moobeard the Cow Pirate, a short animation featured on Random! Cartoons and reprises his role as Elmer Fudd in Cartoon Networks series The Looney Tunes Show.

 Saskatoon Blitz 2012 Panels:

Time
Panel
10:30am
Welcome & Announcements (Room A)
11:00am-11:45am
Terri Doty (Room A)
11:30am-12:00pm
Ross May (Room B)
11:55am-12:30pm
My Little Bronies: Panels are Magic (Room A)
12:30pm-1:30pm
Billy West (Room A)
12:00pm-1:00pm
Homestuck (Room B)
1:30pm-2:00pm
Tom Grummett (Room A)
2:00pm-3:00pm
Spike Spencer (1st panel of 2) (Room A)
3:15pm-4:15pm
Owen Gieni, Kurtis Wiebe, Scott Kowalchuk (Room A)
1:15pm-2:00pm
Mike Sass (Room B)
2:15pm-3:00pm
Derryl Murphy (Room B)
3:00pm-3:30pm
Moon Chase (Room B)
4:15pm-5:00pm
Objection! (Room A)
3:30pm-5:00pm
Costume Contest Prep (Room B)
5:00pm-7:00pm
Costume Contest (Room A)
7:30pm-8:30pm
Art Jam/Dance Set up (Room A)
7:00pm-8:00pm
Terri Doty (Room B)
8:00pm-9:00pm
Spike Spencer Room B (What happens at the con stays at the con)
9:00pm-12:00am
Dance (Room A)
9:00pm-12:00am
Community Space/Open Mic (Room B)