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WonderCon 2011

WonderCon is running April 1 - 3, 2011 at Moscone Center South, San Francisco, CA. This is the 25th anniversary of one of the country's best comics and popular arts conventions.

Special guests include the comics writer/agent Mike Friedrich, who continued with WonderCon for 15 years with retailer Joe Field and program director Bryan Uhlenbrock. All three are present to help celebrate WonderCon's silver anniversary.

Also celebrating their Silver Anniversary this year are:

Dark Horse Comics – Started by publisher Mike Richardson, Dark Horse Comics has gone on to become a comics powerhouse, with a lineup including Hellboy, Concrete, Sin City, Star Wars, Conan, Usagi Yojimbo, and many more. Branching out into films and television, Dark Horse has proven itself to be one of comics' top publishers over the past 25 years.

SLG PublishingDan Vado's Slave Labor Graphics (now known as SLG) has published hundreds of titles over the past 25 years and discovered many of comics' top talents and most original characters, including Johnny the Homicidal Maniac by Jhonen Vasquez, Milk and Cheese by Evan Dorkin, Little Gloomy by Landry Walker and Eric Jones, and many more. Dan is also the founder of APE, the Alternative Press Expo, and the San Jose Comics Festival.

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund – Founded to protect the First Amendment rights of comic book publishers, creators, and retailers, the CBLDF has proven its worth to the industry time and time again over the past 25 years.

Other special guests include:

Joe Quesada (Amazing Spider-Man, Daredevil; Editor-in-Chief, Chief Creative Officer, Marvel Comics)
Jason Aaron (Scalped, Wolverine)
Berkeley Breathed (Bloom County, Opus)
Tony Daniel (Batman)
Adam Hughes (Wonder Woman, Catwoman)
Hope Larson (Mercury, Chiggers)
Bob Layton (Iron Man, X-Factor, Deathmask)
Francis Manapul (The Flash, Superboy)
Carla Speed McNeil (Finder)
Amy Reeder (Madame Xanadu, Batwoman)
James Robinson (Justice League of America, Starman)
Bill Sienkiewicz (Elektra: Assassin, Stray Toasters)
Judd Winick (Justice League: Generation Lost, Power Girl)

In conjunction with WonderCon is the San Francisco Bay Area International Children's Film Festival, which features more than 100 films made for children and teens from around the world. 

Also screening is some of the finest anime from Japan, including:

  • Lucky Star
  • Hayate the Combat Butler
  • Urusei Yatsura
  • Mobile Suit Gundam 00
  • Bleach
  • Vampire Knight
  • Bamboo Blade

Other Special Events:

Green LanternRyan Reynolds, Blake Lively and Peter Sarsgaard will be present for autograph signing and a panel discussion.

The highly anticipated Green Lantern movie, in theatres on June 17, 2011, is the first live-action feature film to star the popular DC Comics character.  The film relates the origin story of alter ego Hal Jordan (Reynolds), a test pilot and the first human chosen to wear the ring that provides him his superpowers.

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps will have a deep and diverse presence throughout the weekend due to the combined efforts of DC Entertainment (DCE) and the various divisions of Warner Bros. Entertainment, including Warner Home Video (WHV), Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE) and Warner Bros. Consumer Products (WBCP).

The World Premiere of the Blu-ray and DVD feature Green Lantern: Emerald Knights is also celebrated with a panel discussion featuring filmmakers and voice cast members.

DC Comics will also host a panel about the Green Lantern comic books and the 2011 War of the Green Lanterns crossover event.  A Green Lantern videogame will also be introduced at Wondercon.

Other panels devoted to upcoming movies include

  • Cowboys & Aliens – director Jon Favreau introduces a sneak peek at the soon-to-be-released feature.
  • The 3 Musketeers
  • HANNA (Saoirse Ronan, director Joe Wright),
  • Priest (Paul Bettany, director Scott Stewart)
  • Immortals (Henry Cavill, director Tarsem Singh).

Other events include:

3D Footage from Priest, created exclusively for WonderCon
Amity Blamity Signing and Book Release Party
Ron Rege Jr.: The Cartoon Utopia Exhibition Opening at Edo Salon and Gallery
Screening of Independents: A Guide for the Creative Spirit
HERO Initiative: From Bloom County to Mars – Benefit featuring WonderCon special guest Berkeley Breathed at the Cartoon Art Museum

Artists Alley
Portfolio Review
Masquerade
Games – HeroClix, Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh

For more information, go to www.comic-con.org/wc.

WonderCon was started in 1987 as the Wonderful World of Comics Convention by Bay Area retailers John Barrett, Bob Borden, and Rory Root, along with comics writer/agent Mike Friedrich, retailer Joe Field and program director Bryan Uhlenbrock. In 2002 the show was acquired by Comic-Con International and the following year moved from Oakland to its current home at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco.

WonderCon
April 1 - 3, 2011


Moscone Center South
747 Howard Street

San Francisco, CA

OnDemand 2011 - Where the Internet Meets the Enterprise

OnDermand 2011 is being held March 28 - 30, 2011 at HP Worldwide Headquarters in Palo Alto, California. This executive event is all about the way the is disrupting how companies create, store, distribute, analyze, and take advantage of their mission-critical data.

Presented by AlwaysOn and co-sponsored by HP, OnDemand "is where the top Internet companies disrupting the enterprise square off with the incumbent players pioneering cloud computing and SaaS."

AlwaysOn is the premier source for the analysis and prediction of top trends and top companies in the digital media, on-demand computing, and greentech industries. Just a few of the dozens of break-out companies AlwaysOn featured before they made it big include: Google, Salesforce.com, Skype, MySQL, YouTube, Tesla, and Twitter.

Keynote Speakers:


Léo Apotheker, CEO, HP, heads the list of keynote speakers.

Other speakers are:

  • Sanjay Poonen, President, Global Solutions, SAP
  • Greg Gianforte, CEO, RightNow
  • David DeWalt, CEO, McAfee
  • Aneel Bhusri, CEO, Workday
  • Larry Augustin, CEO, SugarCRM
  • Ray Lane, Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
  • Josh James, CEO/founder, Omniture

Topics include:

  • It's all about the WebOS! – Host: Tony Perkins, Founder and Editor, AlwaysOn & Todd Bradley, Executive Vice President, Personal Systems Group, HP
  • Top Entrepreneurs Meet the Top Entrepreneurs
  • VC Outlook for Business-to-Business Computing in 2011 – Host: Packy Kelly, Partner and Co-Head, US Venture Capital Practice, KPMG
  • The Consumerization of Enterprise Software
  • The Challenges and Risks of Building a Platform-as-a-Service
  • M&A In the Cloud
  • Who's Keeping Your Data Safe?
  • The Anatomy of a Successful VC Model for Backing Successful Cloud Startups – Host: Sam Angus, Partner, Venture Capital & Corporate Group, Fenwick & West
  • Startups In the HP Cloud
  • Social Media Meet the Cloud
  • The Transformation of the Giants in the Cloud
  • The Gold at the End of the IPO Rainbow
  • Bringing the Customers to the Front Door – Host: Larry Augustin, CEO, SugarCRM
  • AlwaysOn's Top Seed Companies to Watch / The Seed VC Round-Up –Host: Sam Angus, Partner, Venture Capital & Corporate Group, Fenwick & West

For more information, go to http://aonetwork.com/AOEvents/OnDemand.

OnDemand 2011
March 28 - 30, 2011


HP Worldwide Headquarters
3000 Hanover Street
Palo Alto, CA.

C2E2 - Chicago's Own Comic-Con

The Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) is being held March 18-20, 2011 at the West Building, McCormick altPlace Convention Center in Chicago, Illinois. (C2E2 = Second City, Second annual Event.)

C2E2 was launched last year and over 400 artists and guests were on hand to meet the thousands of fans who came to the inaugural event in Chicago. This year's event is even bigger.

"While the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo...include[s] guests from all parts of the pop culture universe, we will never stray too far from our primary objective, which is to provide thousands of fans with the opportunity to meet the absolute best and most respected comic book talent," notes Lance Fensterman, Vice President for ReedPOP and Show Manager for C2E2. "Comics are what we are all about and I am very grateful to these leading comic creators and artists for participating in our show."

Guests of Honor:

China Miéville
,noted author and three-time C. Arthur Clarke Award winner
Paul Cornell (DC’s Action Comics and Batman and Robin)
Scott Snyder (Vertigo’s American Vampire)
Doug Mahnke (artist for DC’s bestselling Green Lantern series)

Over 250 artists will be on hand participating in C2E2’s Artist Alley. Artists include:

Franco Aureliani
Art Baltazar
Brian Michael Bendis
alt
Katie Cook
Geof Darrow
Garth Ennis
Tony Moore
Mike Norton
Joe Quesada
Tim Seeley
Jill Thompson


From the world of film and television, attendees include:

Eliza Dushku
(Buffy, Angel, Dollhouse)
Tahmoh Penikett (Dollhouse)
Mark Sheppard (Supernatural, Warehouse 13)
Chris Hemsworth (Star Trek (2009 film), Thor)

True Blood
Sam Trammell
Kristin Bauer
Brit Morgan


The Walking Dead
Jonathan Bernthal
Laurie Holden


Ghost Hunters
Amy Bruni (Investigator)
Steve Gonsalves (Investigator/Technical Manager)
Dave Tango (Investigator)

As well as these personalities:alt

Chris Hardwick (Web Soup, Nerdist Podcast)
Rick Bayless (Chef, award-winning author, and popular television personality)
C.B. Cebulski, (writer and talent scout for Marvel)
Ron Richards (iFanboy, A Taste of Comics)

Panels include:

  • Chuck co-creator/executive producer Chris Fedak with a panel of fan favorite characters Joshua Gomez (Morgan Grimes), Ryan McPartlin (Dr. Awesome), Vik Sahay (Lester Patel) and Scott Krinsky (Jeff Barnes) ("Jester"!).
  • The Vampire Diaries executive producer Julie Plec with series stars Candice Accola (Caroline Forbes) and Michael Trevino (Tyler Lockwood) for a discussion on all things Mystic Falls.
  • Food and Comics
  • China Mieville Spotlight
  • The Walking Dead Q & A
  • True Blood Q & A
  • Marvel: Cup O’ Joe
  • Garth Ennis Spotlight

In addition, Patton Oswalt headlines an evening of comedy at the celebrated Comedy Death-Ray (CDR) in the IGN Theater. Other comedians performing include Joe Mande and Dan Telfer.

CDR regularly features up-and-comers as well as comedy greats including Aziz Ansari, Zack Galifianakis, Bob Odenkirk and Sarah Silverman, among many others. CDR was created by former Mr. Show writers and performers Scott Aukerman and B.J. Porter. Aukerman hosts CDR at C2E2.

Other events include

  • Daily Costume Contests
  • Droid Hunt
  • Comics Pipeline Dinner
  • Evangelion Screening
  • Ink-Fusion Tattoo Festival
  • Marvel Dinner
  • Nerd City Rocktacular
  • Quidditch at C2E2
  • Sandtroopers Battle Station
  • Speed Dating (Speed Dating??)
  • Saturday Night Masquerade
  • Portfolio Review

as well as the usual TableTop, Console and Battlefield Gaming.

The Hero Initiative: Avengers 100 Project
The Hero Initiative, a charity dedicated to helping older comic creators in medical or financial need, has created The Ultimate Spider-Man 100 Project, The Hulk 100 Project, and The Wolverine: Weapon X 100 Project -- collections of 100 original covers enlisting the aidalt of 100 top-flight artists.

This year, The Hero Initiative reprises the program with Marvel's premier super hero team: The Avengers! The call went out to create The New Avengers 100 Project, and artists across the world put pen to paper to contribute.

Marvel Comics generously donated 100 blank-covered cardstock copies of New Avengers #1 to The Hero Initiative, with artists, including well-known stars such as Howard Chaykin, Ian Churchill, Mike Deodato, Terry Dodson, Steve Epting, Dave Gibbons and Adam Kubert, raising their hands to contribute.

All 100 original New Avengers #1 covers will be on display for the first and only time at C2E2, and all visitors are invited to attend this very special unveiling.

ABOUT REEDPOP:

ReedPOP is a boutique group within Reed Exhibitions exclusively devoted to organizing events, launching and acquiring new shows, and partnering with premium brands in the pop culture arena. ReedPOP is dedicated to producing celebrations of popular culture throughout the world that transcend ordinary events by providing unique access and dynamic personal experiences for consumers and fans.

The staff at ReedPOP is a fan based group of professionals producing shows for other fans, thus making them uniquely qualified to service those with whom they share a common passion.

For more information, visit www.c2e2.com and www.mediumatlarge.net.

Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2)
March 18-20, 2011

West Building
McCormick Place Convention Center
2301 S. Lake Shore Drive

Chicago, IL
(312) 791-7000


FYI: SES NY 2011

Search Engine Strategies (SES) New York, 2011 edition, the leading search & social marketing event, is being held March 21 - 25, 2011 at the Hilton New York Hotel in New York City.

Opening Keynote Address will be given by Duncan Watts, Principal Research Scientist, Yahoo!

Seminars are on five tracks, including one dedicated to the Latino market. Training Courses are offered on March 21:

  • PPC Beyond Search: Facebook, LinkedIn, New Ad Formats, Targeted Display
  • Getting Your In-House Search Program Up & Running
  • How to Architect a Search-Engine Friendly Website
  • Advanced Keyword Research
  • Creating Social Media Strategies Using Audience Research
  • Google AdWords Tactics to Improve Your RO

Special Events include presentations by speakers from Google, IBM, Microsoft and Yahoo!, among others:

  • SES New York Meet & Greet
  • Play Facebook Face-Off @ SES NY – Win an Xbox® 360 With Kinect™
  • 6 Strategies For Superior SEM Results
  • DoubleClick Search V3 Preview
  • Outmaneuvering the Counterfeiters: How to Protect your Campaign Investments and Your Brand
  • WebmasterRadio.FM's SearchBash
  • Bing: More Bang For The Click
  • Mobile Mobile Everywhere....How to Play in the Sandbox
  • Over 50 Killer Internet Marketing Tools To Measure Your Online Marketing Strategies
  • Google Ad Innovations
  • Is The Search Alliance Paying Off For Search Marketers?

One-day accelerated courses on all things digital, social, and search are:

IAB: Local Advertising Forum
Warren Webster
leads a comprehensive look at local advertising in 2011, reviewing insightful case studies and outlining relevant strategies for marketers at every level.

OMS: Social Media Content Strategy Tactics & Best Practices

This workshop will walk students through a 9 step methodology on how create a great central content strategy to use for all social media efforts.

OMS: Successful Strategies to Get Bottom-Line Results from your Social Media Program

This hands-on workshop will give participants a take-to-work, 5-step action plan to implement a successful social media program in their own company.

OMS: All Things Digital Best Practice Day
From ideas and strategies for directors and VPs of Marketing to tangible "How tos" for the marketing manager and internet practitioner wanting to get their hands dirty and take action now.

Bruce Clay: Search Engine Optimization Training

This course is targeting marketing and technical staff alike and offers SEO strategy and tactics necessary in today's fast changing search world.

Cemper Training: Link Building Training - The Secret of SEO
The course will provide you with a solid understanding of Link Building and outline various success strategies as well as mistakes you should avoid.

For further information, go to www.searchenginestrategies.com/newyork.

Search Engine Strategies (SES) New York
March 21 - 25, 2011


Hilton New York
1335 Ave Americas

New York, NY 10019

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