We’re going north! This weekend (May 11-12), we’ll be proud to represent Once Upon a Time Machine at Canada’s most beloved comics shindig, TCAF  - The Toronto Comic Arts Festival!

Here’s where and when you need to go:
Toronto Reference Library (TRL)
789 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M4W 2G8
Sat, May 11, 9am - 5pm
Sun, May 12, 11am - 5pm

ADMISSION IS FREE!

Locust Moon Press is honored to be hosted by RAID (The Royal Academy of Illustration & Design) in their special exhibitor room at the Festival. Look for Andrew Carl (Editor; Writer, “John Henry”), Josh O’Neill (Creative Advisor; Writer, “Bombus and Vespula”), and Dave Tanh (Writer, “The Tea Garden Park Soapbox Grand Prix”). We’ll have books, prints, and more…

You’re also likely to find us scouring Toronto for the city’s best ramen, whenever we’re not busy at our table.

Charles Fetherolf (Giants in the Earth, Sons of Cain, District Comics, Once Upon a Time Machine’s ”The Crossing”) has a table at the always-fun Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA) Arts Festival this weekend (Saturday April 6 & Sunday April 7, 11am-6pm). You’ll find him at Table C74, just ahead and a bit to your right as you walk in the main entrance.

On Saturday, he’ll be joined by Andrew Carl (editor of OUaTM, writer of “John Henry”) with a hefty pile of Once Upon a Time Machines to sell & sign together. 

So if you can, head to the 69th Regiment Armory (68 Lexington Avenue, between E. 25th & E. 26th Streets) in Manhattan, NY, and say hi! Table C74! 

[from Andrew Carl at the ONCE UPON A TIME MACHINE blog]

FABLETOWN AND BEYOND

Over on the Locust Moon blog, Chris Stevens provided a wonderful reaction piece to our unforgettable time in Fabletown (née Rochester), Minnesota. You really ought to read it.

The journey truly started on Tuesday night, three days before Fabletown and Beyond would be underway. Josh O’Neill in Philly and I in New York, we talked on the phone like protective parents of our partner Chris. “Make sure he has all his chargers. See if Rob can tie up that banner stand so it won’t give him too much trouble.” “I feel like I should pack him a lunch in the morning.” “Fill a bag with food that’ll stay good for a few days, in case he gets hungry on the last leg.” And so on. If you haven’t read his recap yet, you might not realize that the next morning, Chris would be boarding a train from Philadelphia to Winona, Minnesota. That spelled a 30+ hour trip each way. Josh and I had it easy. We got to fly.

Two things struck me within hours (really, the first hour) of my arrival in Fabletown, MN: how fascinating the indoor (post-apocalypse-ready) mini-metropolis of Rochester was, and how aggressively nice all of the people there were. But it wasn’t just the locals who treated us well. Something about Fabletown seemed to bring out the best in folks, and the good vibes permeated every nook and cranny of those subways and skyways and buildings that bled and fed into each other from block to block. Every last person we dealt with was kind and helpful - especially our international team of convention organizers, including Bill Willingham, Stacy Sinner, Mike Sinner, Stephanie Cooke, Brad Thomte, and all of those awesome volunteers.

Chris covered the key events and joys of the weekend pretty wonderfully, but I thought I should share some of personal favorite photos from the weekend here, as well.

Here’s our favorite character from the weekend…

(Source: onceuponatimemachine.com)

Read more …

[from Chris Stevens, on the LOCUST MOON blog]

last week we set out for minnesota and the FABLETOWN convention. i took a train instead of flying. long train rides are equally relaxing and a test of endurance. i was able to hole up in the cafe car once it closed and stretch out and read.  pulling through the country and approaching minnesota i was struck by the emptiness and isolation of the countryside. vast open spaces dotted with a small house here and there. it seemed silent and lonely, and reminded me of an abandoned civilization. i arrived in FABLETOWN thursday night, after an amusing shuttle ride from the train station into rochester, host city of the convention, in which i learned that another word for a skunk is ‘wood’s pussy’.  i met up with andrew and josh, who had flown in earlier in the day, and we set off to explore downtown rochester after dark. you don’t see many people out on the streets, owing to the cold and the fact that all of the big buildings are connected by skywalks as well as an underground walkway. this was new to us, and added to the surreal, alien feeling of the place. we walked around and found NEWT’S, a bar&burger joint heartily recommended by andrew’s cab driver. apparently they had a burger named THE JUICY LUCY, and if you poked her with your finger she squirts. a somewhat odd endorsement for a burger, but we bit. none of us tried out the old girl, but josh had a mammoth burger that had to be 2000 calories:  that’s a bacon cheeseburger with fried onions wrapped in two grilled cheeses. with some kind of mayo sauce slathered on it. the peanut butter bacon burger i tried seemed genteel & dainty by comparison. back at the hotel, andrew and i planned how to maximize the handsomeness at josh’s command. friday was the start of the con, and we were up early and ready to set up. a bellman from our hotel, caleb, helped us bring our boxes over to the civic center. little did we know that caleb would help turn us into a hot commodity when we gave him a copy of ONCE UPON A TIME MACHINE.    this was the before. there’s no after. i got caught up and never got the pics. the con got rolling, and we had a good response to the book right off the bat. and it wasn’t long before we met our biggest fan, jacob. jacob, we adore you.by the time the opening ceremonies kicked off at 5 we already knew this was going to be a great trip. bill willingham, creator of FABLES, was the host of FABLETOWN, and he took to the stage during the opening ceremonies to set the tone for the weekend and introduce some of the folks most responsible for putting this show together.  stephanie cooke, seen here behind bill apparently updating her OK CUPID profile, is bill’s assistant and a delightful, thoughtful wonder. the empty chair belongs to brad thomte, bill’s partner in crime. brad’s a high-energy fount of enthusiasm. next to him is stacy sinner. it turns out stacy runs the prisons in rochester and the surrounding area. she also is a warm, accommodating, charming woman who made me smile when she told me i was one of her favorite characters from the whole weekend. she likes red wine. if you see her, buy her a glass. speaking of wine…

Read more …

This Friday through Sunday (March 22-24), you’ll find Once Upon a Time Machine’s Andrew Carl (Editor; Writer, “John Henry”), Chris Stevens (Producer; Writer, “The Boy Who Drew Cats”), and Josh O’Neill (Creative Advisor; Writer, “Bombus and Vespula”) in Rochester, Minnesota at Bill Willingham’s Fabletown and Beyond convention!

What is Fabletown and Beyond?

Fabletown and Beyond will be a convention entirely designed to discuss, promote and celebrate comic books that fall within the Mythic Fiction realm.

And what’s this Mythic Fiction?

Mythic Fiction comics are Fables and Sandman, The Unwritten, Bone, Kill Shakespeare, Mice Templar, Stuff of Legend, Memorial, Fairest, The Abominable Charles Christopher, Mouse Guard, Hellboy, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Arrowsmith, House of Mystery, Castle Waiting, and dozens more truly wonderful books.

Mythic Fiction is that magic-bound alliance of fairytales, folklore, myth, legend, talking animals and characters from literature, given new life, new challenges to face and new adventures to chronicle.

So who else will be there?

To name a few of the comics heavyweights in attendance: Bill Willingham (naturally), Mark Buckingham, Shelly Bond, Kurt Busiek, Mike Carey, Bryan J. L. Glass, Gene Ha, Adam Hughes, Steve Leialoha, Mike Oeming, David Petersen, Chris Roberson, Matt Sturges, Chrissie Zullo…and a whole bunch more. See a more complete guest list at the convention’s website.

You’ll find us, the Locust Moon Comics crew, in Fabletown’s intimate Artists’ Alley. We’ll be there with books, prints, and stories in tow.

And on Sunday @ 11:00 am, Chris Stevens will be speaking on the Artist Alley panel in the so-called “Boring Panel Room”!

You can also check out Fabletown and Beyond on Facebook.

Hope we see you there!

2013’s properly underway, and this Time Machine ain’t slowing down!

Left to right: Andrew Carl, Josh O’Neill, Chris Stevens, and Kelly Writers House Program Coordinator Alli Katz.

In January, a handful of Once Upon a Time Machine creators -  Andrew Carl (Editor; writer of “John Henry”), Chris Stevens (Producer; writer of “The Boy Who Drew Cats”), Josh O’Neill (Creative Advisor; writer of “Bombus and Vespula”), James Comey (creator of “Kid Yimage and the Really Big Hole”), Rob Woods (creator of “The Venusian Shepherd Boy Who Cried Space Wolf”), and Dave Proch (artist of “A.L.I.C.E.”) - were honored to be this year’s guests of the annual Charles Bernheimer Symposium at the University of Pennsylvania’s Kelly Writers House. You can listen to a recording of our talk here, but you’ll be missing out on our visual aids and physical comedy.

If you want to see some of the gang in person, though, we have some more great events coming up in March!

First stop, Wednesday, March 12:  Wayne, New Jersey
Andrew, Chris, Josh, Charles Fetherolf (creator of “The Crossing”), and Jason Rodriguez (writer of “The Stars Are Not Wanted Now”) will be dropping by William Paterson University to chat with some art students about making comics. A students-only event…but if you’re in the area, feel free to stalk and ambush us as we find dinner thereabouts.

Friday-Sunday, March 22-24: Rochester, Minnesota
Fabletown and Beyond - Andrew, Chris, and Josh will be attending Bill Willingham’s first annual convention “entirely designed to discuss, promote and celebrate comic books that fall within the Mythic Fiction realm.” We’ll be alongside such greats as Mark Buckingham (Fables), Kurt Busiek (Arrowsmith), Mike Carey (The Unwritten), Gene Ha (Top 10), Adam Hughes (Fairest), Mike Oeming (Mice Templar). [Facebook]

Saturday, March 30: Asbury Park, New Jersey
Asbury Park Comic Con Come see a bunch of us back in Jersey, where we’ll join the likes of Al Jaffee (MAD), Evan Dorkin (Beasts of Burden), Herbe Trimpe (The Incredible Hulk), J. G. Jones (Wanted), Dean Haspiel (Billy Dogma), Jamal Igle (Molly Danger), and Mark A. Robinson (I Love Trouble) at this one-day convention. [Facebook]

More info’s to come, as we approach this awesome run of events!