Vito Delsante is a writer you should know

So, I will be making the following appearances this summer:

• Comic Con International @ San Diego, CA – I will be signing at the DC Comics Booth. Date and times announced on site.
• Wizard World – Chicago – I may be appearing at the DC Comics Booth, but more than likely splitting time between walking the floor and hanging in Artists Alley. CANCELED

Please feel free to visit me and ask me for a sketch of Scooby-Doo, The Question, Rorschach, The Spirit or The Green Hornet (the last four are all essentially the same sketch, but hey…they are free!)

One more thing. In what may be the funniest bit of casting since Keaton as Batman (and we know how that turned out), I’m moderating a panel at the San Diego Comic-Con. Here’s the info:

Thursday

5:30-7:00pm Comic Book Podcasting: One Year Later - Since the first gathering of comic book podcasters last year, podcasting has become a mainstay in the comic book community. With more showing up every day, podcasts have become just as big a part of reading comics as going to the shop on wednesdays. Come hear from the voices behind some of your favorite shows. This year’s panel includes podcasters Scott Hinze (Fanboy Radio), Jon Towry (Comic Talk Cafe), Jimmy Aquino (Comic News Insider), Mr. Phil (Indie Spinner Rack), Josh Flanagan (iFanboy.com), and will be moderated by comic book writer and retailer Vito Delsante (Stuck, JSA Classified). ROOM 8

It should be a lot of fun…and you’re all invited!

WHERE: This year, the only convention I will be attending is Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC. If you’ve ever attended, you know why it’s a must on the summer convention circuit, and if you haven’t, you should do yourself a favor and see how comic conventions can be. Shelton Drum and crew throw a great shebang, and I hope you’ll come down. I’ll be sharing a table with three fantastic artists: Alberto Ruiz, Tracy Mark Lee, and Joe Pekar. Find me and tell me what you thought of any of the work I’ve done so far this year! UPDATE: We’ll be at Booth AA-216 in Artists Alley!

Project: Rooftop presents Superman: Man of Style:
Ready to tug on Superman’s cape? Heck, tear it off and take the tights back to the drawing board! Project: Rooftop is teaming up with Pulp Secret and Jim Hanley’s Universe for a new drawing contest that breaks even our own guidelines. That’s right, Jimmy Olsen, in honor of the 70th anniversary of Superman’s first appearance in Action Comics #1 way back in 1938, P:R, P.S., and JHU are putting out the call for redesigns of the first superhero with Superman: Man of Style! Jim Hanley’s Universe has provided these incredible prizes:

Grand Prize (1) – The Superman No. 14 statue, Superman: Birthright TPB signed by writer Mark Waid, and Superman #676 signed by our own Vito Delsante, who wrote the issue!

Second Prize (1) – Justice League Animated Superman mini maquette and a signed copy of Superman #676.

Third Prize (1) – Superman #676 signed by Vito!

Along with our usual P:R Staff roundtable reviews, fan-favorite writer and DCU expert, Mark Waid (Kingdom Come, Superman: Birthright), will be joining in to guest judge the finalists! The winners will be announced on Pulp Secret the following day with commentary from the P.S. crew.

Send in your Superman redesigns to editors@projectrooftop.com, with the subject line, “Superman: Man of Style!” Please include your full name, age, website, and mailing address for prize shipment. International winners may be responsible for prize shipment. All the usual P:R Guidelines apply…except for #7, of course.

All entries must be received by June 15th, 2008!

Albert & the Babe: According to the Simon & Schuster website, Before They Were Famous: Albert Einstein has been moved to September 2009. BTWF: Babe Ruth, however, will be out on February 24, 2009. Art will be by the incredible Andrés Vera Martínez. I’ve seen some pages and they look phenomenal!

SAVAGE TALES #8!

The conclusion of Memento Mori, a Red Sonja tale! With artist Lui Antonio!

Social Networking: If you’re on Facebook or MySpace, feel free to add me to your friends list. I mean, if you’re already visiting this site, you must be a friend of mine, right?

In the Future: Some possible big news, and a redesign of the site. Bookmark me, RSS me, and stay tuned!

Two weeks from today, I will be appearing at the NY Comic Con to promote my new book, Before They Were Famous: Babe Ruth. Here are the details:

• Date: Sunday, February 8, 2009
  Time: 1:30pm – 2:30pm
  Location: Jacob Javits Center
  Booth#: 1402
  Street: 655 West 34th Street
  City/Town: New York, NY

Appearing with me will be artist, Andres Vera Martinez. We’ll be at the Simon & Schuster Booth, #1402. If you’re on Facebook, make a brother feel good by RSVP’ing to/for the event. If you’re not and you don’t, and you’re at the NYCC, I’ll be just as happy to see you, but won’t know you’re coming by.  Happy accidents, right?

The new nickname came courtesty of Tom Spurgeon, in his new Sunday Interview with Lance Fensterman, one of the chief bigwigs for the NYCC. He posts a picture of me, and at the bottom of the interview, he captions the photos. Mine says,

“Vito “I Am Comics In New York City” Delsante (on the right)”

I have never called myself that, but I’m damn proud to take that responsibility.

Here’s a list of conventions I will be appearing at this summer, all in support of my new graphic novel, FCHS.

Heroes Convention – Charlotte, North Carolina
June 19-21
*FCHS Vol. 1 will not be available for purchase, but we will be signing the FCHS FCBD comic.

Comic Con International (aka, the San Diego Comic Con) – San Diego, CA
July 22-26 I WILL NOT BE ATTENDING COMIC-CON 2009!

Pittsburgh Comic Con – Pittsburgh, PA
September 11-13

These are three great shows and in the case of Heroes and Pittsburgh, they are family run operations and could use your support/attendance. Please go!

I really didn’t promote the FCBD signing at Jim Hanley’s Universe or release all that much here on the site (did a ton of promo on Facebook, though) and I figured I’d do a post today, one day later, and reflect on the day. Warning, this is going to be a very graphic (photo) heavy post.

Michelle and I arrived at around 12:00 PM where we met with Rachel (Freire). Rachel and I sat down and after an announcement, we began signing.

The one thing that made this day special was that it was Rachel’s first book and her debut signing. I felt like a proud father or older brother and I was beyond happy for her. To be there, watching her poise and composure and professionalism…it was like she’d been born to do this, and she was.

We were joined by fellow AdHouse Books cartoonist, Mike Dawson. Mike didn’t have a free comic, but he did sketches for the customers. Mike’s new book, ACE FACE, comes out this week and looks awesome. Please pick it up!

Mike had to take off, but we were joined by comics legend, and one of my Scooby-Doo collaborators, Joe Staton. The best thing about having Joe there (besides the fact that he is, you know, AWESOME) was that here was Joe, praising Rachel’s work and giving her tips, and there she was, noob in the industry, taking it all in. She totally has the right attitude.

Some highlights were this guy:

His name is Olliver and the second he walked in, he was literally praising Rachel and her art. Olliver, you see, had picked up the book at Forbidden Planet, which is on 13th and Broadway. He then walked 20 blocks to the store, just to have Rachel (and I guess, me) sign it. And he just wouldn’t stop gushing over her. He claimed that Rachel was, “the best thing to happen to comics in two years.” He was visibly shaking, like those girls when the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan. Seeing that made my day.

Another highlight was seeing my friend, Annette, at the signing. Annette and I went to high school and at one point, she told one of the other customers, “That’s my school too!” That was a recurring theme for the day; thanks to the magic of Twitter and Facebook, I found out that my friend, Krista (another FCHS alum), had “called all over MD (Maryland) today and FCHS is completely out everywhere! They are saving me one at Big Planet Comics in College Park. They only had 3 left!! I gotta get going.” My friend, Matt, whom I also know from high school, said, “Third store…last copy. Got my FCHS!! Oh yeaaaahhhhh!!!” To know that there were people actively searching out the book really made my day. Shame on you retailers that didn’t order enough. I told you!

All in all, it was a great day. Rachel was the star (as she should be), and the Delsante household added another Joe Staton sketch to our wall:

Thank you everyone all over the world who picked up FCHS.

Now get ready for the whole book!

The gentlemen at the Comic Book Club have invited myself and Before They Were Famous: Babe Ruth artist, Andres Vera Martinez, to the People’s Improv Theater (aka, the PIT) for an evening of comics, talk, and fun. These are really fun events, and I hope you can all make it. Click on the above image to be taken to their site. The info:

What: Comic Book Club
Where: The People’s Improv Theater (154 West 29th Street, NYNY)
When: Tuesday, June 16th @ 8:00 PM

Tickets are a measly 5 bucks!

Not to be all, “Ooh, look how cool I am,” but I came across some links that I thought would be fun to share.

First, I was at the Bronx Kids Con a few weeks ago, and the guys from Secret Identity grabbed me for a few minutes to talk to me about FCHS. Listen to the whole show, but I come on around the 41:04 mark.

Next, I found these cool pics from FCBD on a random Flickr account:

Looks like these folks (who went to Forbidden Planet NY) grabbed a copy of FCHS. To me, this is so crazy because I kind of forgot that places other than Jim Hanley’s Universe had the book. By the way, JHU has a limited amount of copies left, so trek on over to 33rd Street and Fifth Avenue and ignore the construction going on in the front of the building.

Finally, I was invited and subsequently attended the 200th Episode of Comic News Insider. Listen to me mumble incoherently while absolutely sober! Guests include Chemistry Set alum, Kevin Colden and his lovely wife, Miss Lasko-Gross, John Cassaday and Michael Emerson, aka Ben Linus from Lost. It was a great time and I want to thank Jimmy and Joe for having me on.

That’s all. Go buy some comics!

Too damn excited for next week’s Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC. This is one of the only conventions I do every year, and for good reason. Shelton Drum, Dustin Harbin and the rest of the gang from Heroes Aren’t Hard To Find put on a spectacular show, with the focus being comic books, comic book art and comic book creators. Didja see me mention video games or movies? Nope, and that’s what makes this show one of the best. It’s a great chance to meet your favorite artists and writers in a very low key, but personal atmosphere. If you’re not already going, GO! If you can’t go this year, make every effort to go down next year. Seriously, you will thank me!

Ok, so where can you find Vito (me), Rachel Freire and FCHS? We’ll all be in Artist’s Alley, at Table AA-323*, next to Thomas Boatwright (of Cemetery Blues and Edgar Allan Poo fame). You can bet, however, that I will be hanging at AA-312 (Mike Lilly), AA-408 (Tom Fowler), AA-613 (Jeremy Haun), AA-117 (Joe Staton), AA-712 (Khary Randolph), and AA-304 (Chris Samnee) and wherever Dean Trippe is** but truth be told, I’m always walking around because I’m a big fan too! Stop by all these tables and everywhere else for that matter! We will have plenty of FCHS on sale at the show for $15, so feel free to come get one signed by Rachel and me.

And do not miss your chance to own a Rachel Freire original when she donates art to the Art Auction on Saturday night. It’s the highlight of the show and you’re donating to a good cause. Oh, there are other artists donating too

Can’t wait to see you there!

*Click Here for a Map of the Show

**Just Announced – Dean is at AA-443