By Jason Harris

























By Jason Harris
By Jason Harris
By Jason Harris
ComiCONN is only two months away and takes place June 10 through 11 at its new location, Foxwood’s Resort Casino.
Click on video to whet your appetite for comic con goodness.
Click here to see pictures from the 2016 ComiCONN.
Altered Reality Entertainment and Rhode Island Comic Con have announced this week a new division to their ever-growing presence in the comic book and entertainment industry, Altered Reality Entertainment Comics. Altered Reality Entertainment Comics will release THE RHODE WARRIOR #1 on November 11 at the fifth anniversary Rhode Island Comic Con.
Written/Co-Created by: Ian Chase Nichols
Interior Art by: Chris Campana, Hannibal King, Ian Chase Nichols, Joe St. Pierre
Cover by: Pat Broderick and Sean Forney
Pinup by: Jay Kennedy
[Assistants: Griffin Ess, Jay Kennedy, Robert Carmona]
24 pages • ALL-AGES
In Issue #1, a vile new menace has brought his evil plans to Providence, which threatens the safety of the entire city and all its citizens! Local authorities have only one person to turn to—The Rhode Warrior. In a world filled with super-powered beings and villains of all types, she is Rhode Island’s new defender.
The Rhode Warrior’s adventures are all-ages superhero stories which take place in Providence and the surrounding areas. The Rhode Warrior is a tough character with a strong sense of right and wrong. She is meant to embody the personality, strength, and resilience of the people of Rhode Island & New England.
“Steve (Perry) and the rest of Altered Reality Entertainment have given us an opportunity, and we are doing everything we can to deliver something new and exciting to the fans attending Rhode Island Comic Con. The Rhode Warrior has work by phenomenal creators that I grew up reading. Seeing them bring a superhero to Rhode Island is really something else,” commented the book’s co-creator, Ian Chase Nichols.
The Rhode Warrior #1 will be available exclusively at Rhode Island Comic Con, November 11 to 13 at the Rhode Island Convention Center and Dunkin Donuts Center arena. Copies of the premiere issue may also be pre-ordered through the convention’s website, http://www.ricomiccon.com. Tickets to Rhode Island Comic Con are still available through their website, The Dunkin Donuts Center Box Office, and all Toy Vault locations.
Ian Chase Nichols has worked on multiple Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series for IDW, Imaginary Drugs (IDW), The Tick (NEC) and numerous other independent comics, books, and newspapers. He is also a graphic and web designer. He has been the lead designer for numerous award-winning books.
Altered Reality Entertainment, LLC is an event entertainment company based in New England. It currently produces multimedia, multi-genre events in the New England area including Rhode Island Comic Con, Terror Con, and Southcoast Toy and Comic Show. In 2016, Altered Reality Entertainment expanded its footprint to include Hartford ComiCONN and Colorado Springs Comic Con. Comic book publishing is its newest venture.
Altered Reality Entertainment, owners of Rhode Island Comic Con, the Biggest Show in the Smallest State, have announced a partnership with Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers, Rhode Island based auction house to host a Major Toy Buying Event slated for January 16 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at the Crossings in Warwick, Rhode Island.
The daylong event, featuring entertainment for the entire family, will be hosted by TV’s toy hunting phenom Travis Landry. Attendees of this free event will have the opportunity to sell toy collections consisting of Star Wars, Transformers, comic books, G.I. Joe, and Barbie, among many other toys and collectibles. Collectors can also participate in free, no-obligation appraisals of their collections.
Entertainment of this exciting inaugural event will include celebrity appearances by pro-wrestler Rikishi, Ghost Hunters’ own Joe Chin, and Rhode Island’s TAPS team. Singer VChenay will also perform live. Family events of the day include a chicken wings contest and cosplayers.
This major toy buying event runs this Saturday, January 16, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free parking and free admission is available to all in attendance.
The Crowne Plaza Hotel at the Crossings is located at 801 Greenwich Avenue in Warwick, Rhode Island.
The second Rhode Island Comic Con held at the Rhode Island Convention Center was a big success. The attendance for this year was around 33,000, which was close to 11,000 more than last year’s convention. There were some issues with pre-sale tickets and a few celebrities such as Anthony Michael Hall, Jett Lucas, and Nichelle Nichols weren’t able to make it because of the gunman who shot up Terminal 3 at the Los Angeles International Airport Friday morning. Nichols felt so bad about missing the convention that she has already signed on for next year’s convention.
Comic Con had the entire convention center this year so the organizers were able to make more room in the aisles so there was plenty of room to browse the vendor tables and get pictures of the cosplay that were on display around the entire convention. There were people dressed as characters from movies, television, comic books, video games and books.
The Connecticut Visitors (www.facebook.com/CTVisitors)
Authors Erin Thorne, Stacey Longo, and Rob Watts at the Books and Boos booth.
The Dome of Sci-fi Saturday Night talking with Nicholas Brendon.
Jim Dyer of Fenham Publishing.
Artist Seth McCombs.
I hope everyone enjoyed the pictures.
Lew Temple’s time on The Walking Dead has ended, but he’s still proud of the work he did on the series, even though he thinks his character Axel had more to do in the show.
“I was obviously disappointed,” Lew Temple said. “I thought he was going to be serviceable to the group.”
Temple was given the news three weeks in advance that his character was going to die. He was in denial at first, but after some time he had to commit to it, he said.
“My intent is to always serve the story and that was my job. I wanted to do the best job possible.”
Temple did feel “disappointed for Axel,” though. As an actor, he will go on and work, but Axel is gone forever, he said.
The character of Axel will live on in The Walking Dead comic books and in reruns.
Temple did use the comic book character of Axel as a blueprint. Since comic books are one-dimensional, he had to make the character three-dimensional.
“I’m certain that we were able to use some of Robert [Kirkman’s] characteristics of Axel, but also brought some of my own to it as well.”
The producers on the zombie series knew of Temple before he came on in season three since he had been in to see them for the pilot.
“They looked at me for the role of Merle, originally, and then after that they hired Michael Rooker. Then they needed Merle’s brother, Daryl, who at that time was not even named.”
Temple auditioned for Daryl by reading Merle’s lines differently, which he was asked to do by the producers.
“Thankfully, they hired Norman Reedus. So when Axel came around they came to me and we were able to make that work.”
Temple was aware of the popularity of The Walking Dead, but not of the cross-cultural phenomenon it has become.
“I would say it hasn’t hurt me,” Temple said about Hollywood recognizing him from the popular series. “I would say prior to The Walking Dead I had a certain body of work Hollywood was aware of, and I was working prior to The Walking Dead …”
He admits that the series has elevated his visibility, which has helped him. He doesn’t know if his time on the series has defined him, which only “time will tell.”
“I like to do diverse stuff. I’m certainly proud of the work I did on The Walking Dead and to be part of that show. It’s been such an incredible hit.”
Temple has worked with writer and director Rob Zombie on Halloween and The Devil’s Rejects. He has “a really great relationship beyond a working relationship” with Zombie.
“I adore working with him because he knows what he wants and wants what he knows so there’s not a lot of grey area in-between. He is an absolute perfectionist and he does whatever it takes to make the day work, and if that means he needs to provide something on set, he does so.”
He does expect to work with Zombie again because he thinks they work well together. He just doesn’t know when that will happen.
“I think that I bring something to his story that he appreciates. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Lew Temple in a Rob Zombie production yet again.”
Along with acting, Temple is “an incredible baseball fan.” He adores the game and it has been his first passion since he was a little boy. He’s even played it all the way up until the minor leagues with the Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros. When he couldn’t play the game, he worked as a baseball scout for the New York Mets. Now he roots for the Atlanta Braves.
“I would say I’m excited for the Red Sox, but rooting for the [Detroit] Tigers.”
Temple also writes music.
“I think that I am a pretty interesting songwriter. I think that I am able to spin a tune, at least in my head.”
He has a record deal with Universal through the Rob Zombie production, Banjo and Sullivan.