“I really should be used to getting my mind blown by Inspector Spacetime fans, but this one really, really stands apart. DC and Marvel Comics artist Christopher Jones (Young Justice, Avengers Earth’s Mightiest Heroes) approached me wanting to help out with the Season 2 Kickstarter and we came up with the idea for a Comic Book cover of the Inspector Spacetime comic book …This is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen!”
There are too many friends connected with and people to thank to list them all here, but I wanted to share some highlights I thought might be of interest.
CONvergence Opening Ceremony began with a live musical sketch called “Avenue Who,” which is basically what would happen if Avenue Qand Doctor Who made sweet, sweet love and had a baby. It was written by Tim Wick, Chad Dutton and Gordon Smuder, with puppets built by Gordon Smuder.
The cast included:
Tim Wick as Purple Monster Molly Glover as Pink Monster Nick Glover as Leonard Nimoy Windy Bowlsby as Mary Poppins Courtney McLean as The TARDIS Jeff Neppl as The Doctor Christopher Jones as A Dalek Laszlo Nemesi as Sherlock Holmes Gordon Smuder as Dr. Watson and last but not least…
Connie as herself! (With special thanks to Connie’s personal assistant Dawn Krosnowski)
I’ll be sharing video as soon as it becomes available, but until then you’ll have to settle for some photos! (My thanks to Peter Verrant from the CONvergence Photography Department for these!)
Purple Monster (Tim Wick) and Pink Monster (Molly Glover)
Leonard Nimoy (Nick Glover)
The Doctor (Jeff Neppl) offers Mary Poppins (Windy Bowlsby) a jellybaby
Sherlock Holmes (Laszlo Nemesi) and Dr. Watson (Gordon Smuder)
Did I mention that The Dalek (me) had a song?
The TARDIS (Courtney McClean) spoke like a Minnesota mom.
Connie with handler/personal assistant Dawn Krosnowski
One of the year’s Guests of Honor was Caitlin Blackwood who played young Amelia Pond on Doctor Who, and now at the age of 13 our first guest to be younger than the convention! Filmmaker Emily Hagins was 14 when she was first a CONvergence guest. Now 20, Emily was in attendance and in a completely unnecessary display of pop and circumstance, helped us crown Caitlin as our new Youngest CONvergence Guest of Honor.
Emily Hagins crowns Caitlin Blackwood as the new Youngest CONvergence Guest of Honor. Photo by Peter Verrant.
Opening Ceremony concluded with a special appearance by Inspector Spacetime as played by Travis Richey, who Hal Bichel and I had arranged to bring to CONvergence after having met him at the Gallifrey One convention. Hal and I are big fans of both Community and his Inspector Spacetime character’s unofficial spin-off Untitled Web Series about a Space Traveller who Also Travels Through Time, but after meeting Travis at Gally, we knew that he was really great with fans, good on a panel, and trying to build awareness of his Kickstarter campaign for Untitled Web Series season 2. It just seemed like Inspector Spacetime at CONvergence 2013: British Invasion HAD to happen.
It was a special treat for me to get to write a little scene for The Inspector in which he interacted with Connie and expressed his intention to visit the previous years of CONvergence he had missed (one of the advantages of being a time traveller) and that we was looking for an associate to join him in his adventure, preferably someone with experience as companion to a traveller in space and time. Of course he chose Caitlin Blackwood, and the two of them left the stage hand in hand, with the Inspector telling her that they were leaving immediately, “no waiting!”
Travis Richey as Inspector Spacetime in the CONvergence 2013 Opening Ceremony, Optic Pocketknife at the ready! Photo by Peter Verrant
Travis Richey with Community’s Greendale Human Being (in reality Hal Bichel, who helped bring Travis to CONvergence!) Photo courtesy Susan Lundberg.
Travis Richey backstage in the MainStage Green Room with Connie and Dawn Krosnowski. Photo by Peter Verrant
Later in the weekend, Travis debuted the Untitled Web SeriesSeason 2 Teaser Trailer as part of his Inspector Spacetime panel, which revealed that plans for Season 2 include Guest Star Robert Picardo from Star Trek: Voyager. You can see the trailer here and contribute to the Kickstarter. One of the contribution incentives is an Inspector Spacetime print by me, which will be revealed in the coming days!
I’d like to thank Travis for coming to CONvergence and being such a good sport about joining in our shenanigans, Hal Bichel for organizing the IndieGoGo campaign that helped us cover the cost of bringing Travis to the con, and of course everyone who contributed to the campaign!
Immediately after the Opening Ceremony was this year’s SMACKDOWN panel, which this year was S.U.P.E.R.S.P.Y. Smackdown. The competitors ranged from Jason Bourne and The Black Widow to Inspector Gadget and Danger Mouse, but eventually Emma Peel won the day! And yes, we had a James Bond lightning round that pitted Daniel Craig’s abs against Sean Connery’s accent. You know, this isn’t the most serious competition… Big thanks as always to co-conspirators Tim Wick who acted as Emcee, and Melissa Kaercher to handled created and operated our Video Scoreboard. Thanks also go to Romeo Azar who created our intro video!
From Left to Right: Kelvin Hatle, Dawn Krosnowski, Joseph Scrimshaw, Jeremy Stomberg, Christopher Jones, Tim Uren, and Caroline Symcox.
Saturday at 2:00pm I had a signing at the Autograph Table alongside Travis Richey, and happily we both enjoyed a fairly steady stream of fans. Hopefully I’ll get a couple of signings scheduled for CONvergence 2014.
It’s never a convention without cosplayers. Given that I spend so much of CONvergence running around, you’d think I’d get tons of cosplay photos, but I’m actually not too quick on the draw with my camera phone and get far more photos when I’m at an Artists Alley table for the weekend (especially when I have help!). That said, I did manage to snag a photo with some Young Justice cosplayers as I was on my way in to Sunday’s Art: Impossible panel.
Me with Red Arrow, Stealth Mode Kid Flash and Artemis cosplayers at CONvergence 2013. Photo by Tony Karna.
Art: Impossible is our new improv art panel, Emceed again by Tim Wick along with Dawn Krosnowski. (I just can’t seem to get away from those two!) I think the panel was pretty entertaining, with an assortment of artists creating art based on a multiple “challenges” of various lengths. Winners bidders from the previous evening’s art auction got first pick of original art produced during the 90-minute panel.
Finally on Sunday was Closing Ceremony which found Connie having a hard time with the idea that she had to wait an entire year for CONvergence to return. Inspector Spacetime appeared again and offered to take Connie directly to CONvergence 2014 so she wouldn’t have to wait. I’d like to think I added two entries on The Inspector’s roster of Time-and-Space-travelling associates: Caitlin Blackwood and Connie!
Closing Ceremony ended by previewing plans for CONvergence 2014, which features an Urban Fantasy theme and will spotlight the 20th Anniversary of Gargoyles with a roster of guests that includes Gargoyles show-runner Greg Weisman.
Promotional art for CONvergence 2014
I’m really looking forward to next year’s convention, and part of me wishes I could skip directly to July of 2014 with Connie. Then I remember how much I want to get done between now and then, and I’ll happily take all the weeks I can get!
On Wednesday I will head to the Double Tree hotel in Bloomington, MN for CONvergence 2013! It’s hard to believe it’s been 15 years since I helped start this convention back in 1999, and since then attendance has grown from 1,500 to more than 6,000. I’ll have a busy weekend there and I’m hoping to see many friends and fans.
I’ll have copies of the Young Justice Trade Paperbacks for sale there, but if you’ve got Young Justice comics or anything else I’ve worked on you’d like me to sign (including your CONvergence Souvenir Program Guide!), please stop by and I’ll be happy to sign them. And if you stop by the signing, show me that you follow my Christopher Jones Comic Art page on Facebook or @ChrisJonesArt on Twitter and get one of two FREE convention exclusive items:
I’ll also have prints in the CONvergence Art Show print shop, so be sure to look for those. They’ll be priced at $20 each, which is a $10 savings over my Etsy Store, plus no shipping fees!
I helped start a sci-fi convention called CONvergence here in Minnesota back in 1999, and still work on it now that it’s grown to a 4-day, 6,000-person event. This year’s CONvergence theme is British Invasion, and it seemed like a no-brainer to bring my friend Travis Richey (aka Inspector Spacetime) to the convention. If you’re a fan of NBC’s Community, you probably know who The Inspector is – traveling through time and space on British television since 1962.
Travis wanted to come, so Hal Bichel and I took it upon ourselves to make it happen. We’re doing an IndiGoGo lightning campaign to help cover the costs, as airfare and hotels aren’t cheap and we’re not made of money! If you’re coming to CONvergence this year (and you should) and want to see Inspector Spacetime there (and you should) please visit our IndiGoGo campaign. You can read more about Travis, the ongoing adventures of The Inspector in Untitled Web Series About A Space Traveler Who Can Also Travel Through Time, and the great perks we have for contributors!
Won’t you help Hal and Chris bring Inspector Spacetime to CONvergence 2013?
Continuing my report on my trip to the Gallifrey One convention, and what an adventure it was…
SATURDAY (Part 1)
Before even leaving the hotel room on Saturday morning I managed to get in touch with Greg Weisman (my Young Justice comic collaborator, co-producer and writer for the Young Justice TV show), principally to apologize for not having been able to exit the hotel in time to make it to our planned lunch meet-up the day before. I told him about the Young Justice fan meet-up I was organizing in the lobby of the Gallifrey One hotel that evening with the help of Hal (aka ChristopherJonesWebMinion on tumblr), and to my surprise, Greg seemed interested in turning up for it! He needed to check on his schedule, but made it clear that if he was going to attend, he’d want his presence to be a secret surprise. I wouldn’t have had it any other way!
Inspector Spacetime Panel – Photo by Alex Halcyon
First up, I attended the (Not) Inspector Spacetime Panel, which was a lot of fun. Character was dropped much more than last year’s panel, and there was tons of behind-the-scenes news about the production of Untitled Web Series About A Space Traveler Who Can Also Travel Through Time Season 1, and the upcoming Season 2. You can read lots more about that panel here. I arrived at the panel first while Hal finished changing into her Greendale Human Being cosplay, which seemed appropriate for the panel, given the Inspector and the Human Being’s shared origins on NBC’s Community. Later in the day we got a photo of the Hal’s Human Being emerging from the TARDIS, looking very much like a Hartnell-era monster.
Hal as the Greendale Human Being in the TARDIS
Immediately after the Inspector Spacetime panel was my second panel of the convention, Superheroes as Popular Culture. Lots of good discussion from a panel of heavy hitters I was lucky enough to join! After the panel, Marv Wolfman and I grabbed a quick lunch at the hotel. I’ve known Marv since he was a guest at CONvergence 2005, and it was great to catch up and talk shop 1-on-1.
Superheroes as Pop Culture (L to R: Len Wein, Christopher Jones, Sterling Gates, Marv Wolfman, Joshua Fialkov)
There was a little bit of time to sightsee after that. There are always lots of fun people and great costumes on display at Gallifrey One. I tried to get into the Sylverster McCoy interview panel, but it was standing room only. I managed to get into the room and was standing along the wall near the door when the irripressable McCoy hopped down off the stage to take the microphone into the audience to talk to people one-on-one. A camera followed, so it was possible to see McCoy on the screens at the front of the auditorium, but at this point it wasn’t too different from watching McCoy on video. It was about this time that I got a text message fromBrittney Powellwho I’d met on Thursday while at dinner withWally Wingert. She was at the convention and was wondering if I was around. I ducked out of the room to respond to her and let her know where I could be found, which led to one of the best chains of impromptu people spotting and networking I had the entire weekend!
A Dalek taking in the view photo by Jason Musgreave
Weeping Angel cosplay photo by Amanda Winter
Robot cosplay photo by Drew Simchik
While standing outside the Programming Room, in the span of about a half-hour I managed to talk to:
Shaun Lyon, Programming Director for Gallifrey One (Who I’d been trying and failing to find and connect with all weekend) Brittney Powell, Lovely lady and actress (She turned up after a few minutes, and she kept running into people SHE knew while we stood in the hall) Sterling Gates, Comic book writer (I’d been on a panel with Sterling earlier in the day, but we’d not had a chance to chat) Bridget Landry, JPL Rocket Scientist and Master-Level Costumer (dressed as Doctor Who‘s Harriet Jones – yes, I knew who she was!) And many more!
Bridget Landry as Harriet Jones Photo by Susan Fox
Soon it was almost time for the planned Young Justice meet-up in the lobby.
Would our gathering have a decent turn-out? Would Greg Weisman appear? Would our Young Justice Meet-up signage be held by a cosplay Cat Nurse?
These questions and more will be answered in our next installment!
NEXT: SATURDAY PART DEUX
You can find all the installments of my Gallifrey One 2013 trip by clicking the link.
Christopher Jones is a comic book artist who has worked on DC's Young Justice, The Batman Strikes!, Batman '66, Justice League Adventures; Marvel's Superhero Squad, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes; Titan's Doctor Who; Re-Animator, Dr. Blink: Superhero Shrink & more!
Misc Artwork | Christopher Jones | 
July 17, 2013 9:25 pm | 
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