Love the fact that NoHo has its very own comic book store. Thanks for a year of fun in North Hollywood, Blastoff Comics!
Our team always says: “The neighborhood is only as fantastic as its people.” So when we come across a group that is doing what they do and doing it well, we jump at the chance to give them snaps and claps. Blastoff Comics came to the NoHo Arts District and opened up shop last year. To celebrate, they’re having a shindig on Saturday, January 18. Let’s wish them a happy anniversary and many more to come.
What: Join North Hollywood’s Blastoff Comics for their anniversary celebration. HARLAN ELLISON, PAUL CHADWICK AND KEN STEACY SIGNING 7 AGAINST CHAOS!
When: Saturday, January 18 Noon – 3PM
Where: 5118 Lankershim Blvd, NoHo Arts District
How has your year in NoHo been?
Actually, it’s been a little over a year in NoHo, but two years since the launch of our website. What made us a bit unique was that we went from an Internet store to a brick-and-mortar location when so many other retailers are doing the opposite. And we couldn’t have picked a better spot for our business!
The North Hollywood community has been so welcoming to us and we’ve quickly become a fixture in the neighborhood as well as something of a landmark on Lankershim Blvd. As far as customers are concerned, the phrase I hear the most every week is, “I just moved into the neighborhood and I was glad to see a comic-book store right by my house!”
What’s really surprising is how many kids there are coming into the shop. Families are moving into the area because of the growth and affordability. So now we’ve got different generations and genders all mingling together within our four walls. For a retailer, there’s nothing better.
What do you like about being in the North Hollywood neighborhood?
NoHo is becoming more and more like Brooklyn. You can do everything all within a certain radius without even getting into your car. We’ve got supermarkets, restaurants, banks, gyms, playhouses, movie theaters and a metro that acts as a vein from downtown to deeper into the valley.
Now all we need is more family retail! But with all of the housing development going on, I think we’ll see more and more moving in within the next year or two.
And bike lanes. Oh please, give us some bike lanes…
What are you going to do to celebrate your anniversary?
We’ve got the legendary Harlan Ellison appearing for a signing on Saturday, January 18th from 12-3pm! Harlan is one of the most celebrated and prolific science fiction/fantasy authors of the last century and almost never makes personal appearances nowadays. It’s a very rare opportunity to meet him in person and get his work hand-signed.
Describe for us HARLAN ELLISON, PAUL CHADWICK AND KEN STEACY…for the comic novice
Harlan Ellison has been called “one of the great living American short story writers” by the Washington Post; and the Los Angeles Times said, “It’s long past time for Harlan Ellison to be awarded the title: 20th Century Lewis Carroll.” Harlan is an essayist, screenwriter, and journalist; above all, Harlan is a writer. Harlan has written an original hardcover graphic novel titled 7 Against Chaos, with art by Paul Chadwick and Ken Steacy. We’ll have copies that can only be signed by all three creators within that 12-3pm window.
Paul is most famous for his groundbreaking comic book series Concrete and Ken, a talented writer and artist, had his artistic hand in many of the most important comic book stories of the 1970s and 80s. Describe for us their novel 7 AGAINST CHAOS.
It’s “Seven Samurai” in space. What more can you ask from a graphic novel by three of our industry’s most famous luminaries?!
What should patrons expect from Blastoff Comics in 2014?
We’ve got huge plans for the coming year.
Our first published graphic novel titled Elizabeth’s Canvas will be released through IDW Publishing in 2014 with all proceeds going to an organization devoted to art therapy for cancer patients and their families. With writing and art from Mark Waid, Gregg Hurwitz, Scott Tipton, Chris Ryall, Sara Pichelli, Elena Casagrande, David Messina, Todd Harris and more, this should really shake things up.
We’re doing a weekly web series focusing on many different vintage collectibles. We’ll focus on their history and role in our vintage world. All of this is currently available on our Web site and our YouTube channel and new episodes are going up regularly.
And of course, the backbone of our business has always been our charitable work. Along with continuing our practice of donating a portion of our profits to a different charity every month, we’re working on a major project that will see us building a children’s library inside of a series of 1,000 square foot shipping containers and sending them to Africa.
Amazingly, there’s more! So keep an eye out for announcements on our Web site, our twitter feed and our Facebook page.
Any spoilers you can give for what’s coming up in the comic world?
The beauty of our comic world is that the Internet is exploding with pop culture information on an hourly basis. Everyone wants to get in on the comic-book explosion, which means we have new content to explore every hour on the hour!
Get to know Blastoff Comics!
Twitter: @BlastoffComics
Harlan’s site: http://harlanellison.com/home.htm
**** For information on Los Angeles theatre, tickets to theatre in North Hollywood’s NoHo Arts District, theatre reviews, the NoHo Event Calendar, restaurants, news and local businesses in NoHo, bookmark nohoartsdistrict.com.