Zenescope Entertainment turns 15 years old this month and that calls for a celebration! Held online between June 18-20, Zenescope’s special Crystal Anniversary Virtual Con was live-cast across Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch and featured some of their favorite writers, artists, and editors who have worked on their various action, fantasy and horror titles (many of which are re-imagined fairy tale characters like Snow White, Robin Hood, and Belle of Beauty & The Beast).
Across the 3-day Virtual Con, Zenescope ran multiple promotions, showcasing brand new exclusives including comics, prints, enamel pins, and other merchandise. Fans were able to redeem these deals, much like a “Home Shopping Network” or telethon special! And while each day offered some repeat products, others were shown once and were gone…
Starting off, the con brought on writers like Victoria Rau and Lou Iovino who have worked on numerous Zenescope titles such as Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, Red Hood, Snow White, Robyn Hood, and Red Agent. But they also had several cover artists join as well.
Jamie Tyndall was the first artist to make an appearance and talked about his most recent Zenescope cover art for a Motor City Comic Con exclusive variant. Having worked with Zenescope for nearly a decade, Jamie talked about some of his favorite memories, answered some questions from the chat, and talked about his White Widow / I Make Boys Cry Kickstarter project as well as other upcoming properties he’s working on.
Over the weekend, we were also joined by cover artist Maria Laura Sanapo who is also an instructor at the Kubert School in NJ. This was a great panel as she talked about her roots and inspirations as an artist, including her experiences at the International School of Comics in Chicago. Zenescope fans might recognize her work from the popular series “Grimm Tales of Terror”.
Here’s a sneak peek at Maria Laura’s latest cover art for Belle: Beast Hunter…
If you’re familiar with Zenescope or have seen their fantastic booths at comic cons across the country, you’ll know that on top of their stories & art they also offer fun products like action figures, apparel, pins, and statues! It was great to hear from John Garrison of Fansets.com who talked about the pins that they create for Zenescope as well as pins for other properties & licenses for Warner Bros., DC Comics, 20th Century, and others!
But one of the most exciting parts of the Crystal Anniversary Virtual Con was the announcement & sneak peek of the upcoming Van Helsing statue, coming soon to Kickstarter! Zenescope has already successfully crowd-funded statues of their characters Snow White/Sela as well as Robyn Hood. And on stream they were able to share an early prototype of the Van Helsing statue that will be offered very soon:
But to close out this massive Virtual Con, the Zenescope Entertainment team held a 15th birthday panel with tons of surprise guests. Founders Joe Brusha and Ralph Tedesco were joined by an assortment of writers & authors of Zenescope past & present, starting off with writer Raven Gregory and artists Nei Ruffino, David Seidman, and Anthony Spay. The panel talked all about favorite memories and reminisced the past 15 years & the future to come…
And that’s not all! There were even special appearances by cover artists Dawn McTeigue, Sun Khamunaki, and Jason Metcalf as well!
And while the deals during this Virtual Con were exclusive to the con, you can still check out their online store for more exclusives and birthday offerings, as well as staying up to date with any other potential virtual cons coming up. And be sure to check out the official Zenescope Facebook page and YouTube channel if you’re interested in reliving any of the festivities with replays of the Crystal Anniversary Virtual Con!
LesDudis 