So what are you the Comic Impact reader doing for  Free Comic Book Day well if you live in Los Angeles head over to Collector’s Paradise. Because  here is the break down on what’s going on for Free Comic Book Day.

Signings:
Featured guests will be on site from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM. Books will be available for purchase to sign, including the TRIBUTE TO MIKE WIERINGO HERO INITIATIVE EXCLUSIVE - for FREE with your Ralph’s card and registering with HERO or you can also bring your books from home to have our guests sign as well! Sketches: Jim Mahfood, Joe Benitez and Mike Kunkel can be yours for $10 a sketch, with all proceeds going to the Hero Initiative!

Auctions:
Live eBay auctions of items donated by guests, starting May 2nd at 12:00PM Pacific Time, with all proceeds going to the Hero Initiative!

Professional Photo Studio: Customers (and their kids) will be able to take photos with their favorite writers and artists , as well as costumed characters! Prints will be available to purchase on the Collector’s Paradise website and pick up in the store, with a portion of the proceeds going to the Hero Initiative! Benefit: 10% of all the day’s receipts will be going to HERO INITIATIVE.

Mark Waid is one of the most influential writers of the 1990s through now, Mark Waid has left a HUGE mark on many of today’s most popular characters.  From one of the most popular DC comics of all time, KINGDOME COME, to the modern “origin” of Superman in “Birthright”, from hugely acclaimed runs on Fantastic Four and Flash with Mike Wieringo, to a modern classic run on Captain America with Ron Garney, Waid has created definitive versions of those characters that people use as a bench mark for other writers’ work.

His own creation, EMPIRE, has shown that a book about a villain as a main character can be captivative and exciting.  These days Mark is busy writing Amazing Spider-Man for Marvel, Hunter/Killer / Cyberforce for Top Cow (FCBD free book) as well as an amazing new series called Irredeemable for Boom Studios, a company he’s currently running as their Editor-In-Chief. Collector’s Paradise will  have a full selection of books written by Mark at this event, including all the books mentioned above.

The YUAN Brothers are the break-out stars of the new Seth Rogan movie, OBSERVE & REPORT.

On April 10th, 2009 - BOOM! Studios proudly announced that twin brothers, John and Matthew Yuan have officially signed up to be BOOM! Studios’ “unofficial” spokesmen. The long-ranging handshake agreement hatched in a dive bar includes appearances in the “new incredibly charismatic, really, you can trust us” “READ BOOM! OR ELSE” print ad campaign.

“No one ran this press release past me,” Mark Waid said when a BOOM! editorial assistant contacted him.   “Waid’s gonna say that he had nothing to do with this,” said Marketing and Sales Director Chip Mosher, “Truth is, Waid came over to the brothers’ apartment and looked at both of them like he was going to give them a heat vision lobotomy and… well… they just couldn’t say no.”

Marc Guggenheim’s career in comics started at Marvel comics, where after a few small projects, he wrote the Blade series wtih Howard Chaykin.  In 2006, he took over the Flash, a short but famous run that concluded with the death of Bart Allen.  In 2007, Marc was announced as part of the team that would bring Amazing Spider-Man to the fans 3 times a month.

Marc’s other “job” is in TV and Movies.  He co-created a great TV series Eli Stone, and wrote for many other TV series including The Practice, Law and Order, CSI and many others.  Recently, Marc was penned to write the script for the new Green Lantern feature movie from Warner Bros.

Marc is also a comic book creator.  His series at Oni Comics, Resurrection, just completed the first run, with a Graphic Novel ($8 cover price) out this week, and a new full-color follow-up series debuts on Free Comic Book Day.  His other series at Dynamite, Super-Zombies, is on its second issues at this time.  Both books and a lot more will be available at the signing.

Jim Mahfood aka Food One is a muralist, comic book artist, painter, live art show rocker and drunken freestyler extraordinaire. He has been working professionally as an artist since 1997, amassing an impressive cult following across the globe.

His comic book work includes: lllustrating filmmaker Kevin Smith’s “Clerks” comics. lllustrating various Spider-Man projects at Marvel Comics. His recent projects have included doing all the murals and menu art for the coffee shop in the Sarah Silverman Program on Comedy Central and doing all the art and ads for the new COLT 45 malt liquor ad campaign

His creator-owned comic books include: GRRL SCOUTS, KICK DRUM COMIX, STUPID COMICS, FELT, ONE PAGE FILLER MAN, 40oz COLLECTED, and many more. Many of these are going to be available at the signing.  Jim will also be doing Sketches for charity.

Joe Benitez has worked on some of the industry’s hottest titles; The Darkness, Batman, Witchblade, Titans, Justice League of America,  Supergirl, Fathom and Soulfire.

He is also a creator of Magdalena, as well as his own project Wraithborn, and the co-creator of Weapon Zero. Top Cow Productions discovered him in 1993 at the San Diego Comicon where David Wohl liked his work and showed it to Marc Silvestri, who liked it and hired Joe.

Working for Top Cow Productions Joe has dished out a lot of good artwork.  Titans, Wraithborne, Magdalena and Darkness graphic novels to be purchased.Joe is also going to be sketching for charity.

Mike Kunkel was nominated three times for the prestigious Eisner awards and four Ignatz awards, Mike Kunkel is the creator of the 2002 and 2003 Eisner Award-winning comic book series “Herobear and the kid”, also the inventive series “Flipped”.  He’s worked as a storyteller for nearly 15 years as a Director, Story and Development Artist, Character Designer, Screenwriter and Animator in Television and on Feature Films for such studios as Warner Bros, Sony Entertainment, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Universal Pictures and Walt Disney Studios.

Currently, Mike is drawing the incredibly good looking Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam comic book for DC Comics. Mike  is also going to be sketching for charity.
David Wohl began his creative career as a high school intern at Marvel Comics. After spending a year making copies and getting coffee for the editorial staff, Mr. Wohl climbed through the ranks, working as an assistant editor on titles ranging from Spider-Man to the X-Men. He was soon promoted to Managing Editor, working closely with writer Clive Barker on the “Hellraiser” comic series as well as with Hasbro Toys on the “G.I. Joe” comic series.

In 1993, Mr. Wohl left Marvel to become Editor-in-Chief and Executive Vice President of Top Cow Productions, eventually becoming President in 1999. While at Top Cow, Mr. Wohl was instrumental in the company’s success, co-creating and writing such comic book franchises as “Darkness,” “Witchblade,” and “Aphrodite IX.”

Among his other duties, David is currently writing a creator-owned series for Aspen Comics called “Executive Assistant: Iris”.

J.T. Krul Besides his work for Heroes, He  has written for comics including issues of Soulfire (2003-2007), Fathom (2004-2005), Spider-Man Unlimited (2004), X-Men Unlimited (2004), and Aspen Seasons (2005-2006), JSA Classified (2005), Red Sonja (2005), and Highlander: Way of the Sword (2007).

JT has a few really cool projects coming up including a just-solicited issue of Titans that ties into Blackest Night, plus a few other “secret” Blackest Night tie-ins that you may be able to get some info out of him if you ask nicely.

So why not join us at  Collector’s Paradise was voted the Best Comic Shop in LA last year. On Free Comic Book Day this Saturday. If you don’t live in the Los Angeles or if you can’t make it out for Free Comic Day make sure to come back as we have a very special video podcast.

Simon Daoudi
Simon@comicimpact.com