For Immediate Release: Webcomic pioneer and graphic novelist Dirk Tiede celebrates this weekend his return to Anime St. Louis, the Midwest’s leading anime convention. This appearance is just the first stop in a parade of celebrations for the Chicagoan turned New Englander.

On the heels of the conclusion to Chapter 4 of Tiede’s online graphic novel, Paradigm Shift, the popular convention guest will appear all 3 days at Anime St. Louis, greeting fans and sharing his books and artwork. Tiede is also scheduled to present two workshops to Anime St. Louis attendees. On Friday from 9 to 10pm, the experienced artist will discuss Digital Comics Techniques for Photoshop. On Saturday, Tiede is scheduled from 5 to 7pm to teach How to Draw People & Figure Drawing. Both programs are ones Tiede has presented at other conventions across the country.
Anime St. Louis is scheduled for April 20 to 22 at Gateway Center in Collinsville, IL.
Following his appearance at Anime St. Louis, Tiede will make a limited appearance at neighboring Anime Central in Rosemont, IL the following weekend, April 27 to 29.
In June, Tiede will make his next guest appearance for the very first time in Dallas, TX at A-Kon. Slated for June 1 to 3 at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel, A-Kon is the oldest running anime convention in the country. Tiede will be on hand all weekend and will be presenting an assortment of panels and workshops to be announced closer to the show.
All of these appearances lead up to a long-awaited conclusion to Tiede’s current chapter of his paranormal graphic novel, Paradigm Shift. The long-running online graphic novel focuses on Kate McAllister, one of the best detectives in Chicago who faces some pretty big changes. Paradigm Shift is a modern police thriller that collides with classic werewolf tale when Kate and her partner are kicked off a juicy gun-running case to investigate a series of bizarre animal maulings. But as she begins to develop strange symptoms and powerful, frightening abilities, Kate realizes she may know this beast better than she could possibly dream.
Plans are being made to bring this most recent chapter a roaring conclusion in the Fall of 2012, as Tiede’s convention season comes to a close. Until then, fans of Tiede’s artwork can satisfy their craving on Sanotarium, a card game from Asmadi Games scheduled for a May/June release.
Paradigm Shift is available in print and webcomic versions at http://paradigmshiftmanga.com and on iPad and Android mobile devices via the Cloud 9 Comix app.