"Prepare for New York Comic Con...and Adventure!

Fall is upon us and with it comes the East Coasts largest (and 2nd largest in the US) convention of comics, artists and pop culture greatness, New York Comic Con, October 11-14, Javitts Center, NYC.

As you make your way around the Javitts make sure to check out new comer to the comics arena, J. Wichmann who will be hanging out in artists alley.  We've been keeping a close eye on Mr. Wichmann (pronounced Witch-man, which after a little research, his last name literally translates to 'Man of War') for the past few months and as he readies the release of the second issue of his self published adventure-romance comic, 'Thief of Hearts', exclusively at NYCC'12 no less, we here at BF felt it was time to spread the word about J. and about the 'Thief'...

"The Thief has been an idea I've had for over a decade now..." Wichmann recalls, "Tristan Casimir [the Thief] and other series characters, were created while daydreaming in school... I started doodling out characters and ideas, thankfully I saved those doodles, as they ended up being the seeds that have grown into an adventure.  I really wanted to read a comic that's a classic adventure story, something filled with romance, humor, and of course lots of action, and after not really finding what I was looking for, I just decided to make it."

Having started making art at a young age, J. went on to become 'class artist' in high school, eventually earning his BFA in Illustration and graphic design from R.I.T. in Rochester, NY.  "I was fairly lucky.  Art and creativity runs in my family, so my parents were fairly encouraging and understanding when all my school progress reports would say: always drawing during class, needs to pay attention more..., [laughs] well not that they didn't prefer I pay attention more to school"  

"I do everything but the coloring." Wichmann tells us.  "When you read comics you don't really think about it until you make the jump into making comics, [besides writing and drawing] all the other work involved with production for a book...layouts and graphic design, editing, lettering, marketing, more editing, printing, shipping...with the most successful comics you don't even notice that stuff when you read them, but I definitely have a greater appreciation for the folks out there that do it. It's hard work, but I wouldn't want to be doing anything else!"

Explained simply, Thief of Hearts is about a 'love at first sight' chance encounter of a boy and girl, girl is kidnapped by an evil sorcerer bent on unleashing an ancient god to enslave the world and boy having to assemble an unlikely team of friends and enemies to rescue girl and prevent our destruction.  "When I started outlining the story I had certain perimeters I wanted to meet...fun characters, humor, lots of action, beautiful locations, high production values and appeal to both men and women... I knew the story type was one that had been told, well countless times before, so i decided to embrace that and see how I could use it to my advantage."

"I decided the best way was to present the characters was with a number of smaller events that just cascades into this massive adventure... instead of the usual characters-meeting-then-fighting-their-feelings for a 100 issues, I thrust Tristan and Annabella[his love interest] together very early on and then rip them apart, for like the majority of the series.  Pretty much everyone wants to find that one great love, so this really becomes a story about how far would you go for the one you love if you suddenly lose them? [laughs]The amount and intensity of obstacles I put in Tristan's path is nuts, this whole boat chase sequence I have planned in the middle of the series would make Michael Bay wet his pants..." From what we've seen so far, we're very excited about this series!

For NYCC, J. will have on hand Thief of Hearts issue 1(in case you missed it), three versions of Issue 2 - regular cover, 'Extra Virgin' topless sketch variant, and the 'My Fair Thief' #comicmarket limited variant.  He will also have various prints on hand and be doing sketches between checking out cosplay babes.  "They [NYCC] haven't released table numbers yet, but I'm listed on their website in the artists alley section, so you can add me on the show planner app the convention has."  

For more info about New York Comic Con, visit their website http://www.newyorkcomiccon.com/ and to see more of J. Wichmann visit his art gallery at jwichmann.deviantart.com or you can connect with him on facebook: www.facebook.com/studiojcomics and twitter: @studiojcomics

Thief of Hearts Issue 2

In Chapter 2 "Thick as Thieves"...
Picking up directly after the events of last issue, King Raimundo braces the Sapphire Kingdom as an unknown army descends upon them, and where the hell is Lord Orfio?

Next, Tristan discovers the identity of the mysterious thief girl who attacked him. How is she tied to his past?

Finally in Chapter 3 "A Thief Came to Dance"... enter Lord Vasuman! 

The adventure continues with two huge chapters in Thief of Hearts Issue 2, coming in October 2012 from J. Wichmann and Studio J Comics... Be Prepared!

34 Pages. Full Color
Thief of Hearts Issue 2
Written and penciled by J. Wichmann

Colors: David Delanty, Oracle