KingCon: Comic and Animation Festival! Brooklyn's First. NOVEMBER 6 - 8

Official KingCon website: KingConBrooklyn.com

Brooklyn, New York has long been home to some of the Comic medium's greatest talent, yet the borough has never had a comic convention to call its own. That is all about to change. On November 7th and 8th, 2009, the Brooklyn Lyceum will host KingCon: A Brooklyn Comic and Animation Convention. Featuring dozens of the borough's most talented independent artists, writers, animators and publishers, KingCon will include exhibitors, vendors, panelists and signers. Some featured guests will be Act-I-Vate's Dean Haspiel, Northlanders' Brian Wood, celebrated illustrator Molly Crabapple and many others are being added. KingCon will also boast a host of contests and activities, and offer attendees the opportunity to interact with celebrities from the world of comics, film, television and sports. We will release the full convention schedule of events when it is confirmed.

** Just added: MAD Magazine illustrator Al Jaffee, Marvel Comics' Denny O' Neil, Harvey Pekar!

Brooklyn has long lacked a forum for this wealth of talent to convene. After birthing the Lyceum's ongoing series of groundbreaking events (the popular Craft Market series and NYC Zine Fest '09), Lyceum festival organizer and programmer Deb Klein helped pave the way for future events like KingCon.  "It was the natural next step" says Lyceum owner Eric Richmond. "The Zine Fest brought in so many comic artists and writers, it was clear they needed a showcase of their own and that the Brooklyn Lyceum was an ideal location." Local Talent. Subway access. History. Great food and drink.  What else could you want?

Thus the idea for KingCon was born. Utilizing the building as a veritable museum of comic art and branching out into a number of adjacent Brooklyn businesses, the convention will encompass the pop culture element of its larger Manhattan cousins, while shining the spotlight on the dozens of independent artists who often get lost among the costumed chaos of New York conventions. 

"The lack of a Brooklyn-based con has been glaring for some time" says writer, artist and convention co-organizer Mike Zagari. "So much of the industry resides here and is based here. Its time Brooklyn celebrated one of its most unique and under-acknowledged exports."  

With its close proximity to the subway, and its stunning, raw space, the building intends to do just that. Located in a century-old NYC Public Bath house turned event and performance space along a formerly rough and tumble industrial stretch of Fourth Avenue, the Lyceum has been, since 2000, a venue for emerging and well-established talent. Past showcases have included Jose Gonzalez, The Polyphonic Spree, The Dresden Dolls, The New Yorker Festival featuring Yo La Tengo and Fiona Apple, and French folk singer Krystle Warren. 

Says KingCon organizer and longtime comic lover Regan Jaye: "I had no idea when I presented the idea how overwhelming the response was going to be." Indeed the response has been powerful, and the event promises to be a landmark event, not only in the history of the building but in Brooklyn as well.  

You can find out more about the Con and the full schedule of events at http://kingconbrooklyn.com.  Site is being updated daily.