FanCons.com Press Releases


February 17, 2006

News for MatsuriCon 2006:

MatsuriCon announces second round of guests

WORTHINGTON-COLUMBUS OHIO ­ FEBRUARY 17 2005

MatsuriCon welcomes our second group of guests that will be attending our April event.

Mindy Timpone - Artist - http://www.doomnstuff.com
Mindy, also known as Mad Sniper, currently keeps up two web comics; White Noise and The Welcome Committee of Magic High. Mindy recently graduated from the Columbus College of Art and Design, and has a message for all of her fans: "Keep you eyes on Doomnstuff.com folks, because it's going to be extremely active."

Joe Kovell & Alex Kolesar - Artist/Writer - http://www.noneedforbushido.com/
The minds behind the enchanting web comic No Need For Bushido are writer Joe Kovell and artist Alex Kolesar. Joe is currently majoring in Industrial Design at the Columbus College of Art and Design. In addition to writing for NNFB, Joe has worked in Flash animations and has created several short movies based on No Need for Bushido. His counterpart Alex is a graduate from the Columbus College of Art and Design with a major in Illustration. In addition to his work on NNFB, Alex is a freelance illustrator and has worked in video game design.

Joanna Estep - Artist / Manga-ka - http://www.joannaestep.com/
Tokopop has been launching American manga like nobody's business recently and MatsuriCon is lucky enough to play host to another of their rising stars, Ms. Joanna Estep. Joanna and the writing genius Allan Gross have put together a dynamite hit in the way of their new manga Roadsong, now out in bookstores through Tokyopop. Joanna also has her hands busy in many other venues such as helping design calendars for Milk Tooth Press, and giving presentations on design and American manga at Ohio schools.

Where's the Buffet? - Panelists/Convention Culture Gurus - http://www.wheresthebuffet.com/
Slow-roasted in the hearts of a group of young women and men and marinated in the cultural stew of Columbus, Ohio, Where's the Buffet? is an all-you-can-eat smorgasbord of fandom and nerd insight, served up in reasonable, panel-sized portions. Traveling the northeastern states in search of the perfect mashed potatoes and intellectual discourse, Where's the Buffet? has been making a (non-paying) career of providing entertaining-yet-educational panels since early 2004. WTB? is currently working hard to invent new panels, new panel concepts, and new material to keep their standard panels fresh and piping hot, just like Mom used to make.

MatsuriCon has also updated their website to include a wide range of Programming information including planned panels and events as well as rules and submission guidelines for their AMV Contest and Masquerade.

MatsuriCon will take place on April 20th-23rd 2006 in Worthington Ohio, a suburb of Columbus. Although a new event, MatsuriCon draws on the expertise of some of the most veteran staffers from the Midwest and East Coast areas. Revolving around the fusion of Traditional and Modern Japanese Culture, MatsuriCon will bring a new hybrid of education and entertainment to the Midwest fan community. Thursday afternoon and evening will be entirely free to all as a "public preview day".

MatsuriCorp is a non-profit group, recognized by the State of Ohio, which produces MatsuriCon. It is the intention of MatsuriCorp to educate the public community in Japanese Culture both old and new, through the hard work of our volunteer staff. Details about MatsuriCon can be found at the web site: http://www.MatsuriCon.org/.