One of the first must-see events of the new year occurred on Saturday, January 11th & Sunday, January 12th when Long Beach Comic Expo kicked off the 2020 convention season!
This year’s event was filled with a wide spectrum of talent and experience within the comic book community. From up-and-coming writers & artists to veteran creators, there was no shortage of creative minds with which to meet. One such talent on-hand at the event was David Avallone.
If you’re familiar with any of the major properties at Dynamite Entertainment, then you’ve likely seen David’s work. Characters such as Doc Savage, The Shadow, Vampirella, Bettie Page, and Elvira have all had their voice given the Avallone treatment. The writer has always tackled these properties with such care and love; it’s easy to do when you’re such a fan of the characters yourself. Being such an architect for so many Dynamite titles and their continued popularity, David is still having fun exploring more about these characters.
Avallone is also working alongside Kevin Eastman on some creator-owned projects. The duo’s DRAWING BLOOD has now had two successfully-funded Kickstarter campaigns, allowing for volumes one and two of the series. Featuring artists Ben Bishop & Troy Little, the first volume of Eastman/Avallone’s DRAWING BLOOD is available as a collected edition or as four, single issues. Volume two is scheduled to be released a little later this year. Spinning out of DRAWING BLOOD is another Eastman/Avallone creation THE RADICALLY REARRANGED RONIN RAGDOLLS. For more on either of these titles, head over to Kevin Eastman Studios website and snag some for yourself!
PopCultHQ was fortunate to have the opportunity to speak with David Avallone at LBCE 2020. We chatted with him about his title DRAWING BLOOD, the major properties at Dynamite Entertainment for which he has written, and the future of horror icon Elvira!
Before we get to the video interview, here’s a little background on David courtesy of davidavallonefreelance.com.
Writer David Avallone at Long Beach Comic Expo 2020
David Avallone is a freelancer from a long line of freelancers, born to a pulp fiction writer (Michael Avallone) and women’s rights activist (Frances Avallone).
Since graduating from Bard College in 1987, David has been involved mostly in independent film production (as a writer, editor, director, producer, actor, etc.), but in 2014 he branched out into comic book writing, mostly with Dynamite Comics. With them, he’s written LEGENDERRY: VAMPIRELLA, TWILIGHT ZONE: THE SHADOW, DOC SAVAGE: RING OF FIRE, BETTIE PAGE and ELVIRA: MISTRESS OF THE DARK. For American Mythology, he’s written ZORRO: SWORDS OF BLOOD, and for Kevin Eastman Studios he’s writing DRAWING BLOOD and THE RADICALLY REARRANGED RONIN RAGDOLLS.
He lives in Hollywood, California with his delightful wife Augusta aka filmmaker, costumer and burlesque icon Penny Starr, Jr. and three cats who may or may not be secretly radically rearranged.
Without further ado, here’s our chat with the incredibly talented writer, David Avallone…
A huge thanks goes out to David for taking the time to speak with PopCultHQ. For more info on David Avallone, his upcoming projects, and appearances, be sure to follow him online (links below).
Dynamite Entertainment – if you’re reading this, give Avallone a shot at a future James Bond series. He’d crush it!
PopCultHQ wants to give you a sampling of David Avallone’s work with a special prize pack! We snagged all four single issues of David’s DRAWING BLOOD (Vol. 1) + the Kevin Eastman cover of Dynamite’s ELVIRA: Mistress of the Dark #9. PLUS all five comic books have been SIGNED by David himself at this month’s Long Beach Comic Expo!
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Contest begins on Monday, January 20th, 2020 and runs through Friday, January 31st. Winner will be announced on Twitter on Saturday, February 1st. Winner has three (3) days from Twitter announcement of winner to respond. If no response is received, a new winner will be selected from the remaining entries. Contest open to anyone ages 14 and up, from anywhere in the world. PopCultHQ will cover postage to winner’s address and ship within seven (7) days after winner’s confirmation. Pretty simple, eh?
Kevin (TMNT) Eastman returns to independent comics with a new creation: an inside look at the turbulent life and times of a once-successful cartoonist on the skids… Shane “Books” Bookman. Once upon a time, Books co-created THE RADICALLY REARRANGED RONIN RAGDOLLS: a gritty, funny indie comic that became a billion dollar global franchise. Now, years later, the partnership dissolved, the corporate buy-out all spent, Books is struggling to recover from the hit-and-run driver called early success… and looking for the will and the joy to create something new again.
Elvira’s traveled through time and been to Hell and back…but does she get to take a breath and recover from her travels? Not in this comic book, friends. Back from Hell, Elvira falls in with a coven of modern-day witches and takes a hot rod broom out for a spin in the sky!
Sit down for a spell, and for more thrills, chills and bad puns, as David Avallone (Bettie Page) and Dave Acosta (Twelve Devils Dancing) bring you the Horror Hostess with the Mostest in the next thrilling issue of ELVIRA: MISTRESS OF THE DARK!
Jason Bennett is PopCultHQ’s chief editor, a contributing writer, and comic book reviewer/reporter. He is the host of the PodCultHQ podcast & oversees the Comic Book Division – providing content promoting the comic book industry.
One with the Force. Browncoats Unite! So say we all!
Follow Jason on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram: @TahoeJBennett
DRAWING BLOOD Vol. 1 (issues 1-4)
ELVIRA: Mistress of the Dark #9
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