JOIN FANTOM COMICS FOR ITS 1ST MONTHLY HAPPY HOUR!
Fantom Comics would like to invite you to its first Comic Book Happy Hour, to be held from 6-8pm at The Laughing Man Tavern (just off Metro Center) on the 2nd Tuesday of every month. (Those under 21 are allowed! They have a system for keeping you away from the booze).
April 13th will be our first event, featuring a panel of three policy wonks and a Marvel Comics editor (see their bios below) discussing "Politics in Comics". They’ll answer questions like who was right in Marvel’s Civil War, and just how good of a president was Lex Luthor? After a 20-30 minute panel and Q&A session (so have your questions ready), be set to mingle in typical happy hour fashion and meet fellow comic book geeks from across the DC metro area.
Spencer Ackerman, Washington Independent
Spencer Ackerman learned to read with the aid of an issue of the Incredible Hulk circa 1982, the touchstone of a life spent with Marvel Comics. Since then, he's reported on national security as a staff correspondent for The New Republic, Talking Points Memo and currently The Washington Independent. He's reported from Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay and can explain to you all the ways in which the Air Force tried to use 'Iron Man' to protect beloved defense projects from budget cuts. He maintains a blog called Attackerman on the Firedoglake constellation of blogs and may or may not lurk on Millar World and Brian Michael Bendis' message board.
Tom McClusky, FRCAction
As Senior Vice President of FRCAction, Tom McClusky represents the organization before Congress on a variety of family oriented issues. His work has gotten him recognized by The Hill newspaper as one of the leading grassroots lobbyist in Washington, D.C. And last year MSNBC commentator Kieth Olbermann declared Mr. McClusky as one of the “Worst People in the World.” Mr. McClusky has a long history of both local and national campaign experience. His first job in Washington, D.C. was with the Republican National Committee as a political analyst. Following the 1992 elections, Mr. McClusky worked as a legislative/legal analyst for the multi-billion dollar Coastal Corporation in its Washington, D.C. office. In 1998 Mr. McClusky became Senior Policy Analyst for National Taxpayers Union and National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTU/NTUF). Mr. McClusky has been reading comics since he was eleven years old, and actually financed his move to Washington, D.C. by selling off his collection of X-Men comics from the late 1970’s to the mid 1980’s.
Mike O'Sullivan, Marvel Comics
Mike O’Sullivan served as Senior Editor for Devil's Due Publishing for five years, editing titles such as G.I. Joe, Family Guy, the Dungeons & Dragons titles, Voltron, Hack/Slash and more. During that time, he wrote numerous stories for G.I. Joe, and wrote most of the character entries in the G.I. Joe Data Desk encyclopedia series. Currently, Mike writes for Marvel's Special Projects department, specifically for the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe series, and also serve as a book management editor for Marvel's trade paperback and collection department. Mike also teaches classes in animation, drawing, cartooning and scriptwriting at both the Art Institute of Washington and the Art League in Alexandria, as well as owns and operates a custom cartooning and caricature company. He holds his Masters in sequential art from the Savannah College of Art & Design.
Julian Sanchez, Cato Institute
Julian Sanchez is a research fellow at the Cato Institute, a contributing editor for Reason magazine, and a writer for entirely too many blogs. Though he primarily writes about technology, privacy, and government surveillance, he occasionally finds an excuse to wed one or more of these with his love of comics, as in his 2007 American Prospect cover story “The Revolt of the Comics.” Julian once shaved his head just to dress as Spider Jerusalem for Halloween.