Tag Archives: John Mcguire

Atlanta Science Fiction and Fantasy Expo 2026 – A Review

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This past weekend I had the pleasure of tabling at the Atlanta Science Fiction and Fantasy Expo. This convention is something very special within the Atlanta comic/gaming/nerd stuff scene. For me it has really signifiied the beginning of the convention season allowing me to shake off the cobwebs, show off the new comics I’ve been working on, and actually interact with real-life human beings!

When I was younger it always felt like these smaller conventions were little diamonds in the rough. The larger conventions are their own beasts where many times I’ve felt like I don’t want to spend too much time at any one table or booth. First there is so many things to potentially see, but the second is that you don’t want it to be a case where you cost someone another sale.

But with something like the ASFE, it is a more personal convention. As a creator, we’re all extremely happy when anyone comes up to our tables to look at our works and have a conversation – about anything, honestly. As I mentioned to one such gentleman, being able to chat with someone not only introduces me to new people (and potentially new fans) but also helps to make the time fly by. Plus, I was able to see and talk to some friends that I might not get to see but once or twice a year.

On top of all of that, I shared a table with Robert Jeffrey II which allowed us to catch up on our lives both on the writing side but also some of the personal side of things as well. You’d think after spending the better part of two days chatting we would have run out of things to talk about, but I feel like we really didn’t get into much on story side of things… that might fill another two days!

Finally, the biggest thing is that this is a convention that is FREE to the public. Given its location in Northlake Mall, it made it very easy for people to come in, walk the various areas of the con, and stop by as many tables as they would like. It being FREE is not only a great thing to get people to come in, but I’d like to think that if someone was looking for various activities around Atlanta… it might swing the pendelum to going to the ASFE!

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A reminder that I am currently running a Kickstarter for my latest comic book: You Must Be This Tall To Ride #1.

“You Must Be This Tall To Ride” is the story of a family who inherits a run down amusement park. What they don’t know is that each of the various lands: Cartoon World, Weird West, Space Pirates, etc. are actually portals to another place, another universe!

When a game of Hide n Seek results in the youngest getting lost, they are going to need to find a way to traverse worlds and get their brother back… all before Mom and Dad get home!

“You Must Be This Tall To Ride” is a Young Adult Comic Book for fans of the Old Dungeons and Dragons cartoon, The Goonies, The Never Ending Story, or any Kids of Bikes style stories.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ioda/you-must-be-this-tall-to-ride-1

The Kickstarter is currently running through April 10, 2026.

Kickstart the Comic – Gilded Age: Vol 1 – A Steampunk Graphic Novel

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As I wrote last week, this Kickstarter has been a long time coming for me. There have been many late nights struggling over scripts or waiting for edits or all those moments receiving a new piece of artwork – it has built to this.I’m hopeful this is the next step in being able to tell stories within the comic book medium.

I love writing about these characters. I’m hopeful this is the next step in being able to tell more stories about them. And I’m looking forward to meeting the other members of The Gilded Age who have not appeared yet.

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The Gilded Age

From Terminus Media

John McGuire – Writer

Sheldon Mitchell – Artist

António Brandão – Artist

Sean Hill – Artist

Rich Perotta – Inker

Tom Chu – Colors

Nimesh Morarji – Colors

Lavata O’Neal – Graphic Novel Cover Artist

Khari Sampson – Letterer/Copy Editor

Kickstarter campaign ends on Friday, November 17, 2017 at 11:59 PM EDT.

The Pitch:

We are raising funds primarily to get the Graphic Novel, The Gilded Age Vol. 1, printed. 100 pages collecting the first four issues of the comic book.

The Story:

The Gilded Age is about a group of performers, the Branning Troupe. Half actors and half carnival folk, the group travels throughout the countries of Victorian Era Europe. For some it offers a direction to their lives, others get the adoration of the crowds, and the rest find simple refuge from a world which has cast them out.

Each story would be done-in-one. They would tell stories that could be enjoyed by anyone picking up a random issue. The issues would have overlapping characters, but by and large, each issue would focus on one or a pair of characters.

The key would be that I was slowly building up my world. And making the readers care about various characters by giving each the screen time they deserved. And by doing this I allowed for different types of stories within the same world. Whether that is Western or Horror or a Heist or something Fantastical, the hope has always been to build the world from the character’s eyes rather than try and hit you with one thousand years of history.

The Gilded Age – Issue #2 – Page 12 – Pencils – Sheldon Mitchell – Inks -Rich Perotta – Colors – Thomas Chu

John’s Thoughts:

Comics have always been this way to connect with stories. Even before I was a “book reader”, I devoured comics. As the years went by, that never changed. I’m sure many of you have that same thing where you just can’t get something out of your system. Whether it is the collaborations or the characters or the universes or the ability to tell a story with a limitless visual budget or a way to connect to a younger version of myself…

I think it is all those things and a thousand others. I think it is about someone holding something your brain thought up and thinking – “Hey, that was pretty cool.”

However, the path of the indy comic creator is full of potholes. Money runs out, print runs don’t happen, and you’re constantly torn between this odd thing of people devaluing your work (“It costs how much!?!”). This Kickstarter will help push the comic to a place where it can start funding itself… hopefully into an issue 5 and 6 and 7 and…

The Gilded Age – Issue #3 – Page 5- Art – Antonio Brandao – Colors – Nimesh Morarji

The Rewards:

The Kickstarter is for the first trade of the series which collects issues 1 through 4. There are the options to get either a pdf or the print version sent to you. At the $40 level there is a chance to get the anthologies Terminus put out in the past. At the $60 level there is an opportunity to not only get Gilded Age but also Route 3 (if you missed that Kickstarter).

If being drawn as one of the Gilded Age Carnival Folk is more your style, there is an opportunity to do just that at the $300 level.

The Verdict:

Obviously, you should give this one a try, but I might be biased about such things (*might*).

Seriously though – so many comic book Kickstarters are looking for funds to even come into being. That is a different kind of crapshoot as you can never be 100% sure the book is going to be completed. This is a FINISHED trade. All this money is going to print costs just so that I can get this out there and into people’s hands.

The Gilded Age – Issue #4 – Page 4 – Art – Sean Hill – Colors – Nimesh Morarji

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I’d like to thank you in advance for checking the project out! For more information on The Gilded Age, check out the Facebook here. If you’d like to know more about the rest of Terminus Media’s comics, check out their Facebook here.

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John McGuire

John McGuire is the creator/author of the steampunk comic The Gilded Age which is currently LIVE on Kickstarter!

Want to read the first issue for free? Click here! Already read it and eager for more?

Click here to join John’s mailing list to keep up with all things Gilded Age.

His prose appears in The Dark That Follows, Theft & Therapy, There’s Something About Mac, Hollow Empire, Beyond the Gate, and Machina Obscurum – A Collection of Small Shadows.

He can also be found at tesseraguild.com