My Dinner with Crumb, Part I

In this week's Traffic & Weather.

Sexy Halloween

A little bit of Halloween fun, courtesy of The Stranger. Here's the accompanying article, where Dan Savage examines the phenomena of straight folks using All Hallows Eve as an excuse to dress like sluts of both genders.

Leopard

Mee-yow!

Saved by a Meteor

Here are a couple spots from the current issue of the Richmond Guide...it's an wacky story, about a man who was found in the barn where he slept, the victim of a massive head trauma. There were four suspects, including a horse, but no prosecutor could ascribe anything beyond the flimsiest of motives. However, an unusual, strange-looking rock was found at the crime scene, and it was eventually decided that the rock was indeed a meteorite that had crashed through the roof of the barn and brained the guy! That's the story of record, anyway.

Sick Days

It's been a den of illness around here the last two weeks. Grisly details in this week's Traffic & Weather.

My Squirrel Boy

Ten years ago today, October 23, 1999, my parents (who were in town for a visit) and I stopped in front of the local Wachovia where Richmond's SOS Animal Shelter had a bunch of dogs and cats for adoption. Having recently checked with my landlord to see if it'd be okay, I figured it was time to finally go ahead and get a pup. I paid my 75 clams, and went home that day with a six month old golden retriever mix, who I named Puck.

A lot has changed since that day...we've moved a half-dozen times, met and married my wife, had a daughter...but Puck's been with me the entire way. I am and have always been a dog person - I imagine our family will have a dog for the rest of my life. But no pooch will ever be my best pal the way Ol' Puckie Boy has.

A little bit of related artwork: A few years back, as I was about to reprint Squirrel Boy, the mini-comic I did in 2000 about Puck chasing a squirrel , I considered creating a new cover for the book. I eventually went with just altering the original cover a bit...but I did do a pretty involved sketch for the new cover, which I'll share with you here.

EDIT, 10/28: Just got back from the vet for Puck's yearly checkup. I'm pleased to report he's in tip-top shape! We celebrated with a Wendy's double cheeseburger.

Central Washington Wildcats

Beach Weddings

If you're gonna go and have your wedding on the beach, it's a good idea to be specific about attire! From C-Ville Weekly.

Dream Girl

Continuing on the Legion theme. Not 100% thrilled with how it turned out, but I spent too much time on it not to post 'er.

Next up: TYROC!

Baltimore 2009 Wrap-up

The trip to Baltimore couldn't have gone much better...for all the fretting I was doing over the trip, it really went off almost without a hitch. It remains a great con, all about the comics, and a show where people come to buy, which is great news for small-pressers such as myself. Even my trepidation about being the very last table at the ass-end of the show (completely my own fault for waiting so long to sign up) turned out to be no problem, as I still managed to see a great deal of foot traffic.

Unfortunately, because I was flying solo at my table, about all I did was roll in, set up, and sell comics, with little time for walking around since there was no one around to mind my store. Still, I did have a great conversation with Asgard Press, from whom I also bought a swank calendar of silver age Marvel covers, and managed to grab a couple of con deals at the Twomorrows table. I also picked up Frank Cho's new sketchbook, which I regretted almost immediately. It's not that the work inside the book isn't great...it's beautiful, in fact...but his icy, disinterested personality is always a complete turn-off. Maybe it's just me.

I got to hang out with Rob Venditti, Andy Runton and Van Jensen, which is always a good time. Even managed to catch the third period of the Pens/Leafs game at the hotel bar, before crashing early, as is often the way of this old man. Next year's show is about six weeks earlier, the last weekend of August, and if I'm not chillin' at the Outer Banks or dodging hurricanes, I fully expect to be there!

Finally, here are some pics of a few of the sketches I did, the ones I remembered to photograph, anyway. Some great and less expected requests this time around, which is always nice! Joan Holloway from MAD MEN (as portrayed by the lovely Christina Hendricks), Wonder Girl and Lilith of the Teen Titans, and X-Force's U-Go Girl.

Baltimore Bound

Hey! I'll be getting up at the crack' a dawn tomorrow morning, and heading up to Charm City for the Baltimore Comicon! You'll find me at the official ass-end of the con...my own fault, for waiting so long to grab a spot...at table 178. No worries, though...just look for the giant Atom-Bomb Bikini banner!

I'll be there all day Saturday, but leaving early Sunday to avoid all the pesky Ratbird traffic when the Ravens game empties out at around 4:30...which means if you want a sketch (and I'd love to do one for ya!), catch me sometime on the first day!

See you there!

The Swingin' A's

Czar Wars

All this recent manufactured outrage over the presence of "czars" in the government by the right is one of the dumber, sadder trends I've seen in awhile. It's a non-existent argument based on semantics, aimed at playing on the fears of a particularly gullible section of the population who hasn't been paying attention for the last thirty years. The fact that it's been at all effective is further proof that we as Americans are completely deserving of whatever shitty government we saddle ourselves with.

On a related (if lighter) note, here's a recent illo from the Las Vegas Weekly, from a piece suggesting what sort of czars the state of Nevada might appoint...in this case, a Border Czar, whose most important task would be keeping out Utahns!

SPX 2009 Wrap-Up

(Jeffrey Brown and I calmly discuss the start of the upcoming NHL Season at SPX 2009.)

It's taken me almost a week to jot down my thoughts about the latest edition of my favorite comics show...mainly because I didn't take any photos to accompany said thoughts, but also because it's hard to think of something new that I haven't said before! It was awesome, as usual...my 12th, if you can believe it! In some ways, SPX has changed a lot...the location is different, and very few of the folks I met at my first show seem to still make the trip...but the vibe and the soul remains the same. SPX has always treated it's guests like royalty...I didn't pay for a drink the entire weekend...and though the faces may change, the good feelings and camaraderie is as strong as ever. It's just a great excuse to begin every fall with a weekend with a couple hundred of your best friends.

The one unfortunate detail? The pissing rain on Saturday night, which put the kibosh on our plans to head down to old Bethesda for dinner. Seriously...everybody knows it doesn't rain at SPX! The fault, however, for watching WANTED on cable before going down for drinks lies solely with me.

Big thanks go to Karen, Jeff, Mark and the rest of the SPX planners for another great show (and about a thousand drink tickets). To Benn and Rachel of Atomic Books in Baltimore for buying a few copies of Atom-Bomb Bikini for their fine establishment. To J Chris Campbell, for breaking his pledge not to come to the show for the third consecutive year. To Dustin Harbin for the free copy of his swanky FULL-COLOR mini-comic, Nutted. A rising star, that one. To Patrick Godfrey, for securing the room, driving up and back and for other timely, uh, suggestions over the course of the weekend (Seriously, get your paws on a copy of Hairyola). To Chris Staros, for the 7&7 and for helping me get all those books back from San Diego. And of course, to everyone who stopped by and bought something at the show. Hopefully you dug it, and I'll see you next year!


(Maybe the best photo ever taken of me, by Greg McElhatton (who I mistakenly called "Mark" for some reason).)

Cubbies

It's been a disappointing season for the Northsiders...but if your fans look like this, things can't be all bad!