Pinstriped Bloodbath Book Release Party!

Hey y'all, the big party is tomorrow at Quimby's. Come on by and get your copy of the book and have it signed by some of the artists on hand. Also have a beer, or a coke, or some general awkward cartoonists conversation.

Check out the blog for more of the gritty details. www.pinstripedbloodbath.blogspot.com

Flowers and Lapels

Hey, anybody that might be interested in hearing me blather on about Pinstriped Bloodbath can hear it over at the dollar bin website. It's nice and short, so it's not too painful. Thanks to Adam for the interview. Also here's more pics of Pinstriped Bloodbath. The book is getting out to retailers now and for every shop I'm including a proprietary flower for the lapels. Each shop has it's very own flower.

Above are the flowers for the awesome comic shops, Atomic Books, Zanadu Comics, Titan Comics, Space Cat, Jim Hanley's Universe, and Chapel Hill Comics.

SPX '09 pictures

Since I neglected to include pictures in the last post, here they are.

Adam's head, and the Top Shelf Booth across from us.

Directly to the left.

The view directly to my right.

The aisle behind us. Check out all the people!

The show off to my left.

Betcha didn't know Adam was in the new movie Zombieland.

The Steak and Egg where we went after the show for a late night breakfast.

The pickle factory just happened to be next to a place we stopped at for gas. Convenient.

That's Neil outside of Atomic Books on my crappy Camera Phone.

SPX! 2009

I'm still recovering. This year's SPX was incredible. A ton of stuff was going on, so let me break it down to several bites.

Bite #1 Debuted the anthology I put together, Pinstriped Bloodbath. I was still putting the book together the day before we left, and luckily it all worked out famously. The book was there in all it's blood splattered glory and got tons of high praise and thumb-throughs.

Bite #2 Drove there instead of flying. To keep costs low, we took the plunge and drove the 11 hours from Chicago to Bethesda. Joining us on our challenge were two other Pinstriped Bloodbath contributors, Neil Brideau and Sam Sharpe. I'd never met Sam before, and had never spent 11 consecutive hours with Neil, but we tried it out anyway. With my brother, Adam riding shotgun, we took off early on Friday morning. Comic talk started early and lasted the whole trip up till that last couple of hours on the return drive when no one could stay awake. Learned lots of cool stuff about Neil and Sam and had a blast sharing conversation and stopping at nice roadside toilets to smash pennies. I don't get the chance to socialize much with other cartoonists, so this was really nice, and I plan and making more of a habit of it.

Bite #3 We drove all day to arrive at the pre-show party at Atomic Books in Baltimore. Due to our borrowed GPS system playing some mean pranks on us, we didn't arrive in Baltimore till well after the festivities started. Still, we hung out and perused the wares at Atomic, and mingled among the other hipsters. Atomic is a store that's carried Burning Building Comix for a long time, so it was great to see the store and to thank the owners for supporting me and my work. Atomic Books is a great looking store with lots of cool products, and anyone in the area simply must stop by.

Bite #4 Finally made our way to the hotel to collapse. Again to save cash, I avoided the Show hotel and hit up Priceline to score a huge deal on a sweet 3 star Marriott. Sam was planning on crashing on the floor, but upon seeing the two rather large beds, my brother and I decided to let him have the one bed, and we shared the other like we once shared a womb. (We're twins.)

Bite #5 Day One, Saturday. The show started with a blast. There was a line waiting to get in, and after a bit of confusion, I did get my table. Apparently, they gave my table to somebody else, so they had to move me. Luckily, they moved me to one of the end tables at the front of the show across from the Top Shelf table. The show was crowded from the get go, and people were lined up shoulder to shoulder shuffling around the tables. That pace maintained for most of the day, and due to the move of the table, my space was extra cramped and there was really no room for either Adam or I to sit. So, we stood all day long, in between running around to check out the other comics or give away copies of Pinstriped Bloodbath.

Bite #6 I met more cool people than at any other show! I got my contributor copy of the Ancient Age Anthology from J.Chris Campbell, whom I'd met before, but Chris was so awesome chatting me up and sending people to my table to check out my comics. The Ancient Age copy I got from him looks incredible, as is to be expected from Wide Awake Press and I had to pick up his other fantastic looking anthologies, Fluke and Wide Awake 666. J.Chris was only the beginning though, as I got to meet even more Pinstriped Contributors: Nate Beaty, and Josh Cotter! Both guys were incredibly nice and enthusiastic about the book and I had a great time talking to both, and picked up their great looking books, Brain Fag, and Driven by Lemons.

Bite #7 Got to meet even more people! Indie Spinner Rack hosts Mr.Phil and Charlito were in attendance and I was not going to let the show end before meeting them. Happily, Mr.Phil stopped by after talking to J.Chris and we chatted about ISR and SPX. Mr. Phil was AWESOME, and made sure to send over Charlito. Charlie was just as energized and enthusiastic as he is on the show, and we talked a good long while about comics and Podcasts. He heaped praise on my comics and Pinstriped, and just oozed warmth and positivity. They both stopped by on Sunday before they left to chat more and say goodbye. Got a hug from Charlito and can't wait to see those guys again.

Bite #8 Got to meet even more incredible people! So many artists and attendees. So many nice people came by to say nice things about either Burning Building Comix, or Pinstriped Bloodbath. Some saying they bought all their issues of BBC at Jim Hanley's Universe, some showing their friends the books and explaining how it worked, and some seeing it for the first time. I traded for a bunch of great looking mini's from other attendees and CCS (Center for Cartoon Studies) students. I had people who bought my comics as gifts and received them as gifts. People who read about them in reviews or who had been taught them by their teachers! (Matt Madden!) Incredible!

Bite #9 Dinner, The Ignatz Awards, and the after-show party. After the show, Adam, Sam, and I toured around Bethesda for awhile before settling on Chinese food. The stone lions outside looked like the place might be too expensive, but it wasn't! We enjoyed Pineapple chicken and more discussion and then headed back for the Ignatz awards. Liz Baillie hosted, and did a fine job, and many deserving bricks were hurled at talented folks. Then, the after-show party with booze tickets and Chocolate Fondue. Guess what? I met even more cool people. Even saw yet another Pinstriped contributor, Neil Fitzpatrick, and his buddy and talented artist in his own right, Justin Madson. We had a grand time listening to Neil complain on all matter of things while drinking all the free beers he could manage, and even contemplated a Bus for next year considering all the Chicago people in attendance. We hung out for a while but I had to call it a little early to work on a project. The esteemed Jeff Brown let me draw a sketch in a sketchbook he's working on revolving around the theme of the first X-men comic he bought. I didn't want to hang on to the the book too long, so I worked on it back in the hotel while watching Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Bite #10 Due to having to stand all day and not consuming liquids, I awoke in the middle of the night with an excruciating Charlie Horse. It felt like my calf muscle was being torn from my bone and I awoke screeching like a stuck pig. Adam told me to shut up, and Sam thought I suffered from Night Terrors. A couple of hours later, Adam woke up screaming with a matching Charlie Horse in his leg. Comics is a tough biz.

Bite #11 Day Two, Sunday. Sunday was not as busy and I think as a result...Cold. Had to don the sweater the whole day, but did manage to get a compliment on it. Sunday was filled with more of the same great stuff. I had more time to check out all the cool stuff for sale that I couldn't afford. There was really too much stuff to mention here, I think more so than in previous years. Got to finally meet Top Shelf dude, Leigh Walton, who was great, and has helped me out by putting the full color version of Burning Building Comix on Top Shelf's 2.0 website. Got my copy of Life Meter 3, which features one of my comics! Life Meter is a video game anthology put together by Dave Roman. I contributed a comic on Waluigi from Mario Kart. It's the first time I was able to have a comic printed in color and it came out great. The whole anthology is quite handsome, and I'm so proud to be a part of it, especially since the profits go to charity.

Bite #12 The drive home. Well, when all was done, we packed it up and headed out for the long drive home. Adam had to work on Monday, so we left straight after and drove all night long. The guys were good enough to stay awake as long as they could talking comics to keep me from falling asleep and killing us all. Everyone had a great time and had great sales. About 5:30am, we gave our goodbyes and headed for our respective homes to get some damn sleep.

Bite #13 As if all of this wasn't enough, Neil Brideau calls me later, and asks if I want to join him Monday to meet Alec Longstreth. I've exchanged comics with Alec in the mail, but hadn't had the chance to meet him. I met them down at Earwax, in Chicago and hung out for a hour or so. Alec is the creator of Phase 7, a great mini-comic, and an all around great comics personality. I gave Alec Pinstriped Bloodbath, and we talked comics. Later, Aaron Renier showed up. Aaron did the great book, Spiral-Bound for Top Shelf. He lives in Chicago now, and I hadn't had the chance to meet him yet either. He was super cool, and recognized Burning Building Comix. I had to cut the visit short to work on a podcast with Adam, but had a great time.

Final Bite. SPX 2009 was probably the most fun I've had at a con, and probably the most successful. Thanks to everyone who bought books, traded, met, reacquainted, or just had kind words to say. Extra special thanks to Neil Brideau and Sam Sharpe for sharing the ride, and being great guys. Extra extra special thanks to my brother Adam, for helping me get ready for the show and then all the help during. It would have been much harder and near impossible without his help. Lots more to talk about, just not now. I'm too tired.

Pinstriped Bloodbath

So I've been super busy getting the new anthology done. SPX is coming up this weekend and putting together the book is happening at the prerequisite last minute. Pinstriped Bloodbath is an anthology of Gangland violence by Chicago comics artists and was edited by yours truly.

The book will be debuting over at SPX. More of the details on the book can be found at the Pinstriped Bloodbath Blog here.

Wizard World Chicago Comic Con

Hey, thanks to everyone who stopped by my table last weekend at the Chicago Comic-Con, or Wizard World as it's formerly known. Below is pictured my Bro behind all the wares.


Here is Don Wood, all around good guy and table neighbor. Don and I had a good time talking comics and discussing poor sales. Check out those wrist bands!

Mr.Big himself, Rob Vendetti of Surrogates fame. Soon to be a huge Movie starring Bruce Willis. Rob is another all around good guy and mini-comics supporter.

This fine looking chap is Tim Sievert. Tim is responsible for the excellent book That Salty Air, but I picked up his new mini the intrepideers, which I first read on the Top Shelf 2.0 website.

My other table neighbor was David Yardin, who is a fantastically talented artist for Marvel, doing cover for X-factor. David wasn't only nice, but Australian to boot! No picture available.
I also got to hang out and talk to plenty of other cool people like Neil Jam himself and Mason Johnson comics writer extraordinaire.

Snake Shadow

The silent assassin Snake Eyes, from G.I. Joe. Again like Storm Shadow, Snake Eye's is based on the art from the card of the 80's action figure. What could be cooler? A ninja, dressed all in black, and he's got a knights face plate on for some reason. Awesome.

I'll be at the Chicago Comic Convention this weekend in Artist Alley table 3220B. Come by and say hello if your in the area.

Storm Eyes

Storm Shadow depicted here from the 80's G.I. Joe "Real American Hero" action figure line. This image actually replicates the art on the card of Storm Shadow. I loved that cartoon, and Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes were my favorite, natch. I loved the idea of the army cartoon having two bad ass ninjas, and how novel, the bad guy is in white and the good guy is all in black! Awesome! Tomorrow, the other side of the coin.

Joker Ledger

Heath Ledger as the Joker from the Dark Knight. Tomorrow, Yo Joe.

Bale Batman

Here's another portrait, of the gravel voiced Batman from the Dark Knight, as played by the gravel voiced Christian Bale. This and a couple of other new pieces are going to be available to purchase at the Chicago Comic Con, next weekend. It used to be called Wizard World, down at the old Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, but they changed the name for some reason. I'll be in the Artist Alley, hocking my wares, including a bunch of portraits, and as always comics. I'll be posting the other new portraits here in the next couple of days so check back. Tomorrow, The Joker as played by Heath Ledger.

The Neil

Here's another portrait. This one was done for my mom and is of here favorite musician of all time, Neil Diamond! As a result of her love, I know all of his songs and have the embarrassing home video karaoke to prove it.

Take Care of the Princess

Another Commission: Chewy with Threepio. I had to do this one for Andrew after he purchased some off the website that we're already sold. Warning! My website isn't updated!

Signing at Quimbys:Seth and Tomine

So yesterday I went to Quimby's and saw Seth and Adrian Tomine. They both spoke for about twenty minutes each, and the place was packed. I was standing towards the back next to some guy who kept reaching around people to read books and sniffing snot back into his nose loudly. Seth recited six different stories about his life that related to comics, each punctuated by slides behind him and a tap on a bell. I saw Seth a couple of years ago at Columbia college doing a similar type of speaking engagement. Both were funny and insightful.

Adrian Tomine talked about the new edition of 32 stories, his collection of early mini-comic material. There was a little too much of the self deprecation for my tastes, but he did fess up to enough ego to make the overall theme very human.

After the speaking I waited in line to get my books signed. The line was slow and long. It took much longer than I expected, and I should have just browsed around and waited for the line to thin out. I brought Wimbledon Green for Seth to sign and an issue of Optic Nerve since I couldn't find my old 32 stories copy. (I looked everywhere!) Both guys were nice and friendly, as you would expect them to be. Still the line was long ( I think 40 minutes) and afterwards it was already late. Before I left I talked to Jeffrey Brown who's always good to chat with about kids and comics. I also got a chance to introduce myself to Ivan Brunetti who was nice enough to read some of my comics and give me his thoughts. I've heard how nervous Ivan can be around people who like his work, so I wasn't surprised that I freaked him out upon approaching him. He took a couple of steps back and avoided eye contact, but was pleasant and friendly engaging me in some conversation. He then tried to convince me that his latest book wasn't very good and I shouldn't buy it. Ivan introduced me to Daniel Raeburn of Imp fame, who was looking for some comic gossip alluded too in Adrian's talk.

I've seen Chris Ware at events like this in the past, and have shook his hand, but haven't had the opportunity to chat him up. I would have last night, as he and Ivan were talking just before I went over there, but alas, Chris left and didn't pop around again till after I was leaving.

Quimby's is great for these events and host all sorts of cool gatherings. In fact this weekend they're hosting both Bob Odenkirk of Mr. Show fame, and Archer Prewitt the master cartoonist behind Sof' Boy. Definitely not enough time in the week.

It's the Power of Love

Marty and Doc nice and framed, and both looking quite distressed. Just missing Einstein.

Great Scott!

Doc Brown from Back to the Future part 1 as played by Christopher Lloyd.

This is Heavy!

Marty McFly from Back to the Future part 1. A commission for Neil. Tomorrow Doc Brown.

Sneak Peek and Pinstripes

Okay, so here's a sneak peek at a piece for an anthology I just finished. I'll post details here about the book, BAM 2, when I get them. Speaking of anthologies, I decided recently to undertake one myself. I live in Chicago and there is a rather large group of talented comics artists that live here. I wanted to put together an anthology that showcased those artists. Then is occurred to me that if the anthology was going to be all Chicago artists, that the theme of the book should be about Chicago as well. I decided to embrace the stereotype and have a theme about Gangster violence in the 20's and 30's. The book will be called Pinstriped Bloodbath and my plan is to have it ready for this years SPX. I'll be posting here with details about the book as they come about.

Also, I have a couple more of the Pop Culture Portraits that I still have to post, that I'm going to put up the next couple of days. Aside from comics, the guys and bindeldog.com and myself have finished another comedy video short. It's a sequel to Before and After, the sketch about two brothers who pose as the before and after photos in weight loss ads. This one is quite a bit longer than the first, but the Rocky spoofs, and Jay Gish as the stereotyped Frenchman, Pierre are can't miss material! You can check it out here.

FCBD Mania

Free Comic Book Day is coming up on May 2nd and I have a couple of things going on. Firstly, I've been asked to be a part of a FCBD download anthology, the cover of which is above. As you can see the theme is ancient civilizations and my 5 pager is about ancient Egypt and the God Anubis. You can Download the whole book filled with a bunch of talented people on May 2nd at this website. ancient.wideawakepress.com Here's the official blurb.

The Ancient Age presented by Wide Awake Press
On May 2nd (Free Comic Book Day!) revel in a pantheon of illustrated lore from the ancient age. This free comic download gathers fantastic stories about the world's earliest civilizations, as told by the mighty sequential artisans of today. A monumental mix of new and classic tales featuring heroes, philosophers, creatures, and gods. It’ll be spectacularly epic, epically spectacular, spantafically epilacar—it’ll be good!

And here's a list of the people involved.

Dan Boyd
Michael Bresnahan
J Chris Campbell
Andrew Davis
Andrew Drilion
Patrick Dean
Paul Friedrich
Alexis Frederick-Frost
Justin Gammon
Bernie Gonzalas
Brad Mcgintiy
Corinne Mucha
Dusty Harbin
Mike LaRiccia
Joe Lambert
Josh Latta
Pat Lewis
Rey Ortega
Katie Skelly
Steve Steiner
Ben Towle
Rob Ullman
Jeff Zwirek

It's a strong group of cartoonists and I want to thank J Chris Campbell, (the man behind Wide Awake Press) for allowing me to be involved.

In addition to the download I'll also be doing some work at the Roselle Public Library, who are having several comics people doing talks and workshops for all the kids. I'm going to be doing a presentation on comic drawing, and on getting published...or at least self publishing. Should be a good time with free comics, and buddy Elliot Serrano will be on hand to talk about his writing prowess.
http://www.roselle.lib.il.us/

I'm almost out of portraits to post so I suppose I'll be going back to posting once a week or so with whatever I'm currently working on. Lately I've been lucky enough to get some commissions that have put some money in my pocket, and I've been doing lots of writing (in my head at least) for the next long form comic. Before starting that though, I'll put doing more short comics, like the one to appear in the Ancient Age, and I'll have a piece in the new Big Ass Mini BAM 2 anthology.

In related news, the bindledog guys and myself have recently landed a legit job producing cartoon shorts for ESPNchicago.com Those should start appearing soon, and I'll post them here for people to check out.


For anybody who might be missing them, I am planning on getting back to the cartoon excersises from Ivan Brunetti's book, so stay close.

Tink

Tinkerbell from Peter Pan flying past Big Ben. Done for Mandy's Birthday.

Wendy Bird

Wendy Darling from Peter Pan. Part of a present for Mandy. Tomorrow Tink.

Ceaser Chavez

Civil and Labor Rights activist Ceaser Chavez. Tomorrow Wendy Darling.

Diego Rivera

Diego Rivera, celebrated painter and muralist. Tomorrow Ceaser Chavez.

Fridah

Fridah Khalo, one of three commissions of Hispanic icons. Yes, she has a mustache. Tomorrow, Diego Rivera.

Mayday Malone

Ted Danson as Sam Malone from the sitcom Cheers. Tomorrow Frida Khalo.

Speed and Rex

The brothers, Speed and Rex together again, at last. As seen hanging in Van's room.

Racer X

The mysterious masked Racer is actually Speed's brother Rex Racer. Tomorrow the brothers framed up.

Here He Comes...

Speed Racer from my sons favorite cartoon of all time, Speed Racer! Done for his 3rd Birthday. Tomorrow the Masked Racer.

Mr.Anderson Vs Mr.Smith

The Matrix Portraits all framed up and sweet looking. Whoa. Tomorrow Speed Racer.

Whoa...Agent Smith

Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith from the Matrix...at least one of them. Commissioned by Mark .

Mr.Anderson

Keanu Reeves as Neo from The Matrix. Commissioned by Mark. Tomorrow Agent Smith.

Darth Vader

Darth Vader, commissioned by Mark.

Ben and Darth framed together. Tomorrow, the Matrix.

Ben Kenobi

Sir Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi, commissioned by Mark. Tomorrow by Lord Vader

Tina Fe...I mean Sarah Palin

Gov. Sarah Palin. Wink. Tomorrow, Obi-Wan Kenobi.

My Friends

Senator John McCain. Tomorrow, Caribou Barbie.

The Veep!

Vice President Joe Biden. Tomorrow, John McCain.

The Prez

Another Barack Obama, Commissioned by the owner of the Tamale Hut, Jaime Flores. Bee the Wee, my work is still hanging up at the Tamale Hut, and will be for about another month, so there's still time to get down there and check it out, and scarf hot tamales.
Tomorrow, the Veep.

Sleeping Kitty and SuperF*ckers

A little spotted kitty sleeping. He also looks like our cat Clarence. Tomorrow we get political.

Also I should point out that the guys at bindledog and myself have finished out latest cartoon. It's a music video to James Kochalka's fabulously outrageous (that makes it sound completely gay) comic SuperF*ckers, published by Top Shelf comics.
We used all of James' art straight from his book and it's accompanied by James' awesome SuperF*ckers theme song. All in all, quite a fun and crazy 45 seconds. You can check it out for yourself here.

We are Siamese if you Please

Siamese kitty with strange autumnal Asian looking theme. Tomorrow, one more cat.

The Purple Pie-Man and his pet Cat?

The Nefarious Purple Pie-Man, from the old Strawberry Shortcake cartoon. I remember he sang a funny song, and had a pet snake.

Tabby Cat amongst the grass. Tomorrow, more cats.