SDCC 2007

Back from San Diego, I'm staying in LA for a week then it's back to NYC.


If you are a reader of my blog (like Brian Ewing apparently!), you might know I hate con reports and usually skip them. But this year, San Diego was so amazingly amazing that I HAVE to at least gush a little about how much of a good time I had. I also stole photos from Fabio and Gabriel's blog since I didn't take any. Haha.

We arrived on Wednesday with Amy, Kazu and the Flight/Nucleus crew and helped unload the vans and then brought our boxes over to our table. We met Fabio and Gabriel to get badges and started to set up the books. Preview night was really busy, I don't really remember what I did that night either, from that point on the convention was a total blur and I can't remember exact dates or times for any of the events.

Vasilis and I got to hang out with Fabio and Gabriel almost every night which was a lot of fun. We only see them once a year and last year I was totally sick so I didn't hang out at all. I also got to chit chat with Gerard Way about his new book Umbrella Academy (Drawn by our very own Gabriel!), I love how much energy he has for comics, and the enthusiasm he has for the industry and the medium itself. And after seeing Ba's pages for it, I can't wait to read it. Fabio Moon's book with Joss Whedon, Sugar Shock, was also announced at the con! Soon they will be too famous to hang out with us.

The Last Call, Vasili's graphic novel from Oni Press was also released on Wednesday, just in time for preview night. He got so much good feedback from it, there's no doubt in my mind that it will take him places. Our table's premiere comic, 5, went over very well! We sold 90% of everything we brought to the convention! Thanks for everyone who picked up that and Minis, my collection of older comics. We had an awesome table, it was packed to the gills with amazing comics of all shapes and sizes. I am also lucky enough to share it with 3 of my favorite artists. I hope we can share a table again next year. Special thanks to Ivan Brandon for hooking us up!


Being at the Image table was a blast, we had great neighbors, Death Dealer on the left (Nat Jones, Jay Fotos, and Joshua Ortega, the comic has some amazing art!) and NYC Mech/24Seven on the right (Andy MacDonald and Ivan Brandon). At the Image booth I also got to meet Frank Cho and I ran into Tommy Ohtsuka who I had dinner with like seven years ago? Cool. I shared a room with Brandon Graham and kinda Corey Lewis (we'll have to hang more at SPX.) Special thanks to Charlie (my biggest fan) and Alfredo (from Mexico, who needs to work on better paper) for being so enthusiastic about my work. I sometimes forget that people actually read my books when I spend all of my time at home working on them.

Some highlights from the con include meeting MK Perker (the artist on Vertigo's upcoming Cairo comic) who is funny as he is talented. I had a good meeting with Dark Horse's Philip Simon, and some fabulous dinners. San Diego is half about the food, there are so many amazing restaurants in the con area. I got to hang out with Brian Wood and Brian Azarello Saturday night during a big dinner, and afterwords we headed to the Hyatt. And thanks to Will Dennis for drinks.

I also met Dave Stewart (yes!), and got to talk with Diana Schultz who I've always met in passing but never had a conversation with. The Eisners were also a lot of fun, so much fun that I was thinking of attending next year even if I'm not nominated! I think it's important for the ceremony to be fun and full of pomp, I think more of the fans and industry will get involved and it will give more life to the award. Anyway, it was a blast. I was actually dreading it, but they pulled it together so well. I was really touched by Neil Gaiman's speech about the family of comics, and I was also touched by the kiss he shared with Jonathan Ross. It was a hot, hot night. Congradulations to Ed Brubaker who won Best Series! I have Criminal in my pull box, so I can't really complain!

Sadly I didn't get to talk to Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie as much as I should have, and I wish I could have done dinner with Brian Ewing again (sausages?). I totally missed Warren Ellis, I would have liked to say hi to him. There's never enough time though to see everything I want and talk as much with people as I would like. I didn't really get to walk around much either, definately not as much as I would have liked! I bought two prints and that's about it. Didn't buy much and I didn't take any photos either! Jeez what's wrong with me?

Wrapping up the con we attended the dead-dog party. The general feel was that this con was a lot of fun for a lot of people, and not as stressfull as previous years (I share this sentiment- I wonder if it has to do with the positive growth in the comic industry?) AAAND (omg) I got to meet
JIIIIM LEEEEEEE!!!!!
SO AWESOME! I've never met him before and I spent so much of my childhood reading his comics. I can't stop talking about it and I'm sure everyone is sick of hearing me go on and on about it, but it was cool. It's always great to meet someone you've looked up to your entire life and they are every bit as amazing as you've imagined them. Jim Lee: You're super rad!!

So in all, it was the least stressfull, most invigorating comic con I've ever attended. Of course it's only my fourth, but still. Sorry to anyone I've forgotten in this entry, my mind is totally numb right now and I'm physically exhausted. Thanks to Amy and Kazu Kibuishi for driving us down and putting us up for a week. More thanks to Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba for printing 5 and sharing table duty with us, and for just being awesome. Grampa couldn't make it but we represented for him, we hope he'll make it for New York Comic Con 2008. Thanks to Vasilis also for helping me get everything set up for the con and for, well, everything! And thanks to everyone who everyone who stopped by to say hi, ask for a sketch or a signature or pick up a comic or two.



Comics: Fuckin Foda! See you soon!

East Coast Rising 2 peek

Here's some stuff you can expect in East Coast Rising volume 2:
Lee totally flipping out:

Ships totally in full sail:

More Suffocating Death/ fight conclusion:

Joe kills 'em with kindness:

And Archer kills 'em with balance:


Today I have to do laundry and clean the studio area! My pages are all over the place, it's like a disaster area. I just finished up a painting too for a gallery show, more info later.

Sketches

Here's some stuff I have lying around that I haven't posted. Drawn to wind down at the end of the day.


Legs, lamb skin and an old man and some bags:


Apothecary


Some shoes, a book and a dude in a hood.


I like sketching to wind down. These are from a sketchbook. I'm really bad at keeping sketchbooks consistant though, there are random drawings, notes, phone numbers and To-Do lists litterd haphazardly around the pages. I swear one day I'll make a good looking sketchbook, but mostly I get fed up halfway through, rip out the pages I like and start a new one.

I bought this one really super fancy sketchbook that I've been too scared to draw anything in. I'm positive that when I do though, I'll have no problem distroying it!!

Now all of you--- BACK TO WORK! Tomorrow I'll post some more East Coast Rising 2 panels.

Alice in Chains T-shirt

I hope they like it! Don't know if this will go through or not, but sometimes that happens when you do freelance work! I've done so much work for hire (mostly bands, haha sorry guys!) that doesn't get used that I don't do it very often unless it's something that tickles my fancy or I feel like the people requesting the art are very determined.

Although I really don't have time for comissions these days. It's all comics, all the time! I guess if comics is my job than drawing pictures of skulls for tshirts is my hobby? Haaahaha! Skulltacular!

In other news: Comic Con is in a week! Back to work!!!

SDCC schedule

Because I'm sure everyone is dying to know...

Thursday

12:30 to 2:00
Room 4.

The Many Faces Of The Graphic Novel, moderated by First Second's big chief Mark Siegel and featuring Doug TenNapel, Becky Cloonan, Jeffrey Brown, Renee French, Andy Runton and Jim Ottaviani

Friday

5:00-6:00
@ the Tokyopop Booth

Panel and signing
Moderated by Tokyopop editor Bryce Coleman, and featuring Becky Cloonan Dan Hipp, Josh Elder, Felipe Smith, Tony Salvaggio, and Armand Villavert Jr.

Sunday

10:30-11:30
Room 2
TOKYOPOP Creator Panel

3:30-4:30
@ the Tokyopop Booth
Character Development panel
Moderated by Tokyopop editor in chief Rob Tokar, and will consist of Sonny Strait, Svetlana Chmakova, Becky Cloonan, Josh Elder, Steven Cummings, Dan Hipp, and Brandon Graham.

For the rest of the time I'll be at a table at the Image booth along with Vasilis Lolos, Fabio Moon, Gabriel Ba and Rafael Grampa with our new comic 5! I'll also have copies of the second printing of Nebuli and my graphic novel Minis.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have like a million things to do!! See you at Comic Con!

Signing @ Rocketship in Brooklyn

What are you doing Friday night?


For more info check out the Rocketship Blog!

East Coast Rising in Wall Street Journal

A Wealth of Women Comics
For the 19th annual Eisner Awards -- the Oscars of comics -- a record 24 nominations went to women. Here's a look at some of the nominees' work.

Check it out!!

Pretty exciting, huh? I've always thought that Now is a good time to make comics. Actually, I think it's the best time to make comics, and it keeps getting better!

Comics comics comics!

I don't know how many of you keep comics in the bathroom, but I'm one of them. I've got a big stack that gets rotated whenever I get a chance to visit the comic store, and as I was cleaning up I decided I'd post a bit about my favorite monthly books.

Danger Girl: Body Shots
Fun, globe-spanning action/comedy- the great art and colors make it look like stills from an animated feature film, and reminds me of the old Broken Sword/Circle of Blood games. It's the first time in a while I've read Danger Girl, and it's way better than I remember it being so yeah. I love it. I'd love to see it animated too. Some people think it's just cheesecake, but this is GOOD cheescake!

BPRD: Garden of Souls
So Guy Davis is possibly my favorite artist in comics. He's an incredible storyteller and has such an eye for detail. His art really sucks you into the story, and I have a major fish-crush on Abe Sapien, hubba hubba! The new storyline is so amazing too, but then I've always loved the BPRD team. I hope Kate gets some more action soon! Each issue is pretty much perfect, from pacing to art to dialogue to color. What else can I say about this book? I love it!

Ms. Marvel
One word, five letters: M.O.D.O.K!!!! He's back!! He's a huge head! I think Ms. Marvel is such a great character, and her solo book is a lot of fun. It's great to see what she's doing on the side while not leading the Mighty Avengers. Speaking of the Avengers, since the Disassembled series I've really been enjoying the Avengers much more than X men, I'm not sure why since I used to be a die hard X fan. Maybe it's the politics involved, maybe it's all the Civil War/ Innitiative tie-ins that the X plots don't really pick up on, but in any case... I pretty much follow all the Marvel books except X titles. Totally weird. Maybe I'm just sick of the brainwashing? Haha!

I'm also loving the Sub Mariner series that's just kicking off. I love Namor, I love Atlantis, I love this series! Silent War was also mind-numbingly good, if you missed it then check out the trade. The artist on that series, Frazier Irving, is totally stunning. I hope he makes comics forever. He was great doing the Inhumans too. World War Hulk is also awesome.

In graphic novels, I really enjoyed Queenie Chan's The Dreaming 2. It's difficult to make a creepy comic (horror is a difficult genre in itself, but take away sound and it's downright impossible!), but Queene manages to do it. If you're into period pieces, boarding schools and ghost stories, definately check this series out. It's fun and satisfies the slumber-party in me. Reccomended reading atmosphere: Rainy night.

While I'm at it I might as well brag about the Crown Jewel of my comic collection (which is pretty small really, but it's still my collection!): a hardcover copy of TRIUMPH AND TORMENT! Holy mother, what a gem! What a find! Doctor Doom and Doctor Strange team up to find Doom's mother, AND it's drawn by Mike Mignola! Ha-ha, AND I HAVE IT IN HARDCOVER!!

As far as art books go, I picked up the art of Howl's Moving Castle and was pretty dissapointed. It was shrink-wrapped in the store and contained a lot of great background paintings, but I was hoping for more conceptual art. What I got was a lot of screen-shots and character turnarounds. Beautiful book, but I think the Disney art books are a better buy if you are looking for more concept art. My Heinrich Kley art books still remain some of my favorites, his drawings are so full of life and immagination. I've been meaning to pick up some more art books but never get around to it.

So these are just a few of the comics I buy/covet. I actually buy a lot of monthlies (I enjoy reading and making monthlies much more than GNs for some reason!), and pick of the trades of the ones I like best. These are just some of my favorites (new and old!) from my shelves!

Also: for those of you picking up the American Virgin monthlies: you'll find the story going in a direction I don't think many of you will see coming :D Happy reading!