Many Things I Have Drawn This Week
I've been drawing up a storm in preparation for Emerald City Comic Con. 
All of these are purchased except for the Twilight Sparkle/Spike one, which can be bought at Emerald City.
Love and Capes Emerald City Print Pre-Sale
I'm taking preorders for my new Emerald City Comic Con convention print. I have 25 of them and when those are sold, they're gone. They'll be $25 at the show, but if you preorder them here, you'll save $5 and be sure to have one waiting for you.
Vote on a Love and Capes T-Shirt!
I've been mulling over doing a new Love and Capes t-shirt. I've got a design that plays on comics' tendency to blow apart happy couples, believing that there are no stories there. The most recent victims of this were Storm and Black Panther over in the halls of Marvel. Mark and Abby, though, are staying together.
First, send me a message on Twitter, Facebook, leave a comment below or send me an e-mail at thom (at) loveandcapes (dot) com and let me know which one you like. I'll look at the votes and decide which wins soon. Whatever's picked, it'll be a black-and-white design on a maroon/dark red shirt.
Then, on Monday, I'll announce how this will work. Part of my problem with shirts has been trying to print enough in all the sizes I need to make sure I have enough, and then lugging them from show to show. I think I've figured out a way to make that less of an issue for this run, and I'd like to try it.
New Emerald City Comic Con Print
Emerald City Comic Con is coming up, and I promised a second con print for the show. The first one almost sold out, so doing a second was a no-brainer. Being the first time I've done a second, I went away from the art deco, white border print that has defined the con print series. I don't know that this black-bordered print will start a new series, though. We'll have to see how this one does. I am toying with the idea of adding a quote about coffee to this. We'll see how that goes.
As usual, click and embiggen!
Also, there's an interview with me up at the Talking Comics podcast site. I discuss Love and Capes, My Little Pony and more. Check it out!
Postcards from the Edge
For the last year and a half, I've been doing these local con prints with my Love and Capes characters in the city hosting the show I'm at. Each is limited to only 25 pieces, signed and numbered, and they've been pretty popular. For those of you who wonder such things, the best sellers among the sixteen existing ones have been the Columbus and Seattle ones. Seattle was, in fact, so popular that I'll be doing a new print for them this year. I'll also be adding Denver for my appearance at the Denver Comic Con this June.
This year, I'll be introducing a set of postcards that include each of these prints. I haven't come up with a price yet, but when I do, I'll let you know. But seventeen seems like such an odd number. (Well, it is… and prime to boot.) Eighteen would be a little better. Maybe I'll do a chase card only available in the set.
Any suggestions for where?
It's Baltimore Time!
This weekend, I'll be at my favorite show. Marc Nathan's always-excellent Baltimore Comic-Con. I'll be at booth 1605, sharing it with Paul Storrie and a certain Lady Crusader.
Here's the official press release:
The Baltimore Comic-Con is proud to announce the first Baltimore Comic-Con Yearbook, celebrating the creators appearing at the show. This book of art features some of our guests interpreting the Liberty Meadows characters, sometimes in conjunction with their own creations, in a celebration of creator-owned properties.
As a bonus, we have a scavenger hunt of sorts. When you buy the book, you'll get a list of our 36 contributors and their table numbers. Get 15 of them to sign it, and come back to the booth for your choice of an added print by either Joseph Michael Linsner or Barry Kitson. Get 20 signatures and receive BOTH prints!
Liberty Meadows was created by Frank Cho and first published in 1997, launching in newspapers internationally. This year marks the 15th anniversary of Liberty Meadows, having seen print in book, comic strip, and digital formats. "Frank has always been a fan and a friend of the Baltimore Comic-Con," said Marc Nathan, show promoter for the Baltimore Comic-Con. "We are very thankful to Frank for his willingness to trust his characters with our other guests and friends, as well as his continued support of the Baltimore Comic-Con."
The art created for the 2012 Baltimore Comic-Con Yearbook celebrating 15 years of Frank Cho's Liberty Meadows will be auctioned at this special event! Don't miss this opportunity to own original art featuring Frank's characters as depicted by artists including Frank Quitely, Brandon Peterson, Gene Ha, David Petersen, Bernard Chang, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Tom Raney, Billy Tucci, Steve Conley, Thom Zahler, Craig Rousseau, Frank Cho, and many others!
The book will be sold, and the art auction will be held in our Main hall, in Booths #2505-2507. The auction will commence following the Stan Lee/John Romita panel, at approximately 5:45pm. The book will be available at the Baltimore Comic-Con for $20.
I'll be there taking commissions, selling books (including Love and Capes: What to Expect #2 I think), trades, the Baltimore print, and more! As usual, with t-shirts, or if you want a particular convention print other than Baltimore, please pre-order here so I know to bring them.
Comic-Con Has Come and Gone
Sorry this one has taken so long. I got off my plane Sunday night and started teaching a Summer Camp Cartooning program the next day. It's been crazy busy. So, Comic-Con.
Yeah, that happened.
I’ve been doing con reports sporadically since I started coming to shows, and it was fun to tell you about all the cool stuff I did and people I saw. The problem I’m running into now, as it becomes more about the work, is that I can’t talk about things.
But here, I offer you this Mad Libs version of my San Diego experience.
I spoke with [name of person] at [name of company] about doing [type of work]. [Pronoun] seemed warm to the idea and even [follow up action]. I am cautiously optimistic.
Now repeat that, say, twelve more times.
Last year, my heart was starting to harden about Comic-Con. It was the first year that I really felt it was becoming too much. This year felt a little more manageable, so maybe that was a one-year thing. And maybe it’s that I’ve decided to have a quantum mechanical con now. The only part of the show that exists is the part I perceive, which means the 50 feet square around my booth, the men’s restroom just outside the Hall C doors, and, technically, the Marvel booth since I can often hear the crowd noise from their danceatorium.
I’m can’t say I took it easy. I still do a pretty massive amount of work, I think. But the bar con scene seems to have faded a bit. I’m wondering if because of the preponderance of cool parties, that people aren’t going to dinner and hitting the bar, but going to an event and then hitting their bed.
I know I certainly did when I went to [exclusive party] and then, instead of running by the Hyatt bar, I just went back to the hotel to get my five to six hours of sleep before starting the fun parade again.
Energy on the floor seemed better this year. My sales seemed better, and traffic seemed steady. The only exception to that was Preview Night, which was a little dead because the show only had one point of entry, and that was down by the Hollywood booths. The result being that people stopped to see all the cool stuff, like KITT and the Trolls from The Hobbit, and slowed progress to the rest of the floor. I’d like to see that changed.
The show security certainly seemed tighter, and I think overall better. The new security team was a little more strident, but there were things that the old team was lax on. I’ve heard good stories and bad stories, and I’m willing to chalk a lot of them up to growing pains for now. We’ll see next year.
I’ve set up a photo gallery plugin to my website now, so some of my favorite scenes of the show are below. Click on through, there’s a lot of cool there.
Not the least of which is the lovely Ms. Amy Ratcliffe dressed up as a female version of the Crusader. She was inspired by the cover to Love and Capes: What to Expect #5 which, oh, yeah… you haven’t seen that yet. Guess you’ll have to wait, won’t you?
San Diego. It’s still the place to be. And, after so many years, maybe I’m starting to figure it out… or at least how to do it so it doesn’t break me. Having good friends to help me out certainly makes it easier.
#sdcc Sunday Love and Capes Deal Please RT
This year I've decided to do special deal coupons for Comic-Con International. Each of these coupons is good for one day only. To use the coupon, either print out the attached PDF, or download it to your phone and bring it to my booth.
Today's deal is $5 off a three-pack of Love and Capes trades. Normally, buying three trades is $60, but with this coupon you can save $5. This is the first time I've ever discounted the trades, and is only good while supplies last.
Remember, we're at Booth 2000!
Get the LNC San Diego Exclusive EVEN IF YOU'RE NOT AT THE CON!
I've gotten a number of people asking me if there's a way to get a copy of the San Diego Comic-Con exclusive variant of the first issue of Love and Capes: What to Expect #1. Well, yes, there is.
It's Sunday, and I know I've got extra stock on my con variant, so I can offer it for sale today. I'm relatively sure I won't blast through the remainder of my copies today. So, you can buy them from the below link for $5.00.
Here's the thing: This offer is only available until 12:01am Tuesday, July 17th.After that, the variants will go up to $10.00.
Either way, be sure to let me know what name you want to add to Abby's pad on the cover!
#sdcc Saturday Love and Capes Deal please RT
This year I've decided to do special deal coupons for Comic-Con International. Each of these coupons is good for one day only. To use the coupon, either print out the attached PDF, or download it to your phone and bring it to my booth.
Today's deal is on con prints. I have the San Diego-exclusive print of the Love and Capes characters at the Kansas City Barbecue (as seen on display at the restaurant right now). Normally, those are $25, but you can get them for $20 with this coupon. I've also started offering the con portfolio, containing all sixteen of the con prints that I've done over the past year. With this coupon, the $200 con portfolio is $25 off. While supplies last.
Remember, we're at Booth 2000!