Thumpety-thump-thump
In case you missed it in the papers and on TV, it's Christmas Season again. It means that it's also time for me to do my annual Christmas card. Waaaaaay back in 1993, I decided to design my own Christmas cards with a little cartoon on them. They were just simple photocopied and cut cards that went out to fifty people or so. Since that time, they've changed to become full-color cards and go out to much more than just those original fifty people. They're an advertising piece as well as a Holiday wish.
The hardest part as usual is coming up with the joke. My first 
This year's? Well, they haven't gone out yet, so you don't get to see them until they do. Here's a preview of the art for the card, though, featuring a certain snowman who's been the subject of a song and a couple Rankin-Bass specials.
FCBD09 Plans
I've teased this before, but I got the official okay to talk about it a couple days ago: For Free Comic Book Day 2009, I'll be at Rogues Gallery Comics in Austin, Texas. I've known owner Randy Lander for some time now, and am a huge fan of his Comics Pants podcast (along with the rest of the panteon). I've never been to Austin, but have heard nothing but good about it. I'm looking forward to being there for my third FCBD.
The First Thanksgiving Without
It’s Thanksgiving and it feels kind of wrong. Oh, it’ll be a good day. And I’ve got a ton to be thankful for. Great family, great friends, good health, and the good fortune to be making a living the thing I know without question that I was put on this earth to do.
But this year, my arms aren’t sticky. And that’s wrong.
For the last thirteen years or so, I’ve some of Thanksgiving getting ready for Roger Price’s Mid-Ohio-Con. Five years ago in particular a new tradition emerged. I always put together those large foam core signs, but in 2003 I did that in my newly purchased house. There was something about spray mounting giant cardstock signs onto foam core as I was watching The West Wing marathon that was just special. And sticky. The spray mount always hung in the air and got on my arms.
It’s how I’ve spent every Thanksgiving morning since. Heck, I’ve actually never been at my house on Thanksgiving weekend. Until this weekend, of course.
The Henry Brothers have taken over the big MOC reigns, and they’re doing a fantastic job. This year’s show was great. But Roger’s show was, well, Roger’s. It was a magical combination of the start of the holiday season and snow and that unique blend of big name guests and approachable fans.
It was my first major convention. The first show I exhibited at. The first show I ever made a profit at. I made friends at that showthat hve become among my closest. Some of my best memories (Karaoke nights, anyone?) and some of my worst (let’s not mention Brown and the Program Books, shall we?) come from that show. The new show’s great, but the old show will be missed.
I’ve got a bunch of MOC memories in the Con Reports section if you want to relive my time in Columbus at the Adam’s Mark, the Hyatt, and, my favorite, Easton.
I’ve got a lot to be thankful for, like I said. I’m thankful that had Mid-Ohio-Con, and that it still continues.
Hope you have a lot to be thankful for too, and that you have a great Thanksgiving.
The One Where I Relentlessly Shill
So you want to buy the Love and Capes: Do You Want to Know a Secret? collection. I can't blame you. I have them here, and they're just so pretty. IDW did a bang-up job with them.
I'm offering a premium edition here at the Love and Capes website. For $25.00, you can get the collected edition, including a special customized Love and Capes sketch bookplate. The bookplate will be autographed, include a sketch of one of the characters, and be personalized From the library of (your name).You can even request a specific Love and Capes character.
Some of you may have correctly guessed that I do make more money off of issues sold directly. And I know that there's a mindset of "let me give the money directly to the artist". I do the same thing. It's how I got my first two Gaelic Storm CDs, among many other things.
But, while the money's great, it doesn't translate into trackable sales. I can tell a comic shop, "I sell X number off of my website", but what's important to them is how many they sell at their store. They order from Diamond, and Diamond tracks the numbers. Diamond also requires a minimum number of sales to continue carrying the book. Similarly, bookstore and online bookstore sales are tracked, too. If Abby's Books and Coffee sells a lot of copies, she's going to order more of the next one, too. And having good sales figures allows me to keep publishing the book.
I also try not to compete directly with comic shops and stores. That's why the books on my site are generally a little more expensive, especially once shipping is included, here on the site and never go on sale early. Retailers are the front line of my sales, and I want them to have every advantage. Now, I want you to get the book, too. So if for some reason a shop can't reorder an issue, or if you live somewhere without a retailer or whatever, I want to make sure you have a channel to get it.
So, here's the upshot: order it wherever works best for you. If there's a good deal at Amazon, get it. Got a gift certificate to Barnes and Noble? Use it. Have a local retailer? Buy it from them. Want to buy it from me? You go right ahead. It's not about me, it's about you.
You can order online from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders and Khepri. And you can find your local retailer here. Whatever you do, feel free to leave some commentary or reviews up on the Amazon site. And thanks for your support.
Lyric Header Answers, Part the Third
It's time to give the answers for the final lyrics quiz of issue #9.
17. You can windsurf into my life
Get Here by Oleta Adams.
18. From door to door and a house to house
Jane by Jefferson Airplane
19. The stars are shining for you, and just like me I'm sure that they adore you
Baby, Baby by Amy Grant
20. It's a city of shadow, it's a city of crime
Original Sin by Taylor Dayne, from The Shadow soundtrack. Written by Jim Steinman.
21. Isn't there a white knight, upon a fiery steed
Holding Out for a Hero by Bonnie Tyler. Also written by Steinman. I loves me some Steinman.
22. Jimmy quit, Joey got married
Summer of '69 by Bryan Adams. Dee corrected me that it's "Jodi" and not "joey." My bad. I blame it on Bryan's Canadian accent. Yeah, that's it.
23. You've got the moves, you know the street
The Touch by Stan Bush, from the Transformers soundtrack. Animated, not Megan Fox version.
24. I tried so hard, and got so far
In the End by Linkin Park.
What do they have in common? For once, it's not the lyrics, but the artists: Oleta Adams, Jefferson Airplane, Amy Grant, Taylor Dayne, Bonnie Tyler, Bryan Adams, Stan Bush, and Linkin (nee Lincoln) Park. They're all presidents. John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Ulysses Grant, Zachary Taylor, John Tyler, John Quincy Adams (why Adams was used twice), George Bush (41 or 43, take your pick), and Abraham Lincoln.
It won't be long before I start issue #10. More contests as I think of them.
It's Only Six Months Away…
Now, if you miss it, or don't have a comic shop near you, or they run out of the FCBD issue (as does happen), there will be a retail edition released shortly thereafter and available on the website. The only difference will be a variant cover. Otherwise, it's identical to the FCBD issue.
In the meantime, tell your comic shop you want them to make sure you get a copy of the FCBD issue. It's going to be a good one. I think it's my strongest free offering yet, and it'll surprise some people.
I'll announce later where I'll be for the day in question. I will be doing a signing at a comic shop somewhere, but I can't announce where yet. And, if you're a comic book shop and need some kind of love for that day, give me a shout and I'll see what I can do.
I tried so hard, and got so far
Well, there's a fix or two to be made. And doubtless some typos to be fixed. But it's as done as I need it to be right now, and I'm pretty happy with it. There's going to be a lot of interesting in this issue, and while it's not continued per se, it does have a plotline that teases the next issue.
Geez, next issue?
The next issue will be out for Free Comic Book Day in May. It's a couple weeks later than it should be, being a quarterly book and all. But, you can get it for free, so I'm going to guess that you all will be okay with it.
You've got the moves, you know the street
Just one page to go. And, at this point, LNC has taken over my entire brain. So no clever posts or witty anecdotes, unfortunately. Page 24 is going down, today most likely. My brain should clear after that.
Jimmy quit, Joey got married
Page 22 sets up the last sequence of the book, which takes place with Abby and Charlotte in Paris. It took a shower, a drive, and a cup of coffee, but once I hit the line "theraputic shopping", I think it fell together. Let's hope so.
Sadly, I Know This Moment Will Pass
I'm Number Two on other list,too. I'm on Dan Grendell's Top Five Books of the Moment. Dan is one of the Comics Pants brigade, and obviously a man of impeccable taste.