Reason #9 to Buy the Love and Capes Collection From IDW
Diamond Previews order code SEP084142E.
* Neither have read it.
Reason #10 to Buy the Love and Capes Collection From IDW
Ive decided to present the Top Ten Reasons to Buy the Love and Capes Collection from IDW. They'll run, one a day, here and on Twitter. So now, I present, in countdown fashion, #10…
Diamond Previews order code SEP084142E.
The Drawing Machine
For some reason, I've been doing a lot of caricature gigs lately. More than I have in a while. Sunday was particularly busy, as I had both a morning and afternoon event to do. Still, it keeps me busy and keeps me paid, so that's all to the good.
The second Sunday event was for Lake Erie College, a frequent client. I love high school and college gigs in general because it's just so cool to talk to people deciding what to do with their life. As someone who's always known what he would do, the whole process of figuring things out and what other people decide what to do is just endlessly fascinating.
These photos were taken by the multi-talented Bob Zyromski, late of the YMCA and as always an ace photographer. (You should hire him to photograph something for you, too. Give him a shout here.) He was out taking pictures, and they are pretty cool, aside from my ugly mug. It's interesting to see what I look like when I draw, too. I didn't realize that I looked so intense.
With all of these photos, you can click and embiggen!
Luthor, You Treacherous Snake!
Thought you might like to see the third and final Bobble Fish, along with his brothers. And a certain bald scientist who may or may not have something to do with them. And, if you'd like, click and embiggen, Super Fool!
If You Only Order One Love and Capes Collection This Year, Make It This One!
It's been a year in the making. Well, three years in the making, if you count when I actually started the darn thing. But thanks to Harlan Ellison, Chris Ryall and IDW, lo, there shall come a Love and Capes trade.
It's in the new Diamond catalog, order code SEP084142E. Please, put it on your pull list or order. You can use this handy order form to do it, too. And, if you need to find your local comic shop, you can use the Comic Book Shop Locator. If all else fails, feel free to order it from Amazon
Here's what some comics pros and reviewers are saying about it, if you need any more reasons to buy a copy or eight:
"LOVE & CAPES is warm, witty, clever and lighthearted without being empty-- there's real, satisfying emotion underlying the comedy. It's one of a very few comics my wife tries to steal from me so she can read it first."
KURT BUSIEK
SUPERMAN, ASTRO CITY
"Damn straight it is. And what do you mean, 'tries to'?"
ANN BUSIEK
"A surprisingly charming tale about a hardworking superhero and his girlfriend…Thomas F. Zahler’s boldly cartoony artwork recalls "The Incredibles," and so does his wry, smart dialogue. A-"
DOUGLAS WOLK
SALON.COM
"These mundane episodes in the domestic life of a superhero — some more amusing than others — exude just enough charm."
NISHA GOPALAN
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY ONLINE
"My favorite superhero book on the market today. Five Tonys."
TONY ISABELLA
TONY'S TIPS
"A book full of rare delights--bright, lively art, a fun and clever story told with perfect pacing, and a fresh look at the best (and sometimes silliest) tropes of superhero-hood. Thom Zahler's doing great work on an irreplaceable book."
GAIL SIMONE
WONDER WOMAN, BIRDS OF PREY
Captain's Log
I have a motto: Appreciate the good times.
Well, I have many mottos, including Why pay more to someone else when you can pay more to me, and Faster pussycat, kill, kill! I am a man of infinite complexity.
But, back to the first one. Appreciate the good times. Today was a good time.
I started the day over at my cousins’ sons’ birthday party. Yeah, technically the kids in questions are my second cousins, but calling anyone thirty years younger than me “cousin” just seems off. I can’t explain why, but it was just such a nice, sweet day that I didn’t want to leave.
I did leave, though, because I had to go to do my signing for the Lake County Captains. Today was the day they were giving away the last in the series of Bobble Fish that I designed.
Last time I did this, back in June, it rained like crazy before the game. A couple little things went askew, and although it was a fine day, I couldn’t help but think it could be better.
I was right.
Today was a great, sunny day. The Captains staff, helpful as always, made a sign indicating that I was the designer of said Bobble Fish, so I got a lot more people coming over. In fact, I signed for a good twenty minutes straight without a break. And until the second inning, I signed a pretty steady stream of them.
The people are always the best part, and I met a bunch of great ones. To a person they were all fun to meet and talk to. I even met someone who I might be able to get some work from, I hope.
The game was good, and despite being down a couple of runs in the last innings, the Captains managed to win. (More than I can say for the last time.) We played launch-a-ball and I almost won an entry to get a big appliance gift certificate. I was so close with most of my throws that people behind me were cheering. If I had only had a couple more tries…
Then there were fireworks, and I have to say for a Class A ball club, they were pretty impressive. I then went home by way of a gas station, top down on a perfect summer night, “He’s a Pirate” from Pirates of the Carribean blaring away.
Hey, what do you expect? It was the Lake Couty Captains. Nautical themes were on my mind.
Anyway, it was just a really nice day. Hopefully, the Captains will have me back next year and I can have some more.
Because How Often Do I Get To Sign My Name in Silver Ink?
Betterizing San Diego
Yesterday, I had lunch with Roger Price and his lovely wife (who made me a great scarf). We were talking about San Diego Comic-Con, and how the show is growing and changing. We got on the subject of what to do to improve the show, and I had an idea that Rog said was decent. I could try to present it to the show, but that's a lot of effort to go through. So, I now present my two and a half ideas to improve Comic-Con. And if they want to give me a booth for life, I'm fine with that.
But first, a paragraph of my general feelings on the show: I've complained at times about the show, praised it at others, and have now come to the conclusion that I'm past all of that. The show is the show, it's the biggest show in terms of size and importance to the industry, and as long as I'm in the industry, I have to be there. So move to Vegas or LA or stay in San Diego…whatever. I'll still be there. Whatever the show does, I'll deal with it. I think I've got some ideas that can improve the show, but past that, I'd rather invest my intellectual capital in figuring out who the Last Cylon is. The show can be a bear to do, but I also landed some significant work out of it and had some good fun with some great friends. As long as it's somewhere, I'll be there.
Idea #1: Disneyize. Okay, I'm just barely old enough to remember the days of the "A" ticket and "B" ticket and so on. Cooler rides had rarer tickets, as I recall. Maybe it's time to do that for panels. You get an all-week membership, and you get, say, five A tickets, ten B tickets and fifteen C tickets. A one-day pass gets you one A, two B and five C. (Numbers are just example here.) A tickets are for the big media panels, B are for the smaller, and C are for the meeting rooms. You commodotize the panels. So now, people have to pick and choose what panels they go to, but they get to choose. It's not a perfect solution, but it will alleviate crowds and lines, and even solve that "sweep the room or don't" issue. If you don't have a ticket for the next panel, you have to go.
And let people trade their tickets, too. No harm in that. Give different combos to Pros and Exhibitors and Media. Heck, maybe do the same for Media and give them a press section so they don't overrun the area for the fans. Only 50 press members per panel, and let them decide who goes where. And, as an exhibitor myself, occasionally there is a panel, usually featuring Eliza Dushku, that I want to see. If there were a way that I didn't have to wait in a two-hour line to go to it, maybe I could catch a panel for the first time in five years.
Is it perfect? No. Will it cause much complaining? Sure. But the situation will need to change, and I think this allows the fan to have the most control over the end result, maybe even spend more time on the floor and possibly buy my book. (Nothing wrong with enlightened self-interest.)
Idea #2: Four-Day passes and Pros get different color badges. This was the big mistake in 2008. People who buy a full membership are not pros, so they shouldn't have the same color holder as the pros. As a guy looking for work and trying to find an individual in a mass of humanity, the fact that I know that Joe Editor would have a pro badge, and not a 4-day badge makes scanning for that person so much easier.
Wow, that one was simple.
Idea #2.5: New Layout. I read a lot about people saying "there should be a retailer section, a Hollywood section and so on." I'm not positive about this, hence the half-ness of this idea, but I think something like concentric circles might work better.
Here's a counter-intuitive example. A couple years ago at the NYC show, artist alley was on a second level, and you had to walk through that area to reach the media guests. The artist alley area was too small, admittedly, but artists who complained about it missed one of the best parts: People who want to see the Cheerleader from Heroes have to walk past your booth to get there. As an exhibitor, things that cause people to have to go by my booth are good things. From a crowd control point of view, it helps disperse the crowds.
As of Friday, I wouldn't even try to go to all the TV and Movie Booths at San Diego. It was just too crowded. As a result, I never saw almost half the convention just because of the mass of people. Maybe if the outer ring were Studios, with an inner ring of comic companies, another of retailers, and Artist Alley at the center. So if NBC is at the north end, Disney at the south, and you want to go from one to the other, you'll cut through the companies and the artists to get to the other side, rather than wade through Lucasfilm, Fox and whatever else. People will go new places, and hopefully discover new things.
Oh, and handle this, too.
Okay, that's all I've got. Take it for what it's worth.