Order Love and Capes: Ever After #5

I've been traveling like crazy this past month, having gone to Seattle, Chicago and Orlando, so this blog has taken a bit of a hit. But things should get a little more active as I'm actually in town for the entire month of April. Well, minus the last day, but more about that soon.

Anyway, I wanted to remind you all that Love and Capes: Ever After #5 is available for preorder in Previews right now. It's the last issue of this miniseries, and someone's not making it out.

It's Previews Order Code APR11 0372. Order big, or I might kill someone else off.

Aunt Alice

My Aunt Alice died today. She was my Dad's brother's wife, and I saw her almost every Sunday at those often-mentioned Sunday Dinners we have. She'd bring me newspaper clippings all the time about articles she'd read that she thought I'd be interested in. One of them was once for tryouts for "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" Without her, I might not have gone on the show, or won my prize, or used that prize to buy my house. I'm going to miss her a lot.

Now, please, I would very much like not to have cause to write one of these remembrances again for a good long time.

C2E2 Here I Come

This weekend I'll be at C2E2 in Chicago. I'll be in Small Press, booth SP-06, with copies of all the issues of Love and Capes to date, as well as both trades. And I'll be taking commissions all show long. So come on by and see me.

Love and Capes #4 For Pre-Order

Don't forget, Love and Capes: Ever After #4 is available in Previews right now. It's order code MAR110473, and it's got a rockin' alternate cover by the ultra-talented Chris Bailey.

The Birth of a Legend has been Birthed!

My friend, kind-lender-of-his-guest-room, and all-around badass Ben Thompson has a new book out today! It's Badass: Birth of a Legend, taking the same mix of historical fact and irreverent comedy that he applied to the historical figures to characters of legend.

"But, Thom", you say, "while that certainly is cool, I need some sort of added coolness to push me over the edge to order it. Perhaps if you did an illustration in it…?"

Your prayers are answered, Convenient Straw Man! I do indeed have an illustration in said book. It's of Medea, and on page 204 (I have an advance copy I can refer to because, you know, I'm all awesome like that). And if you think that's cool, there are even more illustrations by even more artists, a staggering number who are even better than me!

Anyway, check it out. I loved the first one and can't wait to dive into the second one.

The Obligatory Pre-Con T-Shirt Post

As a reminder for those of you going to the Chicago C2E2 exposition, I'll be therear table SP-06. I'll have all sorts of Love and Capes stuff. But I won't have any shirts or hoodies… unless you order them ahead of time here! Yup, it's the shirt pre-sale.

I'm doing the same thing for MegaCon, too. If you're going to be there, be sure to pre-order for that, too.

Seattle Con Report

I’m back from Seattle and my first Emerald City Comicon! How was it? Long story short, I’ve already signed up for next year.

Here’s the long story.

I flew out the day before the show. I managed to start the trip forgetting my banner stand, but on the upside that saved me a bag charge. There’s got to be a better way to get those things out to my conventions. I’d have brought it as carry-on if I hadn’t maxed out my two items already.

Ben Thompson, writer of Badassand the soon-to-be-released Badass: Birth of a Legendpicked me up at the airport. He and his wife Andrea were nice enough to put me up for the show, and then I was spending some extra time in Seattle with relatives. Being able to save on hotel costs and rental car costs made doing a new show a lot easier, so thanks to everyone on that!

 

Ben and I wandered into Seattle early so that I could do some sightseeing. We rode the Monorail (insert your favorite Simpsons joke here, Lord knows I did) and went to the Science Fiction Museum. Most of the exhibit was closed so that they could put in the new Avatar exhibit, which I can only assume is a lot of green screens and motion capture suits.

But, there was a Battlestar Galactica special exhibit that we could get into. And it was the last day for it! Timing power for the win.

Ben and I spent the time taking pictures of ourselves with the Vipers and Cylon Raiders, dramatically looking for Earth, and being on Adama’s phone. “This is Zahler Actual.”

There was even a place where you could stand and find out if you were a Cylon. How did you determine this? If you were a Cyclon, you could hear the music. I’m no frakkin’ Cylon, so I certainly didn’t hear anything. Why would you say that? Maybe you’re a Cylon. And the music certainly wasn’t All Along the Watchtower.

Ben and I then traipsed over to the show. I’d gotten a show fastpass to get in, which was the closest I’ll get to having slightly psychic paper. I flashed that thing and I swear I didn’t have to break stride before I was badged up.

It didn’t take us long to set up, and I swear Emerald City has the most spacious artist alley I’ve seen. There was plenty of room between me and the people behind me for us to store boxes, and there were several breaks in the tables so we could exit. Good job, guys!

Sales were decent. Normally, I sell as many copies of the first trade as the second. It’s almost just as easy to sell two books as one. At this show, I sold far more copies of the first than the second. There are a couple of things that could account for this. It’s possible that the higher gas prices had people buying cautiously. It’s also possible that, despite being distributed nationally, that I didn’t quite have market penetration into the northwest and this was the first time people saw the book. It wasn’t bad, just odd.

Also, I have to give a shout out to my Square credit card reader. I took purchases for both myself and Ben, and between us we sold almost $300 that we would have lost if we didn’t have the card reader. Emerald City had fine AT&T cell coverage for most of the show. Saturday afternoon, probably the busiest time, had a little bit of a slowdown, but it was manageable. So, if you’re doing shows the way I do, I can’t recommend it highly enough.

It was great to see everyone there. The fans were great and I’m continually surprised how many people really do read the book and like it. And hopefully I managed to get some new fans, too.

I also got to spend some time with some comic friends that I don’t see outside of the show circuit. Emerald City is that perfect size where it gets great guests and a sizable number of attendees, but yet the hotel bar’s not too crowded and you can see and talk to people rather than just have sightings.

Well, unless you’re like me and miss meeting both Wil Wheaton and Jonathan Frakes. But don’t worry, I’ve taken steps to fix that.

Also cool about the show is that they do a charity art book called Monsters and Dames. I think this is the fifth year for it, but don’t hold me to that. Show attendees provide artwork on that theme that are then collected into this beautiful BrandPress book. It’s really a gorgeous piece.

I was glad to do it. I donated my original art for the charity auction, and I don’t know what it sold for, so I’m going to assume it was for One Million Dollars! I’m sticking by that until I’m proved different.

It’s also brilliant marketing, because it generates booth traffic as people want to get each page signed by the attending artist. Hopefully, they’ll let me be part of it next year. There’s some amazing art in there, and I hope I didn’t bring down the curve.

I also got to spend time with relatives while I was out there, which was great. I stayed in their cabin on Mt. Rainer which was just awesome. It’s an amazing place and Mt. Rainier was amazing. We went up the mountain, about 6000 feet or so. It’s weird to be walking around on 250 inches of snow. But man, I want to go back. Hopefully the next time I’ll get to try skiing.

I also got to spend some time wandering around Seattle. Ben Thompson recommended the Bill Spiedel’s Underground Tour, which explores some of Seattle’s underground city. The city was built up to get it out of the flood zone on Puget Sound. It’s really an amazing story, so if you get a chance, take the tour or buy the book.

Me, I did both.

I lucked out and got a great tour guide, too. Sadly, I’ve forgotten his name, but I did remember it long enough to get a discount on the book at the gift shop. A lot of these tours rest on the ability of the tour guide. I took a Duck Boat tour of Boston back in 2000 and “The Professor” (as he liked to be called) is a huge part of why it was so amazing.

I drifted through some shops and went back to the Pike Place Market which I’d seen with Ben but had time to wander around. I went to the Kells restaurant where the owner, from Northern Ireland, and I tried to out-charm each other.

She won, by the way.

And, yes, I did go to Starbucks Prime, the very first Starbucks store. Tuesday was also Fat Tuesday, the last day before Lent. I’ve taken to giving up coffee rather than chocolate for this forty-six day period (yes, I count Sundays) and I figured this was the place to have my last cup of that sweet elixir that men call “Joe.”

Totally worth it.

So, I get it, okay, Seattle? I see why so many people come out for the show and wind up moving out there. It’s a great city. I’m not planning on leaving the Buckeye State anytime soon. Hey, we’re getting the Avengers movie after all, and if Scarlett Johnanssen can make the bad decision to date Sean Penn, then she’s perfectly capable of making just as big a mistake with me. Besides, I like it here.

But I’ll be back next year. Better have some coffee on.

Shirts and Seattle, oh my!

Love and Capes: Ever After #2 is in stores tomorrow! And, I'm going to be at the Emerald City Comicon this weekend. As I've done since last year, I'm only bringing shirts and hoodies for pre-orders. What? You don't know where to go to preorder? Why, right here.

I finished Love and Capes: Ever After #4 a couple of days ago. This is one of my favorite panels from the book. There's actually no dialogue in it when the scene appears. Here, Mark and Abby are just being together, having a good time and telling stories.

This is the second time I've drawn Mark telling a story to someone in pantomime. The first time is in Love and Capes: Ever After #2. Every time I do it, I just imagine him doing the Tom Cruise/Anthony Edwards scene from Top Gun. "We were inverted."

And, on a more serious note, thank you one and all for your kind words of support and love over the last week. I appreciate it more than I can say.

My Grandma and Dwayne McDuffie

So, there's this thing where, when you have a blog, you feel the need to comment on big things that happen in your industry and in your life. And, while I share a lot of things here, I don't share the really personal stuff because, well, it's personal. But, today, two things happened that I can't let go without a couple of words.

First, my grandmother died today. It wasn't unexpected at all, and I'm sure she's at peace and with Grandpa now. Still, I'm going to miss her. My family gets together every Sunday for dinner and clever conversation, and I sat next to her for over thirty years. When I was younger, she used to cut the meat on my plate for me. As we both got older, I learned to cut my own meat but I started to pour her tea for her. It was a little thing, but I think you miss the little things the most.

My friend Dwayne McDuffie died, too. He died yesterday, but I found out today along with everyone else. He was a phenomenal writer and an ever better person. I used to love making him laugh, because I knew if I could do that, I'd said something really funny. And, he was also one of the few people in comics taller than me, which is both a little thing and big thing I suppose. My thoughts and prayers go out to his wife, my friend Charlotte, and his family and friends.

That's all I've got to say about that. Tomorrow, I'll be back to posting silly pictures and witty comments.

Just Sharing

I just finished page nineteen, which introduces Darkblade's parents. I don't have a lot to say about it, especially since you won't be reading it for another few months. I just like the colors on this panels, especially the clouds. So I just thought I'd share.