Ok kiddie kats, as I’ve mentioned, I’m going to be running y’all through my general process for making a chapter of Spoilers. This is how I put together the recent Chapter 21. Ok, here we go:

I do most if not all my Spoilers planning in this sketchbook. Not only is the book pretty attractive, but the vertical orientation is a good fit for the long and tall nature of the strip. To be perfectly honest, I actually used this same book to work on the new pushups. It’s interesting to go through and trace the development of that book. The development for Spoilers took place in a number of different sketchbooks back in 2006 when I started it originally. Anyway, when I finished the new pushups, I had become committed to this sketchbook and the idea of devoting one book to a project. Anyway, moving on…

This is what it says at the beginning of my sketchbook. I really needed this encouragement when I started the new pushups.

So here’s a basic layout sketch of the chapter. I’ve got a really simple outline of what happens in each chapter of the comic. I don’t put together a detailed script or plan for how it’s going to play out until I get to that particular chapter, or usually the one before. My mind kind of does a frog leap ahead for a bit before I settle back and get down to the matter at hand.

How I write a chapter is I sort of trick my mind into becoming really focused on the scene, and then it runs through my head like a film. The boundaries to this are essentially what’s supposed to happen, the kinds of things I want to be communicated and whether it can create a smooth transition into the next chapter. Once it all becomes clear to me, I try to come up with ideas on how to present it as comics. That’s about the point I make the kind of sketches as you see above.

This chapter was a little different, because I had been planning it (and dreading it in a way) for about two or three years. I was really nervous because I was basically writing a song, which I’d never done before, and I didn’t want the lyrics to be terrible. So I wrote the words a long time in advance, to give me the space to revisit them and edit it. I’m not sure how I did in the end, but it doesn’t make me feel too gross and people have said it seems like real song lyrics, so I’ll accept that and move on.

I also knew this was going to be a pretty big moment in the comic, kind of the climax, so I felt a lot of pressure to get it right. Most importantly, for me at least, was I wanted to test out an idea I had been having about depicting space. I’ve been really fascinated with enclosed spaces, specifically how human beings are basically really small things walking around in these boxes that we stack up on top of each other. Sort of like looking into a dollhouse. I don’t think I quite captured what I was going for, but I wanted the concert to be really packed in, so it didn’t feel like there was an unlimited space all around them. This is also one of my favorite conditions for a punk rock show, so that was more incentive to depict it.

So, with all this internal pressure, I went out in search of reference. Luckily Liz Suburbia‘s husband Corky Berlin is an amazing concert photographer, and he had recently recorded a show for hardcore band the Deathrats. I am absolutely in love with the shots of this show, and they were a huge inspiration for the feeling I attempted to get across.

So you might recognize some of the poses and set ups from these pictures in Chapter 21. I also thought it was important to have as many individual people represented as possible, including all the band members and the audience. I didn’t want it to feel like a music video, with a camera trained on the band, mostly the singer, the whole time. To feel less like a stage than an actual space.

So I did a ton of sketches, copying poses from the Deathrats photos, figuring out how instruments are put together (drums are hard!) and figuring out what the band was going to play, look like and wear (the organist is wearing an outfit from a JCrew catalog, the bassist is wearing the Um Jammer Lammy tshirt and the singer’s displaying an emblem that’s a combination of the DC flag and the King City logo). The singer is partly inspired by Butterscotch and Truth Is… On her wrist is a Yoruba pattern that kind of gets lost.

When I’m done figuring out the whole thing (or sometimes a little before), I cut out a series of 7 x 17 inch panels of Bristol board. Most of the time I work on the back as well to save paper, but I try to go in cycles, so that I can continue a drawing from one to another (so like 1, 2, 3, turn over, 4, 5, 6). Then I quickly lay out rough sketches to see how my layouts work when actual size. I usually work out my trickier transitions and compositions at this stage.

Then I fill in the pencils.

Then I ink it if everything looks ok.

That opening line, “Hey everybody… thanks for sticking around,” is taken from a live recording of the Mr. T Experience. It’s also a little inside joke for you dear readers.

I’m not going to tell you what the song is about, but think about who the second person is that she’s referring to.

That hazy line you see about a third of the way down is because my scanner is not big enough to take in the whole page, so I scan the top, flip it around and then do the bottom. I then stick the pieces together in Photoshop to remake the page. The computer aspect of making the comic is my least favorite part of the whole thing, which is part of the reason why my comic for PUPPYTEETH was entirely analog (well, ok… I did the titles and credits in Illustrator, but that was a pre-production thing, which I then printed out and pasted onto the actual drawings). Anyway, as you can see, I fill in the majority of the blacks on the computer, both to save on ink and also so the paper doesn’t get really wavy. Also, my scanner is kind of crapping out (it’s older than Spoilers), doing the spot blacks afterward requires less touching up, since the inked blacks leave a lot of white speckles that I would need to cover over anyway.

So touching up is the most tedious part of the process, but it’s gotten a bit better since I started using a tablet. I go through the whole strip really close up and erase bad marks or fill in places that are missing. Since I do the whole strip on separate sheets of paper, I need to stitch them all together again in Photoshop, so sometimes I need to connect lines, or move things around to make it look seamless.

Here’s a before and after shot of a particular example that needed quite a bit of digital retouching. The white-out was not saving the drawing, so computer magic fixed it up again, as well as adding a compositional element to anchor it a bit.

So then when everything’s all cleaned up and it looks ok, I chop it up into 200px high chunks and save those as individual fragments. Then I stitch it all together again with HTML and PHP. I update all the various pieces of the website so that the new content is accounted for. Then I post it up and tell you guys all about it on here, on Twitter and on Facebook. I used to used Tumblr but it would link to itself, which would then link outward, which seems kind of silly to me.

So there you go, that’s how a chapter of Spoilers is born. Hope you enjoyed that, Liz. Thanks again to everyone who reads it. It means the world.

Keeping this streak going, I’ve got the next chapter of Spoilers for y’all. It’s a short one, but fairly significant.

We’re winding down on this one here, thanks to everyone who’s been following it the whole way down.

Other Things

Some things are going on in Cleveland and I would like to share them with you.

Most importantly, the great Catherine Irwin will be playing at the Beachland Tavern on November 12th. If you remember my post of the most influential records of the past decade, you’ll remember seeing Catherine’s Cut Yourself a Switch. It really is some of the best song writing in a long time. And when you’re in the same room as those sound waves, it touches your bones. Looking forward to it.

I also had the absolute honor of putting together a show poster for the event. It was very cool to go into the record store last night and see my art on the wall.

Yeah, I’ve done a few of these goosey-necked women recently, but this one has a specific meaning to it! I swear.

Speaking of Waterloo road, I went to see Dan Tranberg’s solo show open up last night at Arts Collinwood. Dan always makes such beautiful work — I had seen a lot of this work online previously, but the flatness of the pieces belies how much depth there is. Each work is filled with so much detail that can only be appreciated by the naked eye. It relates to a comment Dan made about how a big aspect of the work is about reminding us in a way of why we have physical objects and why they’ll never go away, regardless of how persistent digital culture becomes. The show will be open for a couple more weeks, so maybe when you come to see Catherine Irwin you can stop by.

Concubine— Dan Tranberg, 2010

Since you know how cool that Waterloo Road is, would you believe that there’s even more reason to hang out there? Cleveland’s Genghis Con is returning for its second year on November 27th from noon to 6. It’s not official official yet, but I will be there with all the great stuff I had on display at PIX. Hope you guys can stop by! John G provides another fantastic image for the flyer, see below.

But before we get carried away with all that great stuff in the coming month, be sure to check out Ashley Brooke Toussant and her band kick it at the Grog Shop in little over a week, on November 3rd. You will be glad that you did.

One Final Shout

Surely you’re all familiar with the reputable online comics rag The Daily Crosshatch, run by Mr. Brian Heater. Yes? Good. Well, I become aware somewhat recently that new buddy L. Nichols (who does one of the most refreshing “diary comics” I’ve come across) has been manning the Crosshatch Dispatch. She was super nice enough to throw a link my way for my review of The Whale. To return the favor, I’m directing all of you to check out everything she does. Get to it.

I’ve got so much to blog about, it’s a little otc. I still plan on doing a process post where I take you through the making of Chapter 21. Till next time, My Friends.

Aidan Koch is one of a group of artists who I’ve been scoping out online for a few months, really excited about the work I’ve seen. Her approach to comics is rooted in more traditional arts, bringing an exciting use of color and painterliness in her work. Her layouts are inventive and her drawings easily veer away from the naturalistic.

With her work on my radar, I was extremely excited to see she had a new book coming out, The Whale. It would be, I believe, the first release of Blaise Larmee‘s newly minted Gaze Books. So, I was extremely excited when out of nowhere I got a copy of the new book in the mail. It’s taken me way too long for me to write my thoughts about it, but there’s never a better time than the present.



I love a nice, small square-bound book, and based on Young Lions, I was sure that the production on The Whale would be great. Even with the most minimal colors, Koch’s graphite drawings look great. My package also came with a small handful of related postcards, each equally as nice as the cover.

The comic itself is concerned with a girl clearly dealing with a loss. I’ll resist going into too much plot detail, because it’s really the kind of thing where the story, or rather the emotions, are communicated specifically though the art. Explanatory words divorced from the context miss the point. It’s all less about what is happening than how it’s happening. Things barely progress, which fits the mental state of the focal character.

On first glance there’s a superficial resemblance to Young Lions, at least my recollection of it. There’s a similar grid structure in Aidan’s book, but upon side-by-side comparison of the two books, the differences are pretty significant, actually. Whereas Blaise has very cartoony figures (flat modeling, thin outlines, exaggerated figures), Koch is still rooted in modular drawing. She pays a good deal more attention to environments as a whole, the beach we return to throughout the book playing an important role. It’s the main link through which we arrive at the book’s title, a metaphor introduced towards the end of the book that serves to identify where our narrator is in her life.

It’s a very self-focused comic, in the way one’s thoughts can become trapped when dealing with a particularly painful loss. There are several panels of literal shoe-gazing, and even the margin serves to box in the narrative. My absolute favorite page/panel is a scene where the girl is out on the empty ocean sharing empty word balloons with no one. It’s a quiet book, short and isn’t making any grand statements. I happen to have enjoyed it quite a bit, though in a few ways I can’t help but think about what it could have been.

I think the biggest “could-have-been” of it all is that it’s a black and white book. I can understand certainly the limitations involved with launching a publishing venture, and you know, for what it is, it’s a really nice book. The problem is I was basically set up by my expectations of what Aidan Koch could do with a full book. Essentially, The Whale is missing most of what I find so exciting and compelling about her comics. I like The Whale, and I recommend it for sure. However, it’s left me very hungry to see what Koch can really do.

I really look forward to seeing more from her. They’re having a release party for this book tonight out in Portland, and I hope they have a great time. Wishing all the best of luck to Gaze Books. Do yourself a favor, get a copy of The Whale and then after you’ve read it, check out some of Koch’s other comics experiments. You can check out a preview at Arthur Magazine.

This was it, no more messing around. After a week or so of intensive comics production, including last minute trips to the local Kinkos, I was Pittsburgh bound. So Friday, when 5 o’clock rolled around, I hopped in the little Alero and headed out.

Not only was I making this short pilgrimage for comics (the love of comics), but I was also going to be reunited with my dear, dear friend Dr. (pending) Veronica Fitzpatrick. Besides being a member of my tight-knit high school family, Veronica has the distinction of having inspired Amelia’s desire to “disappear completely” in Spoilers. We hadn’t gotten to spend much quality time together in a very long time, so I was glad that she agreed to host me for the weekend.

So, after getting slightly lost for the first time (out of many) in her neighborhood, I finally rolled up to her cute-as-hell little apartment later on that night. She fed me my first tofu scramble (thanks Steven) and expensive ice cream, after which we watched Single White Female.

I crashed on the couch with some of the warmest blankets I’ve ever wrapped myself in. Still, I ended up waking up a lot through the night for whatever reason. Nerves? Who knows. Early the next morning I let myself out and headed down to the Guardian Storage center in the strip district (where the strip clubs are) so set up my first table.

The space was really beautiful and it was nice to see Katie Skelly and Pat Lewis were already there. I picked a table behind Katie and tried to get over mild regrets for not ironing my table cloth.

When I was coming back in after moving my car from the loading dock, I got to meet my friend-of-the-near-future Dan, from Cupcakes and Comics. More on those dudes later. Things were feeling good. We got menus for lunch that at first seemed a bit too pricey, but then I sold a book or two and it all suddenly seemed so possible. I’m the kind of person who feels really great when someone I’ve met before remembers that they’ve met me before, so it was pretty cool that Frank Santoro remembered my name. Everything was really coming together.

So what do we got here? Of course, I was selling PUPPYTEETH, but I also pulled out my stack of the new pushups to try out. As my official “old book” (even though I had older work there), I was not sure how it would be received. Honestly, I had low expectations, but you know, I was going to have fun one way or another. The rest of my table was all free stuff (I love it)! In addition to the Spoilers flyer I had put together for SPX, I was giving out free mix-CD soundtracks, featuring a number of tracks that have been featured in the strip or directly relate thematically or lyrically. In addition to that, I was also giving away the curious Melting Pot zine from Chris McD (featuring my lizard eyes), old old old copies of Worry Turtle and my “At Least Three” pamphlet. Enough about me though, because I was also giving away samplers for Liz Suburbia‘s amazing Sacred Heart, Matt Czap’s Eat That Toast humor strips as well as postcards for Niki and Michael‘s In Maps and Legends. There was something for everybody at the Czap Books table.

My neighbors were Tom Zombie-Soybot and Karen Artnoose (not their real last names, either of them) of Ker-bloom! zine on the one side, the latter becoming something of the show star for hammering out custom stories on her typewriter, priced by rating (G to X — I ended up getting an R). On my right sat originally Juan and Caitlin repping Carnegie Mellon, but they had some other friends set up across the room, so they split. Soon to be replaced by Lena and Paul from the prestigious Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont. Equally friendly, if not more so. Across the way were their classmates, Carl and Max, with a third, Bill, somewhere closer to cupcake territory.

At around noon, I headed downstairs to join the three-deep crowd attending the Jim Rugg, Frank Santoro and Kevin Huizenga panel. Turns out the other two folks sitting in on the panel were a part of the infamous Bowling Green Mob (think Wu-Tang Clan), who had impressed the hell out of me with their book which I picked up at SPACE earlier that year. Jory and Geneva were good sports (even if Jory doesn’t have a website) and it was a great panel. Frank was acting moderator, swinging the mic back and forth as Jim and Kevin talked about mini-comics and professional work (the difference? one you get paid for). It was all recorded for Comics Comics, so I’ll link it up when it gets posted.

Turns out the new pushups did a lot better than I ever thought it would be, actually outselling PUPPYTEETH. Maybe because it was in color? Frank and Kevin H both picked up copies which was really an amazing feeling. I got a lot of compliments for my design work on all the books so that was also a nice thing.

Eric Kubli came over after a little while, saying he remembered my Czap logo from SPACE and I soon became friends with the entire Bowling Green Mafia. I even learned that the untouchable Keith Pakiz lives right here in Willoughby Hills. Watch out, man — I’m recruiting you into my gang. After a couple hours, the guys with lunch finally found me to deliver my sandwich.

Also of note on that first day is I blew Liz Suburbia’s secret identity (no not that one, let me essplain). I overheard a fellow exhibitor tell my CCS neighbors that she was from Northern Virginia, and hey, I’m from there, so I asked where at? Fairfax. Well, in that case, take this Liz Suburbia sampler, she stomps around those grounds as well. In fact, she works at a comic book store there. APPARENTly, this girl, Carolyn was a regular customer who knew Liz pretty well. HOWEVER, Liz does not give any impression to her clientele that she is a burgeoning comics master. She needs more readers anyways.

Other folks who I re-met included Katie Omberg and Sally Bloodbath, from SPX, and Joe Kuth, who you might remember me talking about from my SPACE write-up. Ed Piskor was also there, defending his title of absolute best-dressed of every show. Seth can have his 1930s, but I’m totally down with Piskor’s dookie chains and Adidas.

Before you even knew it, the first day of the show was over. Since Veronica was still grading papers, I headed off in the direction of the after part at the Brillobox. It was not as Warhol-themed as I was picturing, but it was still a pretty cool place. They gave us free perogies and carrots upstairs, where I talked more with Carolyn, Joe and Rafer, who was in and out. After those kids left, I got to talk a bit with the man himself, Bill Boichel, who organized the whole thing. He also runs the comic shop that I’ve often dreamed about, with minis and art comics out the ass (it’s still a dream place, haven’t been there yet, but I did get to look through some of their wares at the show).

V gave me a ring to let me know her grading was done and she was ready to hang, so I went to go pick her up. I got pretty lost, getting sent in circles all through Pittsburgh, but an hour later I got back to S. Braddock and we were off. Well, first we went to pick up Veronica’s buddy, Javier. Then we were off.

First we grabbed some food at The Cantina. I was still full from lunch and perogies, so I just got chips and salsa (very good, by the way), but I did try a bit of the sweet potato dish they got (another winner). Where we were sitting seemed to be in the middle of an in-progress middle-aged birthday party in a half-heated tent (the half that was heated was the upper half, our seats were in the lower). All that aside, it was a very pleasant experience, fine food with fine friends, spanning time.

Afterwards we went to Kelly’s, a cute diner/bar dressed in pink. The three of us talked about the finer points of writing English papers and whether Javier liked anything if he didn’t even like the Descendants.

I was mesmerized by this guy who looked like the Hollywood stand-in for my brother.

I was pretty destroyed by this point from lack of sleep, having spent at least four second winds. After Kelly’s I was getting my sleep on, no joke.

DAY TWO

Day two, ready for more sweet comics-life. There was a lot of speculation about whether Sunday would be dead or not, the usual Sunday slowdown combined with a big Browns/Steelers game that night (ah! torn!). What really happened, however, was the show maintained a healthy foot traffic all day! I was able to use my experience on Saturday to rearrange my table display into a better configuration (all the free stuff on the right, marked with a sign), as well as fine-tuning my sales pitch.

The day went by pretty quickly for me. There was no lunch delivery that day, but it would turn out that I was saving room for some of the most amazing food I will ever eat. But more on that later. I had a bag of chips left over from the day before, a peace offering for being so late with my lunch. I also made the wise decision of trying out some of those cupcakes over at Cupcakes and Comics. Dan and his sister Kerry have a pretty solid business model — first, be really nice and cool to hang out with, and then sell some cute comics about cupcakes that come with actual cupcakes! These cupcakes were great, not just all sugary, but they actually had real flavors, like a muffin. I got to try the Apple and the Pumpkin, which were excellent, but they have even more kinds. I came ’round their table a few times throughout the weekend, just to enjoy the pair’s company.

Other cool things that happened include talking with Jim Rugg about webcomics and teaching, and then being officially documented as part of the first PIX. First it was in Rafer’s video podcast, then when Karen Lillis photographed my table, and finally having the honor of doing a mini-interview with Professor Frank Santoro (If it ends up on Comics Comics I’ll be sure to let y’all know).

Traded some comics, sold some comics, had a whole lot of fun. The second day was as good if not better than the first. Anyway I size it up, PIX was an outstanding success for me, as it was for most of the folks who I got to meet. Looking forward to next year.

Bill Boichel, in the white PIX shirt, who I mistook for David Mazzucchelli when I saw him walking around SPX. He did an amazing job putting this whole thing together and I am really grateful for all the work he put in.

Comics.

Dan and Kerry of Cupcakes and Comics. First-class dudes.

The always great Katie Skelly. Check out that fucking print of hers! Amazing.

The whole Bowling Green family, otherwise known as Apple Juice Press, barely contained within one camera lens. From left to right, we’ve got Jessi Z, Kelli F, Eric K, Jory G, Geneva H and Keith P. And the thing of it is, people, each and every one of these dudes does amazing comics. I told you a bit about that before, but really, there’s much more. Shit.

From Frank Santoro’s longbox. He had a great labeling system in place.

DENOUEMENT

When all was said and done, and everyone was packing up and going home, there was a lot of great memories to reflect on. A fine weekend to be sure, but it was not over for this human being.

I went back to Veronica’s and watched REC while she finished dinner, which she had been slaving over all day while I had comics fun. The thing that I’ve put off mentioning so far is that Veronica is an amazing chef and baker. As you can see from her blog, she makes some amazing deserts, and I’ve always dreamed of having the opportunity to enjoy something she’s made. Well, tonight was my night.

We had a delicious squash soup as we watched Project Runway and then, for desert, we had this:

I’m going to have a hard time describing how perfect this apple tart was. The crust was just perfect. You can tell a little bit from the picture, but to actually taste it… Really and truly an amazing desert, topped with homemade whip cream. It was one of those happy moments when reality turns out to be better than your wildest dreams.

Before the night was over, V’s roommate Steven returned from a knitting show, so it was nice to see him again (last time I met him was way way back in the day during Andy and I’s Surprise Michigan trip, which has a solid spot in my top ten life-experiences list). He joined us on the tail-end of PR which helped to relieve some of the tension (such an emotional episode!). After it was over, things were looking like it was time to head back to Cleveland.

COMIX

Ok, I know I will not have the time or space to list all the awesome shit I got from people at PIX, and I feel terrible leaving anyone out. HOWEVER, I’m going to list some notables here, so check it.

• “Thursday” by Jessi Zabarsky — I’m telling you, these kids understand comics. As if the beautiful purple silkscreened cover weren’t enough, Jessi’s beautiful cartooning and no-less-than inspired formal play make my brain sweat like crazy. She takes the marginalia tricks Eddie Campbell was using in Monsieur Leotard and builds this short comic around it.
• “I know where I am” by Eric Kubli — Cute night-time story with some really pretty word balloons and lettering.
• “Crumble” by Kelli Fisher — Page design with (at least to me) a strong manga influence. I remember I was going to pick this up at SPACE but decided to catch more birds with “Stampy.”
• “Zero Over Nothin” by Jory Griffis — Really handsome cartooning and great balance of blacks. A line full of personality. This one’s got a bunch of short little works, some of which are reruns from “Stampy,” but I don’t mind seeing them again. I’m in love with the covers on this.
• The Condiment Squad by Keith Pakiz — I didn’t actually get this book, but looking at Pakiz’ work online, I’m kind of kicking myself about that. This man is a cartooning machine, straight from the Watterson school. A lot of straight talent. I guess he lives close enough I can track down a copy easier than any of the other stuff I saw at the show…
• RPM Comics #1 by Rachel Masilamani — A blast from the past, Xeric winner from 10 years ago. A really nice book.
• “iNterruption” by Lena Chandhok — A little comic in the shape of an iPod, the simple restrained cartooning inside matches the concept. It’s the kind of comics you would expect to find inside an iPod.
• “Untitled (Architecture)” by Blaise Larmee — “What Blaise was doing before he discovered Christopher Forgues.” Larmee might not find much use in making comics like this anymore, but it’s really a great work. While the cover is in the vein of what we saw in the Abstract Comics anthology, the inside is fully rendered versions of Blaise’s child-adults. Really nice stuff.
• Secret comic by Kevin Huizenga — Kevin was saying he didn’t really want people to know about this, but I had seen a picture of it somewhere on the internet beforehand. Regardless, it’s all great, but what else would you expect?

So that’s just a tiny sampling of the great stuff that was on hand at the first ever “Pittsburgh International Comics Festival.” Mad shout outs to all my comics dudes, new and old. Check out all those links I posted above, it’s all great stuff.

Peace

Guys, everyone, people. Hey.

In this chapter of Spoilers, “Songs Written in Second Person,” we try to kick out the jams. The Emperors of New Skete are playing at Level Nine, along with The Santa Claus Project and Holy Smokes. Should be a good show, hope you can stay to the end.



As I’ve promised Liz Suburbia several times, I’m going to be following this strip with a post or two about my process in putting it together.

Other than that, got mad things to do to get ready for PIX next weekend. Hope to see you there!

Hey Liz (I’m toying with the idea of addressing blog posts to the last person who commented… although if we’re including the fact that I’ve started cross-posting to my livejournal account, this one’s addressed to Brandon Graham)

Anyway, just wanted to take a little space to round up some stuff that’s been happenin.

PICTURES

Here’s a picture I did for one of my favorite cartoonists who I can never talk enough about, Vincent Giard. He drew me a pigeon so I wanted to repay him in some way. A little bit of trivia — the shirt is for the Montreal Expos, the former MLB team from where Vincent is currently stationed, helping to create an exciting comics scene. It is also the team that moved down to DC a few years ago to become the Washington Nationals, supplanting the Oriels as the closest baseball team to my hometown. Go Nats! (ps. I don’t care about sports)



I drew this picture for the wonderful Katie Skelly, whose Nurse Nurse is one of the best mini-comics series right now. It’s wrapping up by the end of the year and I could hardly be more excited to see how it all shakes out. Maybe you recognize that pose?

You might be able to tell I’ve started playing around with half-tone patterns. I’m getting a bit bored with straight black and white. The grass is literally greener on the other side!

PUPPYTEETH was featured on Comics Comics! It’s all happening, as some friends used to say.

On a related note, I’ll be exhibiting for the first time at the first Pittsburgh Indy Comics Expo! It’s free to attend so if you’re within a two hour radius come stop by! I was excited enough to have a table there, but then I find out that not only is Katie Skelly also going to be there, but the guest list is out of this world! The two folks I was most excited about meeting at SPX — Kevin Huizenga and Frank Santoro — will both be there, as well as Jim Rugg and Ed Piskor.

I went to a wedding last weekend and had a really amazing time! I was accompanying my good buddy Jess Wheelock on an adventure from Cleveland to Pittsburgh to Erie and back again. A fellow CIA alum was marrying her sweetheart and it was nice to catch up with some folks from back in the day (the older cool kids). If you’re familiar with the Gyrator, yes I busted it out during Lady Gaga. That is all.

Here’s a picture of me looking like a child:



Besides all that, I’ve started playing real-life Animal Crossing. It’s a wild world.
Take care, y’all