Let’s All Flee To The Lobby

GRAMMAR DALEK SHIRTS ARE HERE!

The preorder starts today. There’s more shirt news HERE including a NEW FIGHTING TIME LORDS SHIRT!

I took my wife to see The Dark Knight Rises friday night. I have SO MANY OPINIONS about the film itself, but I will probably save them for a subsequent post. The theater was understandably less packed than one would expect on an opening weekend at 8pm. Considering the tragedy in Colorado only 14 or so hours earlier, I assume many people just didn’t feel like enjoying anything. My real hope was that people weren’t staying home out of fear of some sort of copycat attack. That said, I did find myself eyeballing everyone that stood up during the film or entered/exited the theater after the lights went down. I felt silly and a little ashamed, but then AMC Theaters seemed to take it upon themselves to TOTALLY REINFORCE AND VALIDATE my twinge of fear by running the terrifyingly inappropriate emergency exit message seen in panels 1 and 2 above.

As soon as it started with “In case we need to escape for REAL…” I began to feel ill at ease. “Move a safe distance so you really can’t see what’s going on.” Was this a joke? I immediately thought it was a DIRECT RESPONSE to the shooting in Aurora. I was amazed that they were able to record and distribute this promo so quickly. I posted about it on Twitter later that evening and come to find out, it’s several months old. This raises two poits: A) WHY THE ENTIRE FUCK didn’t AMC pull this reel immediately after the shooting? And B) Since it didn’t have anything to do with the shooting, why was it created in the first place? It seems like the intended it as a joke, but at what or whose expense? Was it released in conjunction with a horror movie? Context is everything. Completely out of context of the shooting, the warning is still creepy and ill conceived. In context of the shooting it’s unbelievably offensive. I had never noticed that message before, but at the time it really seemed like they were making light of the situation. I know that isn’t the case, and that it’s a terrible coincidence, but WHEN would a message like that be appropriate?

AMC Theatres bans costumes with masks, fake weapons after shooting

I wasn’t able to find a recording or a video of the message itself, but an intrepid reader was able to point me to this complaint filed by an AMC patron that proves I didn’t fever dream the whole thing.

COMMENTERS: I really do want to talk about TDKR, but this is a bit too somber of a comic, for an entirely too somber occasion to debate Bane’s motivation or how Nolan chose to wrap up with Bat-trilogy. So how about a slightly somber question? Has there ever been an event (personal or global, tragic or not) that caused you to immediately change or stop a previously frequent behavior?

My personal example will be down in the comments.

A Man, A Plan, A Hobo, Bob. Oh! Anal Panama!

Alternate Title: A Man, A Plan, A Tramp Mart. Anal! Panama!

We now resume Eli’s previously scheduled adventure in continuity. Looks like he’s out for hobo vengeance. The kind where you seek vengeance on a hobo for his or her misdeeds. Not the kind where an actual hobo steals your shoes as retribution because you “accidentally” spilled his can’o beans.

I hope you’re liking the mini story arcs so far. I think I’m still finding my footing, but I’ve been getting a lot of nice feedback at conventions and I’m really enjoying the process. It’s more fun to write when you can expand an idea past 3 lonely panels.

I Got The Moves Like Xander

Here’s a mostly true San Diego Comic-Con 2012 Story starring my good friend Stepto (who you may remember from a previous appearance). It seems that while I was decompressing from the w00stock 4.0 festivities in Balboa theater as all the performers signed things and shook hands, Stepto was across the street at the Geek & Sundry party getting his groove thing fully engaged with Joss Whedon. The very same Stepto who was in my company mere moments before at w00tstock. The VERY same Stepto who has my cell phone number and know good and well how texting works. Yes, THAT Stepto. The VERY SAME STEPTO WHO IS NOW DEAD TO ME! HE DANCED WITH GOD DAMNED JOSS WHEDON! THEIR HIPS MET IN A BUMPY FASHION! DEAD! DEAAAAAD TO MEEEEEE!

But, I digress. In addition to breaking my heart and betraying my trust, Stepto did do something very nice for a fan that night. It has become a w00tstock tradition that Stepto will find the fan with the worst possible seats, high up in the balcony, take their camera and fill it with backstage photos throughout the night. You can see the results of this year’s shenanigans here.

I have a guest comic up at Cyanide and Happiness!

Grammar Dalek Shirts should be going on presale soon. As early as Monday of next week! Stay tuned for ordering info.

People have been asking me what I thought of SDCC this year. I told one friend, “Being on the show floor of SDCC is like working in the gift shop of the amusement park.” I think that sums it up pretty well. Unlike EVERY OTHER larger show I do, comics are no where near the focus of the show. They are really an after thought and that vibe is starting to permeate my (and other artists’) SDCC experience more and more each year. You really get the impression that the attendees are going to make time for you, if and when they finish up with everything else they have planned. Namely, standing in a line for 8 hours to see a 50 minute panel, then standing in line for 4 hours to get an SDCC exclusive toy, then leaving the hall entirely to go to one of the MANY offsite activities.

The fans I met through out the week were great, but they were also few and far between. In fact, the only day that felt like a normal convention was Sunday. There was a steady stream of fans, and sales and I distinctly got the impression that most people were saving the actual COMIC portion of Comic-con for the final day. Luckily, I got the sense of this trend early in the week and basically visited the booth a bit each day then headed out into San Diego for various parties, fun times and hang outs with my friends. All things being equal I would much rather be at the booth, meeting readers and selling merch. But due to the extremely odd vibe of the show, the slow booth traffic and the VERY limited booth space we had this year, I wasn’t really hurting anyone by not being there. Sunday was basically the only full day I spent at the booth. It’s really hard to justify taking a week off of work, the travel expenses and fighting the crowds of SDCC to do what was essentially a one day show.

I want to back up and say that I am NOT complaining about having the best job in the world, but San Diego Comic-Con has changed drastically in the last couple of years and everyone I talked to seemed to be feeling the same thing. Don’t be shocked if some of your favorite artists take a year or two off. I almost feel like the comics and the movie/TV/video game stuff should be officially separated into two events. Maybe then we could get some panels with accessible comics creators instead of ABC’s newest fairy tale-based show. It feels like the entire show has finally tipped to where it is basically unfriendly to an independent comics creator and that creator’s time could be better spent almost anywhere. I don’t expect it to get any better unless they built more hall space, which would probably have to be on floating barges out in the marina. Still, it is ONE HELL of a party, and it’s the only time that nearly all of my friends are in the same city at the same time for the same reason. It is a Comic-Conundrum.

SDCC 2012 Fancy Sketches

I am still recuperating from SDCC. I will resume drawing Fancy Sketch Drive sketches this week, and start mailing them out as they are finished. There were almost 60 ordered so it’s going to take me a while. I appreciate your patience.

I have a guest comic up at Cyanide and Happiness for my explosm bros (exBROsm, amirite?), who are also sleeping off one too many a San Diego fun time.

Grammar Dalek Shirts should be going on presale soon. Stay tuned for ordering info.

I had an amazing time in San Deiego, but I spent almost no time on the convention floor itself. Normally I am at the booth from open to close every day, but our limited booth space meant that most of the time I was just in the way. And when I made scheduled signing/sketching times, no one really showed up. It was a very odd convention this year and all of my cartoonist friends seemed to echo the same sentiments. People just weren’t visiting their favorite creators very much this year. I think either A) the show has finally tipped and there are only a small percentage of con attendees who are actually there to meet and buy stuff from comics creators (the rest are their for panels or other big media events) or B) There is so much off site and ancillary entertainment outside and around the convention itself, that most fans are going to the actual show maybe 1 or 2 days to see panels, then exploring the other (free-er) events surrounding the con.

For all of these reasons, I spent most of the weekend hanging out with friends, going to parties (especially w00tstock!) and generally having a fantastic time (in which I earned essentially no money and probably didn’t break even on my travel costs, but hey… whatever). I was at (or hovering around) the booth for most of Sunday and oddly enough it felt like a regular convention day. There was a steady stream of fans and sketch requests, and sales. Perhaps the new thing is to save your actual COMIC-coning for the final day. All I can say is that I won’t be surprised at all if many creators take a year or two off after this year. There are far better cons, that cost thousands less to exhibit at, and are far less of a hassle from every angle.

I still think I would have gone (and will continue to go) even if I didn’t have a booth or a floor pass. There is just no other time where so many of my friends and professional acquaintances are in one place at the same time. I reconnected with old friends and made some new ones.

Also this happened:

Chewbacca was at that party. So were Geordie and Data. Life is wonderfully weird.

COMMENTERS: What was your favorite/least favorite announcement or news to come out of SDCC 2012? Any other thoughts on the show in general?

Rival Smugglers

Alternate Title: The Smugglers Brothers

NEW PRINT SIZES IN THE STORE! I might have some prints of this comic with me at SDCC. If you would like a print and you won’t be at SDCC, you can click the “Buy A Print” button beneath the comic [or click HERE] and select from either 8.5×11″ for $15 or 11×17″ for $25. They are printed on SUPER nice matte stock and ready to be framed.

The Fancy Sketch Drive ends TODAY Wednesday 7/11/12! I will be turning it off as soon as I leave for San Diego, around 2pm central time.

San Diego Comic-Con is right now! I will be hanging out at booth 1332 with Blind Ferret. Check my Twitter for signing times and availability. More info HERE.

Grammar Dalek Shirts will go on presale after I get back from SDCC.

I was going run some of the Fancy Sketch Drive sketches as filler while I was away at SDCC, but at the last minute I got inspired to post a colored and be-backgrounded version of the original art I did for the Edmonton, Alberta chapter of Can’t Stop the Serenity 2012. Apparently the drawing raised over $100 for Equality Now. Pretty shiny.

COMMENTERS: I don’t really think the Star Wars and Firefly universes would crossover well, but I was having a conversation recently that (with a little rule bending) the Avatar and Firefly universes could co-exist. What other sci-fi or fantasy ‘verses would mesh nicely together? I bet Blade Runner takes place 40, maybe 50 years before Fifth Element.