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Some Calgary Roll-a-Sketch drawings

Here are a few of the Roll-a-Sketch drawings I did in Calgary over the weekend! First up, PIRANHA + CAVEMAN:

KNIGHT + CACTUS:

INSECT + TURTLE + DOCTOR + GIRAFFE:

And of course, PLATYPUS + SHARK:

If you’re in the Toronto area, I’ll be there for TCAF in two weeks! Come get a unique drawing of your very own, I DARE YA

This weekend: Calgary Comics Expo!

I’m in Calgary all weekend at the Comics Expo! Come say hello at the TopatoCo booth (#922/1022).

Pick up a free Machine of Death convention-exclusive game card, or grab yourself a Roll-a-Sketch or a copy of the newest Wondermark book, Emperor of the Food Chain.

Hope to see you there!

ALSO: IMPORTANT CANADA NEWS: I made a thrilling discovery in the Calgary airport:

ONE SCIENTIFIC TEST LATER:

BONUS LINK: An interview from a previous trip to Calgary!

Stuff to make you feel OLD!!

Here are a few facts to BLOW YOUR MIND if you want to feel OLD!!!

  • Latvia’s post-Cold War declaration of independence happened closer to the moon landing than the present day.
  • The release of New Coke happened closer to Alaska becoming a U.S. state than the present day.
  • The Bay of Pigs invasion happened closer to Mussolini’s assumption of power in Italy than to the capture of Saddam Hussein in his spider hole.
  • The Los Angeles Summer Olympics happened closer to the founding of the Republic of Bangladesh than to the release of Windows 98.
  • The premiere of the first film featuring Donald Duck happened closer to the present day than to the succession of King Johann to the throne of Saxony.
  • The Battle of Guadalcanal happened closer to the ratification of the Twenty-Third Amendment than to the birth of Russian lexicographer Vladimir Dal.
  • Venezuela’s declaration of independence from Spain happened closer to the same declaration by Paraguay than to the present day.
  • The formation of the universe happened closer to the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary than the present day.
  • The succession of Osman III (1754–1757) as Ottoman Emperor, replacing Mahmud I, happened closer to John Flamsteed’s initial sighting of Uranus than to my graduation from high school.
  • The first flight of the Space Shuttle happened closer to the present day than to the Battle of Agincourt.

Ha ha, you’re OLD!!!

Upcoming appearances this spring and summer!

I’m getting ready to hit the road for a bunch of conventions! If you’re near any of these places, I’d love to see you there. I’d be pleased to shake your hand, make you a Roll-a-Sketch, or whatever!

Note as well that I’m not always listed in show programs or directories under my name, or Wondermark: sometimes I’m with TopatoCo, other times with other groups — but I always try to mention my location for each show here on the site in advance, so be sure to check in.

PLUS OF COURSE I perform improv comedy every other Monday night at M.i.’s Westside Comedy Theater in Santa Monica, CA with my house team “Cool Boss”! Those shows are always FREE so STOP ON BY.

April 26-28: Calgary Comics Expo
May 11-12: Toronto Comic Arts Festival
May 18-19: Maker Faire Bay Area (San Mateo CA)
May 23-26: Phoenix Comicon (First time!)
May 31-June 2: MaxFunCon (Lake Arrowhead CA)
June 2: Machine of Death x 826LA Benefit Party (Los Angeles)
June 22-23: Renegade Craft Fair (Brooklyn) (First time!)
July 11-14: Readercon (Burlington MA)
July 18-21: San Diego Comic-Con
Aug 29-Sept 2: Worldcon/LoneStarCon 3 (San Antonio)
August 15-18: Gen Con (Indianapolis) (First time!)
September 14-15: Small Press Expo (Bethesda MD)

boom I hope I SEE YOU THERE!

Check out: When Dickens Met Dostoevsky

My friend Matt Bennardo tweeted a link today to a lengthy article about a fairly obscure corner of literary scholarship that nonetheless completely riveted me. Whenever I worry that my attention span is becoming depleted by the constant noise-barrage of the internet, I remember that certain pieces of reading still have the power to make the world recede for a bit.

I hope I’m not overselling this piece too much. It’s (nominally) about how, in 1862, Charles Dickens may or may not have met Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Although Dostoevsky is known to have visited London for a week in 1862, neither his published letters nor any of the numerous biographies contain any hint of such a meeting. Dostoevsky would have been a virtual unknown to Dickens. It isn’t clear why Dickens would have opened up to his Russian colleague in this manner, and even if he had wanted to, in what language would the two men have conversed?…

“When Dickens Met Dostoevsky”, by Eric Naiman, The Times Literary Supplement. Read the whole thing here. Take my word for it.