blog: appearances

Coming up: MoCCA in New York!

This weekend I’ll be in New York for the MoCCA Art Festival! MoCCA is one of my favorite shows, and this year Randall Munroe will be joining me and Yates. I’ll have my new book, Yates will have his new book, Randall will have the charisma that he brings with him everywhere, and if you don’t care about any of us, there’s plenty of other great guests for you to get excited about. If you’re anywhere at all near New York City, you must attend!

In addition, I’ll be on Staten Island Friday night for a screening of Expendable at the Staten Island Film Festival. If you’re in the area, come on by! It’ll also be playing this weekend at Soonercon, in Oklahoma City.

Also, a detail to point out: the book in the photo last week is in fact the very first copy ever, and will be the exact copy going to a lucky contest winner!

Stumptown wrap-up!

Thanks to everyone who came and said hello at Stumptown! This year was the most fun yet, thanks to the friendliness and encouragement of the Portland fan community. Yates and I stayed with The Diaz and hung out with wonderful comickers Meredith, Kate, B., and Nick of the East Coast, the Great North, Parts Unknown, and his own brain respectively. Also in evidence: the idea hat and, of course, the robot. When Nick says “let’s build a robot” the night before he’s due to give a talk, well by God we’re building a robot.

STAPLE! panel discussion

If you missed the most-excellent panel discussion at STAPLE! last weekend, you can sit in your room and cry, or you can watch the video! Either way. (There are a couple of swearies in it, I guess I should warn you. But not many.)

I’m screening Expendable today in Ogden, Utah at the Foursite Film Festival. Everyone in Utah is nice, and upon learning that I’m from Los Angeles, they inevitably tell me that “it’s a lot colder here than in L.A.!” YES THANK YOU I NOTICED

Beards of our Forefathers in PREVIEWS

STAPLE! was a blast last weekend. It was a tremendous way to kick off this year’s convention season — the whole experience had me so brimming with excitement that I actually had to be hosed down by TSA before they’d let me on the plane home. “Sorry, sir,” they said. “You look a little too jazzed about comics to be safe in a pressurized environment.” I tried to argue, but in truth the hose thing was sort of fun too, and I gotta get my kicks for free when opportunities like that arise.

I know I’ve recently mentioned Danielle, Kris and Scott — with whom I have formed the rock-star group The Awesome Webcomic Panelists Who Can Thrill An Eager And Not Altogether Discerning Crowd Indefinitely — but not only did I thoroughly enjoy every minute that we hung out, I have an incredible respect for their craft. Events like STAPLE! always rejuvenate my artistic spirit, and I was stoked that between sketchbooks and barbecue-restaurant tablecloths and even public displays, I got to spend the weekend drawing.

The March Previews is out now — if you’re not enough of a comics nerd to know what Previews is, then you don’t need to keep reading; I commend you for, you know, having a life. If you are a comics nerd, though, and you want to buy my new book Beards of our Forefathers through your local comics shop (or ask the shop to buy a few copies for the shelf), you can either look on page 41 of the March Previews or print out your own page 41 and slap it on the counter. (Here’s an alternate version as well that may go easier on your printer ink.) When the clerk asks why you want him to buy 500 copies of a single book for his store, all you have to do is simply place one hand on his shoulder, bow your head, and say “I don’t necessarily want you to go bankrupt, but if that’s what it takes, that’s what it takes.”