More San Diego Photos

Here are some behind the scenes photos of the long, arduous process of shooting a 20 second bumper for G4. Oh the grueling days, oh the sleepless nights. Oh the well-stocked catering table. It was the toughest four minutes I'll ever love.

Thanks to Shad for the photos!





On Saturday night, I ended up running around with my old friends from my New England Comics Press days: Ben Edlund and Jackson Publick.


Zander (left) and Ben Edlund

Zander (left) and Chris...er, Jackson Publick

Zander and the NEC Press crew

Zander's on G4's Attack of the Show!

Some dudes with cameras and large personalities came by my booth at Comic-Con on Thursday and wanted to film a concluding segment for their video convention report. Would I please sketch while Zach Selwyn wraps it up in Attack of the Show style? Why certainly!



For a larger version, as well as all of the other Comic-Con segments, visit:

Attack of the Show!

A Thought on Comic-Con

I've been going to Comic-Con for 14 years now, and the one thing that's been constant throughout that time is that people complain that "it's not about comics anymore".

There are too many booths about TV, movies, video games, toys, t-shirts, role-playing games, etc, they say. It's gotten away from the purity it had 5 years ago (it's perpetually 5 years ago; a rolling date of when it was still what people wanted it to be). While I can't dispute that comics only make up a percentage of what is shown at Comic-Con, I have to disagree with the gloomy, slippery-slope predictions people make.

Comic-Con is always going to be about comics. It may be silly that everything else's connection to it is through comics' typical genres (sci-fi movies, animated TV shows, superhero video games), but it's an honest, organic evolution, and it's certainly a shared fan base. It just wouldn't happen otherwise. I mean, there was a ton of promotional stuff at CCI 08 about the TV show "The Office", which is about as remote a property as you could possibly have, and yet it fit in perfectly at the con.

Comic-Con also has the biggest Artists' Alley/Small Press section of any convention I've been to, and nearly all of those people is a comic book artist. The Artists' Alley is juried and tightly monitored, so there are almost always popular creators, and almost never empty booths. It's not a flashy area of the show, but it's the best floor-space-to-interesting person ratio in the room.

And the strongest point I could make that this diversification has helped, rather than hurt, comics is this:

Once a year, there is one event that is the undisputed center of the universe for all Western pop culture attended by over 125,000 people. No one dares miss it, and movie, video game, and comic studios and publishers will wait six months to announce new projects there, to great fanfare. And what's this giant omni-media celebration called? Why, it's called COMIC-CON.

That sort of branding of comics in the mainstream media as the wellspring from which all other fun, awesome, exciting pop culture comes more than offsets, in my mind, any perceived loss of comics purity. And if you don't buy that, buddy, I've got four words for you: MoCCA, Heroes Con, SPX, and APE.

Oh, and of course, The Minnesota FallCon.

San Diego Diary: Wrap-up

I'm back, I'm back!


This is what I was seeing, while relaxing, post-con, at the Tiki Bar at the Marriott. My plane reservations kept me in San Diego for one day after the show, so I got to chill and think about stuff before rushing home and getting back to work.

Then a trip out to Coronado Island and lunch at the fancy hotel.

It was a fantastic show; lots of fun and I saw lots of friends, none of whom I apparently photographed during the weekend. I was pretty much bolted down to my table in Artists' Alley all four days (I had to get up early on Thursday to get my seller's permit at the California Board of Equalization, so I wasn't going to waste it), but you get to see a pretty good cross-section of humanity right there in front of you even if you don't move at all.

I ended up doing a lot of sketches, selling a lot of books and mini-comics, and talking to a ton of people, mostly telling them that there is a new Top Ten series coming out in October.

And I got a beautiful extra day in San Diego, too. Perfect weather, beautiful ocean; just one drawback as far as I could see:


Count your blessings, Minnesotans!

San Diego Diary: Day Four

SUNDAY, JULY 27, 2008

Dear Diary,

As the great social experiment known as Comic-Con comes to an end, we're treated with a handful of final photographs from man-in-the-field Zander Cannon.


The Owlship!


This is Jim Ottaviani's hand.

San Diego Diary: Day Three

SATURDAY, JULY 26, 2008

Dear Diary,

We sure miss Zander back here in BTA headquarters. Fortunately he's sending these hilarious and often very touching snapshots:


Dinner with Berni Wrightson


Melissa and Chris






Ten minutes after the show opened.

San Diego Diary: Day Two

FRIDAY, JULY 25, 2008

Dear Diary,

It's raining water here in Minneapolis but I bet it's raining FUN out in San Diego!












I found her! Attention all computer game players of the 80s, SHE IS AT COMICON.


Aisle 5000, Friday, 9:15 am

San Diego Diary: Day One

THURSDAY, JULY 24, 2008

Dear Diary,

Zander jetted off to San Diego yesterday to sell a few books, ink a few deals, and crash a few parties. Fortunately he's got his cell phone camera and my email address. So while I'm back in the office "working" I'll keep relaying his Comic Con snapshots and his (hopefully) witty text messages.


The view from my table.










The Owlship!


The hostel has themed rooms!


Willy wonka shall be last off the plane!

Zander Will Be at the San Diego Comic-Con 2008!

San Diego's coming! San Diego's coming! I'll be there at the show all four days (and preview night if I can get myself situated early enough) in Artists' Alley, number CC-02. I'll be next to Peter Gross and Moose Baumann. Ooh! and Philip Bond! Bring your Scott Pilgrim Book 4s and Philip and I will sign the pinups!

It's easy to remember-- CC for Comic Con, and 02 because there are two Cs.

If you're new to the Comic Con experience, Artists' Alley is on the far left side of the center, if you're facing it from the front. It's surrounded by all the toy people and the T-shirt people and a few booth-collections of popular artists. It's separated from the publishers and the small press by a huge impassable ocean of movie studios and video game companies.

They're only giving people in the alley one chair this year behind the table, but if you give me a dollar, I'll let you sit in it for 3 minutes.

Photos from Wizard World Chicago 2008

Here are photos from Zander's artist alley location. Getting photos from Zander's cell phone feels like receiving images from Mars for some reason. Check back for more photos throughout the weekend.

SUNDAY, JUNE 29, 2008:




PHOTOS FROM DONN HA:
"Zander and a Gaggle of Luigis"
"Timzilla"
"Gene Drawing Sketches"
"Zander at Wizard World Chicago"
Thanks, Donn!

SATURDAY, JUNE 28, 2008:







FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 2008:


NOTES FROM ZANDER:

These are some drawings I did while sitting or standing there behind the table.



I feel like this is one of the guys I'm seeing more and more often. Bald, sleeve and neck tattoos; goatee (minus mustache, may also have soul patch or close-cropped mutton chops), stiff jeans, wallet on a chain, and morbidly obese, although in a tough way. I like him.



This is a rough approximation of how I felt on Friday.

CR Guide to San Diego Comic-Con

Tom Spurgeon posts his annual exhaustive guide to the San Diego Comic-Con. Well worth a read whether you're sure you're going, sure you're not going, or on the fence.

MicroCon 2008: A Transformerative Experience!

Just wrapped up another successful MicroCon, MNCBA's yearly spring show. Although it didn't feel much like spring inside or out, everyone seemed in higher spirits than normal.

While Zander and I spent most of the show selling books and promoting Lutefisk Sushi, I took some time out to battle, defeat, and ultimately befriend a Decepticon. Unlike most of the phonies who come dressed up in costumes, this was the real Soundwave:

Speaking of Sushi, Ryan Dow made this awesome iron-on Sushi shirt. He bought the orange shirt and the iron-on kit at Target.

Speaking of DIY clothing, Matthew Kriske showed up in shoes that he had painted himself. He's got a "name who's on my shoes" contest going on at his blog. Contest or not, we're just glad Kriske's finally wearing shoes.

Speaking of Kriske, you can see his hilarious mustache story in the newly released "Muscles and Fights: Volume III." Bud Burgy and Amado Rodriguez printed up 10 copies through Lulu and will hopefully print up many more! I overheard some talk of Diamond's Coffee Shoppe hosting a M&F art show during Art-a-Whirl ... but you'll have to check the M&F website for more info. From L to R, Zander Cannon, Dank! (aka Danno), and Bud Burgy:

Bob Lipski (Uptown Girl), and Dan Olson (Super Fantastica Comix):

Steven Stwalley setting up for the show. He spent half the show behind his booth and the other half rooting through bins and scoring cool old comics.

Curtis Square-Briggs with his own score, the best comic book cover ever made:

Finally, Kriske shows some gorgeous Sam Hiti sketches. Interested in learning comics from a master? Hiti will be teaching a comics course at MN Books Arts starting May 7. Not sure if there are spots left, but you can check out details here.

MicroCon This Sunday

I heard it's supposed to be rainy and crappy all weekend. Bad for yachting, great for con-ing! Stop by the Minnesota Fairgrounds on Sunday to satiate all of your comics needs. Zander and I will be there (sans jumpsuits) hawking our wares.

MICROCON COMIC BOOK CONVENTION
Sunday, April 27, 2008
10am - 4pm

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Minnesota State Fairgrounds - Progress Center
1621 Randall Ave, St. Paul, MN 55108

---

Parking: free
Admission: $7

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Guest List
More info

I'll give a free mini-comic to the first person who can explain the cryptic meaning of the different font sizes and colors on the Guest List. I used to think that "bold" meant you're more famous than other people, but then why are Terry Beatty and Gordon Purcell (among others) in the non-bold bracket? And why am I green this year?

The FallCon Digest

Holy Smokes, Steven Stwalley has the best FallCon post you ever did see. He goes around and profiles all of the Cartoonist Conspirators at last weekend's show, which for some of you may mean putting a face to a name for the first time. For me Steve's post is a kick-in-the-groin reminder that next year I need to wander around with a fist full of cash and buy tons of the great stuff on sale (like Danno originals).

Twin Cities Book Festival Today 10am - 5pm

Come check us out in the MCTC cafeteria (pictured below). We'll have a table ... Big Brain will have a table ... Zak Sally will have a table ....

It'll be a scream.

FallCon 2007 Photos

FallCon -- Minnesota's big two-day comic book convention -- was this past weekend. Once again I managed to spend the entire weekend within a ten-foot radius of the booth, a sad fact which is reflected in the photos below. Zander spent a good deal of time exploring the con, so maybe he'll post some of his thoughts on FallCon.

FallCon is hosted by MNCBA and is located on the State Fair Grounds in the Education building


Here're the guts of our table. The humidity curled made most of our books and originals curl, but not too badly


Sorry about the glare, Steven Stwalley. Your suit radiated 100% of the light that hit it. Steve is sporting the highlight of FallCon: the fez


Zander and I sat next to the Ha brothers, Donn and Gene


Here's Donn sketching Danno's character Fleming Hazmat


Gene drew a ton of great sketches during the con, and scanned a bunch of them for his blog


Tim Sievert and Brett von Schlosser


Tim Sievert


A sampling of Brett's spooktacular paintings and prints


Tim's hand-sewn Kanary Kid dolls


Matthew Kriske


I was able to trade Kriske of sketch of some penguins for this gem, a janus-esque portrait on watercolor- and tea-stained paper:


I'm kicking myself for not taking photos of the awesome "lounge" set up by the Cartoonist Conspiracy, including BTA's very own Todd Oldham polka dot sofa. Maybe Tim got some photos with that fancy camera of his.

FallCon Happening ... Right Now!

All the action is at FallCon this weekend. So bring a can of soup and join the party:

Wizard World Highlights

Zander and I are on day two of the Chicago "Wizard World" Convention*. Highlights so far include dinner at Old Warsaw with the Ha brothers and Zander's friend Matt on Thursday, and our inaugural trip to the very classy and very packed Hyatt bar last night, where we schmoozed, etc.

Two strikes against the Con, however. 1) There's no internet access, so our laptop payment machine is useless, and 2) last night the janitors threw away two boxes that we were storing under our table. Aside from the books and equipment that was thrown away, Zander no longer has his huge bag of Red Vines, which he had been meticulously letting air out so that they'd be at the peak of staleness during the con. Tears were shed by all.

I forgot my camera in the boat on my camping trip on Monday, so you're going to have to make do with drawings, like these:

Zander's doing gads of cool sketches, including this one which I managed to sneak back to the hotel room and scan before the buyer came back:


So far the best find of the con is Jeffrey Brown's "Incredible Change-Bots," which inspired at least part of this page of random drawings:


*As of Saturday afternoon I have seen zero wizards.

Kevin and Zander Cannon are going to Wizard World Chicago!

Come on by and say hello! We'll be in the Artists Alley, booth 3014, selling comics, minicomics, originals, and sketches. So right after you get your chest signed by Tricia Helfer, you can come by and show it to us. See you there.

This is our 500th Blog Post!

...and we'll celebrate by posting this portrait of Ben Edlund.

More Comic Con 2007 Pics: Todd Klein and Fans

Congrats, Todd Klein, on your Eisner win.

And, completely unrelated:

Zander Cannon: Live from San Diego

Zander shipped himself off to San Diego yesterday, and you get to witness his Comic Con antics via his phone camera!

Kaimei pen- refillable. We need to get some of these.



Neal Adams



Stay tuned for more through the week and weekend...
(Is that Stuart Moore hiding on the left?)

Watch for Zander at the TICK booth ...

Sharp-eyed readers may remember that Zander's first professional work was three issues of The Chainsaw Vigilante, a Tick spinoff. With the Tick's big 2-0 coming up, Zander was asked to do a one-page story for a celebration book, and he without hesitation said yes. So check out the NEC Press booth at Comic-Con 2007-- Zander will sign books that are 3.1% his work!

From The Beat:

YES! At this years San Diego Comic Con International 2007 The Tick will be turning 20 years old! To help celebrate this momentous occasion there will be a special signing held throughout the Con for The Tick’s 20th Anniversary Special Edition #1. Making signing appearances at the NEC/Tick Booth (#1807) will be nearly two dozen artistic contributors to this very “SPECIAL” comic book. Each writer or artist is scheduled to sign for at least ONE HOUR. This is a once-in-a-lifetime event, so come by and visit us at Booth 1807 to be part of Tick history in the making!

The following is the list of contributors who are scheduled to sign at the NEC/Tick Booth (Updated 7/12/07):
Ben Edlund
Erik Valdez y Alanis
Simon Bisley
Zander Cannon
Gabe Crate
Dave Garcia
Paul Hornschemeier
Matt Howard
Jason Jensen
Matt Kindt
Brian Miller
Bob Polio
Chris Reilly
Trina Robbins
Scott Shaw
Bill Sienkiewicz
Arthur Suydam
Nicole Poole Suydam
Robert Tinnell
Cory Walker
Mark Wheatley
More names may be added!
Note: Day and time will be posted at The NEC/Tick Booth #1807. This schedule is subject to change so please check with us!

MORE BIG NEWS! In addition to The Tick’s 20th Anniversary Special Edition #1 signing, NEC will have on sale two Limited Tick San Diego Con T-shirts, one featuring Simon Bisley’s fantastic cover art and the other, the awe-inspiring cover design by Arthur Suydam.

Also on sale will be the LIMITED Tick’s 20th Anniversary Special Edition #1 Simon Bisley sketch cover comic book as well as the VERY LIMITED San Diego Con cover variant EDITION of “The Tick’s Comic Con Extravaganza #1″, written and drawn by fan-favorite Sean Wang.

Above image from comicbookconventions.com

Zander Cannon at Mocca Art Fest 2007!

Hey folks, come one, come all, to the Puck Building on LaFayette and Jersey St. in New York City this weekend (June 23-24) for Mocca Art Fest 2007! I will be there to sell some comics, do some sketches, and chew some fat with all you good comics folks. Come on by and meet Joolie Doolie, my crafty better half, and tell us all about y'self. See you there!

Everything You Need to Know about San Diego Comic-Con

Holy smokes, not only does Mr. Spurgeon give an exhaustive (and -ing) prep course for this year's San Diego Comic-Con, he squeezes in a couple of Zander Cannon references. I won't tell you where they're hidden, but one involves a candid shot of Zander scratching his ear, and the other involves a sandwich.

We'll be posting more about San Diego as we near the July 25 launch date: where we'll be, what we'll be selling, and what we'll be wearing.

Art-A-Whirl this Weekend

Art-A-Whirl starts this Friday. Zander and I will be there with our little red-legged tables in order to talk shop and maybe sell you some comics.

Part Two of Morean's Article ... and Zander Juggles

Check out part two of Sarah Morean's article about MicroCon. In it you'll find a very flattering description of the BTA crew. Morean suggests that we BTA folks can juggle, which I initially scoffed at, but it turns out that our very own Zander Cannon is very proficient at the ol' "throw and catch."

Check out the video. It's very hypnotizing.

Video of BTA Merchandise at MicroCon

The Minnesota Daily has an article about the upcoming Free Comic Book Day, and they've also posted a short video of MicroCon. Three quarters of the way in there's a brief shot of our table. I think I remember someone filming us. I was trying really hard not to pick my nose but it turns out they just wanted to shoot our wares.


Thanks again to Comics Reporter for the link.

MicroCon at the Daily Crosshatch

Sarah Morean has a great synopsis of last Sunday's MicroCon convention, which I really appreciate since I failed to take even a cursory stroll around the con floor.

Thanks to ComicsReporter for the link.

MicroCon 2007

Gorgeous spring weather didn't stop thousands of comics fans from descending on the Minnesota State Fairgrounds on Sunday. MNCBA hosted its annual springtime MicroCon (the little sister of the two day FallCon ... which is in the fall), and as usual it was a cavalcade of local and regional creators, comics and toy vendors, and costumed superheroes walking around, posing for photos.

Zander and I had a choice table right up front. Our hot items for this con were our two new "pink" anthologies. Project: Romantic has been around for awhile, but this Eisner-nominated book was new to most people we talked to (After flipping through the book, Sherwin Schwartzrock called it the greatest anthology he'd ever seen. He did not purchase a copy, however.) Our other pink book was the Muscles and Fights anthology which reprinted this Versus cartoon. We're hoping that Bud Burgy will put together a second volume, titled, perhaps, "Drinks and Finks" (hard-drinking scoundrels) or "Punches and Hunches" (heavy-fisted detectives).



Most of MicroCon Zander and I were chatting it up with folks, but here are some sketches I was able to slip in (click for a larger version).



Thus begins Con Season for the Attic. Look for us at MoCCA in June, San Diego in July, Chicago in August, and back at the State Fairgrounds in the fall.

GALLERY SHOW TOMORROW NIGHT

Come on down to see Shad, Vincent, Tim and a bunch of great artists and designers from Minneapolis screen print over top of each other's stuff.

There is also a cool gallery show with BTA spin-off PUNY showcasing blunders and over-prints...live music..and booze:

Influences at the New York Comic-Con 2007

Zander says: I'm at the New York Comic-Con this weekend, and I'll be updating with cell phone pictures of my influences that I meet at this show. The accompanying text will be brief, as I will be typing it on a numeric keypad.

Thanks to Kevin, who's posting all of these as I send them to him.


Mike Mignola
I ripped off Mike Mignola so bad when I was in high school. I did some 10-15 page stories that used all his most easily copied tricks (noses, chins, fists, lips, legs). They were really out of place in my style, but what can you do? I also completely aped his style when I did the background for the cover of Replacement God Vol. 2 Number 2. Thanks, Mike!


Bill Sienkiewicz



Jon Bogdanove



David Mazzucchelli
David Mazzucchelli is by far my biggest influence in the realm of storytelling-- I'd never met him until this convention. And meeting him made up for every hero of mine that turned out to be a dud or a jerk or who was too busy to talk. He was one of the nicest, most accommodating people I'd ever met, and articulated his thoughts on storytelling and illustration with an unpretentious air. He said that he had nearly finished a 300 page graphic novel, which makes me a little lightheaded thinking about it.


Feedback!

Feedback (Matthew Atherton) and I went to Grinnell College together in the 90s-- in fact, we met as prospective students while visiting the campus. He was obsessed with Spider-Man then, and would appear in full costume at practically every public event. He particularly liked cartwheeling into the dining hall on Parents' Weekend. Our senior year, he and I made mysteries for each other to solve (in costume, and often involving talking to professors at home), which he mentions on the "Who Wants To Be A Superhero?"

Kevin Maguire



Brian Bolland


Michael Golden


Rick Veitch

Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez



Rob Walton of 'Ragmop'



The show floor

DO NOT MISS THIS

I'll be out of town, but if you're Minneapolis Friday you definitely want to go to the art and poster sale they're having in the First Amendment gallery space. There will be a ton of amazing stuff there. You can get really prints for CHEAP. I always see crappy Ikea wall hangings at people's houses...here you can get hand-made prints and posters.

FallCon 2006

Tim enjoyed every second of the con. Every. Second.


"Action City Max" made a brief appearance.

Shouting only encourages Steve Stwalley.

Apparently no one told Sam Hiti that the Twins are finales.

Tim and his monster.

First Ammendment Party Pics.

Here are some photos of opening night at the First Ammendment Gallery.


Designer Amy Jo and Bjorn make me a shirt.


Blackbelt print-maker Jenny Schmid talks to Tooth.


Doomtree's P.O.S and Paper Tiger


Vincent Stall and Dan Schlissel play "King Mini Comic" in the Stand Up Records warehouse.


Wes and Letta make shirts for the kids.


My wife Anna and Dave Schroeder.

Fearless Filmmakers Event

My animated short film "Dealing with Women" is going to be shown tonight at the Riverview Theater in Minneapolis along with 8 other local films. There's going to be a Q&A with the filmmakers afterwards and I'm going to need some serious emotional support, so it'd be nice if a lot of people came and pretended to like my movie.
Here's a postcard of the event details:



  


Or just watch my short here for free:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fALPGF39GP4

Big Time Attic at Flash MN TONIGHT / WEDNESDAY

UPDATE:: FREE PIZZA AND BEER!!

Big Time Attic has been invited to give an animation presentation at Flash MN tonight. This is our first public animation presentation, so here's a great opportunity to see how good Flash animation works and ask some questions. They're also giving away Adobe's Studio 8, the $1000 software package that includes full versions of Flash, Dreamweaver, and Fireworks.

It's free, tell your friends! We want lots and lots of people there please.

Where: Easel Training
Time: 6:30 social and 7:00 presentations

Wizard World 2006 - Donn Ha's Pancake-a-thon and Day01

Well, here we are at Wizard World Chicago, in the year of 2006. We had a grande ole' time last night staying at BTA's friend, Donn Ha's, house. We had pancakes and watched V for Vendetta and it was all pretty neat. The drive down wasn't too bad either, and traffic was mild, and spirits were high as evident in these pictures.

Kevin Drives with a purpose, but without caution.


Zander shows how pumped he is for Wizard World. Whoa Z, save that excitement for carrying boxes to the convention table!


Donn Ha's cat, the most adorable little muffin face in the whoooooooooole world!


I manned the table for a while at the convention, and drew a bit, but not anything below the shoulders, since I never made it that far in my 'It's Fun To Draw People!' book.

Some dudes who walked by.


I WISH this dude was at the con.


I asked Zander for a sketch, then he said it would be 5 dollars or fisticuffs. Then I asked if it could be of a unicorn, and he got this dewy-eyed look and broke down and did it. But then it was just captain America, so I think he forgot about the unicorn....or did he?!? Is that a horn?!



More pics this weekend!

Zander, Kevin, and Britt go to Wizard World Chicago!

That's right! Tomorrow, Kevin, Zander, and Britt will cram themselves into Kevin's Saturn and head on down ol' highway 94 to the Windy City (or, rather, the Boring Tech Center in the Nondescript Suburb of the Windy City) to peddle their wares at Wizard World Chicago '06! And what better fuel on the night before the show than eating pancakes and watching V for Vendetta with Gene and Donn Ha? None, I tell you.

I'll now dispense with the third person and mention that we are getting an early start tomorrow, because driving to Chicago from Minneapolis has two halves: the half that involves 6 hours, give or take, of driving across Wisconsin, and the half that involves 2 hours, give or take, of driving the last 2 miles in horrendous Chicago traffic and finding a parking space. Dear God, it's awful.

And there is no way in the world that I'm missing episode 2 of Who Wants To Be A Superhero? This show is the freaking best. The main reason I'm watching it is that Feedback is my friend from college, but the truth of it is-- the show is really fun to watch. I mean, they get mauled by dogs in this episode! If you think I am going to miss people dressed in superhero suits who are then dressed in attack-dog protective gear trying to get across a backyard to supposedly help an old lady while being bitten, scratched, and dragged around by two attack dogs, you must be out of your mind.

So, also, if you're keeping track, this Wizard World show is a scant two weeks after San Diego. Two huge comics shows in three weekends. Although I love seeing all my comics homies, my general sentiment is this: no thank you very much. There used to be a nice comfy month between these shows and you could catch your breath. Now my wife Joolie has to hang out with the other comic-book widows.

San Diego was fun, as usual, although this was the first time that I was at the Preview Night on Wednesday night. And by Preview Night, I mean the first day of the show. Four days is a long enough time to be out on the floor, shaking hands and being awesome, without adding a fifth day at the beginning so that you can get that feeling of desperation before the thing even gets going. I was doing a sketch on the first night, and my back was getting a little sore from leaning over the sketchbook, and I had that sort-of sense memory from years past that said, "this show's starting to wear me down" when I suddenly realized that the show hadn't even started! I had four full days left. So I blew off the sketch (for a little while), got up and bought some comics and action figures and felt a whole lot better.

So come on over to Artist's Alley at Wizard World Chicago and hang with us cool guys. I don't know what booth we're at, but they're all in the same room, so this year we don't have to worry about people being stuck in the annex for the elderly and the infirm.

See you there!

Saaaaannnn...Diiiiieeeegogooooo

Zander and Ted Cannon.

Chuck D from Public Enemy

San Diego Comic Con More Photos

I'd throw up photos of Day 1 but I have no idea what day it is or how long we've been here.


Zander's college buddy Matt Atherton as Feedback, and his little pal Nitro G from "Who Wants to be a Superhero."


Monkey Woman.


Chicken Boba Fett waited for the walk signal.


Gene Ha's line, CONGRATULATE OL' GENE FOR WINNING THE "BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL" EISNER AWARD.


I ran into Craig McKracken annnndddd...to the studio back home: he really liked the Foster's thing we may or may not have worked on.

San Diego Comic Con Set Up

Before man arrives, machines rule the hall.



Zander and Geof Darrow are scared of each other.

Zander, Shad, and Kevin go to San Diego Comicon!

BTA founders and despotic demibosses Zander Cannon, Shad Petosky, and Kevin Cannon will be on hand at the San Diego Convention Center from Wednesday night to Sunday this week for the San Diego Comicon (aka Comicon International). We'll be set up in Artists Alley, next to Gene Ha (one of our partners in comic book crime), number II-12. Come by to buy comics, get comics signed, buy original artwork from comics, have us look at your comics, and draw comics with us via Nintendo DS Pictochat! Comics, comics, comics!

One new thing for any Replace