Another awesome Comic-con has come and gone. Photos are up on my Flickr stream.

UPDATE: The book is now for sale! Go here to buy a copy or pre-order the artist’s edition.

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As Tim Sale points out inf the foreword of this masterpiece revisited, the late 80’s were a great time for comics that saw a re-invigoration of the industry.  With titles like The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, Batman: Year One, and The Killing Joke writers like Frank Miller and Alan Moore took us to dark moody places we didn’t know existed at the time in comics.  To help (as if it needed it) the promotion of this summers Batman Begins sequel, The Dark Knight, DC comics has released a special edition hard cover of The Killing Joke.  TKG is easily the best Joker story ever told and arguably the best Batman story ever told. Written masterfully by Alan Moore and Illustrated beautifully by Brian Bolland,  the story revisits and flushes out the oft forgotten origin story of the Joker and goes deeper than ever before into the mind of the character. 

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Now I’m going to have to confess;  I’m not a regualr Iron Man comic reader nor have I been in the past, so this review is not coming from a purist (unlike my Spider-Man and Batman reviews of the past) but luckily I was able to see the film with Pat who was a big Iron Man fan and he gave his thumbs up and so do I!  Iron Man is a great kick off to the 2008 Summer movie season!  Iron Man is the story of Tony Stark, a billionare wepons desighner who lives the playboy life with no regrets or excuses.  Stark is also a scientific genius who sells his wepon designs to the military and does it with flare. During a weapons demonstration Stark is kidnapped by terrorists and forced to build them weapons. 

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This is the first time I’ve rendered the whole Chronicle gang in color. Shereen thought Chuck was blond. Maybe he is. Maybe I made a mistake. What say you?

I slapped this design on some tee shirts and mugs over at Cafe Press. Check them out, won’t you?

According to their about page, Digital Strips exists “to bring the 5% of webcomics worth reading to the rest of the world.” How flattering, then, that they’ve just posted an interview with yours truly. In this, possibly the most important document ever published, I answer six questions about Chronicle, its characters and origins, and my thoughts on the creative process. Cool, huh?

Internet/real-life friend Shane Bertou was kind enough to be my surrogate at a book signing by the Perry Bible Fellowship’s Nicholas Gurewich. He mailed me a book containing the autograph you see above, and I am grateful.

PS – PBF is a great absurd webcomic. If you click the link above be advised that it is intended for mature readers and has little to do with Perries, Bibles, or fellowships.

My name was mentioned, however briefly and fleetingly, on the latest edition of the increasingly popular Webcomics Weekly podcast. The podcast features four successful web cartoonists talking shop for the benefit of other artists. There’s no “webcomics drama” talk as they call it, just tips and information. It’s really a great resource.

My name comes up within the first five minutes of the latest episode, and it’s not nearly as cool or as big a deal as you might think. Basically, I gave some tips about digital inking on the Webcomics Weekly forum which were apparently adopted by Ugly Hill creator Paul Southworth. Scott Kurtz of PvP mentions this on the show, but the focus is really more on Southworth’s use of the tips than on yours truly (I’m referred to as “some guy” until Kurtz actually takes a look at the forum post).

I’m not complaining. Ugly Hill is one of my favorite strips and Mr. Southworth gave me a nice thank you in the forum. I’m thrilled that my tips were actually helpful to someone I admire. Cool, huh? It just would have been nicer if they’d acknowledged my comic or, even better, mentioned its URL.

The Chronicle Forum is not new, but I realized I hadn’t officially invited all you JW.com types to come on over and join in the fun that I’m sure will start any moment now. It’s not exactly hopping with activity yet, but that’s kind of why I’m mentioning it. Join me, won’t us?

How cool is this? Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson is not only one of the most talented cartoonists of all time, he’s also reclusive and mysterious. He rarely gives interviews, and his termination of C&H in 1995 combined with his refusal to supplement or merchandise his work has left a  dearth of Watterson material. How sweet it is, then, to browse through this collection of rare work from Bill Watterson’s college days. It’s awesome, but it’s also a little maddening. Usually, when you get chance to see the early work of a cartoonist, it’s raw and amateurish. Not Bill’s work. His talent was palpable even back then.

Watterson is one of the major reasons I grew up wanting to draw cartoons.

Attention: You are now the property of MediaNetCORP. All rights to you are reserved. Any unauthorized duplication and/or distribution of yourself is strictly prohibited and may be punishable by fees up to and including $250,000 and/or up to fifteen years in prison.

That is all. Await further instruction.

In which I whine a bit

It hasn’t even been two weeks and I’ve experienced quite a lot since launching the comic. It’s been almost equal parts exhilaration and frustration, with some glee and disappointment sprinkled in to taste.

In regard to the strip itself, I couldn’t be more pleased. I don’t mean there’s no room for improvement, because there clearly is. But I’m doing my best work and I’m more than happy with where it is and where it’s going. It’s the business aspect of being a cartoonist that has been something of a roller coaster.

On the one hand it’s exciting to watch the Google Analytics stats and see that I have daily readers from as far away as India, Japan and Australia. On the other hand, almost every attempt I’ve made to reach out to like-minded individuals or professionals I admire has been completely ignored. I know it’s early, and my best bet for gaining clout is to just draw my comic every day for a long time. Still, it does sting a bit when you go out on a limb to email someone you consider a successful role mode, only to receive no response at all.

Also, why do folks keep turning down my ads? I’m offering the same amount of money as those other people who advertise these sites, and my ads are at least as attractive. But I’ve been turned away at every attempt.

Anyway, those are the big complaints. By no means am I discouraged, these are just the growing pains of a guy who isn’t used to having to sell himself. I’ve been a big fish in a tiny pond for too long. Suddenly I’m in an ocean. Scary, sure, but the opportunities it presents are exciting to say the least.

I’m posting all of this here rather than on the Chronicle blog or forum because I don’t think it’s appropriate there. I’m not a fan of webcomics creators splattering their personal emotional baggage all over their strip blogs. It always changes the way I look at their work, seldom for the better. (Wait – does that mean I’m ruining Chronicle for all you JW.com readers?)

I’ll continue to post my personal thoughts here from time to time as the struggle continues. So far, I’m having a blast. I’m just having trouble figuring out how to get noticed on these vast intertrons.

I thought this day would never arrive, and yet I feel blindsided by the whole thing.

Chronicle is live. I invite you to read it. Every day.

The word is out. My new comic strip Chronicle will debut on Monday, October 1, 2007. New strips will be posted every Monday thru Friday. The site is under construction at the moment, but you can stop by and sign up to receive an email reminder on launch day. Once the strip is live, you’ll be able to subscribe via daily email or RSS. Stay tuned, won’t you?