This weekend I’ll be at Fanaticon in Asheville. They say it’s comics, collectibles, pop culture and more and it truly is. In addition to all the great artists, vendors and panel discussions they also organize a concert in the courtyard. The Mad Tea Party, How I Became the Bomb and my favorite The Falcon Lords.

We will be setup downstairs near the entrance to the courtyard and across from the auditorium. Taking it all in!

We? Yes, I will not be alone. I’ll be there with Wide Awake Press and Duane Ballenger, Ashley Holt, Josh Latta, and Robert Venditti. Also keep an eye out for other Wappies like Gregory Dickens and Mark Roper of Comics Wanted.

Pickup one of the exclusive Neatobot trading cards and try to collect all #10 of the Fanaticon collector cards from other artists.

I’ll also have copies of my Itty-Bitty Neatobots Coloring Book.

One last thing.

Admission is FREE!

POP POP!

My files were visually corrupted. An eight-bit explosion from Super Mario land covered the copy shop monitor. My work from the night before ruined and not in a normal “I’m corrupt and will not open” kind of way. But in a “let me show you what panic looks like” kind of way. I had an hour before I was to be at Free Comic Book Day 2011 and there was no way I was going to have my new book ready. Not without some sort of birthday miracle.

Can I tell you something? Free Comic Book Day is fantastic. It’s been amazingly fantastic for 10 years and gets even more fantastic every year. It was conceived as a way to pump blood into the thirsty arteries of the direct market. Theoretically, a way to help cultivate new readers for the aging fandom of comic books. If comic shops do it right, then they create a celebration of comics right inside their own stores. With artists, writers and fans (old and new) coming together to share and grow an appreciation for sequential storytelling. Oh, and you get bunch of free comics also!

This year I returned to Richard’s Comics and Collectables and was joined by my good pal Robert Venditti. Rob was a great fit because of his adaptation of Percy Jackson and The Olympians. He signed books that people brought from home and sold a few to future fans. I think he had a good time and hopefully he will be back next year.

I really enjoyed cutting loose and drawing all day long. Free drawings while kidswait and watch. A magic show and I am David Copperfield. O.k. o.k. I’m more like Gallagher, but I totally smash my watermelons with Thor’s hammer.

My little robot drawings aren’t incredibly complex mind-blowing works of world changing art. Basically they’re doodles. Sketchbook stuff. Drawings the kid watching can do when they get home. Inspiration.

However this year, I decided before the fantasticalness could truly begin I needed an itty-bitty Neatobot coloring book to sell. So of course I waited until the night before to put it together. My brightest idea was to print it the morning of Free Comic Book Day. Because there is no possible way anything could go wrong. That’s not what future me standing at Staples was thinking as I looked at the monitor filled with imploding pixels.

Thankfully it was my wife’s birthday, and she must have used her birthday wish to make everything work out. Her birthday wish and maybe the printer from her office.

Over the past 10 years I think FCBD and my wife’s birthday have shared Saturdays 3 times. Regardless of when it falls my wife is always there. My superhero of support. Saving the day with last minute rescues. This year, with 2 sidekicks by her side, she showed up with snacks, drinks and my books. Somehow with her power to coax broken copiers back to life she was able to print from her office’s dead copy machine. She sat them down in front of me cut and collated.

The rest of the day was kind of a blur with tons of old and new friends stopping by to chat. There was a constant flow of people from 11 until when I left at 5:30. It took a while to try and sneak away without stopping to sketch in the great books Richard had made. This year he created his own guide to FCBD with bios and pages for each artist/writer to sign and draw. He did a ton of other stuff for the event including create-your-own superhero templates for kids to color. Guess who designed the templates?

Click for PDF

Click for PDF

Click for PDF

Anyhow, as I mentioned before, it was a fantastic day. My sisters and kids joined in the marvelous mayhem and thankfully snapped some photos. My son stayed the whole day and sat in-between Rob and I, drawing pretty much the entire time. Except his work wasn’t free. No sir, he got paid 25 cents to 2 bucks for his work. The profits from which he quickly exchanged for more comics. By the end he was giving away sharpie drawings cut from Styrofoam cups. I don’t know what to tell you about that except it was my cue to head home.

I’m not sure how to summarize the day. Summing up everything into a few words really isn’t possible. It took an entire day to fit in all the friends, comics and costumes. I enjoyed it completely and I look forward to 10 more years of days filled with free comics.

FLUKE = April 23
FLUKE is the best mini-comic and zine show in the southeast. This is it’s 10th year and is one of my most favorite comic events of the year! Robert Newsome and Patrick Dean like to pretend they aren’t responsible for the show but they are the reasons it’s around and I’m so glad they’ve stuck with it. Here are a few nice words from Henry Eudy and I strung together by Heather Mobley McKinney.
Keep up to date with their Facebook Event Page

Free Comic Book Day = May 7
Wow! This year’s FCBD at Richard’s Comics and Collectables is going to be the biggest ever! Featuring artists/authors John Aston, Bradd Parton, James Cogdill, Chrissie Zullo, Derek & Nikki Davis, Tracy Yardley, James Lucas and Gina Biggs.
I’m most excited to be sitting with my good pal Rob Venditti writer of the Surrogates and the new graphic novel The Homeland Directive. He’s also been hard at work adapting the Percy Jackson novels into graphic novels. On top of a ton of free comics Richard has put together a free book for everyone to get sketches and signatures in.
Keep up to date with their Facebook Event Page

Fanaticon = May 21
Last year was the first year of Fanaticon and they blew the doors off of the Asheville Art Museum. The free admission made this event truly unbelievably attended and gave it a fantastic vibe with all sorts of folks walking thru the doors. One of my favorite things about the event was the free musical groups in the courtyard with bands that had some sort of comic or theatrical slant to their performances.  Oh and tons of comics from mainstream to independent along with some of the coolest comic themed art I’ve ever seen in one place. Keep an eye out for one of the Fanaticon collector cards I got to create.
Keep up to date with their Facebook Event Page

Heroes Convention = June 3-5
I could fill this entire post with reasons why you should go to Heroes Convention. Just go read my previous posts about reasons to go to Heroes Convention. It is such a blast to see all my comic pals there. The guest list reads like the worlds best list of comic book creators. This year is going to be UberSpecial because my good pal Andy Runton has done an amazing Indie Island poster for the event featuring characters from his Owly books. Also Rob Ullman, another great pal of mine, will also be doing something special for Indie Island. I’m so glad that they’re going to be a big part of the event this year and I can’t wait to see what else will be going on.
Keep up to date with their Facebook Event Page

Saturday, January 22 · 11:00am – 5:00pm

The Palmer Building
2601 E 7th St
Charlotte, NC

Here is the guest list:

Rich Barrett
Chris Brunner
J. Chris Campbel
Sanford Greene
Dustin Harbin
Jason Latour
Budd Root
Bridgit Scheide
Andy Smith
Chrissie Zullo

And special guest Chris Stevens!

Plus secret guest DUANE BALLENGER!!

Golly gee! Next week is the Small Press Expo 2010! Saturday and Sunday, September the 11 & 12. That’s a full month earlier than any SPX I’ve ever attended.

I’ll be setup with good pal Rob Ullman ( I based the illustrations above off of a sketch of his). We will absolutely be “Front and Center” right smack dab in the middle of the entrance of the exhibit hall. Looking forward to shaking each and every person’s hand as soon as they come in the door.

Now I just have to finalize a few things and I’ll be good to go. Let me finish getting my act together and I’ll show you what I’m bringing.

Speaking of going, I’ve added a date to this year’s 3 Hour Tour. I’ll be heading up to the Bethesda, MD to the good ole Small Press Expo (better known as SPX). It’s a little over 8 hours away, so I made it a Special Engagement.

SPX – Small Press Expo
September 11-12 2010

Hope to see you there!!

#1 Comics

The number one reason to go to a comic book show is for the comics! Big surprise right? There are millions of comic books at Heroes Convention. For a newbie getting that first glimpse at all the booths as you come into the room is pretty overwhelming. To this day I still get excited as I enter the convention center.

Dealers come from all over the country to sell their fine collections. Some booths are like you’ve just walked into a museum with ultra rare collectable comics lined up across the back of their booth like wallpaper. Other booths have stacks of long boxes bursting with books for just a buck! Sometimes you can find them for 50 cents. That’s really bargain considering comics cost $3.00 dollars a book now.

For the past few years I’ve been hooked pretty hard on old humor comics. Just about anything with yellow pages with a Walter Lance character I’m all over. It’s all Duane’s fault for bringing back a stack that he found for a dollar each. So now I sit a $20 back just for buying as many as cheap as I can get them. I never read them as a kid so I love to flip thru copies of Woody Woodpecker, Andy Panda, Hot Stuff, Spooky, Casper, Looney Toons or Disney comics.

Sometimes I’ll make a list of back issues I’m looking for but usually there is enough new things that my money is allocated before I enter the room. Here’s a couple of things I’m for sure picking up.

Sky Scrappers of the Midwest Hardback signed by Josh Cotter
Freddie and Me signed by Mike Dawson
Muppets mini & Fred The Clown mini by Roger Landgridge
The Claws Come out by Pat Lewis
Crustacean Frustration by Rob Ullman
Owly a time to be brave signed by Andy Runton
Superior Showcase #3 signed by all 3 creators (with a little help from Pitzer)
Sundays antho #1 #2
Afrodisiac #1 mini-comic by Jim Rugg

And a few other things that I can’t think of right now but I’ll know when I see them.

The convention starts tomorrow and I hope I talked a few of you into going. Call a buddy and ask them to do a day trip with you. Come by my booth and repeat the 8 reason list to me and I’ll give you something special.

I’ll be at Booth 510 in Indie Island on Saturday and Sunday. Hope I see you there.

#2 Creators

I just took another look at the guest list and it is still huge! There are almost 400 creators and comic professionals at this show. From silly cartoonists to realistic painters from web strip artists to the guy who writes Iron Man comics the range of talent is pretty mind boggling.

The majority of these folks are really open to answering questions, signing books or doing a sketch for you. Bring a sketch book with you and collect drawings from artists you’ve met. Most people even request just pictures of Batman or Monkeys in space suits. Artists don’t charge much and some even do it for free! But don’t plan on filling it up in one weekend especially if you’re hitting up some of the more popular artists. Luckily at Heroes Convention the lines for artists don’t get very long. Maybe this year I’ll start that Bizarro themed sketchbook I’ve always wanted.

You can commission artists for more detailed work but be prepared to come back later to pick it up. They’ve usually got a list of things they are working on for people at the show. So make sure to get on their list as early as you can.

Go around and look at each of the artist’s tables. Even if you’re familiar with the artist they may have something you didn’t know was available. The real fun for me is discovering a new creator I’ve never seen before. Each year I meet one or two new artists and it’s actually the place where I’ve met some of my best buddies. That’s one of the greatest things you can find!