Baltimore Comic-Con Yearbook

For the last couple years, I've been designing the Baltimore Comic-Con Yearbook. Year one was Liberty Meadows, year two was Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo. This year we're tackling Matt Wagner's Grendel. [image src="http://thomz.com/blogall/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/baltimore14_cover_regFINAL.jpg" align="right" border="image_border" link="#" alt="" title="" lightbox="false" width="200" ]

Baltimore is one of my favorite shows, and it's always an honor to work on the book, it's also a challenge to work with so many artists and find a way to make the next year's book better than the last. We've definitely done that this year. New artists! Returning artists! More artists! And a surprise I'm not sharing quite yet. But wait until you see the book.

Right now the book is safely at the printer and all that's left is waiting for the shipping information. I'd say waiting patiently, but let's be honest, I'll be nervous up until Marc Nathan calls and tells me those books are in his hands. But it's all worth it. I think you're going to love the book.

The Many Moments of my Comic-Con

So what did you do last weekend? For me it was the juggernaut that is Comic-Con International. I’ve famously gotten philisophical about the experience. If the worst part of my professional year is going to San Diego for a week to talk about the thing I love doing most in the world, it’s not that bad. I have friends who wear ties.

There’s a lot of logistics to it, and some pressure on the front end. Gotta get a hotel, gotta ship out my books, gotta set up my booth. And its always a game of inches. You slowly get better at laying out your booth and getting your gear into the convention center. I live in fear of expansion and redesign of the show floor because I’m so comfortable with the current setup.

The show was pretty good. I did what I needed to do and had a lot of good conversations with friends, fans and people with whom I might do some business. Here are some highlights:

Most embarrassing moment: Mark Shepard often wanders by my booth, and I love talking to him. He’s a great guy, and we’re both fans of his dad. Recently he’s lost some weight and we were talking about that… just as my friend Christopher came by with a brownie for me. Awk. Ward.

Most moments: This year, I set up with Steve Conley of Bloop and Astounding Space Thrills fame. Ben Thompson, my previous boothmate, made the business decision not to come back, so I found a new partner in Steve. It’s always a question how well you’re going to spend five solid days with someone, even if you’re friends beforehand. But I had such fun with Steve that I’d almost pay his half of the booth to get him to come back. Almost.

Moments of potential: That time the guy who worked on that show you liked said about Love and Capes: “Hey! This would make a great sitcom.” Yeah, I know.

Best moment: This one is a little hard to lock down, but I think I have it. On Sunday, someone from Konami (I think) wandered by. It was his first Comic-Con and he’d been working the booth all weekend and now had Sunday free to wander. He was giddy with all there was to see. That’s so cool to see. At worst, I’m jaded and at best I’ve lost my sense of taste for Comic-Con. I have no idea how it is for people anymore. I don’t know how fun it would be for fans. But here this guy comes and it’s all new for him and he’s loving it. It’s so good to see that.

It was another good time. I didn’t take enough photos, especially with my friends. (Fortunately my friend Eugene took care of some of that, as evidenced by our photo above.) But I can take care of that next year. I’ve already signed up to come back.

My MLP: Friends Forever #5 Read by the Actors!

At Fiesta Equestria, the voices of the stars of my Fluttershy/Zecora issue of My Little Pony: Friends Forever #5 read my issue aloud. Voice actors include Andrea Libman (Fluttershy), Brenda Crichlow (Zecora) and Vincent Tong (everyone else). It's like a Power Records broadcast! Buy an issue and follow along at home!

The Awesomeness of my Time at Fiesta Equestria

This past weekend, I was at the fantastic Fiesta Equestria. It was my first time at a My Little Pony specific convention. And, man, was it fun. First of, the staff of Fiesta Equestria treated me like a prince. I was virtually assigned a personal assistant who helped whenever I needed anything I shouldn't be surprised, because these are the people who did the red M&M's for me at Comicpalooza.

They also arranged a trip to Johnson Space Center for us. And by us, I mean the voice actor guests (Andrea Libman/Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, Brenda Chrichlow/Zecora and Vincent Tong/BG Ponies) and me. That was such a treat. I've been to Houston a few times, but I've never been able to visit before. I finally got to see that Saturn V rocket that I drew as the Love and Capes con print.

The show was very successful. I met also sorts of fans and made some new ones. One of the highlights was the family who not only bought some books but followed up by giving me four boxes of Girl Scout Cookies. The bar has been raised!

But the standout moment for me was on Sunday when the show arranged a reading of my issue of My Little Pony: Friends Forever #5. That issue starred Fluttershy and Zecora, the voices of which were at the show. So those actresses, along with Vincent Tong as the voices of everyone else (including many animals, Rarity and Discord) read my story aloud as they projected the pages on the screen behind them.

As a writer, I never get to see people read my material. Never a whole group, paced out like a cartoon. It was magical. I heard people laugh at the jokes, "awww" at the warm parts and all "ohhh" when they realized who the surprise guest star was. This was my favorite thing ever.

I'm told that they're editing the video and posting it online. As soon as I find out when and where, I'll share it with all of you.

If the Fiesta decides to invite me out next year, I'll be there in a heartbeat. So. Much. Fun.

HeroesCon 2014… All the Sketches!

As if Denver wasn’t enough, I did HeroesCon this past weekend, too. Heroes is always a treat, with a huge pool of professionals and friends to spend time with, and it’s definitely one of the easiest shows to navigate and work with. I drove down on Thursday where I did some seventy-mile-an-hour-thinking (as evidenced by the pitch one of my editors got Sunday night) and arrived in Charlotte and set up. The con started strong on Friday and kept on going.

I spent a lot of time with my friend Marc Nathan and his Baltimore crew, which is always fantastic. And I got to see Jeremy and Kelly Dale, Craig Rousseau, Andy Smith, Todd DeZago… heck, one night I even got to have dinner with Romona Fradon and others. She was a delight!

I did a Kids' Comics panel with Stephanie Gladden, Mike Maihack, Chris Schweizer, Andy Runton, Jeremy Whitley and me, and expertly hosted by Jimmy Aquino. It was my first HeroesCon panel appearance and was a great one to start with. Jimmy will be posting the audio soon, so be sure to check this space for details.

I also did a ton of commissions. More than I have at any other show. I was regularly working late into the night on them, but I don’t mind at all. When I was a kid, my mother wouldn’t let me have a Kool-Aid Stand so I set up a drawing stand. There’s something cool about my current business model being the same as my younger self.

There's a photo of me including using the lamp in my room as a lightbox to finish a drawing. Any port in a storm, right?

The Shazam Family piece I did for the auction was well received, too. It garnered the most of any of my contributions, so I’m proud of that. Of course, when you’ve got the power of Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury on your side, how can you not do well?

Denver Comic Con 2014

The weekend before last was the third Denver Comic Con and I was lucky enough to be a guest. I love doing the Denver show because I get to see my brother John, as well as spend lots of time with my former Kubie classmate Sean Tiffany. Add to that seeing buddies like Tony Fleecs and Sean Williams, and geat googly-moogly it’s a good time! This is my second time back (and their third year) and the show just keeps growing. A lot of their line issues seemed to have been fixed, and the staff was great in taking care of us.

I did two panels. One was on My Little Pony, and that was a lot of fun. Tony Fleecs, Jeremy Whitley, Andy Price, Katie Cook and I held court for a bunch of MLP fans. We were even covered by the Denver Post. The other was a Sketch Duel hosted by the lovely Rowan Rosanski. I’m hoping that some of our sketches get posted or sent to me soon. Some of them were really funny.

Amongst all the drawing, my first one was particularly special. Someone asked me to draw Slider, who I used to draw back in my days working for the Cleveland Indians. The buyer saw my Tribe history in the program book and remembered the strip. That was very cool!

I’m planning on being back next year, so hopefully I’ll see you there!

As usual, photos and commissions follow.