Sequitur

I'm in a weird state of mind right now. Something like an uneasy calm. The last few months have occupied my mind with school, C2E2 prep, and IT LOOKS BACK #2. Now all three are over or almost completed (and around the same time), and I'm not sure what to do with myself. It's a weird feeling. Whatever, here's some stuff:

FOLLOW THESE PEOPLE AND OBEY THEIR EVERY COMMAND

Here's some cool people from C2E2 that I want to pimp out in no particular order:

-I spoke of Jon Michael Lennon in my last post, but in case you didn't read it, here's his link again. Go. Now.

-I sat next to Kyle Anthony all weekend, making him my single-serving friend of the show. Super awesome guy. I've spoke before about how - while my crew are all awesome - none of them share my compulsion to make images and letters, so it's always cool when I have a chance to talk shop with someone else who actually...shops? Kyle was that guy. Also, if you find yourself in the Iowa area sometime in June, you should check him out at the Des Moines Arts Festival.

-If you've gone to any conventions in the past few years, there's a good chance you've seen Z.M. Thomas' work. Just to name a few: Bible 2, Contagion, Abe the Aborted Fetus, Echos of Dawn...dudes kinda prolific. I've seen him at his table at pretty much every convention I've done and I've wanted to stop by, but I'm always stuck at my own table. I finally got to talk to him at C2E2 and he's pretty awesome. Check him out if you haven't already.

-Angel Onofre's table was positioned across from mine, so I spent the weekend fixated on one of his prints. It was (to describe it in a way that doesn't do it justice) Mega Man X and Zero ran through the Jon Kricfalusi filter. Dude's got a ridiculously fun, unique style to his work. Observe.

I WILL BE AT ACEN, BUT I WON'T

Anime Central is next weekend, and I'll there be helping Bryan and Mary at the Nakama Toys booth. I've helped at Nakama booths before at Louisville Arcade Expo and G-Fest, but I suspect this will be quite different. To prepare, I've been watching the Battle of Helm's Deep scene from LOTR over and over in a loop.

This, but with more cat ears.

For more information, hop on over to the Nakama Toys site.

I WILL BE AT WIZARD WORLD WHATEVER CHICAGO. FOR REALS

Fourth year in a row. It's in Chicago, I'm in Chicago. Might as well, yeah? Here's a poster:

My goal has always been to debut something new at every convention. For Wizard, it'll probably be...

IT LOOKS BACK #2 IS PRETTY MUCH DONE

The artwork and lettering is done. The next step is for Nicole to proofread it. Then I'll edit it, and get it off to the printer. I don't consider a book officially done until the physical copy is in my hand, so for now I'm considering it "all but done".

I think that's about it. I have a bunch of mini-projects to get into - errands is probably a better term - but they're all kinda vague right now, so I don't want to get into that yet.

something something. I'm out.
-jsb

C2E2: Jon Michael Lennon is an Internet Dracula

C2E2 is over and I'm almost recovered. I've got a lot of shit to process. Things I've learned, people to contact, schemes, projects, and whatnot. I'm going to write up a follow-up post shortly pimping out all the awesome people I've met once I get all my contacts in order, but for now I just want to knock out a few quick-fire tidbits and share a tale of unspeakable terrifying power.

This is Jon Michael Lennon:

I stole this photo from his Facebook. I have a print-out of it over my bed.

I met him back at Wizard World 2012. He is the mastermind behind Cheeselord Comics and overall awesome guy. He showed up at my table on Friday and I could tell he was coming because the entire aisle of artists greeted him. One thing you should know about Jon is he knows everyone. He is the linchpin that connects ALL OF MANKIND.

So he shows up at my table and we end up doing a book trade. I gave him a copy of IT LOOKS BACK #1 in exchange for the latest issue of his book, Product of Society. He eventually leaves and Nicole and I go about our con business, a little happier that we were able to catch up with him.

Sometime the next morning, he posts this on his Facebook:

Nicole shows me because I'm terrible at doing social media during cons and I feel a brief flash of what you humans call happiness. After all, it's nice to hear that someone likes something you created. More so when they decide to recommend it to others. It makes me almost feel like a real artist. Plus it's free advertising, so...yeah. I appreciated the gesture and continued on with my con-doing.

Probably about two hours later, a random guy approaches my table, picks up a copy of ILB, hands me some cash and says (and I'm paraphrasing here) "Jon Michael Lennon said on Facebook to buy this. Here is my money."

This kind of floored me and - after careful analysis and consideration - I have come to the only possible conclusion:

Jon Michael Lennon is some kind of Internet Dracula.

He posted a command on the internet. A person received it and obliged without question. He didn't ask me about the book and barely flipped through the preview copy. Free will was not a equation in this transaction.

Jon commands and we obey without question. The president doesn't have this kind of power. I still don't know if he should be worshiped or destroyed.

OTHER THINGS:

-Apparently I REALLY need to make Simon Corporation t-shirts. I've gotten this request a few times at previous cons, but I wasn't really sure it was worth pursuing. Based on the requests I got at this show, I suspect I'll be hunted down and beaten to death by an angry mob if I don't have something available at my next appearance.

-People dig the cover for IT LOOKS BACK #1, which makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. There were several requests for a poster version. I'm considering it.

-Kyle Anthony says I should get into traditional painting. So I'm going to. Because he said so.

-We're currently sold out of Wayward #1 and IT LOOKS BACK #1, which I think means I'm doing something right.

-Speaking of running out of things, all 250 business cards I had made for the show were gone by the end of the weekend. So if you're new here. Hi, I'm jsb. I write and draw comics when I should be sleeping. I'd like to one day do this for a living. I have no idea what I'm doing. I live in Chicago with my wife Nicole who is awesome. She keeps me out of jail. There is absolutely nothing else worth noting about me.

-I have a lot of contacts to make a props to send out, but that'll have to wait for another post.

S14

Despite the valiant efforts of the armies of man, C2E2 draws ever closer. The Simon Corporation will be there with plenty of spooky things for you to look at and/or read, including fresh-from-the-printers copies of Wayward #5 and the first issue of my new book IT LOOKS BACK. Finish one story, start a new one, dig?

Come by and say hi. I may even tell you a ghost story if you ask nice enough.

Specifically, I'll be at Artist Alley table #S14. Now, if you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that this is the part where I break out the map:

McCormik Place is a pretty big...uh...place. And as you can see it has multiple sections. Like a hydra, or something else equally terrible. You're gonna want to head to the West Building: Where Dreams Come True. Do not mistakenly go to the East Building: Where Dreams Die and whatever you do DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES go to North Building: Where We Do Weird Things With Your Butt.

Okay, here's the con floor proper. It's a dangerous place filled with goblins and bugbears. You're gonna need a fighter and a white mage that can cast healing spells at the very least here. If you have any bards in your party, throw them out now 'cause those guys suck. With your party of adventurers in order, you're gonna want to make your way to the DANGER ZONE, but don't go in yet. First you should swing by The Block for the Nakama Toys side-quest. Make sure you have a Bag of Holding as this side-quest is loot-heavy.

After you bravely conquered the Nakama Toys booth by drowning Bryan in cash, make your way to the northwest corner of DANGER ZONE. It's easy to find, just follow the aura of mystery and intrigue. Lower level adventures will have to make a saving throw against pants-shitting awesomeness every other turn at this point.

WELCOME TO DIE. Now you stand before me, foolish adventurers! I have at least 3 different forms and all the hit points, so prepare for a lengthy battle. I'm only weak against good conversation and buying my comics and prints, so engage in both in order to defeat me. Should you prove successful, you'll gain 2 levels and get the rare BATTLE AXE OF FACE-RUINING which deals +2 dmg against faces.

Can't wait to see you there!

Blind leading the blind

What's up? How you doin'? How about those things that happened? That was some crazy shit yo. Straight up cra-zy.

I'm currently neck-deep in IT LOOKS BACK #2. It's coming along nicely. Here's the cover:

I'm just now prepping IT LOOKS BACK #1 for the printer. Even though it's been done for a while, I wanted to make one last sweep of edits before I sent it off. Which brings me to the point of this post.

I've been toying with the idea of writing a series of advice posts here, regarding things I've learned, mistakes I've made, and mistakes I've seen other people make in this crazy world of making indie comics. I will always stand of the proud mantle of "I have no idea what the hell I'm doing" so don't expect greatness. These would be more minor things that may or may not help you if you're considering going down the same terrible path as I have. Today's topic is:

Consider this post irrelevant if the world ends this week.

I can't wait to for this week to be over so we can stop hearing about doomsday prophecies and Mayan calendars and what not. I've never bought into that stuff. Mayans tore each others hearts out to control the weather - a practice modern science has proved to only be about 25% effective. I don't exactly trust these guys to know when the world is going to end.

While I'm on this nonsense tirade, I've never understood the doomsday prepper crowd. Ya know, the guys that stockpile guns and twinkies and pogs in preparation for the end of the world. It creates something of a misnomer. I mean, "end of the world" implies complete and total annihilation - zero percent survivability. So why bother prepping? No flak jacket is going to help when the planet has been torn into numerous bite-size chunks and sent flying aimlessly into infinite cold void of blackest space. And if the "end of the world" event is survivable, and you're safe and sound with your bottled water and baked beans, then it's not exactly the end of the world is it? It's just a crappy thing that happened.

Unless you're Lord Humungus. Then, by all means, doomsday away.

Wow. I'm sorry. None of that had nothing to do with anything. I'm under the weather right now and my eyes are pooling with blood and my throat feels like I've been drinking gravel and I've been taking an atrocious amount of various cold medications, so don't expect gold from this post. There is a point to this entry, so let's stop rambling about whatever it was I was just writing and get to it.

THE POINT OF THIS POST.