SPX and Comic Book Club

Man, this year is going by in the blink of an eye; I feel like I don’t have time to prep for anything. Anyway, this upcoming weekend, Sept 26th and 27th, is the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, MD. I’ll be down there with AdHouse Books.

I’m riding down with a wonderful carload of peeps–Charlie and Phil from IndieSpinnerRack, Mr. Wiggles creator Neil Swaab, and one of my favorite comics artists ever GB Tran. Here’s a small pic from GB, and no, this isn’t indicative of his usual comics work.

Also, just finished a commission for Adam Umak of the Half Hour Wasted podcast. It’s the Legion of Doom from the Challenge of the Superfriends cartoon. I managed to squeeze in Superman, Wonder Woman and Robin. It was a fun project.

Also, in early October, I’m gonna be a guest on Comic Book Club Live. It’s a fun show where they often get comics creators and comedians to talk about their projects. It’s hosted by Justin, Alex and Pete–a small crew of improvisers and comic book fans. They also have a vidcast called The Stack, which is a lot of fun. They gave me a short shout-out some time ago when JH was on its 3rd issue.

The show’s happening on October 6th, 8pm at the People’s Improv Theatre. Tickets are only $5. It should be a lot of fun.

So if you’re in Bethesda or NYC for these events, feel free to stop by and say “Hello!” Okay, lots of work today. Coolio.

 

JH Brooklyn Release Party

Wahoo! Last Saturday was a good time as Bergen Street Comics hosted the Johnny Hiro Brooklyn Release Party. I’d wanted to plan a release party, but my head had been frazzled as of late. At some point, Tom and Amy Adams offered to host the release, and it seemed like a good idea, just to take the responsibility off of me.

I was still feeling a bit out of sorts that day. But decided to treat myself to a sushi dinner, which made me feel much better. After dinner, I went into Bergen Street Comics and I instantly felt better. There was hip-hop, balloons, and plenty of sake and Hitachino white ale (my favorite Japanese beer). And soon enough, some very good people had showed up, good friends I hadn’t seen in a while.

I got to talk a while to John Davis at Bookazine, which was really nice. He introduced me to Stephanie from the Word bookstore in Williamsburg. Gina Gagliano from First Second Books dropped by. Thomas Turnbull, Jesse Post (my editor), and my good friend Opus came. There were a good amount of cartoonists there such as Neil Swaab who does the horrendously wonderful Rehabilitating Mr. Wiggles. Phil from the IndieSpinnerRack podcast. Dean Haspiel was there, though unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to talk to him. Grr, next time. One of my bosses and Mammel Magazine contributor Tom Forget stayed for a good deal of the party. And GB Tran who is probably working on what will become my new favorite comic. Amy Adams and I shared a shot of sake–she told me later that that was the point in which she started getting really drunk, I’m happy I got to be the enabler.

Afterwards, we went to a little dive bar across the street and hung out there for an hour or so. At the end of the night, I drunkenly walked home and fell asleep instantly. I met up with Jesse in the morning for breakfast, we did a drink tally. It turns out I drank 10 alcoholic beverages that night, Jesse had 12. It’s rare that I drink this much, but hey, how often to I come out with a book?

Anyway, thanks to all that came out and celebrated. I had a great time, and yes, my head is feeling a little less frazzled these days (albeit a bit more throbbish now). And a huge thanks to Tom and Amy Adams.

 

The Matt Fried Hour

*Whew.* Just got back from HeroesCon and boy, are my arms tired… FROM CARRYING COMICS! (Ba dum bum chee!) Sorry, that was a lame one. Forgive me, I got in at 3:30am. Luckily, I work from home today. My inbox is swamped with emails, and though I should get to them all, I thought I’d send out an event invite for anyone in the New York area.

I am gonna be a guest on a small live talk-show like theatre-event thing called The Matt Fried Hour. It’s at 9pm this Wednesday, June 24th. It should be a lot of fun. I hope to see you there.

Coolio. Now I gotta drink more water, though I could really use a good cup of coffee.

 

Story Pirates’ Found Show, MoCCA ‘09, and David Byrne

Damn, was it a good weekend. I’m exhausted, my liver is shot, my head is pounding. I probably need to drink more water. And I’ll say it again–Damn, was it a good weekend.

I got off work early on Friday, and after a quick nap, I headed out to The Story Pirates’ Found Magazine show. If you’re not familiar with The Story Pirates, they are a children’s-oriented comedy troupe. They were premiering their adult-oriented show based on excerpts from Found Magazine. I had seen small bits of this show before so I knew that I would enjoy it, but it far surpassed my expectations. I think it was just a small run to raise cash for their charity organization, but if you ever get a chance to see this show, I would highly recommend it. I hadn’t stopped quoting it all weekend, I’m sure Dylan’s quite sick of me.

At that point I was gonna head home, but decided last minute to head over to the Kareoke bar and meet up with ComicsAlliance’s Laura Hudson. I grabbed only one beer, but Miss Drunky McDrunkerson Hudson kept handing me Sake shot after Sake shot. And I do like my Sake. So I downed a couple of ‘em and sang Wild Wild Life. Also there was Top Shelf’s Leigh Walton, who sang There Is A Light That Never Goes Out. Just to warn you now, Leigh does a mean Morrissey, I’d think twice before taking him on in a Kareoke battle.

As I was walking home, who should pull up but the lovely Monica Gallagher (who makes the comics Boobage and Bonnie N Collide) and her arm candy Dennis–perfect timing. They were staying with us this weekend. So we had some catch-up conversation and soon headed to bed, or in Monica and Dennis’ case, aerobed.

I woke up early the next morning to help team AdHouse load in to MoCCA. Almost all of us showed up so it took no time. I met Jesse for breakfast where we finished putting together some mini-comics, and I headed back to the Armory.

MoCCA was really good, as I re-met a lot of old friends and made new ones. I had some people doodle in my sketch book, including the formidable GB Tran the the debonair Jamie Tanner. And, when I wasn’t running around all over the convention, I got to hang out a bit with Lamar Abrams and Chris Pitzer and the always gracious Lisa Pitzer. Everyone was really supportive of the new Johnny Hiro collection, which was incredibly heartwarming.

Afterwards, we went to Dewey’s and grabbed a drink. Some other cartoonists were there including GB Tran, Jamie Tanner, Neil Swaab, Charly LaGreca and a small boatload of others.

We headed over to Planet Thai. I think there ended up being around 30 cartoonists split among three tables. I was a table with, among others, Salgood Sam, Mr. Phil, SpanoMano, and ComicGeekSpeak’s Bryan Deemer. I could barely concentrate on any conversation as Charly and I kept making up pun-oriented dick jokes. At one point, Charly just turns to talk to me and when I hear him say “Hey, Fred,” I just start losing it, covering my mouth because I’m afraid I’m gonna spit out my curry.

After dinner, we headed to a bar (I forget the name) just under the Empire State Building–it was really gorgeous. Most of the night was spent with Monica, Dennis, Jesse, and Dylan talking about vulvas and Dr. Zizmor. I did get to meet Truth Serum’s Jonathan Adams, who was really awesome.

Afterwards, we headed over to the Limerick bar where I mostly hung out with Jeff dotdotSearch and Caitlin and Molly. At some point I had acquired Charly’s vest and it was decided I could rock it better than he could. We made gang signals with our fingers a good deal of the night, and soon enough it was time to head home.

The next morning Jesse, Monica, Dennis, Dylan and I grabbed breakfast at a nearby diner. It was really wonderful to have a nice slow morning before heading in.

Again, I got to see some really good people including Jim Ottaviani, First Second’s Gina Gagliano, Bergen Street Comics‘ Tom and Amy Adams, and Comic Foundry’s Tim Leong.

The day wound down, I said my goodbyes to everyone. Jesse, Jeff dotdotSearch, Caitlin, Dylan and I grabbed Indian food and went to a nearby bar. Conversations mostly centered around high-school relationships, which was fun to relive now that we’re older and not completely stupifyingly awkward about physical contact with the opposite sex. The night wound down, we headed home, and essentially, that ended MoCCA.

I came out with a pretty good haul. I’m most excited about T-Minus, which I didn’t know was coming out at all, so that was a really nice surprise. I also picked up the third issue of Brian Ralph’s Daybreak (my favorite horror-ish comics story). I’m also wicked excited about the new anthology from the IndieSpinnerRack kids, Awesome 2: Awesomer. Dylan picked up League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 1910, which I will have to snag from her. From AdHouse, I got Lamar Abram’s Remake and Mike Dawson’s Ace-Face. And Pope Hats, which looks beautiful (I will have to find out more about Ethan Rilly). Not a bad haul.

I woke up early the next morning and worked on my new comic project. It was nice to get back to the drawing table. Jesse came over, we worked together a bit. Then, Dylan and I met up with Thomas Turnbull to wait in line for the free David Byrne show in Prospect Park. The line was absolutely insane, and I’d be curious as to the head count. We never got in, but outside the show area, they set up huge screens. So everyone just sat outside by the screens and danced. It was really great. I really couldn’t believe how many people were there.

Afterwards, I went to a nearby bar to meet up with a couple friends. A tiny bit after I’m there, David Byrne shows up. At one point, I’m talking to Natalie, who is one of Mr. Byrne’s current backup dancers, and David comes up and talks to her. He is all smiles, and it’s really wonderful to see. And I’m just right there and it’s great and odd and great again.

After too many drinks, I stumble home and fall asleep.

I work from home today, which I feel very lucky about. And I’ll say it again–Damn, was it a good weekend.

 

the Johnny Hiro book

Man, I can’t believe I haven’t blogged about this yet. But yeah, it’s been about two weeks now since my comic book came out. Yep, Johnny Hiro {half asian, all hero} is finally available at your local comic book retailer or at amazon.com.

It’s a 200-page comic book, and runs about $15. I’ve worked about 3 years on it and am pretty exhausted. The good news is that I’m really happy with it and proud of it.

Also, my good friend Jesse Post and I worked on a small piece for the Awesome 2: Awesomer anthology from Top Shelf Comics. It’s edited by my good friends Charly and Phil from IndieSpinnerRack. It should come out in a week or so.

So yeah, big year.

I just got back from a week vacation in North Carolina, it was absolutely amazing out there. Back in Brooklyn, back to the drawing board. Rock.

 

I know, it’s kinda stupid, but…

 

Random JH Pages

Here’s a couple random pages from Johnny Hiro #4 an 5, which will be collected in the upcoming trade paperback, due out June. I’m pretty psyched at how the greys turned out, thanks to the wonderful Dylan Babb.

I never seem to get tired of drawing this city.

 

Control Alt Delete

Ugh. Odd couple days. Had an amazing weekend, won’t get into it too much. But met some great people and ran into one of my artistic heroes. So I’m flying high, right, and last night my computer just craps out on me. Like, completely won’t work at all. Can’t even turn it on at this point.

I’m not too panicked. I mean, they are able to retrieve info, right? I dunno. Keeping fingers crossed though. Gonna bring my laptop to the Apple store later today. Hoping we didn’t lose the greyscale for the Johnny Hiro trade. That would be disasterous and put us waayy off track. But, again, I’m just trying to stay calm and see what happens after I talk to the Apple people later tonight.

Was a bit frustrated though. Needed to make myself laugh. Made this pic.

 

Johnny Hiro 5, NYCC and 2009

Scanning pages. This is one of my favorites, from the end of issue 5. I’m happy to say that production is going well; Dylan is graying like crazy and we’re planning to have new comics out this summer.

As for now, as if I didn’t have a billion other things on my plate, I’m gonna be at New York Comic-Con. I’ll be sharing a small table with GB Tran (an amazing comic book artist who does stuff that I would do only much better than I could ever do it) and Jamie Tanner (who came out a couple years ago with The Aviary, a great eerie-and-disturbing-cute-and-fuzzy comic also from Adhouse Books). Stop by, say “Hi!”

Also, I’m gonna be better about the blog this year. I’m gonna lose 10-pounds this year. Actually, you know what? I might as well just copy and paste it. I was reading Dustin Harbin’s blog and he wrote this wonderful 2009 message. I hope this sentiment carries through a good deal of the year for a lot of us.

From Dustin’s post: Sexy New Year

“2008 was like a prostitute with a wart on her behind.

“If you caught her in the right light, and knew just where to look, she could be a good-looking woman. Sure. But 2008 was still a warty prostitute, after all. Was it circumstance that led her to this sad lot in life? Who cares–she infected us all with her warts. Gross, 2008. Gross.

“But look! Here comes 2009, walking through the meadow with the sun behind her, shining through her gauzy nightgown, so you can almost see the little blonde hairs on her leg. How could you not fall in love with this beauty? Can you not see yourself, with your head in her lap, and her fingers playing with your hair? Maybe she is reading you something, or telling a story from wherever it is she comes from. It doesn’t matter.

“2009 is so beautiful you can hardly stand it. She is the year you can’t stop mentioning to your friends, introducing her to everyone so they know the kind of year you are having. She is not the kind of year that makes you jealous–you know that she will always be your year. But she is so beautiful, and you love her so much, that you can’t help wanting to share her with your friends a little, even if it’s just for drinks once in a while.

“2009 is stretched out before you, arms over her head, half-asleep and smiling, indolent in the grass. You can see in her all the things you have been missing in other years. There is no rush: if you play your cards right, 2009 could easily become 2010, and so on. This could be the year you quit counting.

“Good night and good morning, 2009. I love you and look forward to getting to know you.”

 

CGS Supershow ‘08

It was 7:50 when Lenny and Jimmy Aquino picked up Charly and I at 41st and 9th. And that car ride down was a treat as we drove on fumes, almost rammed through a toll gate, stopped at McDonald’s and Dunkin’, and talked endlessly about Chick-Fil-A. Other conversation topics were Dave Sim, Popeye, subtleties of how race is portrayed in comics, and what we would be doing if we weren’t in comics or any other creative-oriented field. Getting into Pennsylvania was really beautiful; we were all kinda stunned by its hills with varying shades of green.

We got into the Reading Expo Center at around 11, and I set up at the Adhouse table with Chris Pitzer. We BSed the day away with Phil and Charly. That day I did one of my favorite sketches for Brian “Pants” Christman.

I also got to catch up a bit with Jamal Igle, who, as I was working on JH1, gave me some good advice with my comic. In the few times we’ve run into each other, I’ve very much enjoyed his company. And I’m excited for his upcoming run on Supergirl.

The CGS crew recorded a show and Charly did an amazing puppet show. I think it’s YouTubed.

After the show, Chris and I headed to the EconoLodge. It was a pretty amazing motel. In the bathroom, when I tugged at the toilet paper, the handle fell off the wall. Chris found that the batteries had been stolen from the remote and when he talked to the front desk, they replied “Usually they take the whole remote.”

Eventually, Chris and I went to the Works where we waited endlessly on burgers and fries. We played Air Hockey, Evil Dead 2 (my favorite game), rode virtual snowmobiles, and did some virtual boxing. Man, it’s been a long time since I went to an arcade.

Chris had driven all night to make it up here, so he ditched out on 3^rd and Spruce. Everyone from the Supershow seemed to head that way. I mostly hung out with Dave Wackter and Tony Mobilehome. I headed back to the good ol’ EconoLodge at around 2. A sleeping Pitzer managed to mumble “Lock the door behind you” as I snuck in.

The next morning, after Chris cleaned off the cigarette butts tossed at his car, we picked up some breakfast at the Wawa and sat outside the Expo Center. It was one of those perfect not-a-cloud-in-the-sky type mornings as we enjoyed our coffee and egg sandwiches. And while talking about–I dunno–healthcare, comics, and the like, we heard a “SCREEE… vrrr… vrrr… SCREEE” from the expo parking lot. Two beat up cars were just flooring it and driving in donuts, skidding ever intensely. Chris dubbed this the “Reading Drift,” which I loved. Soon enough, one of the tires busted, and both cars drove past us, one car with three inflated tires, banging up that last rim.

I sketched the day away at the expo center, picked up a few comics, watched impromptu nerd-boxing. And packed up.

Tony, Charly and I grabbed some dinner at Chili’s, and headed on back to New York.

It was a really nice weekend getaway. The highlight was definitely hanging with everyone from the CGS forums–Lenny, Paul, Mike Finger, Kevin Freeman, Wraithmaker, etc. And unfortunately, there were people I didn’t get to hang out with enough like Shawn from PKD, Lin Workman from BushiTales, and the Angry Gnome guys. Next time.

And incase anyone from CGS checks this out, thanks so much for putting this show together. We all had an amazing time.

Now I’m off to China for two weeks. Be well!