Well, I’m back and mostly recovered from another year and the Mother of All Cons: San Diego Comic Con. This was my ninth (yes, ninth!) year at the show, and it was definitely my most successful to date. I had the pleasure of sharing my table and hotel with the excellent Shaenon K. Garrity, creator behind the amazing and hilarious comics Narbonic and Skin Horse and her husband Andrew Farago, widely known as curator of the fabulous Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco.

This year we had an excellent location in the Small Press pavilion, right across from Oni Press, a position that destined us to compete and take advantage of the hordes that descended upon them for Scott Pilgrim! (I should know, because I was right there with them to pick up Volume 6!)

Preview Night kicked off excellently well, but by the of the day on Thursday I was coming down with a cold, which meant I had to take things easy in order to get through the rest of the weekend. So, I didn’t get to party quite as much as I would have otherwise liked, but I still had plenty of time to hang out with many friends I hadn’t seen in quite awhile.

One the highlights of the show was to see Jason Thompson again and pick up his gut-bustingly funny King of RPGs. Seriously, if you’ve ever done any bit of role-playing or table-top gaming in your life, you will totally appreciate this send up done in consummate shonen manga style. As Shaenon and Andrew can attest, it had me cackling! I also had the pleasure of dining with he, and Roger Landgridge, whom I also hadn’t seen in an age and is now pounding page after page of Muppet comics for BOOM Kids! Good on ye, Roger!

Somehow I also found the energy to crank out a few commissions, too, including a conceptual sequel to Anime Boston’s “Yom Yom Yom” silliness:

After pacing myself, loading up on Airborne and Sudafed, and I managed to plow my way through the five days of convention madness, and thanks to the help all the kind, interested attendees, end up breaking my sales records for every other show to date. It was fantastic!

Thank you everyone for coming by the table at the show. As always, I couldn’t do this without you guys!

Next: I rest. At least until Wizard World Chicago next month…

Time to draw!

You’ll find me in the Small Press pavilion at Table P14 along with the inimitable Shaenon K. Garrity of Skin Horse and Narbonic fame! I’ll have copies of all three PS books, art prints, and $10 ink sketches, too. Come by the table and see us while you venture the ocean of geekdom on the convention floor!

Update: Good news! No cash when you find us? I can now accept VISA & Mastercard on my iPhone, so worry not!

While I’m not used to having a full booth at my disposal, I think we’ve got a good plan. I’ll have my books, prints, and original artwork on display, while Shelli comes armed with a multitude of fan favorites of her very own.

Come and see what we cook up!

This year I tabled next to Comfort Love and Adam Withers, who do a fabulous comic called The Uniques. I may not be into superheroes usually, but their comic sure pulled me in while I was at 10,000 feet on the way home. Very good comics and worth the look.

They even took a stab at Kate and Mike!

I also got to hang out with my long-time friends from Madison. Studio Anti-Thesis was sporting some brand new volumes of their own, including Peter Leithen’s first complete volume of Deverish Also, Stacie Arellano’s Tribute Waters and Kim & Maciek Smuga-Otto’s new Merylion Factor story. Allie Vyle of Rain-Arc Rhapsody was also debuting her first issue of Whispers of the Divide. Additionally, there was time to spend with my friends Paul Sizer of Little White Mouse fame, Brion Foulke (Flipside), Jen Brazas (Mystic Rev), Brian “BMAN” Babendererde (Twilight Tangents), Alisa Kober, and Tim Broderick (Odd Jobs).

Here’s my setup, once again. Everything here fit in my luggage!* I’m pretty proud that I was able to schlep the prints stand on the plane in my backpack:

*Too bad it costs $60 to check two bags these days…

Despite my misgivings about taking too long doing commissions, it worked out just fine. I think the new pricing structure worked out as well as I could have hoped. I wasn’t able to accommodate everyone, but it all worked out in the end. I didn’t have my scanner, but thanks to my friends Maciekand Ray, who had some serious SLR cameras, I should get copies of all of big ones I drew.

One of my fans came by and offered me vintage pop! My brother and sister-in-law have often sung the praises of SKI to me, and I can see why. Way superior to Mountain Dew. Cane Suger and real lemon juice (complete with pulp!), and a serious caffiene kick. A+! I also got a bottle of elusive Moxie, but it met a bad ende before I could drink or photograph it. Dernit! Ms. Yuki from Anime STL came by to visit. Perhaps I will find time to draw her another portrait sometime!

These trips always take longer to recover from than I’d like, and trying to get back to drawing. However, keep your eyes peeled for a big announcement sometime real soon.

Of course there was plenty of cosplay to go around, including some of my favorites from Studio Ghibli: Princess Kushana, Master Yupa, and even Okkoto! I also learned that Master Chief is really the goddamned Batman.

Last, but far from the least I got to chat with a number of you, which is always a pleasure. And to top it off, I received this adorable, and completely unexpected piece of gift art on Saturday from Ellen “Kyote” Siergiej, who was working in the Art Show during the con. Thank you so much, Ellen! I’m very glad you enjoy the comic.

All in all, this was a unexpectedly awesome convention. Everyone was wonderful, the con staff ran the show smoothly, and sales were beyond all expectations. Thanks to everyone who came by the table! I always appreciate your support!

Next up: Travel to Chicago and C2E2!

Follow my Twitter for updates on my journey, and I’ll try to post a entry or two here when I can.

Now to prep for the big trip. I’m leaving on Thursday, and there’s still a lot to do. You guys ran me out of some prints, and I need to figure out exactly how many books I’m going to bring with me! Excitement!

This year I was accompanied by my friend Ellen, who helped out at the table and was an excellent assistant. In another first, she also cosplayed as Kate on Saturday! She even attempted the crazy bangs for that totally 80’s styling:

Awesome! Thank you so much again, Ellen! You were a great help, and your costumes were wonderful!

I also had a fantastic time hanging out with Brion Foulke & Jen Brazas, Shannon & Rich Townsend and Dave Lister while they crashed at my place. And on Saturday night we got together with fellow comickers Zack Giallongo, Steph Yue, Shelli Paroline, Braden Lamb, Stevie Wilson, Beatriz Bravo, and Pat Lapierre for dinner where we recreated The Last Supper:

(photo by Steph)

All in all this weekend was a tremendous start to this month of conventions. I’m really looking forward to the rest of them.

Next up: Tekkoshocon!

While Anime Boston will be a local show for me, the others will be taking me back into the Midwest. Considering I mostly recently hailed from Chicago, and my home town is near St. Louis, I have decided to make a road trip out of it. I’ll be leaving for Pittsburgh for Tekkoshocon a few days after Anime Boston, where I will be joined by my talented brother Kurt. After that, I will spend a couple of days visiting friends and family in Ohio and Michigan before arriving in Chicago, where I plan to stay for a few days on each end of C2E2, so I can visit a few more people. I will then make my way down to St. Louis and visit my folks before arriving at Anime St. Louis. Finally, I will make the two-day trek back to Boston, arriving just under three weeks after I left. In addition to visiting friends and family, I will also be taking time to do some research trips around the region to scout locations and take photos for scenes in the upcoming book. I may also drop in on a few comic shops and deliver a few copies of PS on the way. I will also be making frequent updates from the road, and I’ll let you track my progress as I go.

If you plan on coming to any of these upcoming conventions, please take time to come look for me. I’ll be at Table #53 (Row P) in Artist’s Alley at Anime Boston. Likewise, I’ll also in Artist’s Alley at Tekkoshocon, though I do not have my table assignment #, yet. Look for me at Haven’s Indy Island at C2E2. As a Guest of Honor at Anime St. Louis, in addition to a table, I will also be giving an art workshop and Q&A during the weekend.

I must admit I’m delighted to be invited to Anime St. Louis as a guest this year. While most of you know me as a Chicago guy, I actually spent my junior high and high school years in St. Louis’s Metro East (the IL side of the Mississippi), and the convention will be held only a couple of towns away from where I graduated. Quite honestly, I doubt I would be drawing comics if I hadn’t moved to that area, because it was there that I first discovered comic books, role-playing games, anime, and other geeky pursuits. So in some ways it feels as if I’ll be coming full-circle as I return next month, almost exactly 20 years after I first started drawing comics in high school.

So, when can you expect Paradigm Shift’s triumphant return? I decided to delay the launch of Part Four until after I completed this marathon, because it’s highly doubtful I’ll be doing much drawing while driving halfway across this beautiful country. I also promised myself I would not start drawing until I had a completed script in hand, and I intend to keep that promise. After launching this website at the end of February, I’ve been spending this month deep in the writing process, and hope to have a completed first draft of the Part Four script in hand before I leave, so I will be ready to start drawing again upon my return. Expect the launch of Part Four sometime in May. I’ll continue to post more daily artwork until it’s ready to go. Thanks again for your patience. I promise this season break will be worth the wait!