Fo Realz

Has it really been over four months since I posted? Ridonk. Life has been super busy, but what's new?

I couldn't help posting tonight because something awesome just arrived in my inbox and I had to share. It is the first page of art from my first graphic novel, The Silence of Our Friends.

The artist is Nate Powell, who just won an Eisner last month for his own graphic novel (which he wrote AND drew), Swallow Me Whole. He was nominated for THREE, won one. He's all kinds of amazing.

I digress. So, this art. Page 1. It's the first of two hundred (!) pages that poor guy has to draw. It's a nice quiet opening and for me, is the first step in the book slowly but surely becoming real (hence the post title). Take a look:



In other news, I'm hip deep editing Shrapnel Vol. 2 which is going quite nicely. Len Wiseman (who directed/created Underworld and also directed Die Hard 4) has picked up Shrapnel for development in to a feature film, which is kind of a trip.

I'm also editing a new collection of a comic series called Jack The Lantern. It's been out of print for a while and it's being edited for the first time before it's recollected. It's been really interesting editing a book that's already been published because you have no input on story or art, you just have to work with what's already there. It's been both challenging and actually quite fun.

Speaking of fun, Kyle and I have been hard at work on the next Kirby Krackle album. Our writing sessions have been very fruitful and we've currently completed four songs with plenty more to follow, definitely hoping to have a minimum of 12 full songs on the next album, more if time & creativity allows.

Lastly, there's the ever-present Emerald City ComiCon. It's already been nuts, more pre-order booths than we've ever done before, if we keep up this pace we'll be sold out by the first of the year. Lots of great guests already announced and definitely more to come.

On a personal level, things have been great with Cheryl, finished a week of opera (the Ring of Nibelung) and will be heading to Europe next month, overall just been having a ball.

Also just finished painting interiors, so now every single room in the house is painted. There's some minor touch-up work to do, but it's looking really great and is motivating me to get some cool art framed and make it even more decorated up.

That's it for now!

The other side

You know what's great? Naps.

I've seriously never taken more naps than I have this week. My average day has consisted of going to bed by midnight, up at around 7 or 8, then around 2 in the afternoon I'll take a four hour nap. Rinse, lather, repeat. I've been feeling pretty drained this week (weird, right?), but I'm slowly getting back to normal. One thing I can safely say is that the 2009 Emerald City ComiCon was a HUGE success!

Speaking of the show, let me just say that my friends fucking rule. I've said it before, and it's definitely worth repeating, but I have the best group of friends on the planet. They're my friends all year around, but during ECCC time, those who step up, step up BIG. They bust their asses without complaint and make the show run like clockwork. I don't think I can ever express how truly grateful I am to them. Know this, the Emerald City ComiCon COULD NOT HAPPEN without them. Period. Thanks guys, you are the best.

Something else I've said before? I am super, ridiculously lucky. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of work involved in all the things I work on, but both on a personal and professional level, I feel well and truly blessed.

Personally, aside from my aforementioned friends, I have a great and supportive family that has always (eventually) been okay with everything I decide to do (such as opening a comic book store, starting a convention, moving out-of-state for work and co-creating a rock band, to name a few).

In addition, I've totally lucked out and have found an absolutely amazing girlfriend. She's smart, funny, talented & beautiful, and most importantly, also likes me as well.

In a couple weeks, I'll have been in my house for a full year. It's been great and I'm looking forward to finishing painting the downstairs in May. I foresee a painting a painting party in the future. Emphasis on party.

Professionally, ECCC turned out fantastic and I already have some cool things in the works for 2010. Kirby Krackle has been really taking off, played @ ECCC and we'll be heading out to NYC next week to play a couple gigs there too, then a trip up to Calgary and then it's all build-up to San Diego.

Four of the five issues of Shrapnel have come out, the book is doing very well and we're already working on the sequel which should launch by the end of the year, plus I'm editing a couple other books for them coming up. There's also huge news regarding Shrapnel (Hollywood-related) that will be announced at SDCC, super exciting stuff.

Nate Powell, the artist for the graphic novel I co-wrote, just got nominated for THREE Eisner awards. Something I wrote, being drawn by an Eisner-award nominated artist. Weird.

The secret video game project is still moving forward, glacially slow, though there was some great progress recently at GDC. Between that project and two other unannounced projects, 2009 is shaping up to be a busy year.

That said, I'm definitely trying to handle my post-ECCC time differently than last year. I'd really like to take more time to hang out with my friends, go on interesting dates with my girlfriend, catch up on some TV/movie watching, travel and especially relax.

The relax part should be a little easier as well, I've started to learn to say 'no.' This may not seem like a big deal to you, but trust me, it is to me. The problem I run in to is whenever I get approached about working on something cool, even when I have a ton of other things on my plate, is that I generally say 'yes,' because really, who doesn't want to work on cool shit? The problem lies in the fact that I then get overloaded with work, and even though it's cool stuff to work on, I spend all my time working.

So, for the rest of this year, unless it's already in the works or is ridiculously awesome, the answer is gonna have to be 'no.' We'll see how it goes!

So...

I had an entirely different post written and decided to scrap it because I felt it leaned in to woe-is-me territory.

But life is grand - I have a roof over my head, good friends, an awesome girlfriend, work is going great, the convention is around the corner and it's gonna rock, and things are just generally tops. So fuck it, what is there to complain about?

Turns out: nothing.

So that concludes another awesome blog post.

New York Comic Con

was awesome. I don't have time to write up a full recap, but Kyle did a great job of it over at his blog. Enjoy!

Tokyo!

No secret that I'm a fan of director Michel Gondry, so it's cool to see the trailer for his new film (well, 'his' is not exactly correct as he's one of three directors) called "Tokyo!" Looks really interesting:



Thanks to Paul for sending me the link

Webcomics Weekly #52

Ever wish you could hear me talk for over an hour about conventions, comics & more? Well, boy howdy, do I have a treat for you!

Scott Kurtz, Dave Kellett, Brad Guigar and Kris Straub invited me to be a guest on their very fine podcast, Webcomics Weekly (Episode #52).

It was a lot of fun to do, if you click through to hear it (or find it on iTunes for free), I hope you enjoy it!

Kirby Krackle debuts

That's right boys and girls, after over a year of work, our self-titled debut album featuring 10 songs of unabashed nerddom is on sale as of today!

You can download it at Digstation, or order a physical CD (featuring the bomb artwork above by Jim Mahfood & Justin Stewart) by visiting the kirbykracklemusic.com. You can also stream all the songs on the site to check 'em out!

For all the local peeps, check us out at the KIRBY KRACKLE CD Release Party this Saturday, January 31st, which is part of a day of awesome at the Comic Stop in Lynnwood. The day starts off with a signing by superstar-artist Mike Oeming (from 1pm-4pm), and then KK will be performing the entire album starting at 4:00!

I'd love to hear what you think of the songs so feel free to comment or drop me a line!