They're here!

My books and bookmarks came in! Once the mailer envelopes show up I can start sending out review copies.

Tell your friends (and your enemies) to buy a copy at www.BirdcageBottomBooks.com

I also got the good news that Diamond will be distributing my comics, so you will hopefully be able to find them at comic shops nationwide as well.

We found a new apartment in Brooklyn, so we'll be moving in on May 1st. I will now be officially running around like a chicken with its head cut off (speaking of, thanks to Bea Elliott for sending me TONS of slaughterhouse imagery to use as reference for my "Slaughterhouse" comic adaptation!).

Partied Heartily

I'm pretty certain that one of the only people who actually read this blog is my mother. She informed me that I haven't posted anything in a while. So, this post will be bittersweet for her. On the one hand, I AM posting something, but on the other hand there is mention of not one but two old mens' penises.

I went to the "I Saw You..." book release party at Desert Island on Friday. It was so crowded that I couldn't even reach into my pocket to get out my camera for a photo. They made little tiny buttons for the contributors to wear. Each button had an image taken from that artist's page. My button focused on the old butcher's penis (you'll have to buy the book to see what I'm talking about...please buy the book!!). The guy who was handing out the buttons (who was also one of the artists featured in the book) also had a penis on his button, so I wasn't the only one.

Now, for the mention of the second old man penis: When I sent out a mock-up of the book I'm self publishing (Old Man Winter & Other Sordid Tales) to a handful of other cartoonists that I admire asking for criticism, one of my favorite responses came from Kevin Huizenga. Among other things, he pointed out that the protagonist's penis was not properly age progressed. I actually took his advice to heart and added in some additional wrinkles!

Anyhow, the release party was a lot of fun, and I thank all of my friends that came out for it. It was freezing out that night, so I really appreciate the effort. Afterward, we were able to race back to my neighborhood to catch the last half of Dare Duke's show at Banjo Jim's. I bought his new album, and I'm happy to report that it's really really great.

I Saw You...Comics Anthology

A long long time ago, I saw that Julia Wertz was looking for comic artists to interpret their favorite "Missed Connections" posting on Craig's List (if you haven't ever browsed them, I HIGHLY recommend it...both heartbreaking and hilarious). It's a great idea, so I immediately drew one up and sent it in.

Originally it was just going to be a xeroxed mini-comic, but it has since been expanded into a book published by Three Rivers Press (a division of Random House!). Tons of great artists signed on to the project, and now I'm sort of embarrassed by my submission. If I'd known what was to become of this, I surely would have spent more time and effort, but oh well.

It just came out, so buy it on Amazon here or at your local comic shop. I think some of us will be signing books at the release party at Desert Island in Brooklyn on Feb. 20th, so c'mon out. You can see a list of the contributors here (Aaron Renier, Adam Kidder, Gabrielle Bell, Jeffrey Brown, Laura Park, Julia Wertz, Peter Bagge, Sam Henderson, Tom Hart, etc., etc.!)