Bit bummed out to learn Ray Bradbury passed away last night at the age of 91.

He’s one of the first “celebrities” I met at San Diego Comic-Con who was a household name to everyone. I mean, I would mention meeting George Pérez, Jim Shooter, Walt Simonson, Mike Zeck… even Jack Kirby and Stan Lee… and most (non-comics) folks would just nod and go “m-hmm. Cool.” But everyone knew of Ray Bradbury.

He was a grandfatherly figure who radiated an aura of marvel and charisma. What I remember most about Ray was his glasses, his voice and shaking his hand was like shaking a catcher’s mitt made out of fresh bread (instead of leather).

His sci-fi legacy in print and film is substantial. “Fahrenheit 451.” “The Martian Chronicles.” “A Sound of Thunder.” “The Twilight Zone.” “The Illustrated Man.” And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Speaking of icebergs, did you know he’s kind of responsible for Godzilla? True. He wrote a short story in 1951 called “The Fog Horn” which was made into a movie in 1953, “The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.” That movie — starring a surly dinosaur freed from an iceberg and groundbreaking special effects by stop-motion master Ray Harryhausen — impressed and inspired a couple of Toho movie producers. And the following year Japan released “Gojira.”

Here’s a pic of his autograph from 1986 (in the lower-right part). It’s on a comics backing board. Comics folks will recognize several (if not all) the other autographs by comics luminaries and legends. Sadly, Ray joins no fewer than four others on the board who have since passed away.

EDIT: Here are the autographs, L to R, reading down:
Steve Englehart
Don Arr Christensen
Julius Schwartz
John T. Totleben
Tom Orzechowski
Moebius
Gerard
Dave Sim
Phil Yeh
Tom Luth
Matt Wagner
Kevin Eastman
??
Rick Geary
Dave Stevens
Sergio Aragonés
Brett Breeding
Ron Frenz
Ray Bradbury
L. Lois Buhalis
Stan Lee

I don’t know why or how, but the stars must’ve been in alignment — the last couple of weeks were a crazy convergence of Cool Jerk media saturation.

• I was interviewed for a KPBS feature on San Diego webcomic creators (the other interviewee was Little Vampires’ Rebecca Hicks), conducted by Beth Accomando and camera work/production by Katie Euphrat. This originally aired on Friday, April 27, and was subsequently broadcast on KPBS radio and posted online. Beth and Katie were terrific and I’m really happy with the end result!

ALSO: if you jump to my Facebook page, you can see a time-lapse clip of me drawing Puppy and Armpit (requires Flash).

• A few days later, I showed up on a San Diego 6 (The CW network) San Diego Living morning segment spotlighting Southern California Comics and their big plans for Free Comic Book Day, May 5. Jamie Newbold (SCC’s owner) and I go way back, and I was happy to participate by holding a signing at his shop on FCBD. Thanks, Jamie!

• I can also be heard on an Austin, TX-based podcast, conducted by Timothy Danger of Old Man and Bitter Girl Productions. We met at the Staple! show a couple months ago. Tune in and listen to me say “um” a quarter-million times!

A couple friends of ours — Audra Ann Furuichi and her husband Scott Yoshinaga — recently fired up a Kickstarter fund-raiser to help produce volume 6 of their delightful webcomic, nemu*nemu. Briefly, Kickstarter is a way for people to “crowd-fund” a project by pledging money, and in return you reap some of the rewards. There are different incentives depending on the tier of your monetary support, so a $1 pledge gets you a “thank you!” while a $500 pledge gets you a whole buttload of goodies. The particular tier we pledged netted us a hardcover edition of the new book, plus a trading card, peel-off sticker, a mention on the “Thank you!” page and a nice sketch on the front flyleaf.

They met their goal and the fruits of their labors arrived in the mail this weekend, and it’s exceptional. nemu*nemu — Bestest Friends Forever is a handsome, full-color tome with a spot UV-varnished cover. And there are all sorts of extras within its 168 pages, like a character guide, sketches and story notes. The book design (by Scott) is as top-notch as Audra’s cartooning and storytelling (truth be told, nemu*nemu a team effort).

Audra asked me which of her characters I’d like sketched, and I suggested she take a crack at one of mine. I kind of forgot all about that, until Audra the book arrived.

And I nearly died.

This is the most adorable rendition of Puppy and Yuri I’ve ever seen. No small detail missed Audra’s eye, from Puppy’s bangs and Yuri’s widow’s peak to their trademark earrings. When I envision how Audra would draw the rest of Cool Jerk (like maybe for a handful of strips, if the planets should align), I get swoony.

nemu*nemu — Bestest Friends Forever is a limited run of 100 hardcover copies, and I think they’re all spoken for. But they do have soft-cover copies (and previous volumes) here. Highly recommended!

(Thanks again, Audra & Scott!)

Aw, you didn’t think I’d let WonderCon go by without a requisite photo recap, did you? FOR SHAME!

Let’s start with Megan Rae as Daenerys Targaryen — chowing on a horse heart — from HBO’s Game of Thrones. A week ago, I wouldn’t have had any idea who this was (Darlene and I binged on all 10 episodes over three days). And what’s funny is Megan did the exact same thing at the same time! I swear we weren’t in collusion! You might recognize Megan — she was a Dalek at SDCCI ’09.

Here’s Megara (from Disney’s Hercules) and Aang the Last Airbender. First time I’ve ever seen a Megara cosplayer… and about the 400th Airbender.

Here are some pals (L to R) — Michelle Mauk, who was tabling a few spots down from me. Deb Aoki, who was on assignment for About.com. You can also see Patrick Scullin of Super Siblings, standing next to the Cool Jerk table.

More pals — the never-not-hyperactive Little Vampires creator Rebecca Hicks and one-man, ogre-smiting army Daniel Davis of Steam Crow fame.

The movie version of the Avengers walked by.

Here’s the charming and delightful Sarah Straub and her husband Beau.

Dawww! What’s a comic-con without a little Star Wars crossplay action?

Mrowr! Male version of Cheetah, yes?

And probably my favorite cosplayer of the show — Darkwing Duck. Reasons? A) C’mon. DARKWING DUCK! B) She was totally into it. C) Her little gun smoked (OK it was probably water vapor). D) It was refreshing to not see a beloved kid-friendly character all slutted out. I’m looking at you, Booba Fett!

It’s true! Cool Jerk will be at WonderCon this weekend (March 16-18) at the Anaheim Convention Center. For the first time since I can remember, WonderCon has left its home in San Francisco and has laid down temporary roots in Anaheim. I understand this is only a 2012 thing; WonderCon will return to the Moscone Center in 2013. The good news is that it becomes a local (more or less) convention for Cool Jerk, but the bad news is that likely several thousand Bay Area-native attendees will not be making the six-hour drive to Orange County.

The last time I tabled at WonderCon was in 2010, before Cool Jerk Vol. 3: Bimboozled, Cool Jerk Canvas Panels, Cool Jerk OMG Color! Vol. 1 and my second 24-Hour Comic were printed (not to mention two new t-shirt designs). This means Bay-Area WonderCon attendees will see a bunch of new stuff at the table. Plus, I hope WonderCon’s Southern California presence attracts a bunch of folks who maybe otherwise aren’t able to attend San Diego Comic-Con. Either way, I’ll have all sorts of stuff to sell, and will be offering excellent convention-only discounts!

Here’s a map I whipped up to help you find me among the thousands of retailers, cosplayers and attendees. Hope to see you there!

This weekend (March 3 & 4), Team Cool Jerk will be tabling at Staple! — The Independent Media Expo. We’ll be splitting a table with amazing simian-centric illustrator Chet Phillips! YOU CAN’T MISS US!

We’re really looking forward to it because A) we’ve never been to Austin, TX (although I’ve been to Austin, NV), B) we’ve heard nothing but good things about the show — which has expanded to two days starting this year, C) we’ve heard the attendees have a voracious appetite for indy comics and self-publishing creative types, and D) speaking of “having an appetite,” Darlene and I will be poking around the Austin area for cool and unusual places to eat. On the list: The Junction House in Kingsland. If the house looks familiar but you can’t quite place where you’ve seen it, let me give you a couple of hints: Tobe Hooper. Chainsaw. Leatherface.

I can’t wait to infect the Lone Star State with Cool Jerk madness. Hope to see you there! (If you can’t make it but have a Texan pal who likes comics — tell him/her to head on over!)

Last week, Darlene invited Andrew Zimmern out for ice cream and gave him a signed copy of the 2009 Cool Jerk in which he appeared.

I regret that I wasn’t present for the ice cream social, nearly as much as I regret drawing Mr. Zimmern a much heavier fellow than he is in real life. (I apparently worked from a very unflattering source photo OR the PETA artist in the strip is a hack — you choose the excuse!)

Of course, there’s more to this story. At some point, Darlene will tell of the adventure she (and our friend Marie) had on her blog. Stay tuned!

(Thanks and XOXO to Darlene who hand-delivered the strip, shot the video and edited out his super-secret email address)

Since my checks evidently didn’t bounce, I can now share the official schedule of Cool Jerk comic-con appearances in 2012 thus far; Cool Jerk may attend a ‘con or two later in the year. (Any suggestions?)

Staple! • Austin, TX

March 3-4

We’ve never been to Austin or Staple! so we’re really looking forward to this little independent show. We’ve heard nothing but good things about the city, the people and the attendees’ appetite for comics.

WonderCon • Anaheim

March 16-18

This will be Cool Jerk’s fifth year at WonderCon! They moved the venue from San Francisco while the Moscone Center is being renovated, so it’ll be interesting to see who makes the pilgrimage down from the Bay Area.

Phoenix Comicon • Phoenix

May 27-30

Really on the fence about Phoenix Comicon. The last time I tabled there (2010) it seemed more like “early Halloween” than a place for people to buy comics. So I’m likely giving it a pass.

Denver Comic Con • Denver

June 15-17

Cool Jerk has never exhibited in Denver, either… and that’s probably because Denver has never had a comic-con before now! The inaugural Denver Comic Con looks to fill the comic-con void in the Rockies, drawing in people from several adjacent states!

Comic-Con International • San Diego

July 11-15

Ten years in a row for Cool Jerk, in the same spot as always (Small Press K10, next to the restrooms and vomitorium)!

GeekGirlCon • Seattle

TBD (October?)

In lieu of spring’s Emerald City Comic-Con, Cool Jerk will be attending the second GeekGirlCon in the fall (if they hold a second con — stay tuned).

So mark your calendars, put in vacation time, book those flights and bring your wallets!

So I was having a store signing when all of a sudden Zeejay shows up.

Yep, “Zeejay” is actually Zachary J. Simon, a long-time Cool Jerk reader and subscriber who won a contest I held a few months ago. The winner’s prize was a walk-on cameo in a Cool Jerk strip. Well, Zac has so much “friend equity” with Cool Jerk and has so many peccadilloes that I expanded his cameo into a full-fledged character. Then I blew his head off.

Luckily, Zac took no offense to his libelous portrayal, and stopped by my signing to shoot me in the head the breeze and buy a bunch of Cool Jerk shwag. Thanks, Zeejay!

Thanks also to Juan, Dan Horn (no relation), Danny and Rafael, who also bought some Cool Jerk books. And thanks to the crew of Southern California Comics — Jamie, Shawn, Matt, the other Matt and Sam — who were great hosts. And thanks to by better half Darlene for baking up a box of puffy, salted chocolate chip cookies for the customers and crew.

Tomorrow (Saturday, Nov. 26) is Small Business Saturday. Please do consider patronizing small businesses, including the Cool Jerk store.

You need to go to the website and register your American Express card in order to qualify, but the gist is: spend $25 or more at a small business with your AMEX card and you’ll get a one-time $25 reimbursement. Be sure to check their website for all the details. What we’re talking about is $25 in free purchases, basically.

Since $25 is the magic price, I’ll have the following specials available tomorrow only:

• Buy any three Cool Jerk books for $25 (regular price $30-$36)
• Buy any Cool Jerk book + a Cool Jerk t-shirt for $25 (even JERKEA, which retails for $20!)
• Buy any two Cool Jerk t-shirts for $25 (save $5-$15)
• Buy three Canvas Panels for $25 (that’s practically Buy One Get One Free!)*

Instead of rejiggering all the pricing on my store for this one day, just mention AMEX in the checkout (when it asks for Special Instructions) and I’ll honor the special pricing. I’ll issue a refund for the difference.

Thanks for making a difference!

*Regular shipping rates apply on all purchases