HODABEAST IN STORES SOON!
Indeed, Cool Jerk allies and sleeper agents! Soon you’ll be able to get your very own copy of my first book Hodabeast AT YOUR LOCAL COMICS SHOP! It’s true, these things I say! But here’s where you have to get involved: You need to go to your local comics shop and ASK THEM TO ORDER A COPY OR TWO! Hodabeast is on Page 285 of the September Diamond Previews catalog; orders from this catalog will be filled for November distribution! Just in time for the holidays!

Seriously, friends. It’d be sooo awesome if you were to nudge that comic shop owner to order a couple/few copies. And also because, hey — this is what I do for a living! =;^)

I’ll start of with some Wil Wheaton action. He’s got a great blog and is a nice guy in person. Those be his devil horns, tho.

Bear with a gun. That’s all I know.

That’s the Owlship. You may be confused now, but come May 2009 you’ll thank me.

Here’s Kevin Pereira and Olivia Munn (G4’s Attack of the Show) interviewing a Catwoman.

My tablemate to the north was — once again — the lovely and hilarious Jose Cabrera of Crying Macho Man.

Across the main hall you could find Phoenix’ own Daniel and Dawna Davis of Steamcrow. They’re good friends and wicked(ly) talented.

Here’s my friend Shay with both Cool Jerk books! She’s dressed as a character from “Venture Brothers” whose first name is “Molotov” and the last name isn’t “Cocktail.”

Here’s consumer whore Eric Kocol with a terrific t-shirt. He had to swing by to get Chickadoowa.

There’s Robert Culp (white hair, seated) and William Katt (foreground) from “The Greatest American Hero.”

Here’s the XY chromosome variant of Power Girl. My friend Earthdog calls this “crossplay.” Power Girl was really nice and fun to talk to.

Another example of “crossplay,” here’s the XX chromosome variant of Booster Gold (holding Skeets for good measure).

“Wonder Twin powers… ACTIVATE!” Where’s that damn monkey with the bucket?

Hamster! This pocketful of cute was created by Jodi Kurland.

Trianna. “Venture Brothers” is exceptionally popular this year. Pretty much every recurring character was memorialized in costume.

Now this was one of the most-unexpected costumed couples I’d seen at the show. Bravo, guys. Very Professional.

Hello, Kitty! Hello, Kitty Pryde! Hello Cat(woman)!

Black Cat & Punisher looking to open up a can of vigilante whoop-ass.

Here I am personalizing a copy of Chickadoowa for someone. And by “someone” I mean “a lucky bastard who bought this book!”

Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., making the streets safe for Americans, dammit!

Nick Fury giving the “V for Victory” sign after blowing away a bunch of Hydra operatives.

That’s me and James Sime at the USAToday Pop Candy Meetup. He’s a gent. His comic shop Isotope is the crown jewel of San Francisco.

And here’s the hostess with the mostess, Whitney Matheson. She invited me (and nine other cartoonists) to participate in the first-ever Pop Candy Twitter mini-comic!

Can you find Shrek in the crowd?

“So what’re you going to dress up as for Comic-Con?” “Oh, I don’t know… I was thinking TETRIS.”

And here’s Plastic Man. Dude! What’s with the reach-around?!?

Hey, all you multimedia mavens! I was interviewed at my table by the folks at Square TV, and they put that bad boy online! Check it out!

It’s almost like being at Comic-Con, but without bespectacled, bearded manchildren plowing into you in hopes to snap a picture of some gal walking by dressed as Vampirella!

As per usual, here’s the SDCCI ’08 recap, complete with photos and linkylinks! It was so fun, I wish it were every weekend! I’d like to say thanks to everyone who came by the table and spent some time checking out the ‘Jerk (yeah, I mean me). There are too many to name but I’d like to do a shout-out to Earthdog, Alex Gamboa, Zachary Simon, James Hicks, Todd, Jamie Lim & Bethany Jordan (the ladies couldn’t make it but each sent an emissary to pick up the new CJ book), Richard Foley, Tucson Richard, Dari, Randy, Erik, Tim O’Connor, Matan, Tara & Chris, Clay, Jay, Lonnie, Duncan, Lacie, Steve Yatson, Marc Mason, John Layman, Eric, Keith Garcia, Armando, David Poller, Arturo, Kim the catgirl (and her mom), Elisa, Mary, Alan and the ever-growing Poway Posse (Ben, Joseph, Barry, Mack & Shay). Also to the “mystery gal” who bought the new book on Saturday when I wasn’t there! And of course it was great to meet/visit with/consume foods with Daniel & Dawna, JustJenn, BeaucoupKevin, SnarkyDork, Sister Mary Shovelface & Superfro, Jose & Naomi, Ryan & Candace and Jacie. And thanks most of all to the other half of Team Cool Jerk: Darlene!

I wish I could name all of you who came by to chat, get sketches, buy t-shirts or just stand and stare at me uncomfortably… but my typing hand just blew a gasket. Thanks to all — mentioned or otherwise — for being part of the best Comic-Con so far!

I’m one of 10 indy cartoonists hand-picked by the charming and delightful Whitney Matheson for her first-ever Pop Candy Twitter Comics! You know her love for pop culture from reading her popular USAToday’s Pop Candy blog, and she had this idea to make comics out of some of her weirder Twitter tweets. Saturday evening she held a San Diego Comic-Con Meetup at the Marriott and unveiled this accordion-style mini-comic to all attendees who RSVP’d.

Didn’t make it? See the comic and all the cartoons here!

San Diego Comic-Con International is this week (July 23-27) and IT SOLD OUT! If you’re one of the lucky quarter-million who’ll be there, here’s the low-down:

&#149 Debuting at SDCCI: the SECOND Cool Jerk collected edition Chickadoowa! OMG! This is the good stuff, Maynard! Fresh off the presses, Chickadoowa contains more than 200 strips, but here’s the kicker: more than A QUARTER of them are ALL NEW and HAVE NEVER BEEN SEEN BY HUMAN EYEBALLS! It’s true! Plus, it contains all the fun extra stuff you’ve come to expect from Hodabeast (Cool Jerk Vol. 1) like sketches, outtakes, director’s commentary and an index! Each book is $12 for hours upon hours of laughter and enjoyment!

&#149 Also making its San Diego debut is my 24-Hour Comic starring Doc Splatter! It’s the printed version of the comic I created last October (24 pages of comic written & drawn in 24 consecutive hours). What’s extra cool is that it directly ties in with Chickadoowa so you’ll HAVE to get one! It’s a mere $2 — less than .09&#162 per page!

&#149 If you’ve been to my table before, good news! Team Cool Jerk is in the exact same spot as the past five years! Here’s a little map I whipped up while you were shaving.

&#149 Team Cool Jerk will also have T-shirts, mini-comics, stickers, button packs, window decals and other effluvia for sale!

&#149 As always, I’m more than happy to junk up your sketchbook with some awesome pencil-and-ink action! Donations to the HornCo Fund are appreciated, of course. =:^)

…but this week’s Cool Jerk will arrive clandestinely sometime this weekend. I spent the better part of today hammering out the minutia of Chickadoowa (Cool Jerk Vol. 2) with the printers. You might be wondering, “Hey! I thought Chickadoowa was at the printers in China for the past month!” Well, that fell through because China didn’t kick down a proper printer’s proof (aka “blue line”). In the time it took for them to get me one, the deadline would be blown. So I’m going local.

RR Donnelley is handling the printing and I’ll have the privilege of being there on-site to check quality pre- and post-press! I’m actually really excited. Yeah it costs more than the China option but the lack of stress is worth it. Thanks to Natasha Lewis (my printing rep) for putting as much importance on this book as I am.

Chickadoowa. San Diego Comic-Con International. Synchronicity.

A-hulh-hulllh!

Our Man Horn has a two-page spread in Wizard Magazine 199 (May, ’08), on sale today!

It’s a street-level map of Manhattan in the Marvel Universe, pointing out all the landmarks found there (Baxter Building, Stark Tower, Avengers Mansion, etc.). It was a lot of fun to do and it reproduced perfectly! The whole thing was done in FreeHand, then converted to Illustrator (blech!) for the Wizard production people.

So be sure to pick up a copy today, and write Wizard and tell them how much you love my graphics!! =:^)

WonderCon! Cool Jerk will be chillin’ in San Francisco’s Moscone Center South Friday through Sunday, February 22-24, 2008. It’s true, these things I say! I’ll be in the Artists’ Alley, surrounded by creative freaks, cartooning miscreants and their ilk. If you’re within a 1,000-mile radius of the Bay Area, drop everything and swing by to say “Hi!” More importantly, surrender some folding money on reasonably priced Cool Jerk merchandise, including my book Hodabeast, T-shirts of many varieties, Cool Jerk button 5-packs, mini-comics and other goods you can’t possibly live without!

Plus, be the first to see the pre-press proof of the second volume of Cool Jerk, “Chickadoowa!” Like its predecessor, it’s 144 pages of comic genius! And — as always — I’ll have some freebee stuff at the table, too. Hook the kids with a free sample, get ’em addicted, make the sale. That’s what I always say.