This week marks Cool Jerk’s 12th year of tabling at San Diego Comic-Con International! That’s just CRAZY! Remember way back to the early 2000s when all I had were buttons and ashcans?

Well, I’m bringing ashcans back — Cool Jerk Sketchbook v2.0! I haven’t done a sketchbook since 2007 so I figured it was due time. It’s the best $3 you’ll spend at the show, but you can get it free with any purchase of $20 or more! Do you like original, one-of-a-kind artist sketches? I’ll have a small handful of blank-cover variants for $10, and you get to choose something/someone for me to draw on the cover! Or hell, take it to another artist for a sketch. I don’t mind!

Many ‘con regulars missed last year’s show, but don’t worry, friends — I got your back. I’ll have all my Cool Jerk collections on hand — literally — including last year’s lovely Thinkulus (Cool Jerk Vol. 4). As always, I’ll be running my special comic-con discounts because damn, you already had to pay mass bucks for tickets, right? Figure I could help you recoup a few $$.

Folks just love these, so I’ll also have several new Canvas Panels debuting at the show! A mere $15 a pop for hand-sized artwork, suitable for any room in the house!

I also have all the other items you could ever possibly want:

• T-shirts in a variety of styles, fits (M or F) and sizes!
• Sharpie original art breakdowns for $3-$5? CRAZY!
• Stickers, buttons and the like!
• As ever, sketches are free!

Here’s a map I made while you were at Office Depot buying poster tubes.

We’re in the same spot we’ve always been, Small Press K10, right by the communal baths/vomitorium/emergency cosplay repair stations.

Find us on Twitter — @cooljerk and @darleneeats. We’ll be live-Tweeting throughout!

See you there!

Please — for the sake of all that’s holy — don’t eat at the convention center during San Diego Comic-Con!

Darlene’s full write-up (including photos and some breakfast extras) here.

Denver Comic Con’s third convention was another one for the win column. Attendance grew yet again, cresting somewhere around 86,000 (up from 61,000 in 2013). That’s awesome and one of the reasons Denver is one of my favorite shows — you guys love your comics.

Due to scheduling conflicts, prior commitments and travel delays, I didn’t arrive until late in the day Friday, which double-sucked because Denver Comic Con made Friday a full day (previous years it was from 6-10pm). So I was only there for about a half-hour, but still managed to sell some stuff. On Saturday I had help from long-time friend Monica, who acted as a guest member of Team Cool Jerk in Darlene’s absence. Sunday went by too fast and I came pretty close to selling out of Hodabeast and Chickadoowa, and I would have if I hadn’t brought extra inventory. Thanks, Denver!

And now, onto the photos!

I guess I’ll start with Hawkman and Hawkgirl, who had the best Thanagarian costumes at the show.

This gal was a total Brainiac.

Selfie with Godzilla. He was actually several hundred feet tall; this was just a foreshortened angle. Swear!

Here’s my assistant Monica, one of the few times she was at the table and not buying a Brews Wayne beer for her blog.

That’s a hella-bitchin’ Hela and Loki I ran into outside the ‘con.

I’ve been to scores of comic conventions over the past 30 years, and I can’t ever recall seeing anyone cosplay the New Mutants, especially Mirage and Warpath. Bravo, you guys!

Also, this would be the first Invader Zim cosplayer I’ve ever encountered. Bonus points for the antennae.

Donna Troy aka Wonder Girl took some time away from her fellow Teen Titans to show off her guns.

I wish this was in better focus (damn iPhone), but here’s the cast to The Tick.

The ever-delightful Isabelle Laursen as Firestorm the Nuclear (Wo)man. My, how your corona has grown!

This giggly trio of Car2Go ambassadors were amazed that I had a Car2Go card in my wallet. I was amazed that they hand-made their costumes (the photo doesn’t do it justice, but the little cars they’re wearing are really well done)!

And I’ll end with Reed and Sue Richards (aka Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman). I don’t know how she did it, but her costume was mind-blowing!

As required by Colorado state law, Cool Jerk will again be exhibiting at Denver Comic Con this weekend, Friday-Sunday (June 13-15). This is both Denver Comic Con’s and Cool Jerk’s third year and I’m really happy to be a part of it!

Since last year’s DCC, I released Thinkulus (Cool Jerk Vol. 4) onto the world. I’ll also have more than 4 dozen varieties of my Cool Jerk Canvas Panels, a sure-fire crowd-pleaser! Beyond that, expect all my other books and some other cool odds and ends at the table. My sketches are always free so don’t forget your sketchbook!

Since I’m flying to this convention, I can only pack a modest amount of books. Last two years I had sell-outs by show’s end, so here’s a PRO TIP: Buy early!

Here’s a map I whipped up. Come find me at B17 in Artists Valley!

Denver Comic Con consistently amazes me with its collective passion and enthusiasm for comics and pop culture. I hope to see you there!

(continued from part 1)

Maggot’s unnamed friend has a complex origin, dating back in time to January, 1992. My friend Bob Adams and I were tapped by a Reno sporting goods store to develop some recurring characters for a line of t-shirts, posters and the like. Bob — a cartoonist I hired for the UNR Sagebrush years earlier — and I developed four female characters: Ghetto Skate Queen Kanice Lavine™, Snowboard Goddess Pogonip™, Shitatsu the Roller-Hockey Ninja™, and Larva Girl™, a roller derby tomboy.

In these sketches that Bob and I produced, you’ll see a familiar icon… the same “GRRR! face” icon that was always present on Maggot’s unnamed friend’s tank top. The sporting goods store didn’t pursue the t-shirt idea because if memory serves, they fell on tough times and went out of business. So those four characters remained as concepts only, squirreled away in my portfolio for 20+ years.

(The concepts for these girls didn’t completely die on the vine, though. At the time, I hadn’t yet reintroduced Like, For Shore! mainstays Maggot or Chippie Tenderloin into Cool Jerk. In 1994 I brought up Maggot’s androgyny for a short series of strips where — at the end — Maggot was christened “Larvae Girl.” And when I reintroduced Chippie as Yuri Tomato in 1995, I mentioned she was in the Spittle Beach roller hockey league.)

I mentioned that Bob was a cartoonist. Yep, he created a universe of characters and named his weekly strip “Action Comics,” which debuted in the UNR Sagebrush in Jan. 1989 while Bob was still a senior at Reno High School. We became fast friends and ended up spending a lot of free time drawing people at the malls and on campus, honing our cartooning skills and eating lunch at Port of Subs. We’d even drawn each other’s characters and mused about a “blended universe” where he could draw Doc Splatter with his characters, and vice versa. One of Bob’s myriad characters is Mokey™, a teenage skateboarder. While it wasn’t 100% my intent to have Maggot’s friend be Mokey™ from the very start, there’s no denying that “Maggot’s unnamed friend” is a spitting image of Mokey™: the age, build, haircut, skateboard, shorts and tank top (but with the “GRRR! face” icon).

Bob and I drifted apart after I moved to San Diego and he moved to Utah. During that time, Bob published two comic books— “U.S. 395” and “The Saga of Rusty Plates.” We’d since reconnected briefly via Facebook a few years ago (he’d returned to Reno and was working as security at UNR) but lines of communication dropped again when he deleted his Facebook profile.

Last autumn (2013) I received an email from Bob Adams’ aunt, who told me that Bob had died in February. She sought me out specifically because in Bob’s stacks of sketchbooks, drawings, art studies and comics, my name and characters kept showing up. I was — and am — shellshocked. Bob’s death has weighed on me for many months and I felt I needed to memorialize his work and passing. So I put forth a plan to make the big reveal that “Maggot’s unnamed friend” was Mokey™, and that Mokey™ was not from around these parts. In fact, Mokey™ is from a parallel universe — Bob Adams’ universe.

Here’s a drawing of Bob’s where he assembled his Action Comics characters and my Like, For Shore! characters (plus Doc Splatter and the ever-vomiting Timmy). I’m still having a rough time wrapping my head around the loss of Bob. Though he was a few years younger than me, Bob was one of my major “real-life” influences on my cartooning art style, not to mention his sense of humor and passion for ’80s action movies. While we never got a chance to collaborate on a comic, I intend to pay my respects to Bob throughout the year. So keep reading Cool Jerk to see those stories unfold.

Peace out, Bob.

When this year was barely a week old, I’d decided it was time to shake up the very foundation of Cool Jerk. I had four goals in mind:

• Focus on some of the b-list characters that never carry storylines on their own,
• Give Maggot a “make-over” (so to speak),
• Introduce and eliminate a character from Cool Jerk, and
• Pay respects to a friend who passed away last year.

And with the culmination of the 5-month Maggot/Mokey™ odyssey, I’ve done exactly that.

First, I wanted to focus on the b-listers. Despite Maggot being featured on the cover of Chickadoowa, I always considered him/her a b-list character — someone who never had enough gravitas to carry his/her own story aside from general punkass hi-jinks and being a target of retaliation. With the addition of Maggot’s unnamed friend (more on him later), Dangerman, Seashelly Dumpster, Pokéyman and Ah-Kan Dahak, suddenly I had a new cast of characters to write, even though most of them are Cool Jerk veterans of 20+ years.

Maggot appeared in the very first Like, For Shore! (my college comic strip that beget Cool Jerk) on Sept. 1, 1987, along with Armpit, Puppy and Manhattan. I’ve had in my mind ever since reintroducing Maggot in Cool Jerk (Jan. 30, 1993) that his/her shtick would be gender ambiguity, which he/she would use for the following 21 years as a defining character trait. There’s even a pencil sketch of “female” Maggot in Hodabeast, which published in 2007. So at the very least, I’d been thinking about the “Maggot make-over” story for at least seven years. Once I saw a commercial for Axiron — and its side effects disclaimer — I knew I had to give Maggot the bewbs. The big reveal: Maggot is a girl.

Also debuting in the same 1993 strip with Maggot is “Maggot’s unnamed friend,” as he’s been known for more than 20 years (even getting index entries with that name in all four Cool Jerk books). It wasn’t until this storyline that I decided to reveal his name, who he is and then retire him indefinitely.

Next: The sad story of Mokey™

This Saturday (May 3), I’ll be participating in FREE COMIC BOOK DAY at my favorite San Diego comics shop, Southern California Comics in Clairemont Mesa. I’ll be there peddling my wares… and in keeping with the spirit of FCBD, I’ll be offering a BUY TWO GET ONE FREE with every book, t-shirt or canvas panel purchase! Mix and match!

I won’t be the only local comics creator there, either. It’s going to be like a mini comic-con! SCC’s owner, Jamie Newbold, is pouring a lot of magic into this event so please come by and buy some comics, get some free comics and get some lunch — they’ll have not one but TWO food trucks on site! Plus, they’re cross-promoting with their neighbor Societe Brewing for beer specials! Food, drink, comics… how about some music? He’s got ya covered. Digital Lizards of Doom will be performing live!

It’s all day, from 9am-5pm. I’ll be there bright and early. Bring your appetite and some sunscreen!

Southern California Comics is kind of tough to find if you haven’t been there before… so here’s a map!

About a year ago, there was this thing going around on Facebook where people were doing some sort of version of Pay it Forward where you were supposed to leave a comment on someone’s wall and then they’d send you something awesome. I posted a satire — Pay it Backward — asking people to send me something awesome and I’d repay them with a blog post.

Well, a few days afterward I received a huge envelope in the mail. It was from my buddy Nathan Pierce, whom I’ve known for years as one of the “Poway Posse” — a rag-tag group of high-school hooligans Darlene and I met at the first year we had a Cool Jerk table at San Diego Comic-Con.

The contents of the envelope are above, and it came with a note. I shall paraphrase and guide you through the exhibit.

• The first thing you’ll likely notice is the dinosaur drawing. I’ll save that for last. But on top of that drawing is a Gandalf for President button, courtesy San Diego Comic-Con.
• On the right is a Reader’s Digest that Nathan bought at London Heathrow after spending several weeks backpacking through Europe and studying abroad. He says the Princess Di story caught his eye, and was apropos of the location.
• South of that is Darwin Awards II, a mainstay read through high school proving influential on his sense of humor.
• There are two poker chips from Las Vegas. I’m not certain if they have any cash value… but I’m encouraged to find out! VEGAS, BAY-BEE!!
• A modest stack of baseball cards, which is a fraction of Nathan’s collection (along with poker chips, apparently a hobby that’s fallen by the wayside of late).
• A Hard Rock Café shot glass. I initially thought it would’ve been from La Jolla but I couldn’t be farther off. It’s from Maui. Instead of collecting shot glasses as mementos of his travels, he now opts for postcards.
• There’s a Home Alone Game Gear cartridge there, holding open a little hardcover book on how to make shadow puppets. Nathan says he used to play the Home Alone game all the time as a kid, but the book was given to him by a former roommate.
• The dinosaur drawing was drawn by Nathan’s friend Joe DiAnna, who, as a fellow founding member of the “Poway Posse,” is also one of my friends for more than a decade. What’s weird is that from the first glance I immediately knew that Joe was the artist. The story behind the drawing involves a midnight run to Mexicali, drunken debauchery, some gunplay and a bet. Or San Diego Comic-Con. Nathan was kind of sketchy on this.

So anyway, there you have it. Today is Nathan’s birthday and I think it’s a good a time as any to fulfill my obligation and post this tale for all to see. Thanks again, Nate! I’ll dedicate my upcoming episode of “Hoarders” to you!

Title pretty much says it all. Now’s the time to shop at the Cool Jerk store because I’m offering FREE SHIPPING on Cool Jerk books, t-shirts and canvas panels all January long!

There’s one condition, though: I can only offer free shipping to U.S. addresses. Truth be told, I always take it on the chin when I ship to Canada, Mexico or overseas. Sure, I try to keep the rate down but I can’t sell a $12 book and pay another $12 to send it. That’s the cost of doing business, I guess.

You can get all my books on Amazon, and maybe your order will qualify for free shipping. But if you order directly from me, your book will be personalized to you with a drawing and I’ll probably include something else as an extra. That’s something Amazon can’t do.

So please take a look. Thinkulus (Cool Jerk Vol. 4) is my latest book and it’s pretty spiffy. Some of my favorite comics are in there, and you’ll be gobsmacked at how crisp the art looks in print! More details here!

Thanks for your support and helping me live the dream!

Tomorrow (Saturday, Nov. 30) 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 $10 or more at a small business with your AMEX card and you’ll get a one-time $10 reimbursement. Be sure to check their website for all the details. What we’re talking about is $10 in free purchases, basically.

Last year I encouraged folks to buy from me (thanks, everyone!). This year, I’m paying it forward. Here are some other Small Businesses owned and/or operated by friends of mine:

• Get some comics and trade paperbacks at Southern California Comics (8280 Clairemont Mesa Blvd. #124, San Diego; 858.715.8669). Tell owner/comicsologist Jamie Newbold that Cool Jerk sent ya!
• Get some artworks at Steam Crow (online). Tell owner/art genius Daniel Davis that Cool Jerk sent ya!
• Get some stationery or commission some cupcakes from JustJenn Designs (online). Tell owner/design maven Jenn Fujikawa that Cool Jerk sent ya!
• Get even more comics and stuff from Alter Ego Comics (331 7th Ave., Marion, IA; 319.373.8935). Tell owner/pug aficionado Erin Tapken that Cool Jerk sent ya!
• Get some shoes at Nu Shuz (207 Ave. Del Norte, Redondo Beach, CA; 310.792.7865). Tell owner/shoemeister Teresa Loberg that Cool Jerk sent ya!

Thanks for making a difference!