Happy Halloween, darlings!

Everyone knows October is Doc Splatter’s favorite month, and each year he celebrates DOCtoberFest with brand-new Gore Score comics. Subscribers to the Cool Jerk emailer have been kept abreast of The Doc’s weekly shenanigans. But I know many people visit the home page yet don’t (yet) subscribe to the Cool Jerk emailer, so I figure I should pop all the new strips onto the blog. Just click on a strip and it’ll take you to the appropriate page.

Silent but deadly!

Face facts: you’re fugly!

Too much pussy (cat) action!

They’re Unspeakably Delicious!

Remember, kids— write The Doc and if he uses your letter, you get a goodie! And, of course, you can get a signed copy of his book here!

Some Cool Jerk news items for August and September:

• The Thinkulus signing at Southern California Comics was terrific, though I should have said it was only for an hour (instead of five hours). Everyone minus James and Rebecca Hicks (Little Vampires) and Charles Apple seemed to show up in the last 45 minutes of the signing! It was a sweltering day and Southern California Comics was a gracious host. Thanks to everyone who battled the heat and traffic to buy some stuff, incl. the aforementioned James & Rebecca, Charles (who came down from Orange County!), Nathan, Ben, Joe, Ricky, Ram & Deanna, Chris & Ernie, Richard & Shannon, Dennis and several others whose name I didn’t catch!

• Attention, Los Angeles Cool Jerk readers: You can now get all my books — including Thinkulus — at The Comic Bug in Manhattan Beach. Ask owner Mike Wellman to steer you to the spot and tell him I sent you!

• Attention, Burbank Cool Jerk readers: There’s only one store north of San Diego that carries The Girl with the Donut Tattoo… and that’s House of Secrets on Olive Ave. You can also find all Cool Jerk and Doc Splatter books there, too (incl. Thinkulus)!

• Few people have ever seen my original art. Be one of them and attend the ArtLab ¡Viva Comics! art show and exhibit, opening Saturday (Sept. 21) at 7pm. Hosted by Batton Lash and Jackie Estrada, this gathering of San Diego-local comics creators is the second-such art exhibition in as many years. Come to the gallery, have some wine, cheese, brownies and conversation with Dan Bois, Rebecca Hicks, Billy Martinez, Eric Shanower, Jeromy Cox, Mark Irwin, Phil Yeh, Jorge Pacheco, Barbara Marker, Lee Kohse, Mary Fleener, Johnny B. Gerardy, Rod Mojica, Emily Rocha, Wendy All, Jon Esparza, Dean La Crone, Joe Phillips, Beth Sotelo, Karyl Miller, Matthew Walker and more! ArtLab is at 3536 Adams Ave. (between the 805 and SR15). Bring some folding money because everyone will have stuff for sale!

• Darlene and I are on a podcast— Nerd For A Living (hosted by Adron and Wendy Buske). Good and oft-times amusing conversation discussing everything from self-publishing comics and conventioneering to food blogging and the perils of breaking one’s drawing thumb. Bookmark their site— it’s a valuable asset for creative types trying to make a living at what they love to do.

I noticed a lot of San Diego (and San Diego-area) regulars didn’t make it to Comic-Con last month. Maybe it was the high cost of tickets, maybe it was the near-impossibility to get tickets, maybe it was a conflict with work, school or vacation. Whatever the reason, I’m holding another “Cool Jerk Comic-CAN” for those who could not attend SDCC.

Cool Jerk Vol. 4: Thinkulus is my newest collection, and I’ll be having a book signing at Southern California Comics in Kearny Mesa on August 31. That’s a Saturday, so I hope to catch as many of you on your day off (or at least on your lunch hour) as possible.

Thinkulus is a $12 book, but if you need other volumes (Hodabeast, Chickadoowa and/or Bimboozled) I’ll be selling those at a discount. Heck— buy any two books and you a FREE Doc Splatter Ominous Omnibus! I’ll even bring my Canvas Panels, a sure-fire crowd pleaser.

If you haven’t been to Southern California Comics, it’s kind of tricky to find. I’ve whipped up a locator map for you. In general, it’s very close to where Clairemont Mesa Blvd. crosses SR 163. Jamie Newbold is the owner; we’ve known each other for as long as his shop has been in existence. If you come by for Thinkulus, please take some extra time to explore/discover San Diego’s best comics store.

I’ll be there from opening (11 a.m.) til at least 3 p.m. Hope to see you there!

Whatta week! San Diego Comic-Con International 2013 is but a memory, but what a memory it was!

One thing that set this year apart from previous years is that I did a full-page comic for the U-T San Diego (formerly known as The San Diego Union-Tribune), which ran the Sunday preceding Comic-Con. I lost count how many people came by the table to tell me they read it… even more than when I used to do Comic-Con packages for the Night&Day section 2001-2005. You can check it out here.

Also, Cool Jerk Vol. 4: Thinkulus made its debut. This marked the first new Cool Jerk collection since 2010 and sales were brisk. Thanks, people! We also had copies of the third and final printing of The Girl with the Donut Tattoo, and purchasers got a free taste of the upcoming sequel, which may or may not be named KaiChew.

One thing Darlene and I noticed was that many table “regulars” didn’t make it to the show. I know some of them couldn’t get tickets this year, and others were on vacation, had conflicting plans, were in prison, etc. That sucks. I think I’ll hold a signing in a few weeks to help accommodate those locals who missed the show.

Like last year, the Cool Jerk table was flanked by the comedy duo of José Cabrera and Jim Lujan to the left and Mark Gonyea to the right.

But you’re here for the photos, right? Let’s hop to it!

To start things off, meet Jamie Lim and Jay Halili. I’ve known them for probably a decade… maybe from the first year I tabled at Comic-Con. Jamie won a contest I held earlier this year and she got a free Thinkulus as a result (not to mention my undying gratitude). Thanks again for the back cover blurb!

Speaking of Thinkulus, here’s Robot Monster holding a copy for scale! (Under the helmet was 3D wunderkind Eric Kurland.)

As superhero cosplay goes, I didn’t see a whole lot of clever, stand-out or original creations this year. I’m sure there were plenty, but I didn’t wander far from my table… and not very often. But I did see a few. Here is a trio of Marvel fans, cosplaying Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers), Captain Marvel (Genis-Vell) and Dr. Strange. Kudos to Dr. Strange who knew about the Winds of Watoomb and had the appropriate conjuring gestures.

The Invaders! Human Torch, Captain America and Sub-Mariner would rather mug for the camera than beat up a Nazi maniac WHO IS STANDING RIGHT THERE, GUYS!

Last year there was an abundance of Iron Fists. This year it was Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner. Here’s another one, flanked by Moon Knight (l) and Logan (r).

Darlene was able to venture outside of the convention center on occasion, to explore, get some fresh air or grab lunch. She encountered the usual whirlwind of Comic-Con activity — Hollywood studio interactive exhibits (“Grimm,” “Godzilla,” “Dracula,” “Ender’s Game,” etc.), food trucks, throngs of ticketless spectators, zombie survival drills and protesters (yes, there are jackasses who protest the “hedonism” of Comic-Con). Shown here is a counter-protest. GALACTUS IS NIGH indeed!

Also seen outside are the original X-Men — Iceman, Beast, Cyclops, Angel and Marvel Girl, all escorting Professor X (with Cerebro® on lap).

Segueing back indoors, here are some more X-Men: Gambit (l) and Longshot and Dazzler. I’m really impressed by the Gambit costume. I asked Longshot if he indeed had three fingers (and a thumb) on each hand. He did what he could to hide the pinky finger in this photo.

Another trio of Marvel gals: Baroness Zemo, vampire Jubilee and Natasha Romanova (aka Black Widow, seen here from a recent issue of the Eisner Award-winning “Hawkeye”). Zemo is actually Megan Rae, whom I’ve photographed as a Dalek in 2009 and as Daenerys Targaryen in 2012.

Another shameless Thinkulus plug, this time by Batwoman.

Three of my favorite cosplayers: Big Barda, Inspector Gadget and a gal dressed as a dragon from Magic: The Gathering card game whose name I don’t remember because I play HeroClix, not MTG. Most impressed by Barda’s scalemail costume, which jingled when she moved.

Lunch! These delicious burritos came from Lolita’s. Darlene did another great write-up on where to eat during Comic-Con which was popular with a lot of attendees.

Here’s long-time Cool Jerk ally Kim the Catgirl auditioning for “So You Think You Can Sing About Independent Comics Creators?” We would have given her a burrito for her efforts but we were fresh out.

Here’s a fresh take on the Disney princesses. I heard people in the crowd call out to them as “Geek princesses” and “Hipster princesses.” You decide.

Somewhat random: Here’s “Arrested Development’s” Tobias Funke, the evil queen from “Snow White” and a zombie ballerina. Evil queen is actually La Bella’s Strange Trix (aka Musicalpencil) on Flickr.

What we have here is from the Marvel booth: A Nova Corps soldier and various weaponry and equipment (incl. Drax’s knives and Starlord’s helmet) from the upcoming “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie. (Sorry some of the photos aren’t as good as usual; we were trying a new camera lens the whole weekend and it didn’t live up to our expectations.)

Costume of the weekend that garnered the most buzz — not only for originality but for timeliness — would probably have to be this gal, dressed as SHARKNADO. Enough said!

(Even I jumped onto the SHARKNADO bandwagon, selling canvas panels like this at the table!)

Another couple of X-Men who can get their filthy mutie paws off The Girl with the Donut Tattoo and Thinkulus. Thanks, Colossus and Psylocke!

And I think I’ll leave you with White Trash Stormtrooper (or is it Wifebeater Stormtrooper? Maybe Kid Rock Stormtrooper?), catching the trolley back to the boonies (NOT the Death Star).

Thanks to everyone who came by the table to visit, buy stuff or ask directions! WE LOVE YOU ALL!

It’s Cool Jerk’s 11th year of tabling at San Diego Comic-Con International, and the big news is:

Cool Jerk Vol. 4: Thinkulus is here! I talked about it a bit previously, but it’s the brand-new Cool Jerk collection and you’ll be among the first to get ’em! It contains more than 200 strips (incl. several that are “book exclusive” that will only be found within these pages), sketches, Director’s Commentary, the anal-retentive index and the foreword is by Jane Wiedlin. Limited print run! Best $12 you’ll spend at the show!

If you missed it last year (it sold out at the ‘con), Darlene and I will have a limited amount of The Girl with the Donut Tattoo as well. It’s in its third-and-final printing (“final” because the comics printing company went out of business a couple months ago) so get ’em while they’re fresh! $5!

I’ll also have several new Canvas Panels debuting at the show. Can’t show ’em here without inciting a riot! $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:

• ALL my books with convention-special discounts!
• T-shirts in a variety of styles, fits (M or F) and sizes!
• Sharpie original art breakdowns (original art for $3-$5? CRAZY!)
• Stickers, buttons and the like.
• And as ever, sketches are free.

Here’s a map I made while you were finishing up your Scarlet Witch costume.

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!

Wanna know where to eat at (or before) Comic-Con? Here’s a hint: ANYWHERE but the convention center!

Darlene’s roundup of her 10 best bets for a hearty breakfast and/or lunch — without bludgeoning your budget — can be found here! We’ve been doing this for a few years now (I say “we” because I do the maps) and we’ve talked with many a conventioneer who have taken these suggestions to heart and thanked Darlene personally.

So check the link and bookmark it for convenience. Your stomach and wallet will thank you for it!

I teased about it on the Cool Jerk Facebook page, but now that it’s in print, I suppose I can show you what I’ve been secretly working on the past several days.

Last month I was hired by U-T San Diego business editor Diana McCabe to produce a full-page comic detailing Cool Jerk and its relationship with San Diego Comic-Con’s Small Press (Cool Jerk’s vacation home for the past 11 years).

This is my first full-page San Diego Comic-Con comic in the U-T since 2005 (you can find previous ones here, here, here and here). But what makes this one different is that it’s autobio. Armpit, Puppy, Manhattan, Yuri and the Spittle Beach gang are in there… but so is Darlene. I managed to squeeze in a sasquatch, another Amish Ninja running gag, official Cool Jerk thong underwear, a pie chart, José Cabrera (Crying Macho Man) and several Cool Jerk t-shirts.

You can find it in today’s U-T (cover to Sunday Business). It looks just like this.

UPDATE Here it is, in its entirety.

Thanks to all who helped out with this, including Diana, Greg Schmidt, Nirmala Bhat and Kate Nelson at the U-T. Also Daniel & Dawna Davis (Steam Crow) and Audra Ann Furuichi and Scott Yoshinaga (nemu*nemu) for the candid conversations.

The fourth Cool Jerk volume, Thinkulus, has officially arrived here at Cool Jerk Base Camp Zebra. It was a long journey and I had to deal with some of the worst customer service ever in order to get it printed, but the end result is pretty spiffy. It looks especially nice next to the other volumes.

Thinkulus will drop at SDCC, then will be available at cooljerk.com. Like previous volumes, it has more than 200 strips, many of which are “book exclusive.” Sketches, Director’s Commentary, the Index… no Cool Jerk collection would be complete without ’em! All the comics are digitally remastered and look incredible compared to reading them online. The foreword is by my favorite cyborg and long-time fishing buddy Jane Wiedlin (Go-Go’s), and the back cover blurb is by my other long-time fishing buddy and Cool Jerk contest winner Jamie Lim. Retail price is $12 for 144 pages of quality entertainment.

(It sounds like several Comic-Con regulars aren’t going to be at the show this year. If that ends up being the case, I’ll hold another “Cool Jerk Comic-CAN” here in San Diego somewhere so we can visit a bit in person instead of ordering via the mail. I’ll keep everyone posted!)

So, this happened. FINALLY.

I say “finally” because I tried a few times to get my Cool Jerk and Doc Splatter books into Amazon and I’d get to the start page — or at least a page that I thought was a start page — and begin to cry. It’s really confusing. And poorly designed. It’s not user-friendly. If anything, it seems to intentionally dissuade authors and publishers from playing in the Amazon sandbox. (I remember eBay had the same problem a bunch of years ago. I didn’t want to sell anything there because its user interface was so cumbersome. But recently I went back to eBay to sell something and it was really simple.)

I needed someone to hold my pink little handie and walk me through the scary Amazon Advantage portal. My friend and fellow (San Diego) Union-Tribune alum Amy Stirnkorb heard my pitiful cries for help and used me as a human battering ram, bludgeoning me through the gates of Amazon and getting me firmly entrenched in their kingdom. It took a few days/weeks for me to hammer out all the minutia of setting up an Author’s Page and confirming with Amazon that my books do indeed exist. And now I’m — or, rather, Amazon is — taking orders.

The way I see it, customers will discover distinct pluses and minuses to ordering my books on Amazon.

PLUSES: For some reason, a lot of people seem to be more comfortable with buying books from Amazon instead of from me directly. I get that — it’s probably a lot easier for bibliophiles to just click on a Cool Jerk book and add it to their cart, especially if they’re already an Amazon customer (no need to resubmit your address and payment info). Also, maybe you have an Amazon Gift Card that you got for your birthday. And then there are discounts that pop up from time to time, and free shipping if your basket is over a certain price point. Less hassle and save some bucks. Sounds good.

MINUSES: You’re getting my book without any personalization. How cool is it when you can buy a book by Stephen King or Berke Breathed and have it signed to you and personalized with a sketch? Well, you don’t get that if you buy my books from Amazon. I’d estimate 99% of people who have bought books from me in person or via my store have requested a personalization.

On my end as a self-publisher, there are pluses and minuses, too.

PLUSES: I’m on Amazon. I get asked that all the time. For the reasons listed above, that might mean book sales from people in a rush or who don’t want to fuss around with ordering from my website. Also, there will likely be a lot of “crossover exposure” where people who buy a book from another cartoonist (like Max Cannon or David Malki) might see a Cool Jerk book pop up in the “…you might also like” window. That sort of viral marketing will help spread the Cool Jerk gospel in ways that would be impossible otherwise.

MINUSES: I’m barely making cost on my books by selling via Amazon. See, Amazon takes a 55% discount from my list price, AND I have to pay for the boxes/envelopes AND postage to send Amazon books so they can turn around and fill customers’ orders. Also, since I don’t know who’s buying my books from Amazon, I can’t personalize a book to you or follow up with an email newsletter detailing upcoming releases, store signings or convention appearances.

A thousand thanks to Amy for getting me into Amazon, and I hope to get my books to as many people as possible. But if you want a little extra personal touch (even if it’s a couple dollars more than Amazon)…

Despite a scorching case of “too big for its britches,” Denver Comic Con’s second convention was an unbridled success. I understand attendee population ballooned from 18,000 last year to 48,000 this year. Several thousand would-be walk-up convention-goers were turned away at the door once the hall hit capacity (among them our friend Monica, with whom we lucked out and had consolation dinner and beers on Sunday evening). I’m hoping that things get ironed out next year.

Team Cool Jerk was situated in Artists Valley again and we did brisk business. We sold out of some on-hand inventory: Cool Jerk Vol. 1: Hodabeast, the 2011 24-Hr. Comic, Pieces of Flair button packs and the remaining second printing of The Girl with the Donut Tattoo. A hearty thanks to everyone who came by the table, whether to chat about comics or buy some books and things. Hometowns of people who signed onto my emailer hail from Illinois, Georgia, California, Washington, Oklahoma and nearly every sizable town/city in Colorado. And probably every other person was in cosplay or wearing geek couture.

Click here and here to get Darlene’s take on the show.

And now, on to the photo gallery!

The DCC mascot, actual size!

Luke Cage, Stargirl and Jareth the Goblin King from “Labyrinth,” all tilted for your convenience!

Kids, if you’re gonna cosplay in Denver… go big or go home. Here’s She-Hulk, who towered over me at about 6′ 4″.

Fifth Element family. It takes a whole lot of self-confidence for a dude to pull this off.

First Falcon I’ve seen at a comic convention. The wings worked, too!

Most obscure character cosplayed at Denver Comic Con would have to be Aleta from the Guardians of the Galaxy. I nearly walked past her but stopped in mid-step and said, “Aleta?” (as if this was someone I hadn’t seen in 10 years). I was the only person up to that point who ID’d her properly.

Enemies Dr. Doom and Invisible Woman apparently put aside their differences to enjoy the ‘con.

Saturday’s highlight— a visit by our dear friend Monica Mendoza, who was one of the thousands turned away after the ‘con hit capacity.

Line to visit George Pérez. See if you can find Isabelle Laursen crossplaying as Firestorm the Nuclear Woman!

Darlene and George Pérez. George learned two things about us that weekend: I likely got into comics because of his covers of Fantastic Four #197 and Avengers #174 (the first two comics I ever bought), and Darlene got into comics largely because of his run on The New Teen Titans in the early 1980s. And our common appreciation of George Pérez was discovered early in our relationship. DAWWWW!!