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SUPER REAL NOTES: Graphic Novel recommended by ComicsBulletin

The Super Real graphic novel was just reviewed by another comics site, this time ComicsBulletin.com

And it's another rave review:

"Super Real seems to be breaking at the seams with the excitement that Martin puts into his work. There's a ridiculous amount of personality in every line of his manga-influenced artwork and in the way he presents his characters and stories.

This was a really wonderfully fun comic with nice art and a very shocking ending. I really enjoyed it."

And in response to the overall story, and new final act:

"I kind of dropped the book, shocked, when finishing it. I love the feeling that you never quite know what will happen, and Martin definitely delivers that."

Check out the full review HERE
and get all the info you need on the book at it's site

ARTWORK: sketch cards on eBay

I put a small batch of sketch cards on eBay last week, the first of which go off tomorrow night (Wednesday)... in 24 hours!

First up we have my second and final "artist exclusive" card from the Dead@17 5finity sketch card set, currently up for grabs...

HERE

Then we have two custom Venture Bros cards...

HERE


HERE

Plus there are three custom cards of Marvel Women up for grabs!
Spider-Woman
Ms Marvel
Storm
Get those bids in!

Spring con wrap up!

Just finished 3 cons in about 5 weeks!

First up was Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle, which was another banner show, with the con improving yet again, at about 15k attendance, and my sales from 2 days being a near best ever. I keep telling everyone I know, again and again... do this con! Don't travel to Charlotte, or Chicago, or anywhere else, if you don't have this show on your list already, go there... it's that good.
Great show, great (spending) crowd, great location. 'Nuff said!

One of the best things about this show, was I got to meet an artist friend from DeviantArt, that I've been working on a little top secret something with... Yassir Rasan (aka seeso2d).
Yassir's an amazing artist, and as it turns out, very very nice guy. He's only been in the US and Seattle for just under a year (he's from Iraq), and this was his first ever comic convention (I think he was overwhelmed, naturally)!


Next up was Wondercon in San Francisco. I really like this show, and it's growing, and great, but, it's run by Comic-con International, just like San Diego, and that means big crowds for sure, but tons of mainstream attendees, not necessarily buying comics etc... but damn sure looking at big booths and panels.
It's a great location and a good show though, and I have many friends at it, plus the amazing Isotope comic lounge is nearby and hosts great con parties, and this year was no different. I just wish the sales were a bit better here, especially for as large as the show is (I think they do like 25 to 30k).



I had a great time with my friend Jack Stepp (creator of the self pubbed comic, The Elysian) who I'd met at local shows and known for years, and his neighbor, Jeff (the living embodiment of "the Dude") Prechtel (historical\fine artist), who I met en route to the show, road tripping from Portland and Eugene down 1-5 south...
We even stumbled into an epic roadside diner on the way home, north of Sacramento, Bill and Cathy's diner... like a time capsule from the early 70's, massive, and serving high quality breakfast (I recommend the chicken fried steak... it's fresh made)!


Then we get to Wizard Anaheim... the brand new show in the LA area from Wizard, part of their new pop culture con relaunch...
sigh.

I knew it was going to most likely be a scary proposition (the Wizard LA con was a downward spiral, and Reed's (promoters of the fabo NYCC) C2E2 was the same weekend), but being that C2E2 was sold out, and I had friends around LA (that I could crash and hang with), I went ahead and tried my luck.


As with most shows, the Friday and Sunday were down attendance wise, but Saturday was pretty busy. That said, sales were terrible, and the "crowds" that were there, were most likely there for the new freak show aspect of Wizard.
Now sure, they promote it as a big pop culture event, like a travelling Comic Con San Diego, accept, you know, without the ability to put on a similar type show. Instead you're left with literally half the floor of the con as an autograph area with such celebs as Kato Kalin, Peter Brady, and various wrestlers. Then the remainder of the floor is vendors that range from hooka pipes, to custom leather jackets, with some petrified bats here, and a smattering of comics there. No, really.
Oh, and of course, the large stage for hoochie mamas dressed in Star Wars/geek gear, performing routines live, for good wholesome family entertainment!

I'd guess the attendance to be around 7 to 10k (I'm sure, like always, Wizard will inflate the number with multi day sales and such to make it look much better, it's not), and the crowd, like with San Diego and Wondercon SF, mostly mainstream folks not buying comic stuff, but checking out the whole comic con thing, and even more so in this case.

My friends and I took to calling the new Wizard shows a traveling train wreck, or cluster f*#k across America.
So, if they're close to your town or region, consider them, but whatever you do, don't go out of your way to plan to attend or exhibit one!
Your mileage may vary of course, but I suspect not much.

But I did get to see Lavar Burton in the bathroom (now added to my celeb con bathroom encounter list with Adam West) and sell a print to Julie Numar(Catwoman)'s driver!


Thankfully Dan Mendoza, friend, collaborator, and current Zombie Tramp creator, and my good friend Javier Hernandez (and respectively family's/s-o's) made it a welcome stay and treated me to many a local attraction (Chronic Tacos, Amazing Comics, Geeks Comics, etc), or entertainment (Faster Pussycat Kill Kill, bootleg tv series, imported Japanese art books, etc) otherwise this would have been one epic fail! It was fun hangin with cool comic friends for a few days.
But, there's always many other benefits of cons, and I've already got a few new contacts and such in play too.
I gave it a shot, so no surprise there... Wizard is Wizard.



So to summarize...
ECCC = awesome!
Wondercon = good
Wizard Anaheim = WTF?!?

The next con for me is Phoenix Comicon, on Memorial day weekend, which is a new con for me, but I've heard great things! So I've got a few weeks to recharge, get my 2010 sketchbook set, and a cool new Lost fan art ready, among other things... to start it all up again this summer!!

(To see pics of some more con sketches from the shows just click the con label below or check out my DeviantArt gallery)

Wizard Anaheim con this weekend!

I'm heading further south into Cali tomorrow, for another show (after just traveling to the bay area for Wondercon), all the way to So-Cal this time!! Yeah, sun, smog, and plastic surgery abounds!

It's time for the all new Wizard Anaheim con, Friday through Sunday... somewhere near the mouse house I presume.

I'll be hanging in artist alley (space 1019) all weekend with my man, and Zombie Tramp creator, Dan Mendoza!

We'll have the Super Real graphic novel (with limited edition sketch plates), the last of the Pulp Girls 09 con books, and much much more!

After the show, my electric jetpack won't be recharged til Monday night, so it's off for a day of LA hangin' with my bud The Jav-Man!

See ya there!

P'ups sketch cards

Just finished working on a new sketch card set for 5finity, P'ups (Pinups and Puppies with Mandy and Skoots)...

The set was a lot of fun and will be out 5/15!

Here's a preview of one of my cards (featuring Dean Yeagle's Mandy)

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: the comics equivalent to the jetpack is here

Hey kids, the future of comics is now.
Print is dead.
Resistance IS futile.
I'm not fucking around.

Not only is the iPad one giant step for the digital transition of print media (i.e. landing on the moon (which happened by the way), and making, I suppose, the Kindle, and iPhone, space chimps in this analogy), but I guess Marvel Comics are part of the launch...

The only thing keeping this from being the full on tipping point, in the immediate wholesale transition to digital, is the fact that the iPad is tied to Apple's proprietary distribution model (iBooks or whatever) and higher pricing than what's previously been established for digital downloads (see Marvel's unwieldy $1.99 price point on individual digital comics).

The bean counters will cry that 1.99 per single issue download (roughly 1/6th of a trade or graphic novel) is equivalent to a music single (roughly 1/12th of an album)... but the fact is, as on Apple's eBook pricing, it's roughly double where it should be, both in terms of cost margin, and market value.

Go ahead and tell me I'm wrong, but I'll just go ahead and sell my shit for .99 cents thanks.

To be clear, I'm not saying the iPad is the actual device that will be embraced moving forward (I'm not saying it isn't either), however, what is clear to me, is that it's the first such tablet that can adequately move things significantly forward, and combined with the major comics publishing giant's participation, and the onslaught of similar devices... this train's left the station.

So, while we may not have jetpacks, make no mistake, the digital revolution just got a big ol' "all systems go", and at least, in the early part of the 21st century, we'll have comic books back in front of billions of people, instead of thousands, as a form of cheap alternative entertainment...

So yes, fanboys, welcome to the future.
Long live the medium.

Now excuse me, I've got some work to do...

For more on the breakdown of the coming revolution, I've found ComicsBulletin has a nice digital comics column by Ryan McClellan.

And for a look at the iPad running comics in the hands of 21st century comics pioneer, Otis Frampton, have a look at his Ustream review...