So, we’ve successfully made it into October without the entire country collapsing on itself (though it feels like it’s well on its way). Until it happens, I’m going to keep trudging along and making comics and here are somethings that went down this month so far.

Last Friday, I was invited to come down to my alma mater Franklin College to speak on an alumni panel on Writing, Publishing, and Communication. I hadn’t been down to the college since last year and maybe three years before that so I thought it would be a chance to sit down and talk about what I do with students who may be considering comics or really any form of creative writing. I didn’t really know what we would be speaking about so I was slightly nervous as I like to prepare and get my thoughts in order, but I thought it would be a great opportunity to practice winging it.

The drive was cloudy, but nice enough. I’d tried to leave early to give myself time and after getting stuck behind two different accidents, I managed to get there roughly five minutes before things started. It turned out that only four students showed up for the event which ended up making it much easier for me to speak (relatively speaking). The panel was originally going to consist of three alumni but one called in sick so it was myself and an ’11 grad named Chelsea Sutton who had worked as an editor and works as a Communications Coordinator at Indiana Historical Society. We both spoke about what we did and how our education helped us get to where we were as well as where we saw ourselves in five years. I did bring copies of my works and Clusterf@#k got the best reaction from the crowd which was good since I was nervous about bringing it.

After the panel was over, I realized that it was in fact homecoming weekend but I knew I couldn’t stay because I was my brother’s ride to work and had already planned to drive down and drive back that same night.

On my way to my car, I saw one of my favorite professors driving by with her husband so I waved. She had him stop so she could hop out of the car and give me a huge hug. It was really nice to see her because she was been a very positive influence and her classes helped me be more outspoken/speak up in class. It was really good to see her as I think I missed seeing her last year.

The two professors who had invited use took us out to dinner at a really nice restaurant I didn’t even know existed. One of them was another very influential professor I’d had my Freshman year and was possibly the first teacher that was really critical of me in a way that made me want to improve. In fact, he gave me some advice on a paper that not only helped me improve my thesis writing skills but also my life in general. I couldn’t remember the quote when I relayed it to him but it was something like:
“Jon, you have these great ideas but you do this ticky-tacky shit where you take a bunch of stuff and throw it on the paper.”

(NOTE: I’m paraphrasing but he did say ‘ticky-tacky shit’ which let me know I was definitely in college.)

For some reason that always stuck with me and it helped me become a lot more focused. Honestly, I don’t know if I would have become as receptive to criticism or seek out editors that would push me if I hadn’t had that professor in college to kind of help me unlearn high school BSing that allowed me to coast.

At the end, I was able to see two professors that had a huge impact on me and speak about doing things I love to a few students. On the surface, it might not seem like much but it was huge to me and I hope I can do something like that again.

In other news, I will be putting up a new short comic beginning next week. It is a 12 page story called New Management that was drawn by my Secrets & Shadows collaborator Dexter Wee and lettered by Clusterf@#k’s Nic Shaw (who also lettered Image’s The Fix and recently got married). It is a story I came up with after watching some old mafia films. It’s in line with my other two shorts Job Security and Professionalism. It’s a little bit more realistically violent but it was an attempt to do something different more serious. It will go up the next two weeks (6 pages each week).

I hope you enjoy it.

Other than that, I’ve been working slowly toward getting some new projects together for next year because I want to hit 2017 hard. I also want to try to double the amount of conventions I’ve done this year. I can’t guarantee everything will be amazing, but I’m definitely going to try to top what I’ve done so far.

Later Days

Oh boy, this was my second convention of the year and it was truly a learning experience.

Madison Comic Con was a one day convention that ran from 10am to 5pm. Because it was one day (and much closer than St. Louis), I decided to just get up early and drive there. Unfortunately, I failed to keep in mind that that meant I would have to get up as early as 5am to get ready and be ready to leave by 6pm. I also failed to realize that my nerves would not let me get a full nights rest despite laying down at 10pm. So I found myself waking up at 4:30am unable to get back to sleep and just decided to get ready anyway.

My brother and I were all packed up and in the car by about 5:45am, mostly awake and slightly hungry. There was a Burger King next to the Interstate so we passed the 24hr. McDonalds and drove all the way out to find that it opened on 6:30am on Sundays. We ended up grabbing some pastries from the nearby gas station before driving up the ramp and onto I-90.

(Spoilers: The snacks were not enough.)

The drive through Northern Illinois to Wisconsin was very interesting. I’d never driven that far north of Chicago so it was interesting. For one thing, there was a lot of standing fog that sat over fields near the road and never went anywhere. One field was so heavy with it that it seemed to disappear into nothingness. There were also times when the road was so elevated that looking out, it felt like were driving near a coast because everything seemed to disappear. What also seemed to disappear was my change as we went through at least five or six tolls and I spent roughly nine dollars in quarters.

One thing I will say about Madison is from the drive in, the place certainly looked beautiful. We drove in right around 9am and the whole city looked alive. People were riding wave runners on the lake, jogging, walking their dogs, and generally bustling around the town. We didn’t really stay to see the city but it definitely looked like a nice place to visit.

After multiple attempts to find our way to Monana Terrace Convention Center’s parking lot, we managed to finally find a way in and a spot right by the entrance. It took a bit to find my table, but we managed to find it and began setting up only for me to find that I had left my banner at home. After trying to cover every base and going over things several times, I somehow managed to walk right past my banner case and forgot it entirely. Needless to say I was more than a little upset. Still, I did the best I could with what I had and Jerome was nice enough to make a slide show on his laptop.

The show itself was decent. Sunday’s are always slow days but this was my first time working on a show that was only a Sunday. Usually artists can come the night before and get situated so they can rest up and show up, for this show you had to show up and set-up. That was a bit new for me. But we managed to make a few sales, I even sold a copy of the Clusterf@#k trade in the first hour. Over the next six hours, we tried to sell the books and have conversations while trying to fight off the slowly mounting fatigue from lack of sleep. It was around the halfway point when it really started to get to me, but somehow we managed to push through it. It’s great that my brother is able to come with me because it would have been a much harder struggle sitting by myself. In the end, we made it through and I even managed to sell a couple copies of Someday, Secrets & Shadows #1, and one full Secrets & Shadows set.

We also were able to meet a lot of great people including Luther Hall who was selling shirts and his first ever comic book, Angry Kat. We also had a great discussion with Phillip and Carolyn who bought a copy of Someday for a friend who was working on his own writing. I got to pick up a book from Tango Unlimited and speak to their inker and one of their writers. I also got to speak to Dan Biesel, an artist with his own book called Gridcurrent. Dan was the one who picked up the full set of Secrets & Shadows and really made my day. While I enjoy selling books, I also like being able to meet people (creators and customers) and have conversations. I think that helps make the sleepiness and hunger a lot more bearable.

Once the show was over, we packed up, stopped at McDonalds, and headed home. I don’t know how I managed to stay awake through it all but I did. All in all, the show didn’t go 100% how I wanted it to go but it was a great experience and I learned a lot from it. It’s always great to see other people doing what you’re trying to do or even meet people who are trying to get to where you are. I affirms that while you might not be where you want to be, you’re a hell of a lot farther along than where you were.

But no feeling is better than your head hitting the pillow at the end of a long trip home.

There are a couple more shows happening in the Midwest that I’m going to try to get out to, but for right now I’m just going to relax for a moment.

Later Days

It’s been awhile since my last post, but here’s a quick update:

1. After doing the numbers, Clusterf@#k has sold 188 books so far this year. Adding the books that we sold on the KS campaign last year, that adds up to 220 copies sold. The minimum goal is to get the number to 200 sold in 2016. I haven’t gotten the royalty statement for the last few months so we might already be there.
2. I’ll be tabling at the Madison Comic Con in Madison, WI on September 18th. If you live in the area stop on by Monona Terrace (1 John Nolen Dr, Madison, WI 53703.) and say hello. I’ll have copies of Clusterf@#k, Someday, and of course Secrets & Shadows.
3. At some point, I’ll be uploading a new short comic I did called ‘New Management’. It was drawn by Secrets & Shadows artist Dexter Wee and lettered by Clusterf@#k letterer Nic J. Shaw. It’s a throwback to old mafia films (Godfather, Goodfellas, Casino, etc).

Other than that, no news is good news. I have some projects I’m putting together for next year and hopefully things work out the way I want them to.

We shall see.