As 2009 comes to a close I am reminded of many things. Many things that I remember fondly. Somethings that I remember not so fondly. And some things that I don’t remember at all.

As many of you may know, I am a frequenter of the message board for the 11 O’Clock Comics podcast. Either today or yesterday, one of the hosts, the always terrific Chris Neseman, posted a thread about Comic Book Resolutions for 2010. The idea, obviously, being what sort of comic themed resolutions do you have for next year. I thought I would share mine here with a little additional explanation that I didn’t include with my forum post. I have five of them, so here goes:

1.) To improve as a writer and create more

This one is kind of a no-brainer. A failure to improve is just that–a failure. I have resolved to not to fail by my own standards.

2.) Do even more as a retail employee to promote quality creator owned work

This is something that I really want to work harder on. I’ve really busted tail over the past year to promote indie comics through the store (DCBS) and I want to make sure that I do it even better next year. There are so many wonderful and emerging talents out there that truly should have a chance to earn an audience and if there is something that I can do to help them earn that audience, I want to do it.

3.) Meet more of my heroes and let them know what their work means to me

I am very lucky in that many of the comic book creators whom I consider to be heroes are still living and producing work. I have been very fortunate to meet some of them, but I really want to hit up some more cons and speak with those that I have not yet been able to. The art and craft of making comics really is a HUGE part of my life and I really want to take the time to thank those whose hard work has provided me with so many hours of enjoyment.

4.) Be a better student of the medium

I loves me some comic history and I feel like I’m pretty well versed. But there’s ALWAYS more to learn. ‘Nuff said.

5.) Focus — right after my family (that includes friends) comics are my favorite thing in the world. I would do well to eliminate some of the distractions in my life and focus in on producing more and better comics, as well as working with customers, fans and friends to expand horizons and fanbases for deserving work

This one’s self explanatory, I think.

Anywho, those are my Comic Book resolutions for 2010. Now just to make sure that I fulfill all of them–shouldn’t be too hard.

I hope that you all have a great 2010!

your pal,
zack

The Rankin and Bass classic, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is my favorite Christmas special. Ever. There are lots of great ones, like the Opus special, the Claymation special, Pee-Wee Herman, the Tick–all great, but none as great as the Rudolph special.

It’s a fantastic story, Boss Elf is awesome beyond words, and the animation is wonderful and it has wonderful voice acting (who doesn’t love Burl Ives and Don Adams?). But what makes it the greatest Christmas special ever, you ask? The answer is simple: it has one the most unintentionally hilarious and horrifying moments in all of television history. And that’s not hyperbole (maybe a little hyperbolic).

Remember the Island of Misfit Toys? You know, Charlie in the Box, Train With Square Wheels, Cowboy Riding an Ostrich? Well among all of those side-splittingly sad anthropomorphic toys on the island is a bird who can only swim. That’s right. The poor little fella can’t fly. At all.

At the end of the show, Santa and Rudolph swoop in and pick up all of the sad toys (including the bird) so that they can be given as gifts to little girls and boys who will love them. What a wonderful ending for them. They’ll all receive the love the richly deserve and, apparently, need. Well, almost all of them.

See, things don’t turn out that well for the Bird Who Can Only Swim.

While the end credits roll we see Santa’s sleigh cruising through the crisp winter breeze and in the back of his sleigh one of his elves is dropping toys out of the back. Presumably, they each land safely beneath the Christmas tree of a deserving child. Also, since they are so high in the air, the elf kindly gives each of the toys an umbrella to help them float safely to the ground. All of the toys receive an umbrella. All of them except for the Bird Who Can Only Swim. Let me be clear: Bird. Can’t. Fly.

When it’s the Bird’s turn to be delivered to a happy child, the elf looks at the Bird, looks at the umbrella, tosses the umbrella to the side and then tosses the Bird out the back of the sleigh. Ooops.

One of Santa’s little helpers has just unwittingly murdered a toy. A toy that, we are lead to believe, is a conscious being, has feelings, can probably experience physical pain, and must have felt an extreme amount of terror as he plummets to an early grave. Not only is the poor Bird now a bloody smear on some poor kid’s front stoop, but now little Jimmy has been forever traumatized and will likely fear Santa and his elves for decades to come. Christmas is now ruined for him and his family. Way to go elf.

Am I being a little over the top in my re-telling of the story? Sure I am, but this is the internet. Flowery and humorous language is a must. But before you judge me too harshly, I implore you to watch this horribly hilarious accidental murder unfold. You’ll never look at Rankin and Bass the same.

your pal,
zack

So while I was gallivanting about the internet today, I happened to read P.Z. Meyers’ blog where he had linked to a blog that had recipes for science-themed cookies. I checked out the science cookies and they actually look delicious. They also look like the type of thing that I would obsess over for hours and ultimately be visually unsatisfied with.

Besides, what better way is there to celebrate Christmas/Newtonmas/Festivus than with heaping helping of SCIENCE?

Science cookie recipes at Not So Humble Pie

Father rapers. Father rapers sitting right next to me on the Group W bench as I drew this comic.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. Not my most favorite, but it’s definitely up there. For Thanksgiving I have few sincere traditions. One is watching footbal (duh). The second is listening to Arlo Guthrie’s Alice’s Restaurant. My dad introduced me to it when I was a little kid and it just sort of stuck. Now I’ll listen to it with my kids, and so on.

There aren’t many Thanksgiving songs…fewer when you subtract songs with the words “gobble, gobble, goo; gobble, gobble, giggle.” in them. Alice is just a great, fun, song. This is also the song that taught me about the dangers of littering and how littering can lead to a situation where you have to associate with father rapers. It’s a dangerous situation. Don’t litter kids.

photograph by Jen Santarelli

It’s con report time, again! This time it’s for the indomitable Windy City Comicon, in fabulous Chicago, Illinois.

Windy City is wonderful show and, in its two year existence, it has quickly become my favorite show to attend. The promoters of the show, Chris Neseman and Brion Salazar, are great guys and really pour their heart into making the show the best that they can. There are so many great creators and great friends who attend; it’s hard not to get excited about comics when you’re there. I strongly recommend that everyone who can attend do so.

So…on to the official report:

At the crack of 3:45 PM I rolled out of Fort Wayne with my buddies Ben Tiede and Kyle Theobald for the great and wonderful city of Chicago. The drive was pleasant and, besides some confusion in navigating some of the city streets once we got into the city, uneventful. We arrived at the hotel and although the room was conveniently inexpensive, it was not much bigger than a closet. But, meh. It served its purpose and held our bags and provided a space for sleeping—it’s not as though we had planned on spending any amount of time there beyond that. So, we checked in and immediately left to find some dinner.

Our hotel room was right off of Clark Street, so all we needed to do was walk a few blocks and there were plenty of dining options. We ended up eating at this little Greek place that, I think, was called Pita Queen…or some such thing. Either way, it was delicious. Great meals, good desserts, next time I’m in the area I will be heading back there. The only thing sketchy about it was the guy in line ahead of me who was making demands about the size of cup he needed for his “water”. When dealing with things that are free I am reminded of the clever phrase my daughter learned in pre-school: “You take what you get and you don’t throw a fit.” He was really making a scene and finally the lady running the register buckled and gave him the large cup.

After that it was back to the hotel to get the car and drive to Challengers Comics and Conversation for the pre-show party. First of all, Challengers is a great shop. It’s tidy, well organized, and seemed to have a pretty wide selection from different publishers and genres. It was at the pre-show party that I first hooked up with friends old and new. I hung out with good buddies like Chris Neseman, Dave Wachter, Mike Norton, Brion Salazar, Dave Mathis, John Siuntres, Ron Richards, and I finally got to meet Jason Wood, Tom Katers, and Joey Aulisio in person. I also had a chance to speak with Tim Seeley briefly, and had the opportunity to meet/hang out with Richard Starkings, Moritat (Justin), Alex Grecian, and Robbie Rodriguez.

Saturday morning Ben, Kyle, and I got up bright and early in the morning and made the 1.25 mile walk from our hotel to the Center on Halsted, where the convention was being held. We headed in, got the table ready to go and hung around, waiting for the show to begin. During the set up, I made my way over and talked to good buddies Steve Bryant, Jim Nelson, and Jim Heffron. I also caught up with Mr. Andy Jewett and grabbed a copy of his mini graphic novel, Sicko. Robert Atkins and his sister were also at the show, and it was great seeing them again, too.

Once the show started, there was a steady stream of traffic in and around the show floor all day—which is obviously great and it kept me plenty busy. Sales on The Contingent were solid and the reaction to the Mystery Solved! ashcan I had was overwhelmingly positive. All in all it was a great day for me. Regrettably, I didn’t get to make it to any panels—but that’s okay, I was happy to be at the booth and have friends stop by and pick up the books. It was also great seeing Cameron and Christina there (my friends and owners of DCBS), they seemed to really have a great time at the show and I was glad that they were able to make it up.

I did make it out for lunch and sat with Siuntres, Katers, and Norton and later in the day I was able to get out and pick up some great stuff. On the show floor I picked up:

-Please Release and the Cakewalk/Bets Are Off flipbook from Nate Powell
-Lunchnotes volume 1 from Chris Samnee
-Proof 2009 sketch book from Alex Grecian

I also scored some nice sketches. For my daughter I got three new Etrigan (one of her favorite characters) sketches; one from Jeff Lemire, Mike Norton, and Katie Cook. I got a Flash sketch from Jeff Lemire for my self.

After the con we headed back to the hotel to drop of our stuff and then it was off to dinner. Kyle elected to stay back at the hotel so Ben and I struck out on our own and ended up at a Mexican place called Nueva Mexicana (or something close to that). It was alright…the mole sauce was not great and, I dunno, it was just okay.

After dinner Ben and I headed to John Barleycorn’s for the official after party for the show. Along the way to the after party we also made a quick stop in to Chicago Comics, that was a great store. Wide variety, tons of great indie books, and lots of art books as well. Next time I’m in Chicago, I will definitely be heading back there.

Eventually we made it down to Barleycorn’s and met up with all of our friends for drinks and bemused merriment. After Barleycorn’s had run it’s course for us we headed off to another, smaller, bar that was a little more my speed. While were at the second place (whose name escapes me) I got to hang out with Hilary Barta for the first time—I had met him briefly once, but never actually got to talk with him. It’s nice to meet another big Lee Marvin fan.

A little after we had arrived a whole boat load of other friends from the con showed up and everyone drank and had great time. Ben brought his Drunk Draw sketchbook and I defaced many pages. Ha. If I can get some scans from him I will post them here. Hilary and Dave Wachter contributed quite a bit to it as well…for all of the artists being drunk while they were drawing, there are some remarkable sketches in there.

Ben, Wachter, Andy Jewett, and I closed down the bar and left a little after 3:00 AM and embarked on the long walk back to the hotel. It was long, but we did stop at Clark Dogs and grabbed ourselves a bite. There are few foods I genuinely enjoy more than authentic Chicago-style hot dogs and this was no exception. It was a delicious dog and fantastic way to end the con weekend.

Sunday we drove home.

I have been fortunate to meet a lot of great people and make some really fantastic friends because of comics and this show reminded me of that again. Many thanks to everyone who was there and shared their time with me, it meant a lot.

My sincere apologies to anyone who I may have inadvertently forgotten to mention. You can check out my pictures from the show HERE

the end.

Your pal,
zack