This is awesome news. I don’t think there’s a day, maybe an hour that goes by without me thinking about all our friends and family overseas. I always wish and pray that the war will be over and that we can bring them all home…. until then though, we’re sending them tons of comics for Free Comic Book Day! Here’s the release:

Platinum Studios and Operation Troop Aid Band Together to Bring “Free Comic Book Day” To U.S. Troops in Iraq

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Platinum Studios, Inc. (OTCBB:PDOS), an entertainment company that controls an international library of more than 5,600 comic book characters which it adapts, produces and licenses for all forms of media, and Operation Troop Aid (OTA), a 501(c)(3) charity that is the premiere care package provider to US troops stationed abroad, announced today that they jointly are bringing “Free Comic Book Day” to U.S. troops stationed in Iraq.

The 7^th Annual Free Comic Book Day on Saturday, May 3, 2008, organized by Diamond Comic Distributors, is a single day when participating comic book shops across North America and around the world give away comic books absolutely free to anyone who comes into their stores.

“As a silver sponsor to this year’s Free Comic Book Day, Platinum Studios wanted to reach out to our service men and women to bring them a little bit of home,” said Michael Schreibman, Vice President of Operations at Platinum Studios. “Platinum Studios is thrilled to have been able to enlist the help of Operation Troop Aid to accomplish this mission.”

“When Platinum Studios called us, we said yes immediately,” said Mark Woods, founder of OTA. “Comics books are a welcome addition to the care packages we send to the troops in IRAQ. This partnership is a perfect match and it will definitely benefit thousands of deployed troops.”

The companies will bring 27,000 comic books and graphic novels to service men and women stationed in Iraq. The titles from Platinum Studios Comics include: Blood Nation, 2006 Comic Book Challenge winner Hero By Night, KISS 4K Legends Never Die, Unique, The Weapon, Nightfall, Ghosting and Consumed.

About Platinum Studios, Inc. http://www.platinumstudios.com/news/index.php

About Operation Troop Aid (OTA)

The mission of Operation Troop Aid (OTA) is to provide care packages for deployed U.S. Service Members with revenue generated through professional concert promotions and public financial generosity. OTA is a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation striving to make a positive difference and inspire our Armed Forces by letting them know Americans stand with them.

For more information, please go to www.operationtroopaid.org

So, I’ve been yammering on about the Flobots, because when I find something that moves or excites me, it’s what I tend to do. (if you know me!) — I love their album, I love the message. Their album is called “Fight with tools” — a little message to find something you can do, the tools you have, be it art, music, whatever, and to fight with them for social change and to make a difference in this world. Here’s a short video bio of the band and sampling of what they’re up to. If you haven’t heard of them, you have now… and you definitely will be hearing more about them…

www.flobots.com

At the Pittsburgh Comicon, I helped to raise over $19,300 for Make-A-Wish foundation. You can see my Darth Vader hat sketch that was auctioned off in this photo on the far right of David Prowse. He posed with all the Darth Vader hats– his signature is on the bill.

I’ve now met Darth Vader, Chewbacca and the guy who was in the R2-D2 outfit.

Also, I am nerd.

Today ended up being a busy day running around, etc. Started the morning at legal offices to get some things in order, nothing I can talk about, except to say I went to the wrong county, and at least the nice attorney there didn’t charge me for her time, ROCK! - So I’ll have to start that process over again and get to the right place hopefully this week or next.

After the trip to legal land, we ended up stopping in to do a favor for Bob’s grandma. She has all these cats roaming around her property and they have kittens on her porch, so we had to round them up and take them to the SPCA– then we waited until noon for them to open. UGH. Ate lunch with my wife, then got back to the office to do two interviews, one for Wacom and the other for HeavyInk.com -

Now I’m gonna pull a late night I think and try to get caught up to where I should be. There are a million other things going on, lots to think about and do– but I gotta keep my head down and focus on making this comic book AWESOME for the fans.

I was talking business with some people lately– I’m the type of guy who always asks “why isn’t this being done this way?” - or “how the heck did that happen!?” - and when I get answers I find simple solutions– I use to wonder why if I could figure out solutions, a large company or group couldn’t… but now I’m coming to terms with the fact that I guess I’m sort of a unique individual position, because you can’t learn what I know in school or some night course at college– you only learn it from being in the thick of it for so long. I never saw it as LUCK before… but now I feel very lucky to have worked in every aspect of publishing, from printing, graphic design, self publishing, marketing and branching into new media and webcomics. I’ve had my toes in all waters, and it’s taken a LONG TIME and a lot of HARD WORK to get to the point of being able to drop knowledge on others. Now I’m coming to terms with the fact that I should be capitalizing on this for my own future too.

Nuff said!

Random Below!

Oh! Iron Man this Friday. I’m jealous of everyone seeing it tomorrow. My wife bought me a Mark 1 Armor bobblehead.

Also, Atomic Robo is my new favorite comic book. I ate up the first 6 issues and now I can’t wait for more. I wish they had an ongoing webcomic like we do with Hero By Night. But yes… using VIOLENT SCIENCE on problems is absolutely awesome. These guys are up for an Eisner this year and I hope to god on high they get it, because this book totally OWNS YOU! Did I mention it comes from someone from WEBCOMICS? I don’t know how i missed this news, but it was created by 8-bit theater’s Brian Clevinger. Indeed… webcomics will soon own the world…

Well, might as well get started with the recap and get this out of the way. Pittsburgh Comicon, my hometown show, was a good time. It’s a mellow show and great for talking one on one with fans and other creators and publishers. I have to thank ALL the local shops for carrying Hero By Night, Eides, New Dimension, Phantom of the Attic, Joy’s Japanimation, and a few other NEW shops I’ve never heard of but I met the owners there as well. I left the show with a sense of excitment, especially after seeing the quality of our Free Comic Book Day issue that’s coming out next weekend. WOW– it’s just packed full of awesomeness and will be GREAT for new people to come on board our title. Big props to Platinum Studios and Sean O’Reilly for making that FCBD issue happen– it’s going to be awesome, I can feel it. Click the more link for a complete rundown and photos from the party friday night at my place. Read more

Head still spinning here, crunching numbers around and trying to figure out a bajillion things. Pittsburgh Comicon day one tomorrow, then we’re having a get-together at my place. Some food, drinks, probably comic talk and geek talk galore. I’m trying to pick a beer to have on hand besides Guinness.

I had two emails out of the blue begging me to update the “How to make money with your webcomics” blog I use to write. I haven’t updated it since 2006! Basically.. well, you know, I have a family to feed here. So giving away tons of info on how I’m making money, probably wasn’t the best idea, although I love doing it. The truth is, just because I’m doing it or have done it, doesn’t mean it will work for other people. It’s not a cookie cutter way to jump out and start rolling in money. It’s HARD work. I think ulimately those blogs were meant to INSPIRE webcomic artists out there, who many just believed it wasn’t possible to do. They’d never make money like PvP or Penny Arcade, but I believe they could! In fact, that disbelief that they couldn’t was probably the thing keeping them from doing it. Sorry, I don’t mean to go all TONY ROBBINS of WEBCOMICS on the subject. — When it came to me starting to deal with rights issues and working with what’s not a public corporation, well I decided that I’d just lead by example and focus on my own work.

Niches. Niches are where it’s at, and I wrote about this ages and ages ago… There was a reason I knew nothing about poker but I decided to help Franky Bones start his “poker webcomic” Life’s a Bluff. - immense opportunities abound in those fields because they have people who LIVE those things, those niches. And some of those niches are BIGGER than video games and pop culture, and will last longer in my opinion. In the back of my mind somewhere, I want to start the UKE-CLUB comics again, because one day, Ukulele will rule the universe. — With the Yirmumah stuff, we didn’t really have a niche, as much as a lifestyle. Mockery of pop culture and things that were dumb. Things normal joes from a place like Fayette-Nam could relate to. But the key to that sort of humor strip is making the joke remembered forever. The micro-embedding of topics into ones brain, where they see something as simple as a BRICK, and instead of thinking “oh, there’s a brick.” they think…..”YIRMUMAH! BRICK O’ SILENCE!” — Cartoonists do this without even knowing it, but the ones who become aware they are doing it are way ahead of the game. Look, a cute Llama… I guarantee 10 years from now, even though my comic hasn’t been running, an old Yirmumah fan who sees a Llama will think of YIRMUMAH. It’s just how it is. MIND CONTROL!!!! Hey, we have to build our armies anyway we can to fight the man!

So yes… with Hero By Night, I probably picked a niche that’s way too overdone in comic BOOKS, but not so much in Webcomics. If anything, it was looked down upon on the webcomic side. For a simple reason- remember, “webcomics=the new small press” — or “indy press” - and over in the indy press, there’s a lot of mostly NON-SUPERHERO flavor and variety. They groan about men in tights and some even downright think superhero comics are THE ENEMY! I was borderline THAT at one time I think. Maybe I just think it’s more of a challenge to take on. When someone says it can’t be done, I either say “I already DID it” — or “WATCH ME DO IT RIGHT NOW!” — And guess what? Hero By Night IS the #1 Superhero Webcomic right now. There are others… but they’re not the best. I don’t say that to gloat about it– on the other hand, I’m very humbled by it. I only wish having more readers than Batman’s monthly comic book translated over to comic book sales… but there’s a big “direct market” wedge in between, stopping that from happening. I have the solutions, just never the power or cash it would take to FIX that. Maybe soon though. At least I’ve got a bead on this now. My finger is on the trigger. My eye on the ball. Anyways, I’m rambling…

I was talking to my Dad last night about when we moved to California when I was about 12, and I was kinda shocked what he said. You see the Volkswagen plant closed here and went to Mexico back then. He knew there were no jobs here for him to support his 3 kids at the time (myself and younger brother and sister) — We moved out and he worked for Marriott setting up stagecraft type deals and i guess movie sets. He said he made probably about 18-20 bucks an hour. But I asked if he had a job lined up before he moved…. he shocked me by saying, nope. He had 4000 bucks in cash left and my Uncle living out in Palm Springs and nothing really waiting for him– but he did it anyway and was able to find a job fast. He also told me he only made probably 2000 a month before his heart attack situation out there. My stepmom did resumes or clerical stuff and didn’t make much more. But we always lived in nice houses and good neighborhoods out there, always somehow had what it seemed to me, nice things And we got by. Now as a grown man with 3 kids of my own, I don’t think I have the balls to have did what he did back then. I’m in a much better situation here though than he was at the time. I feel very very fortunate right now.

FLOBOTS! - I usually don’t listen to hip-hop or rap, but Flo-Bots reminds me of CAKE+BUSTAH+Beasties - It makes me want to dawn an american flag kerchief and go all TURK 182 on the guv’ment. Just sayin. Check em out: http://www.flobots.com/media/default.aspx

Starring myself, Jorge Vega, Jason Embury, Dominic Vivona–

Not much sleep last night, and for good reason. I may have gotten what could be a life changing type of job offer that would have us uprooting here- But that’s all I can say about that.

It was just the news I needed after a day of election stuff around Pennsylvania. As regular Coffee readers know, I’m an Obama supporter. And I don’t begrudge anyone else for who they’re voting for. I am the kind where if Clinton were the Nom though, I just wouldn’t vote. I can’t. Look up the myriad of things she and her husband have been involved with and I just can’t rightly cast my vote for her. I’m baffled Pennsylvania went for her, because NAFTA has torn this state apart. It also pains my brain to hear on the news “Clinton gets the high school graduate and uneducated votes, while Obama gets the college graduates and educated workers” — that’s basically saying Pennsylvania is a bunch of uneducated DUMBASSES. Suddenly Clinton was “that girl from Scranton” — wasnt’ she from Arkansas? New York? Saywha…. I call that Chameleon Carpetbaggery.– Anyways, I can’t get too upset. Obama will be the nominee, he will be the next president. It’s in the cards this time.

Pittsburgh Comicon madness– Man, I didn’t get much sleep last night, I’m trying to wrap pencils on my new issue and start inks, I gotta run and get a blow up poster dropped off for printing– busy busy busy day today… Also we’re planning a get together at my house on Friday night after the show. The first time we’ve entertained here really since we moved in. Word got out and 3 people turned into 10. Now I’m hoping they don’t think we have a live DJ here or something, I’m the only live DJ and the only thing I can spin is a pencil.

Wow… my brain is spinning here. I wish I could say more.

Go read Hero By Night!

Ah. Look at my cute Obama Momma. Love that gal.

So, I think we got some looks today, and some odd comments and reactions from people at two different polling booths. I can’t say it was intimidation or discrimination really, but I feel like I might have felt what 1/100th of discrimination must feel like, and I don’t like it one bit.

I went to my old polling place in Vanderbilt, PA, which is the residence of Lolly Rosensteel, and there was no line. While I was filling out my paper ballott the ladies running the table said to someone else “Just mark everyone for Hillary, and if she loses, vote Republican in the fall.”

They saw my Obama pin, and our bumper sticker when we rolled up, so they wanted me to overhear this. When I was done with my paper ballot, to difuse the tension I turned around and joked to the ladies, “Now, there’s not going to be any funny business here, right?” and they all laughed. I put my ballot through the scanner myself and it took on the first try and the lady says “What do you know? It took!” — as if she was surprised a vote for Obama would be accepted there. I can’t say I was shocked. My only comfort was, these old ladies probably couldn’t hack my vote, but they probably COULD cancel it out with just stuffing ballotts in the machine and forging names on their little papers there and nobody could stop them from doing it.

—- Now, we have had a ton of problems with our Obama signs already in our yard. Stolen, our flowers trashed. Also all the signs in Scottdale, PA were stolen overnight, and we ran into the community organizer there, Becky Halfhill who was walking along looking pretty angry looking for if they were just knocked over. We stopped to let her know that she’s not alone here, but she made the comment that it’s all the closeted racists around these counties. You can’t leave, I said… you have to fight! They’re trying to take away our voices! She had said something similar.

The worse feeling today was at Bullskin Township polling place at the school there. We had picked my buddy up who had never voted in a primary before and he didn’t have a car… we just walked him in, no line, to show him how to look up his name. But immediately the polling workers told me I had to cover up or take off my tiny Obama pin inside the building or near the doors. I asked if that was a law? They said yes, but in a way where they were VERY unwelcoming to me and my wife. A security guard comes up to tell us as well and show us out, but we were only dropping off our friend. So we stand outside and RIGHT at the front door they were letting this one lady with a Hillary badge shake hands with everyone entering the door. Is that not anything way different than me just dropping off a friend and showing him in?

While my wife and I stood outside, proudly, waiting for our friend, we got a bunch of jaded looks from the HIllary supporters there who all huddled in a corner and mumbled something about Obama supporters like we were there on their turf– I just popped open my cellphone and ignored them, my wife and I laughed and joked about other things. People are too serious with their “hate on” around here…. but again… I feel like we have to speak to the ignorance. Stand up in it’s face, and just SMILE and be polite. Not smarmy or bitter.

Today is an authentic “Before Coffee” post. My coffee isn’t even brewing yet! So let’s go on a trip through the things on my groggy mind. Groggy minds are the best, because the brain is somewhere on the edge of TRUTH and insanity.

Item- While I was out of town, my homemade Obama sign was stolen out of our hard, and my wife’s little flower bushes trashed in the process. She sounded worried on the phone, I told her to call the police and report this, but I remained worrying about her and the kids while i was gone. Luckily we have a friend like Bob who can come and stay… rumor has it, he’s a bona fide, and carries a sawed off in his sleeping gear when he travels if danger is afoot. — Anyways, when I got home, I did a little drive around looking for where someone dumped it. There are only a few reasons someone would have stolen it around here. #1, crazy Hillary supporter. #2 Closeted racist, we have those around here, as do you most likely. #3 Some idiot who said… Wow! that’s two good pieces of wood I’m gonna steal! #4 It was John McCain.

So what to do? Well my wife tried calling the local cops on Saturday, nobody answered the phone. Nice, huh? It’s still like living in the wild west here I guess. So in my resiliency, I decided to paint a new friggin sign. It’s not as big, but it’s bold and it gets the same message out. Instead of being all pissed, I focused my mind on thinking about karma. I believe that person stole it because they wanted to steal my “voice”, the message of “change” it had that they didn’t believe in over their own petty bitterness. But there are some messages you can’t silence. Steal that one, I’ll paint another one…and another one… and another one. That’s how I roll. — And ironically, when I put this thought of positivity into my mind, karma did the rest. When once there were ZERO yard signs for Obama around here, and the Greensburg office wasn’t getting any in… we took a drive around the block and it looked like operatives had O-BOMB’ad the area with little baby signs…. so it gave me a slice of joy thinking about the douchebag who thought he was silencing my message, to only wake up and see 30 more….

My old irish Grandmother Laugherty, who I didn’t know all that much, only told me a few things I remember, and one was that when you do wrong to someone else it will come back on you tenfold. I’m thinking that’s true.

Item- VOTING IN PENNSYLVANIA TODAY - So today is the day. Finally. I’m hoping for the best. I’d like to predict that PA voters are going to surprise all the pollsters and talking heads. Listen closely and read between the lines of any polls showing Hillary winning here, you hear there are record numbers of new registered democrats. Hillary Clinton didn’t INSPIRE them to come out and register. We know who did. And also, the “polls” are only done to land lines… many of the college crowd and youth below 30 don’t have no stinking LAND lines anymore. I’d like to think they want their voices heard today when they vote. I can feel something in the air…. can you smell what BARACK is cooking!? hahahha

Item - Douchebag Rednecks. I’m putting you on notice. You must move back to West Virginia and Ohio immediately. Your douchebaggery will no longer be silently tolerated by the forces of Yirmumah.

Item - I have a lot to draw here when I get back from voting.

Item - Pittsburgh Comicon closing in FAST. This Friday, Saturday and Sunday. My wife and I are planning a little get together on Friday night after the show up here at our home in Scottdale, PA, it’s about 30 minutes from the KHHHAAAAANNN! If you’re going to Pittsburgh Comicon and i know you well enough, you are invited, but contact me before Thursday please, so we know how much food and drink to have here.

Item - Go read Hero By Night online. Seriously, there’s a ton of good stuff there. HERO BY NIGHT!

GOBAMA!