D.J. Coffman - Sequential Artist, Thinker

I just realized, a year ago tonight, I was being toasted on the roof of a hotel overlooking San Diego Comicon, and had a bunch of people kissing my ass. It meant absolutely NOTHING in the long run, and most of the nice things said by some people were obviously a bunch of lip service.

I can’t say I’d rather actually be anywhere other than right here in my studio tonight…

Day four of I’M ALL ALONE WITH NO ADULTS TO TALK TO! — I’m missing my wife hardcore here, but trying to bury myself in work so I don’t think about it too much. Geez, it seems like this week of all weeks there has been so much stuff to deal with all on my own, and it sucks GIANT ASS. My oldest son had his tonsils out last week, so he’s on a medicine regimine, my cat decided to bust into crazy Vulcan like HEAT where he goes nuts and sprays on everything and wants to challenge me with those pungle sticks (play kirk vs spock theme music here) - And it’s also the first week of football practice for my two sons, usually from 6-8 Monday through Friday… I’ve brought multi-tasking to a whole new fucking level… but WOW… am I freakin tired. Right now all I can think of doing is going in and sitting down on the couch and watching ghost hunters or something recorded on DVR, but alas…. there’s work to do! I’ve been staying up until about 2am every night… not on purpose, it just creeps up on me.

Uhm….. the Will Draw Anythings have reached a new level of crazy. First I got linked by one of my favorite authors, Seth Godin, and that turned into a link on metafilter.com shortly after…. and before I knew it, I had oh, I don’t know… 300 something odd orders coming in, and counting. Not to mention requests for side jobs, logos, commissions and all sorts of stuff. THere are brief moments where I feel like I may have made a BIG mistake in opening that up to the public, but hey, as long as people are patient for their $2 drawings, all is well! Every time I look at my inbox, I kinda giggle maniacally to myself. I might be looking for a REAL publisher to take these on as a collected book or something. They’re so fun to look back on, and people seem to really be getting some enjoyment out of them.

On top of all of those zany WillDraws…. I’m of course planning more Flobots work, and there are things going on behind the scenes that are very interesting. I have a new format and update schedule and general management thing I want to do… I can’t talk much about it, just keep watching. Speaking of that… I gotz to go finish an update! Chapter one should be ending very soon…. next two updates are so….

I’m out!

Weekend update…

First… I just want to say thanks to a few online friends here. You know who you are, and there have been a bunch of you, Al, Scott, Glenn, Mark, Dan and more… You’re all right, I’ve been a crybaby a bit too much about my problems, and I need to move forward. I guess this just takes awhile to really SINK in under the anger and frustration, but I do feel it all melting away. I want to thank all of you for caring and being supportive and telling me the truth from the heart, and not from some personal agenda or something. It means a lot to me guys.

For a few weeks, my computer has been making a pretty rough sound, I figured it was a fan of some kind in there, but it was always really hard to get down and unplug everything and get it out of the desk cabinet. That’s one of my biggest pet peeves I think computer wise. First thing this morning I rearranged the desktop and brought the CPU back up top, just to keep it from getting all dusty. Still the sound would come and go and I couldn’t pinpoint which fan it was until now… when I was adjusting the CPU around on the desk i bumped the video wire from my Cintiq and heard the noise come on which made me immediately crack open the case to identify the vibration… it was the little video card fan rubbing on the edge of the chip under it. Annoying! So I kind of adjusted it for now I guess. Probably going to have to get a new video card at some point, but I was releaved to find out it was only THAT and not something major.

Work wise I’ve been focusing like a laserbeam on stuff for the Flobots, some new shirt designs which should be on their way to the printer very soon (like maybe today! the flobots don’t mess around!) — I can’t wait to see them out there, and as a fan, I want these shirts too! I need to come up with a more cute one for the female audience as well, that’s probably next on my agenda this week. So, anyways, that’s all good. I’ve officially signed on as their web assistant, handling a whole bunch of things for them, website design, updating, etc and I’m doing some more work with the non-profit side too soon. Lots, LOTS going on. That’s an understatement! Working with them makes me feel really good and gets me out of the mental funk I’d been in. The first chapter of the Flobots comic will wrap this coming week as well… then we’re taking it to whole other places and levels. So, if you’re looking for new comic stuff by me, check http://flobots.net

Will Draws: Thanks in part to the writeup and attention from Rich Johnston’s article I have a crap-ton of Will Draw Anythings to do. I plan on probably doing some today in a big batch, and then devoting the whole day tomorrow to doing them and getting semi-caught up. For one, they’re fun and keeping me sharp. Two, it’s weird the little job offers that are springing up from doing these. One thing that does annoy me are the people questioning the cost being too low, or some idiots out there assuming I’m desperate for money and that’s why I’m doing it… but wow, do the math!? Why would I draw 100 images only to make 50 bucks!?? It’s not really about the money at all. But yeah, for those waiting… I’m gonna get to your drawnings ASAP! Wasn’t expecting a rush of them like that… I’m gonna get to draw a whole bunch of variety of comic characters though, ones I’d never ever think to draw, like Multiple Man in a chorus line? Some Dr. Horrible stuff, etc… it’s a lot of fun, because… well, I LOVE to draw. — For the past couple years, I’ve barely had time to sketch for fun, and every time my pencil was hitting the paper it was for a specific project or deadline, so this is a breathe of fresh air. Fresh, crazy air.

New Toy: Snagged up a FLIP video camera. They’re tiny, and take 60 minutes of good video. Trevor Mueller of ASSHOLE, showed me an Ultra Series version when I was in NY, and it was pretty nifty. This MINO version is smaller than my iphone and charges with a built in battery.

Dr. Horrible: Is horribly AWESOME. Just watched Act 3… I want more of this! I reckon they won’t make more, but WOW, if they did, it would be something I’d pay for. I had already slapped down my 3.99 for the Itunes feed after watching part one. I’m not even a HUGE Joss Whedon fan or anything like that, I just like it because it’s so clever to me in some way. It would be FRAKKING AWESOME to get to draw a Dr. Horrible Webcomic or something. Expect fan art! One of my favorite things… highlight for spoiler: BAD HORSE is an actual fucking HORSE! hahahahah!Yeah… too awesome.

Dark Knight the movie: Holy. Shit. I don’t know if I can even classify this as a “super hero” movie. It is just one GREAT piece of film. You’ll hear all about it elsewhere, but two things from me here…. #1, from the first scene Heath Ledger OWNS the joker role and brings it to a whole other level of pschiotic greatness. When he walked in the scene I thought… “awh man, there’s Heath Ledger…” — and as soon as the head hits the pencil, for the rest of the movie I forgot it was Heath Ledger at all, until the VERY end when Bob brought it up to me and turned to say…. “Goddamn it man, that guy is a GREAT actor, there will never be anymore of him as the joker…” — and that just brought me WAY down. I seriously forgot it was Heath Ledger at all. — #2, I think Bob summed it up with the feeling when we walked out… ever been in a car accident or in the middle of danger and you’re now safe and happy to be alive? THAT was the feeling walking out of there. That was like being in the middle of several car crashes in a good way. — Oscar to Ledger because he fucking deserves it. Would that be the first real actor oscar to a comic book movie??? I’ve never seen an IMAX movie, nor do I know where an imax theater is around here, but goddamn it I want to go see this in IMAX now for sure.

Thats it for me… lots of drawing to attend to…

Dropping some thoughts here. Woke up to my body feeling much better, back is still stiff, but the agonizing pain is gone. Some updates…

Flobots - Doing a bunch of top secret stuff still. On the comic front, Still updating story #1, which is almost finished. I think I’m going to drop 3 full pages this week, M-W-F, and the next story will be in daily installments of a different format. The response has been REALLY good to this so far, I know the story has progressed slowly, and honestly, I’m not even to the “melt your mind” part of it yet, or the actual sci-fi hooks. I can’t wait to get there. I’m also gearing up to do sketchcards to benefit the Flobots.org and something neat for fans. I’ve been strategically practicing on getting much faster and not as picky with my work….

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I can’t even begin to summarize my feelings I have about working with the Flobots. It’s been…. an enlightening experience. Night and day. I can say this… whenever you start looking at a bigger picture and figuring things out on much GRANDER scale, the petty little things are much easier to figure out, they just fade away.

I’ve been doing a TON of design work for Flobot’s project across the board, from AmericaWillBe.org to Flobots.org, and FightWithTools.org

Not to mention the Webcomic at http://flobots.net , which admittedly, I haven’t gotten a chance to update this week (sorry). I originally had Jason onboard as colorist to help me out with time, he had to bail from the project, so whenever some last minute priority stuff came up, the webcomic schedule got a little boned. But this is why I have it in Beta currently.. BUT things will be changing pretty dramatically storywise and update wise very soon. Like, probably start monday soon.

I’ve done up a bunch of work for their next video which they are shooting within the next week here, and I have to admit, I had to stop myself from geeking out while a strange number came across my iphone– it was the director, who might be best known for his work with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. So as this gentlemen is telling me how much he liked different aspects of certain things I’d done, I was thinking to myself…. this is the guy who coated the Red Hot Chili Peppers in gold paint out in the mojave desert, and then shot them in black and white and it still kicked ass… So I can’t wait to see how this new project comes together. There are really a whole bunch of different elements all coming together with this and that is all I can say about that.

And yeah… I know this is all political in nature right now, given the climate we’re currently in. But I really like thinking about this stuff, the America that can be and will be. The idea that we can use whatever tools we have, Jamie and Stephen have their lyrics, others have their music and beats, some have filmography… I’ve got comics and storytelling, and we’re using them all for a good cause here. We’d like to get as many people to vote as possible, and it’s not preachy, in fact regardless of who you’re voting for here the key point is to know that your vote counts, you have a voice. That might be the most important voice of all. Perfect example is my mother-inlaw. She’s never voted, ever. She says her vote doesn’t count and it wouldn’t matter anyway. And it’s very easy to fall into that mindset. But change doesn’t come from ONE, it’s a wave.

When I say that Flobots saved my soul, I mean it. Here are some dudes who have a hit song, hit album, and some time off and could be ANYWHERE in the world right now taking a break on some beach, probably buying a fancy car even or just taking pictures of themselves in some far away place just to say they were there or show off on their social networks…. but instead in their free time, they’re out handing out flyers and bandannas today near the Colorado Rockies game. I heard tell that there could be some rapping, maybe some break dancing and fun… but they’re not resting, they’re working HARD to really do something with their own tools and the things they’ve been blessed with. They’re not just showing up for photo ops or sending out press releases about how awesome they are… they are out there activating.

Honestly, a whole new world has been opened up to me here, and I couldn’t be happier at the moment. It’s good to know that something my work is going into is not for someone’s bottom line, it’s not for a quick laugh or sitting collecting dust in a folder of 1000s of ideas to pitch to movies to make a whole bunch of other people a lot of money. There’s nothing wrong with any of that… but there’s a whole lot more right about this way.

I saw the news come across the wire last night around 1am about George Carlin and was bummed. I guess when you take into effect that he was 71 and his prior health issues and problems with addiction, he’s lucky to have made it that far. That’s a really good run! I loved Carlin– I remember first experiencing his comedy and it let me know it was okay to laugh out loud over those darker things you hide in your mind and think about. There were times I’d tell myself that some dark humor I had just written was TOO FAR, and then I’d think about the comedians out there who make me laugh so hard you cry or pee or cringe, and George Carlin was always at the top of that list. What would George Carlin do? Would he censor himself? This guy spilt the truth like none other.

A friend over on our forum mentioned how his death was just in time for the 4th of July:

“When I die, I don’t want to be buried, but I don’t want to be cremated either. I want to be blown up. Put me on a pile of explosives and blow me up. Or throw my body from a helicopter. That would be fun. One stipulation: wherever I land, you have to leave me there. Even if it’s on the mayor’s lawn. Just let me lie there. But keep the dogs away.”

I find myself in a pretty ackward situation here. But I want to be transparent with the fans of Hero By Night, who are the people who originally voted for it to win the first Comic Book Challenge and who made us the #1 Super Hero Webcomic online, with more regular returning readers than many mainstream titles by the big two.

A couple weeks ago I had reported here on my blog, that Platinum Studios had brought up to me the idea of getting me the print and web rights to Hero By Night back to allow me to continue Hero By Night on my own. This would not be in lieu of any money they owed me, but just something that could possibly keep HBN alive in some form on my own. Not full rights, Platinum would of course still handle all the tv and film and general “hollywood” stuff that’s their bread and butter. Well, that post ended up igniting some controversy and drama around the comic news sites. Not long after that, I did get a check in the mail for some of what I’m owed in back pay, which was pretty helpful for me to payoff some bills that had gotten backed up here. There were a lot of people who wanted to change the whole news into some creator rights fiasco or a “D.J. Coffman was screwed”  story or headline, of to which I actually went out and defended that this wasn’t the case, it was just a case of really bad timing, and late pay. Nobody was refusing to NOT pay anyone, there was just no real clear communication on when past due pays would be showing up, and it was growing increasingly frustrating as time dragged on and I heard disturbing rumors crop up from other creators.

A long story short, I had emailed the folks at Platinum to inquire if there had been any movement about the rights issue so that I could possibly get moving and publishing at least the webcomic on my own before the audience that we built for 2 years completely dropped off. I pretty much got this form letter sounding reply that included this statement:

…Please be advised that due to the controversy stirred up as a result of your recent blogging and interviews, all discussions between us regarding any potential licensing back to you of limited rights to Hero By Night are on hold.  At this time, we cannot say when those discussions might be resurrected. - Brian Altounian

To summarize, “we were gonna, but you talked, and now we’ve changed our minds.” Fantastic!

Wow. This immediately had struck me as a “You’ve been a bad boy, DJ” type statement, and they had gone back on what they had agreed to. I was pissed the moment I read it, but honestly, it’s within their right to completely change their mind or go back on their word. They don’t HAVE to give me back anything. And, obviously, inside the company they were obviously pretty pissed about me saying anything about pay not coming on time. That lead to Rich Johnston reporting on it at Comic Book Resources, and other creators who are not happy coming forward to thim — I’m not sure if by sending me that statement they thought it would make me be quiet now as a “Well, don’t say anything more and MAYBE we’ll “resurrect” talks with you, but that’s how I read it. I received no follow up emails or communications to my reply to them.

Like I said, they have every right to not deal with me now. But I question if that is the right thing for them to do, ethically at this point? If ethics are out the window in this conversation, then fine, so be it. I think the win-win would have been for them to allow me to continue producing it on my own, toss me that bone. The company wouldn’t be taking a loss on it anymore and content that they still could have represented would have been being made with no new costs coming out of research and development. Even if you were completely pissed off at me and hated my guts for telling the truth, this would have been the smart business decision. I know they have similar deals with other creators (Rob Liefeld, I think) , so this clearly feels to me, in my own opinion as just a slap on the wrist to keep me quiet. Wow, that worked out swimmingly, didn’t it.

And YES. I realize I might be an idiot for even opening my mouth and jeopardizing those talks. If they want to take this other path, I’m not going to be heartbroken about. I’m a smart person and I knew that was a possibility, But like i said before, the readers are very important to me, I had to let them know why issues they were buying, even in the TOP SELLING titles at sites like HeavyInk.com on preorder for weeks, wouldn’t be coming out afterall. And it wasn’t because I didn’t live up to my deadlines or anything in my own contract. I’ve been told by some people that I was actually TOO NICE in my original statement, but I didn’t hold any malicious intent or ill will for Platinum, I wanted to see the company do what was best in this situation where everyone was being told to hold on, and that they understood I needed to do what I needed to do. The plain truth is, I asked several times to several different people there, what should I say? What should I do? How long should I wait? What should I tell the fans? — and I got no clear answers from anyone, and I was left with the tough choice I had to make. It would have come out either way I suppose, but I didn’t feel right with having our readers or sites like HeavyInk preordering our issue 5s that wouldn’t be coming out.– I guess I could have said NOTHING and just went radio silent. Let fans wonder where their books are, or assume it was the reasons that are usually why books are late. But Jason Embury and myself always took great pride in being on time and delivering vibrant, quality and entertaining books.

I guess to the people at Platinum Studios, I’d say it’s not too late to do the right thing here. I know they won’t be happy about me writing this, and probably leaves an unpleasant taste in their mouth, but to them, I say, for all the times you praised me or my work ethic, and told me that you wished all creators worked like me, for all the times I went to bat for the company or people there, for all the times you needed something tomorrow and we had it to you today– make this situation right somehow. Because, at least to me, it feels pretty wrong right now.

I’m the same straight shooter that they hired in 2006, and praised for it. I’m afraid they can’t have it both ways.

I’ve had a lot of private conversations with other creators who have approached me, none of which I’d like to get into in detail yet unless those people want to pipe up themselves. But I can say this… these creators are pretty puzzled that they haven’t been paid, some pretty past due and in worse situations than I am, but then they see all the great press releases about Platinum upcoming movie deals, and the real kicker was hearing that Platinum was firing up a whole new line of comic publishing with Vanguard Animation. Some of these creators have told me privately, they are afraid to speak up, thinking they won’t ever be paid, but I’m not afraid to let both Platinum Studios and the world know that at least 7 of these people think that news about a new comic publishing line was ridicously unethical when you owe a bunch of current creators money. I had no idea the situation had gotten that bad behind the scenes with other creators or a breakdown in clear communication, but it’s really sad.

I always said from the get-go this wasn’t a creator rights issue, but now with talking to other creators, I think it’s sort of become one as I hear the other stories. I kinda feel like I’m not only speaking up for myself, but a lot of those creators who are currently pretty frustrated and pissed off, and possibly future creators out there, to maybe not go blabbing and being as transparent as D.J. Coffman. Or, maybe as others have suggested, this is how things get accomplished, and things change for the better. For creators AND publishers.

Did you ever have one of those waking thoughts that seemed brilliant and you figured out the entire universe or some missing piece of something, and then in a fleeting moment, it’s gone. POOF! Or you think later on, what a ridiculous idea you had that your sleepy brain was telling you was going to change the world.

This happened to me this morning around 5:30am as I got up to take a piss. I knew the alarm was going to go off at 6am, and thought, well, I can at least lay down for 30 minutes and TRY to get some sleep. I went out like a light, FAST… but in that half hour time, I dreamed an entire day’s events. I mean, scenes playing out in my head that if I told you about, it would play out like a movie you were watching that was much clearly longer than a half hour time, but somehow they were playing out in my brain at some super fast speed.  The alarm indeed wakes me from the dream and for some reason, my brain immediately realized what had just happened, and for some crazy reason, my sleep brain told me, THIS was the secret to all of time/space, or even time travel somehow. I laid there trying to figure out how that had anything to do with anything regarding time travel, and settled on the thought that I’m not that brilliant, but had Einstein had this same moment, he would have been surfing time somehow.

The weird thought is… this time is passing right now, a new day, that is clearly REAL, playing out in actual seconds that are the same length of seconds that anyone on this planet can count out…. but is our brain capable of compressing time and literally playing out in scenes in our mind, full days, possibly years in the blink of an eye, the count of second? A virtual reality you could slip into somehow?

Or what if these long moments that are passing, aren’t really passing at all, maybe we’re all in some long dream that’s only taking an actual half hour nap, but we’re dreaming through our entire life time. Pretty deep, but when mixed with thoughts about “people’s lives flash before their eyes.” — it felt like something.

Probably nothing though. Back to counting…. tick, tick, tick…

I guess it’s safe to say I’m pretty transparent. I’ve been “blogging” since 1999. There are times though where I can’t talk about something that’s too personal, or if I’m working with companies I can’t go around blabbing about things I overheard, or told to me in confidence or trade secrets, or who’s in talks to play what on what movie before they’re locked in, that sort of thing. I think it’s just that I like being honest, I think it’s the best policy, in all things.

Also… Ethics. I like thinking about ethics, more and more as I grow older. There are indeed different forms, based on different codes of morals, from Stoicism to Determinism, Causality and on and on… but they all boil down to a few things. Seeking the truth, getting to the truth, finding the truth, telling the truth, and doing good things to others. Most of society now have lost many of these values, instead people are just out for themselves. Many more than not will say anything or do anything to protect their own personal bottom line, even when it’s not the truth and not the right thing to do.

I bring up ethics because, as I was taught, these different codes of conduct all came about by great thinkers, who would try to determine WHY something was the right decision to make, and when do you know how to come to that decision and what it is. Some codes even go as far as to look beyond what the consequences might be, and you know it’s the right decision if ultimately the path lead to something good.

So yeah, I guess I know what’s right and wrong pretty well. I know how to dance the line between, the tightrope called satire. There’s a reason in my bookmarks I call some of my favorite bloggers “thinkers” instead.

Transparency can get you in trouble I guess too. I know a few bloggers who were fired from their jobs because of something they wrote or expressed. But was it the truth? That’s what I would ask. Here’s something, a story that just popped to mind, and I won’t name names in case said person is reading and doesn’t want his situation outed, but the story should be told.

A cautionary tale, I suppose.

I know a guy who worked for a company in New York involved with real estate. I think it was real estate, but that’s probably the wrong industry, but it involved this company buying out other companies, sometimes buildings and property, and then resell it to other companies. Sort of like an auction maybe. Well anyway, this agent guy I know, he was their best agent. Always on time, bringing in different deals, always talking up this group and how great his job was. Then one day he was on the instant messenger in a very bad mood and his status line was disturbing so I asked what was wrong. He told me he hadn’t been paid for awhile, like 4 months, but continued closing deals for this company. Why would he do that?! Well, they kept making him promises of this and that to make up for the lateness, and he trusted them because they all seemed like good people with good ethics that would do the right thing when the time came. Plus, he had a contract, which ironically the company had broken first by not paying him on time. So they promised him this house in a really nice area of New York, it was “like a Puff-Daddy” mansion, his words. My friend also found himself spending money he didn’t have to get by. He’d been living off credit cards and loans thinking he’d be able to pay it all off easy. Well, suddenly the well ran dry, and he got an eviction notice, he was losing his apartment. From his Dad’s place in New Jersey he made an update on his blog, explaining the situation he was in so his friends and family would know where he was at with limited net access, etc, but he finally had to tell the company he was done doing deals for them until they paid him what he was owed. He wasn’t happy at this point. I asked him, how could this company not afford to pay him what he was owed, but they’re selling all these high rises, and in some cases bringing in income from some of the office rentals? He said he was told it was because of budget errors, where they had bought other properties ahead of time in hopes of selling them off, they had golf courses, office buildings, small companies they owned, but nobody was buying as the market had bottomed out. Maybe that was the truth, and it was just a shitty situation. My friend didn’t feel that way though, he was pretty infuriated. The company in trying to buy some time with him dangled the offer to  him again on this house near the Hamptons, but my friend knew he couldn’t afford the gardner bill at this point, but he figured if they wanted to give him this property he’d try to make this work while waiting to be paid.

Weeks went by, and there was no word, only voicemails unanswered. When he finally did get ahold of them about the “deal”, they said they had changed their mind because they had read his blog post about not being paid, and it had stirred up a bunch of controversy. He was one of thier best agents afterall, and they blamed him now for some deals not going through, and some properties being complete losses to them and that’s why he and the other agents weren’t being paid. The company took no responsibility whatsoever. Suddenly, these people he thought were good friends, were reduced to a cold email that started with “Dear John” - He said the last contact he had with the company before they went bankrupt 2 months later was them telling him in a round about way to be quiet and maybe they’d get back to talking with him about his deal. My buddy ended up persuing legal action of some kind, but he said it wasn’t worth the time or money, he basically got nothing. I asked him if he regretted blogging about it, and he said not at all. He gave me the advice that if I were ever in a similar situation, to tell the truth. And to not wait as long as he did. He wished he would have spoke up sooner when they originally had broken their contracts. My friend is doing well again for himself, and that story is just a cautionary tale from his past.

This is a very odd to me, because I find myself in a  similar situation now, not the same, but similar to the point where it makes you wonder if there are patterns in these things . My friend e-mailed me and said, hey, remember when I worked for that property company?…. yeah. yeah, I remember.

I guess no matter what, I have the truth. People should ask themselves though, are the decisions I’m making the RIGHT thing to do? Or am I just being a dick?

Maybe I’ll have much much more to say about this topic if situations don’t improve within the next 24 hours.

So my wife and I traveled up to Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio for the Jack Johnson concert on Tuesday night. Was a great show. We were smack dab in front of the mic, so my wife got  good view. I think I caught her drooling and fawning a few times.

I was digging the organ player who was a cheery guy, played all the cool instruments like those little blow into mouth organs and stuff, and generally would get up and dance and have a good time. He would also be there poking at Jack when he forgot the lyrics a few times, it looked like they were having a lot of fun playing. At one point, said organ player go up with an accordion and they played “Girl I want to lay you down”, which I think they said he wrote, but it was dedicated to his grandmother who was sitting over in a wheelchair on the back of the stage.

I couldn’t believe just how packed the Blossom Music Center was, I mean, I like Jack Johnson and all, but had no idea he draws these types of crowds in Ohio, it was nuts. A different kinda crowd though then the concerts I’m use to going to, pretty mellow and no moshing around or crowd surfing. I kept looking around over the tops of everyones heads thinking “Shit, I’m the tallest guy here.” Which felt odd.

Got a cool picture of the opening act guy, Mason Jennings. Have never heard of him before but he’s from north of Pittsburgh I guess. I’d say his music is reminiscent of Tom Petty or Bob Dylan in their primes. In fact, if Tom Petty and Bob Dylan could have had a baby together, it might have been Mason Jennings. Pretty catchy tunes he was slinging, but yeah, this photo came out pretty neat. Looks like either a portal is opening up next to him, or Bob said that it looked like Jesus had ascended to rock out…

I love how cameras catch things you don’t see.

Here’s a pic of Jack playing ukulele…

He rocks a nice Kamaka Tenor Ukulele with koa wood. Wish I could afford one of those, the tenor runs about a grand over on Elderly Music.com It would be the prize of my uke collection if I ever snagged one.

It was only about a 2.5 hour drive so we decided to just drive home overnight, but we didn’t end up getting home until around 4am. SUCK. It was nice to get out of town with my lady though. She needed it. It’s been a rough year for her.

So yesterday was a bust of playing pickup kids, grocery shopping and catchup. Playtime is over now, gotta get to work serious like now. Prepping envelopes for shipping the rings out–lots of things to do here.

I’ve got to make this day count and get some REAL work done here. Lots of things to do and organize.

What’s going on right now– the Flobots comic has been updated, as well as the Yirmumah comic was updated over the weekend.

Hero By Night rings will be mailed out by the end of the week. That’s the plan. I wanted to go all out and have some nice packaging for them, but well, I don’t have the budget to do that and not as many rings were ordered as people who said wanted them. Such is always the way! But these rings are totally awesome, and will be great for comic collections, or to randomly sit around your computer, knowing that YOU have a vitalogy ring.

It’s funny that I seem to be busier than ever now. I’m also thinking about finally officially joining the Graphic Artists Guild after years of procrastination on it. I find their GAG handbook a bible of information from legal advice and sample contracts, to straight up ethical guidelines to follow in business. They have a great list of FREE lawyers in major cities too to help aid you in collecting from clients, etc. That’s handy! I also am pretty stunned at just how affordable my prices are compared to the going rates in the book for different things and hourly rates. I think I may have to adjust from my 1999 rates.

My wife and I are headed to a Jack Johnson concert tomorrow in Cuyahoga Falls Ohio. She’s had this trip planned since March when she bought the tickets. I dig Jack Johnson, and he’s one my wife’s favorites. The Rollingstone cover he did a couple months ago is sitting on her dresser and his giant smiling melon head greets me every morning when I wake up. He is mellow to he point of GROSS NEGLIGENCE! - (sorry, SNL joke there- link)