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!

I woke up and came to turn on my computer and was greeted with this at my station…

It’s an origami Llama. It had a note with it that said “Happy Early Father’s Day Dad” - It appears as though my son Dillon is some sort of origami savant of some kind. He tells me he could have done a much better job if he had official origami paper, I didn’t even know such a thing existed, but I think it’s absolutely awesome the way it is. It’s funny that something so small can bring me such overwhelming joy inside, and this is the type of thing that will stay in my office until I’m old and gray and an official “curmudgeon”

I treated myself to a set of Prismacolor markers. I use to use them ages ago for commissions, but moved all digital around Y2K. I’ve been pretty jealous of the awesome little pieces I see done at conventions or the sketchcards I see around, and I’ve been itching for almost a year to get back into that. Now I can.

The future of Hero By Night is still up in the air. All is quiet on the western front. I won’t lie and say I don’t find it a little bit disheartening, but I don’t expect them to drop everything else they have going on to address my wants and needs. I’m honestly just very happy that I’ve been paid some of what I’m owed, and that was what was most important in the here and now. I just wish things could have worked out differently or on time and schedule. I won’t speculate any further on that, I’m going to just give them some time, about a month at least, before contacting them again about these things, but hopefully everything gets caught up and resolved sooner than that.

I also should have, but was not aware of all the people who actually cared about Yirmumah. I have quietly fired that back up again, and I’m doing it “for fun”, the way it was originally intended. But I’ve already had old Club Members ask if they can begin paying their club fees or supporting it in some way. I’m reluctant to do anything like that until I can prove that I can deliver or won’t be flaking out or quiting in a couple weeks. Yirmumah seems to have been my “constant” over all these years in comics, so it feels good to kick those tires again, and LAUGH. I might warn that there will be some naughty language there and more mature humor. It’s up at a new URL, http://yirmumah.com — a clean slate.

The Flobots comic is quietly up and running as well at http://flobots.net - I’m in what I call a “beta” launch there because I don’t want to heavily pimp it until I get to a certain point of content where new people can come in and get the jist of the stories. Flobots the band are out on tour right now and pretty busy, but they’ll be popping up some ads and pimping it on their sites too– in fact, behind the scenes they asked me to do concept and designs for merchandise like shirts, they’ve also given me work on various websites and cool fun projects. I’m really honored to be working with them. Again, it blows my mind, because just a couple months ago, I was emailing them blindly not knowing they were about to blow up on the charts. The two things I truly love about these guys is their Do-It-Yourself work ethic and the fact they have a heart and care about a lot of social issues and making the world a better place.

Another odd thing I noticed… I had a headline on the Newsarama Blog without even trying. Jason and I would often wonder why we couldn’t get Hero By Night news releases on there, and we always got the feeling that people liked US and OUR work, but distrusted our publisher. I thought it might just be paranoia, but there were many times we sent in releases or previews and they were never posted. The only time we could make “comic news” there was when drama with the publisher was going on, and it use to frustrate the hell out of us. But suddenly, unprovoked, I get the headline about the Flobots comic, and it felt really good to have that acknowledged without trying so hard. So thanks to Newsarama for help in getting the word out for me.

In a way, meeting the Flobots and seeing what they’re up to made me miss the days of mailing out stacks of fake bricks in the mail.

Tim Russert Dead. I can’t really believe it, and it makes me sad. I know I didn’t KNOW the guy or anything, but I’m a fan of awesome journalists, people I know I can turn to to get the straight dope. He was one of, if not THE best. He had that devilish irish twinkle in his eye, and I always loved hearing him tell his personal stories on TV. Really sad to go, and to go on the beginning of a Father’s Day Weekend. They should build a statue of him in front of NBC, and give out awards in his name. He was just that type of journalist and human being. The world, our country lost a great patriot on Friday.

As if that weren’t shocking enough, I heard from Jason Embury, my friend and colorist last night, he was just at the ER where they think his Dad had a heart attack. Last I heard he was okay, but WOW, Jason’s family has been in our thoughts last night and this morning. Heart attacks are scary things, they make me worry about myself. They seem like they can come from nowhere, like the roll of the dice. Anyway, best wishes to the Embury’s this Father’s Day Weekend.

It turns out, Carpenter Jesus wasn’t Carpenter Jesus after all. It was a statue of St. Joseph that sat in the window or our home when we first came to look at it. Peering through the window, it was the first thing I noticed. I laughed and said, “Check it out, Carpenter Jesus is trapped inside.” - He looked sad as he gazed out at the street.

Looking back on buying our house, it was kind of a godsend– we needed a bigger place, but never imagined we’d actually close on this house. — Sure, it’s old, built like in the late 1800s, but it’s a solid brick house, and as the previous owner told me when he handed over the keys, “It’s got good bones.” — and it surely does. For the entire year we’ve lived here, Carpenter Jesus sat in the window where he always sat– my wife and I just on our own considered it good luck of some kind.

About 2 months ago now, give or take, one of the cats decided to fuck up Carpenter Jesus’s day and knocked his head off. We didn’t have any super glue, so he sat headless in my office while we waited. Somewhere along the line, we DID buy super glue, but sat the tube of super glue next to stuff that needed super glued, along with Carpenter Jesus there were a few kids toys, etc. We told this story at dinner when my wife’s cousins were in, and one of her cousins said, Oh, that’s a Catholic thing, for good luck in selling a house, they bury it in the yard face facing the street and it’s supposed to speed up home sales. — Well, someone had left our Jesus in the window all lonely and desperate looking to get out.

Tonight, just a few minutes ago, my wife and I were in the office and she mentioned… “Hey why don’t you super glue Carpenter Jesus head back on.” — OH! We had forgotten all about him there up on the shelf. I laughed and said, you know this probably isn’t even Jesus right, it’s likely his Dad Joseph… and my wife knew that. Then as I’m holding headless Jesus, I thought— man, ever since he went headless, we’ve had a lot of troubles paying our bills. BARELY scraping by to make ends meet here. We’ve been in some REAL danger of actually LOSING this house. (embarrassing to say) - but we’re hanging in there… SOMEHOW. I really don’t know how actually. In that regard, I feel like a complete failure– it’s something I’ve eluded to here before in the blog– that would be a GREAT headline, wouldn’t it? Comic Artist loses house. The sub-headline would probably read “WHAT A DUMBASS!”

As I glue Carpenter Jesus head back on, my wife and I joke how maybe a check will come in the mail or actual communication of some good news, or things will start turning back around again. We laugh and put Carpenter Jesus back on his rightful perch in the window to begin his work at reworking the universe.

It doesn’t matter that he’s not Carpenter Jesus, he’s our Carpenter fucking Jesus, and that is that.

It’s my oldest son’s birthday today. He’s 11. That’s tripping me out. I can remember clearly, very clearly when I was 11. My son is also probably the #1 Hero By Night fan out there– I’ve tried to sugar coat the fact that it’s just on “hold” for now, but he seemed really bummed, and then that bummed me out. Maybe I’ll just draw comics for him, and no one will ever know. — I remember when I was 11… do you?

The Flobots are on Jay Leno tonight–

pay attention to Jonny 5’s shirt.

It begins tonight.

Back to the drawing board for me.

Ok, so I decided to take the trip to Cincinnati with my wife to meet the Flobots while they’re out on tour, this was the closest they’d be to Pittsburgh. It was a really great experience. Thought I’d talk a little about it, a little about them, what plans are happening now, etc…

I’ve been talking with the band over email and the phone for a while now, but I really wanted to talk face to face and see them live in concert. The drive to Cincinnati was pretty darn easy and went by fast on cruise control. We were going to meetup for their soundcheck at the Mad Hatter, then grab some grub and talk about the takeover, er, revolution, er… comics and stuff. They were running a bit late, so my wife and I were hanging around at the club waiting for them to show up. — After awhile, a big ol’ tour bus, I’ll call it the FLO-BUS,  rolled up with “DENVER” in the destination spot. My wife and looked at each other and got a laugh thinking, “They’re driving their own bus around!” — They quickly got off and began unloading their own equipment and merchandise boxes— I was immediately impressed that it just yelled GRASSROOTS to me. It reminded me of the small press, hand stapling days of Yirmumah, and trucking a spin wheel around to shows and making my own merchandise, etc. It had that feeling to it. — I guess having a name like DJ and also having radio station stuff there, over the noise of the bus, it was a little confusing as to just who was introducing myself to– I nudged Andy the guitarist first and he was very nice– I asked if they needed a hand carrying things in, and he told me they were all self contained and just to relax and I didn’t have to do anything—- Again, it didn’t occur to me that he thought I was jut someone from the club or the radio station at that moment— I found Jamie (ahem, JONNY 5) and introduced myself to him, and immediately got a big hug and thank you for all I’ve been doing for them behind the scenes. He nudged over Stephen, re I mean, Brer’ Rabbit… and I got another big giant hug from him— lots of smiles and laughs. Stephen mentioned it felt like an internet date meetup. Ha!–

So there was a soundcheck, and a ton of fans starting showing up outside the venue and lining the street. Inside is when Andy and Jesse (guitarists) realized who I actually was, and then they went to a whole other level of nice in telling me how awesome I am and how I GET their message and visuals and it’s really bringing it all together for them— When you’re on the road like that, you gotta get laundry done somehow, so they asked if my hotel had laundry-  Mi Casa es Su Casa— if you look closely in this picture you can see them with their laundry bags slung over their shoulders near the back of the FloBus…

As we were standing back there, with kids looking at us like “HEY, DONT BE CUTTIN IN LINE!” we could hear the crowd mingling “There’s Brer Rabbit! — Is that Jonny 5?? I think I just saw Mackenzie!!” — it was funny, because as they then caught up with us, my wife said people in the crowd were looking like, where are they going with THOSE people… and so we coasted down the road, got some hot tea for the boy’s voices– and we talked a bit about future plans and activation… I can’t talk about any of that stuff YET

I can tell you this. There will be a Flobots comic coming at you REAL soon. Like, if I can get some other things done, “NEXT WEEK” real soon. They mentioned how impressed they were with me, wherein they needed a couple websites done up, visuals, BAM– it was done. I’ve been working on www.flobots.org which is the hub for their non-profit site. Check it out– while you’re there, go join the STREET TEAM— their goal with that this year is to sign up 50,000 new voters. They also do some AWESOME things with the Denver Children’s home– and they want to basically take what they’ve been doing on the grassroots level in their community and BLOW IT UP ALL OVER THE COUNTRY. That’s what Street Team is all about– get in on the ground floor people. —

While we were chatting about comics stuff… I looked up at Stephen and said– HOLY CRAP!– there was a big Dragonfly hanging out on top of his hat. We all grabbed our cameras and snapped photos… here’s one…

He just let it chill, and it ended up going to the rim of his hat like some sort of hood ornament, overseeing our talks. The dragonfly approved. I wondered later if that was some sort of omen or something. I just looked it up– it’s an omen of change. Of seeing through illusions… and this story i found online about symbolism of a Dragonfly sums up how I was feeling about this trip too…

The dragon fly is symbolic for change and being okay with it. Here is a story: The Dragonfly Once, in a little pond, in the muddy water under the lily pads, there lived a little water beetle in a community of water beetles. They lived a simple and comfortable life in the pond with few disturbances and interruptions. Once in a while, sadness would come to the community when one of their fellow beetles would climb the stem of a lily pad and would never be seen again. They knew when this happened; their friend was dead, gone forever. Then, one day, one little water beetle felt an irresistible urge to climb up that stem. However, he was determined that he would not leave forever. He would come back and tell his friends what he had found at the top. When he reached the top and climbed out of the water onto the surface of the lily pad, he was so tired, and the sun felt so warm, that he decided he must take a nap. As he slept, his body changed and when he woke up, he had turned into a beautiful blue tailed dragonfly with broad wings and a slender body designed for flying. So, fly he did! And, as he soared he saw the beauty of a whole new world and a far superior way of life to what he had never known existed. Then he remembered his beetle friends and how they were thinking by now he was dead. He wanted to go back to tell them, and explain to them that he was now more alive than he had ever been before. His life had been fulfilled rather than ended. But, his new body would not go down into the water. He could not get back to tell his friends the good news. Then he understood that their time would come, when they, too, would know what he now knew. So, he raised his wings and flew off into his joyous new life!

And that kinda is a metaphor for me on this trip now that I think about it. That was such an ODD experience to have that Dragonfly show up like that– I think everyone in the room knew it meant something. Stephen said his Dad told him that Dragonflies were good luck and that they were “medicine men” because when they fly it looks like they’re carrying a medicine bag.

I was feeling that feeling of CHANGE the whole trip. Of what could easily be. To get out of the muddy water, and fly off somewhere else. Everything we talked about, seemed to be clicking, and we’re all on the same wavelength with what our goals are with these projects.

I felt very rejuvenated on this trip. It was good to meet people who are suddenly experiencing CRAZY success, and it’s not gone to their heads– they’re down to earth. They see all these things as TOOLS– almost like, “Now what can we do with this to help?” — It was refreshing to see and feel this energy and to have a renewed faith that there are GOOD people like this out there, people who aren’t only concerned with their bottom line, but with the REAL BIG PICTURE.

I also got them the shirt that he’ll hopefully be able to wear on Jay Leno tomorrow night– crossing fingers. I don’t think there should be a problem, because it’s not a “logo” shirt, they made it. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, because it’s just an AWESOMELY positive thing.

Had a quick bite to eat with Stephen, Jamie and their manager J.J.– J.J. is also a really stand up honest guy, you can just immediately feel that he’s got everyone’s best interests in mind.  They had to run to get back to the show and prep and we’d meet up afterward  back at the hotel– so my wife and I went to change and get to the show….

THE SHOW.- I was a FAN of the flobots first and foremost. So seeing them LIVE was going to be a treat on it’s own. The show was killer– My wife and I talked about how it was surreal to see them on stage, as if they were ON, and sort of transformed into these ROCKSTARS before our eyes– we laughed and said “They’re dirty laundry is on our room right now!” CRAZY. So we geeked and nerded out in a fan-like fashion on how surreal that moment is– I could go on and on about how awesome they are live, but take my word for it. All of the pics I had inside the club came out a bit blurry, but here’s a good one of Mackenzie rocking people’s asses off during an encore cover performance of “Heartbreaker” -

And here’s Jamie and Stephen doing their thing…

– After the show, we were good fans and hit the merchandise table for some official FLOBOTS T-SHIRTS.

They showed up at the hotel about an hour or so later to chill some more and go over plans. But it was odd, because I swear, it was if they went back into Clark Kent mode and I didn’t even recognize who they were on stage. Not visually I mean– but it didn’t feel like the hip-hop stars who are sitting at the #1 spot on charts were hanging out in my hotel room. That still kinda blows my mind. I can’t even imagine how THEY must feel. — After some good conversation, J.J. mentioned they actually had to be leaving THAT night to get to Detroit– no time for Laundry Dr. Jones. — Stephen sighed, “Man, no laundry again.” — I joked with them that I caught my wife rifling through their dirty clothes, and to check ebay in the coming days.

We drove them over to where they stashed the FLObus, said our goodbyes, but we all knew it wouldn’t be the last we’d be seeing of each other. I’d love to get out to the DNC in August– there’s going to be a LOT of action going on there, plans, etc.

My wife and I then proceeded to sleep very little, and then battle against Tornado watches and heavy rain on the way home. Got home tired, but feeling SO MUCH BETTER.

So yes… in light of everything else that’s NOT been going right in my life, THIS has been the one constant thing keeping me sane. I think I might have found some weird “calling” to public service or non-profit work too. I’d never really thought about before seriously, but being around these guys and talking to the entire crew– it’s inspiring. New American Insurgents, indeed.

That’s my break for the day— back to work for me. There’s much to do.

Dont let it kill you baby, dont let it get to you
Dont let em kill you baby, dont let em get to you
I’ll be your breathin heart, I’ll be your cryin fool
Dont let this go to far, dont let it get to you

I can’t remember a time in my life where I was more energized and excited about the future–but completely nervous as all hell at the same time.

First the nervous part— My finances have been, well, to put it bluntly, completely jacked up the past month. My pay didn’t come on time as expected, not sure when it’s going to come although I’m sure it will at some point– but it’s lead me to make some pretty tough decisions personally and professionally here. My production schedule has pretty much been boned here, and it’s out of my hands now.  I can’t sit living off my savings and watching it dwindle down to nothing. My wife is back out now on job interviews, thank god for that stability, although I’d rather her not work and stay home with the kids– but this isn’t the 1950s I guess. People are often shocked when I say my wife hasn’t been working. Checked the mail… the closest thing to money was one of those “pre approved $5500″ loans offers from CitiFinacial. It was the first time I was actually tempted to call and take it…. but I’m smarter than that.

The exciting part though– I feel like I might have found something that was missing from my life, and a way to channel that inner rebelliousness that’s been there all along. I use to do it through satire– but now I think I might have put the pieces together in a way where, by god, it could actually make a DIFFERENCE out in the world. At least once or twice a week I get emails from people saying how my work has inspired them to go on with their own art and comics work, or peruse their dreams— and that feels pretty great– but now I’m thinking of expanding that to life in general. The idea that someone might read a story I’ve done and just not want to give up on life. To know they aren’t alone in their situation and that others have pulled out of it. TO hang in there! — Channeling my inner “Ben Franklin” as well, with some powerful imagery and counter propaganda. Finding these people of a similar mindset seems like a bit like the fickle finger of fate brought us together in some way. —

I’ll be able to show off some new stuff I’ve been working on real soon. Until then though, it’s back to the drawing board and the waiting games. The waiting is the hardest part.

Thought I’d let the cat out of the bag here about “top secret project X” - I’ve had a lot of people asking what it was and what I was up to– and I’m not sure why it was kept a secret in the first place, just that I wanted to make sure it was go– and since we’re ALMOST go, here it is.

Yup. I’m doing a FLOBOTS comic. Readers here know I’ve been yammering on about the Flobots since I first discovered their music back in April… the comic won’t be launching JUST yet, but let me talk a little more about how it came together and what the goal is here, what it’ll be about, etc… this might take a moment as I ramble…

This whole entire year, I’ve felt pretty politically charged up. Back in January, I heard that Speech from Obama in Iowa, and the ones that followed… it gave me JUICE. Hearing lines. I felt like FINALLY someone is coming in and talking about real change– things I’ve thought about in my own head that I wish would be said out loud, this guy was speaking them. “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for” — I was so inspired, I drew a little sketch of Obama one morning in January– I laughed to myself and said, some day I’ll meet him and he’ll sign this.– In March, that happened. I’d get to meet Senator Obama only about 20 minutes from my house. He signed the sketch and thanked me for drawing his ears smaller.

After I started openly supporting Obama in my area (southwestern Pennsylvania) I began coming face to face with closeted bigotry and racism– sometimes from people I actually care or cared about. It was sort of a wakeup call to action. That’s when I painted the Obama “vote for change” sign for my yard before the Pennsylvania primaries. - This was right around the time I discovered the Flobots online and downloaded their album, and it chimed right in with how I was feeling. When I was away at New York Comicon, my wife let me know the sign had been stolen and she had been scared that somebody might come back and do more damage to the yard— I was a little scared, but furious. –Instead of sitting down and letting someone get away with that, I painted ANOTHER sign and put it out, because I felt like no matter what, I wasn’t going to allow somebody else to smother my freedom of speech and expression on my own property or anywhere.

That same week I was fired up, I emailed the Flobots because I was thinking a lot about the social messages in their music and how well it was put together– I wanted to know if they’d be down for a webcomic of some kind or graphic novel. I never expected a reply…. but they indeed replied right away.

To my surprise, not only would they be down, but they had actually heard of my work and read Hero By Night before as well. We shared ideas through email about what we could accomplish with a webcomic or something bigger. The idea of somehow involving the community, or inspiring others to activate in their community— I shared my story about the Obama signs with Flobots member, Brer Rabbit– I kinda told him my frustration and how “I would have painted 1000 signs if you know what I mean.” — His response was…

Let’s paint those signs!
This is the time, man.

This lead to some deep phone conversations with Brer Rabbit about comics, politics– It was pretty clear that these guys had a real love and passion for comics too. My goal is to be able to do with my sequential art, what Flobots are doing with their music. Communicating ideas…. activating minds. They forsee a much bigger picture than JUST music, they see it all as art and creativity– Making people think… inspiring people to stand for change. The kind of revolution they propose isn’t one that involves violence or storming the White House, it’s about being creative and sharing stories with one another– fighting with TOOLS– they have their music, my tools will be the comics– but it’s the same ammunition we’ll be firing.

They actually have a great non-profit group being setup, Flobots.org which can be read more about here.

All along, I had no real idea just how BIG Flobots were blowing up, and are currently in the process of blowing up even more. I’m pretty humbled to even be working with them on this project, and the fact that they’re pumped up by what I’ve shown them so far. I want to launch it as soon as possible here, but there are still a few kinks to hammer out– But definitly stay tuned here on my blog, and you’ll know when it happens because I’ll be yelling it from the rooftops. Things are happening pretty rapidly all around.

All I can say is… it’s pretty amazing how this all came together. I’m pretty stoked.

To prime yourself, go checkout Flobots.com - Buy their album (7.99 at Best Buy!) and LISTEN to their lyrics and enjoy.

Kids didn’t have school today. I slept in. Now I’m up and working away on Top Secret Project X and other things.

I’ve been in and out of sour moods the past week. A lot of friends have asked what’s wrong, etc… and I’ve kept it pretty vague and I’m sorry about that— But in clear transparency, it’s Mostly based on the fact that I’m, uh, pretty much BROKE and waiting on pay to come, which hasn’t come yet for vaguely unknown reasons. I’m sure it will all be okay, but in the meantime, there are bills to pay and such. I’ve been struck with a mini panic that I should be doing something else, possibly looking for a job or starting to do commissions (caricatures) or something to earn some side safety cash. But yeah, things are pretty friggin unstable right now all around, but not to worry….

You’d think that would make someone really on the edge or nervous. Sometimes it can be downright depressing– but there are big moments where I just like to embrace the unknown. When you struggle against the current of where the universe is taking you it often brings you more problems. It’s always best to just go with the flow and not worry too much about where it’s taking you.

You kinda HAVE to think that way if you’re going to remain creative during tough times. I think of it almost like a test or something. Discipline!

All that being said…. I hope the mail delivers my check THIS week or there’s going to be a fucking meltdown of some kind that I won’t be able to keep under control because it will be out of my hands entirely. Literally. Vague enough for you?

______________________other items on the brain….

Oh! Flobots are on Carson Daly tonight… record that or watch it live. I’m planning on driving to Cincinnati on June 2 to meet them in person and talk about some awesome things that can change the world– can’t wait.  Their album officially drops in stores tomorrow– BUY IT! Listen to it a 1000 times. I have.

COMICPRESS 2.5 and more! - Comicpress is an awesome wordpress theme created by Tyler Martin for publishing webcomics that just got awesomer with the release of 2.5– now there are more layouts, more features, etc. And there’s a cool plugin that goes along with it called Comicpress Manager which makes launching your own webcomic 10 times easier. Maybe 100 times? — Seriously, I was mucking with this last night on another TOP SECRET site and it made me want to launch like 5 comics. It also makes it easy for you to take bulk archives and upload them to wordpress— great for moving those big archives around!

BOOM BLOX - is an addicting game for the Wii. I bought it actually for my wife and I to compete and play, but the whole family loves it, fights over it… and for some reason, time really goes by fast when you’re on it. 2 hours melt away.  Which isn’t so good when you have work to do.

I’m still selling Hero By Night rings– if you want one for your collection, you’d probably better buy one this week or next because if I don’t get enough orders for the batch, I don’t think I’ll be making extras or a second run. So this is extremely limited. See here for details.

A day in May. A May day.

May Day. May Day. Hmph… go figure.

I slept in today until 10am. I didn’t intend to do this, but found myself laying in bed “thinking” and planning– then before I knew it, 10am. ARG! — So I’ve been bustling around here all day playing catchup. Inked a page so far, which is unacceptable– but spent a lot of time on the phone today with business stuff…

I have a couple things going on I can’t really talk about, and at some point I have to do the dreaded “talk to a lawyer” thing or find someone I can trust to help me draft up a simple agreement so I don’t get screwed in upcoming endeavors. I don’t have or want to pay for johnny law shit right now though until my financial situation improves a bit—– it’s all a weird catch 22,– I know this is vague, but my financial situation can’t improve until either A. I’m paid on time or B. I work really hard on speculative things.

The thought has crossed my mind to open myself up to commissions online for you know, comic booky stuff, people who want Green Lantern fighting Hulk or something— , or even open myself up and say I’m available on the side for paying small jobs. So I guess I’m available even though I haven’t advertised this fact other than my blog. Call me! heh.

My main workload right now is working on Hero By Night, I’m ALMOST done inking issue 4, then i have a window to work on top secret project 1. But yeah… I gotta get MY ducks in a row here money wise as things are getting pretty stupid tight. It’s only temporary, but it sucks.

Related news… I guess Diamond canceled the Hero By Night power ring through that catalog. Not enough people ordered through comic shops (which I don’t blame them really) - BUT this may be a good thing for fans because my Alchemist is ready to go at forging said rings so I could sell them direct to hardcore readers online, direct from me. And it’ll be a tad cheaper as well– so that’ll be a win for Hero By Night fans…. It frustrates me a little bit though– I could have been probably selling the rings since late February. Oh well!— I think it’s become one of my goals again to just not even HAVE to use the direct market system. I keep thinking about McCloud’s book Reinventing Comics and his illustrations of cutting out the middlemen…. this is what I use to do with Yirmumah and it worked out pretty well….. Some day soon.

Now I’m on DAD duty here as my wife is out running around picking up bridal dresses or some crap with my sister-inlaw — so that means I get to go feed three kids… my oldest son says I cook better though, so NYAH-NYAH to the Mrs.!

By the way— here’s her new  tattoo she got based on the design I did for her. It turned out groovy… she’s so cute. She is the BOMB.

I DO!

11 years ago my friend Bob lent me his suit jacket because I didn’t have one. It was a little big on me and I don’t like wearing suits, mind you, but it was an important day. I married my wife.

While we didn’t have an elaborate big shindig, mostly because of my own fault in not wanting other people to control my life, I do vividly remember the day– the flower in her hair, the sunshine coming out on a rainy day when we walked outside. I remember the the somewhat small moment of panic that set in when I looked down at her belly that was about to burst like something from ALIEN thinking… “Oh my god… I’m gonna be someone’s parent in a month.”

And here we are 11 years later, officially. Not too shabby!

I have to admit to you, dear blog readers, that I do feel a bit of a failure this morning. Sure I’ve got a bit of “success” drawing some comics, and I can’t complain about that– but I don’t feel “secure.” — I don’t think I ever have, or will. There is no retirement plan for me– the retirement plan is… “draw comics until you’re dead.” — Which would be just fine if there were only ME to consider in the equation. So I work very hard, sometimes 9-9 or beyond to make ends meet here. And I’m lucky– for a long time I wasn’t able to do that. — Anyways– last night, this morning…. it just got me thinking that maybe while I work in comics, I should be looking for something BIGGER… something to bring myself and family some REAL “security”. — Comics ain’t it, and that’s mostly why I feel like I’ve failed in some way. But I haven’t quit, and at least I have my eye on that prize now.

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I’ve been told that I’m the coolest Dad EVER after letting my son speak with Brer Rabbit from the Flobots on the phone. You may have never heard of the Flobots yet, but you will very soon. Around these parts though the past couple weeks, Flobots are a “very big thing” as they’ve become my son’s favorite band, and dare I even say it? My favorite band? Well, okay…. next to Pearl Jam. A dream concert for me would be Flobots opening up for Pearl Jam, and Mike McCready coming out to bust out some solo or rhythm with the ‘Bots. But yeah, I guess I’m a HERO now to my kid. Thanks, Brer Rabbit!

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I DO!

Inking continues here…. almost mindlessly. I enjoy it though in some therapeutic way. I keeps my mind off the bills that are coming due and the pressures of the outside world. It also keeps my mind off the fact that 500,000 people, HALF A MILLION people could be dead in Burma, and that oil is now a record breaking 126 a barrel….. I’m kinda sick of “keeping my mind off” of it though, which is why….

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I DO!

Top Secret Side Project X continues…

I do… and do… and do… and do….

Dammit, I’m a DOER!