HOLY @#$%! A NEW COMIC!

I know, I know. This might be the longest I've ever gone between posts but, I was busy becoming an office manager for Envelope A+D (a boutique architecture firm in Oakland) and writing a new cartooning curriculum for Galileo Learning and moving into my own place and who knows what else - A LOT HAS GONE ON! BUT, despite all distractions, I'm still making comics! Here's a new one, and you have my word: MORE WILL FOLLOW!

I can't believe it's convention season again but...

It is! I'm dizzy just thinking about the number of things that are happening over the next few weeks - first and foremost, this weekend is the SF Zinefest in Golden Gate Park! If you're in the Bay Area stop by and say hello - it's free and it's fun and I'd love to see you, in fact, y'know what? I'd love to see you so much that if you come by and find me I'll give you a tiny comic for free! I'll be tabling with new cartooning compadre, Max Nelson who draws water foul in silly clothes, you guys'll love him.

NEXT weekend I'll be in Bethesda, MD for the Small Press Expo with those hilarious, talented, gorgeous librarians I usually truck with, Jen Vaughn and Caitlin M. We'll be at table C6 promoting our hot off the presses anthology Lies Grown-ups Told Me. ALSO, if everything goes exactly according to plan I'll be debuting my new mini Freeloader: Issue One - comics about being 27 and living with my parents. When you're done reading it you'll either be convinced I'm the world's biggest loser or your self-esteem will drop about 40% because you'll realize that we're in the same boat - it's okay, we can cry into our beers together.

Here's the cover and an itty bitty preview:

If I don't see you at Zinefest OR SPX, never fear, you can find me at the Alternative Press Expo in SF on October 1st and 2nd! I'm even teaching a self-pubslishing workshop on Saturday the 3rd at 5pm - come by and learn to make a One-Sheet comic! Somewhere in there I'm also in a wedding in Chicago so, if I don't post for a while, know that it's because I'm on the road. Until next time!

Lies Grown-ups Told Me Preview!

Hey gang! As some of you know, I've been putting blood sweat and tears into my soon to be released comics anthology, Lies Grown-ups Told Me. Co-editors Caitlin M., Jen Vaughn and I just sent the final file to the printer this morning and, I'll say it, I feel damn good about this book! We've got a killer KILLER lineup of contributors - you can check out our kickstarter page if you want to see who they are, we're done fundraising but there's a lot more info there.

SO, without further ado, here is a sample from my 4-page contribution to Lies Grown-ups Told Me, the rest you'll have to see in print!

Phew!

After 6 weeks of long hours and a grueling commute, I'm done with my summer teaching gig. Part of me is relieved that I won't be getting up at 5am tomorrow but, most of me will miss my borrowed classroom, the gaggle of hilarious, talented 5-8th graders I had the great pleasure of getting to know and whom I hopefully provided a little artistic guidance and awakening for. I'd go so far as to say I spent as much time in the past six weeks being amazed by the ingenuity of young minds and the dedication of my coworkers as I did having blood-boiling, traffic induced road-rage, so it evened out. Here's a moment from my classroom...I'm not sure if this comments on the kids' maturity level or mine...

Interview!

Just in case I don't tell you guys enough how I feel about things, here's an interview I did for the Schulz Library Blog!

For Steve

My dear friend Katie Sheridan came to visit earlier this month and, amidst shennanigans that included baseball, finger-puppets, lesbian bars and medical emergencies we had the following interaction. I'd also like to dedicate this week's strip to one of my favorite professors, Steve Bissette; if this guy was telling the truth, he probably signed a contract that Steve would've taken one look at and said, "Absofuckinlutely not."

*To see an enlargement, click here.

Holy guest strip, Batman! It's Matt Aucoin!

Ahoy, readers! Greetings once again from the golden state! I'm super SUPER pumped that this week's strip is not by yours truly but by my dear friend and fellow CCSer, Matt Aucoin! Matt was kind enough to volunteer to chronicle my trip west, or at least what he imagined my trip west to be and, frankly, he's not far off. Here's a little background on Matt:

Matt Aucoin is a native Vermonter. He likes to draw comics and has long hair. In his high school spanish class he got yelled at for drawing in the margins of his test. Matt drew in the test margins all the way to the Center for Cartoon studies, and he still does.

Hope you guys enjoy Matt's strip! Those crazed, condom-headed, dog-eared fellows encouraging me to rap in the last panel are the Floplin Brothers, who will be appearing in Matt's next installment of Percy & Grimm - definitely check out Matt's site to see more of those guys!

Updates on life in the Bay Area and adventures in teaching soon!!!

*Please note: That last, bottom panel is a completely accurate depiction of what I'll look like on "wacky day" at camp tomorrow.

PHEW! I made it - back in good old Berkeley, CA. Everything is mostly like I remember it and my new job is looking better every day. I think it'll take some time for that big chunk of my heart I left in White River to recover but, in the meantime I've been trying to keep busy - partially by seeking out some old friends I was delighted to find have also wandered back home! Here's a moment I had with one of my favorite ladies, Chandra Krinsky, this week:

Cons, Achievement, Anthologies, Mutilation and Manifest Destiny!

Well, dear readers, much has happened since I last made time to update. In fact, I'm not even going to apologize because, once you get to the end of this post you'll be overwhelmed with sympathy for how busy I've been and you'll have forgiven me, I just know it!

At the beginning of April, I finished my first print run of Sugar Baby so cartoonists Caitlin McGurk, Brandon Elston, Matt Aucoin and I headed to the big city for this year's MoCCA Arts Festival. Don't get me wrong, we had an excellent time at MoCCA; it was great to spend two days surrounded by comics and cartoonist pals I don't get to see very often but, the show itself was kind of a let down. The entry fee was too high, it wasn't well advertised and, as a result, the attendance was really low. I just barely broke even on the cost of my table and, frankly, I don't think I'll do MoCCA again. That said, here's my table a little worn out at the end of day two - from left to right we've got the hilarious Benjamin Birdie, that sweet, secretly mischievous CCS fellow, David Libens (not pictured), the charming Brandon Elston and myself.

After MoCCA, I got to work on some anthology pieces for two anthologies that debuted at last weekend's Maine Comic Arts Festival. Kevin Uehlein's Visions of the Aporkalpse is a collection of short comics about the inevitable, eventual, violent takeover of the world by our cloven-hoved slaughter-house-bound friends. AND, those werewolf lovin' cartoonists are at it again with Werewolf! Issue 4 and the brand new werewolf anthology just for kids, Were-Pups! featuring the talents of Melissa Mendes, Penina Gal, Colleen Frakes, Betsey Swardlick, Dakota McFadzean and myself. (As I typed this I realized that I'm now in two back to back anthologies about animals and violence...don't analyze that, I love animals.)

Oh yeah, after I finished those anthology pieces, this crazy thing happened where I turned in my thesis packet and...I PASSED! I PASSED I PASSED I PASSED! AND, a monumental thing happened, not only did I pass, but so did the rest of the entire class of 2011!!!! We're the first CCS class ever to all pass on the first try so, we made the grade and we made some history. CCS graduation was as characteristically CCS as anything else we do - there was a choreographed dance, the faculty was mocked lovingly, Francoise Mouly spoke beautifully, there were space-ships on our Aaron Renier original diplomas! Here we are, overjoyed in front of The Colodny just before we took the stage:

No less than 12 members of the Kane/Bogin clan arrived in White River to join in the festivities! I can't remember the last time I had so much of my family in the same place at the same time - not to get too mushy but, I really felt loved. I only wish my my Bubby, Norma could've been there. Here's a picture my dad snapped of me in front of my display in the Colodny gallery - the exhibit goes until June 11th if you're passing through White River!

After our families left town, a bunch of us decided to get gang tats to commemorate what we achieved here at CCS, including my wonderful, fellow newly pronounced CCS graduate, Beth Hetland pictured below:

That brings us almost up to speed - this past weekend Jen Vaughn, Caitlin McGurk, Matt Aucoin, JT Dockery and I roadtripped up to Portland, ME for the Casablanca Comics organized MeCAF. Here I am with my target audience, mutually enchanted:

MeCAF is a one day show but, what a great one day show. I loved it last year too - it's really well attended and there's a really positive energy about it. Maybe it's because it's in this beautiful convention center right on the ocean where I can watch the sailboats go by while I talk comics with comics enthusiasts, or maybe it's because organizer Rick Lowell treats us so well. The con was preceded by a tour of Portland's own Shipyard Brewery complete with free beer and pizza! Maybe it's both, either way, I'll be sad not to be around for MeCAF next year...which brings me to my last piece of news: I'm moving.

I know, it sounds crazy, but after nine years of wandering further and further east - I'm heading home. The promise of tolerable weather, employment opportunities and the chance to be close to my family are all undeniably appealing. So, look out Bay Area, this wayward daughter is coming home a week from tomorrow! I'm not sure yet what the Bay Area cartooning community looks like but, the possibilities of new friends, new ideas, new cons, new opportunities can all only be good and, once I say goodbye to White River and my broken heart starts to mend, I'm sure I'll be excited.

NEW COMICS COMING SOON I PROMISE!!!!!!!

VICTORY!

You guys! You guys!!! YOU GUYS!!!!!!! After months of work, the centerpiece of my CCS thesis project is finally finished! As some of you might know, I'm a type one diabetic - Sugar Baby is 40 pages of action (read: puke and crying) packed true comics about my diagnosis, about being a kid and about my always supportive and often hilarious family.

I'll have copies hot off the presses and available for purchase at MoCCA next weekend! If you're in NYC stop by, check out some comics, keep me company and meet my awesomely talented and charming tablemates Brandon Elston, David Libens and Benjamin Birdie! What could be better?

If you're not in NYC next weekend, no sweat, you can order your copy online!

Sneak Preview!!!

It's Center for Cartoon Studies appreciation week! In honor of that, I'm posting the first sneak peak of my CCS senior thesis! (Which I've been working on all year and guarding pretty closely.) If you're a cartoonist interested in grad school, I can't say enough about CCS. But, in light of this being my third day without heat or hot water and the lack of sleep starting to effect my cohesiveness, I'll keep my gushing to a minimum. The school offers a two year MFA program in comics and, it's the best thing that's ever happened to me so, do yourself a favor and check out the website.

I've also been thinking a lot about my dad this week - if you know me you already know that I have indisputably the greatest dad in the world, ever. He's been a little bummed lately and I've been trying to send good thoughts his way so, here's a moment between me and my dad circa 1993 from my upcoming comic Sugar Baby:

More embarrassing episodes!

I guess I'll participate in this commercial holiday...

Okay, okay. In honor of Valentine's Day, here are some illustrations from a set of cards I made to sell in the giftshop. Be warned: puns abound.

Well, it's come to this.

Another year, another...Batch of awesome birthday illustrations?!?!?

YOU GUYS! As some of you may know, I turned 27 last Friday. I've entered the realm of "late-20's" - it's not rolling off the tongue just yet but, I'm more comfortable with it than "early-30's". As superstition has it, 27 is the year of Rock death - so I threw myself a Rock n' Roll birthday party AND, some of my amazing, hilarious, incredibly talented cartoonist friends came bearing illustrations of my favorite rock stars! So, for your viewing pleasure, I present to you "Turning 27" by Mia Onorato, "Goose Springsteen" by Dakota McFadzean, "Bruce" by Bailey Sharp, and "Joe Strummer" by Jon Fine!

Best. Birthday. Ever.

Over winter break I had a crown put in and my visit to the dentist went something like this: