In spite of the cold and slushy streets, action at the New York Comic Book Marketplace was surprisingly brisk.  Run by the old Big Apple Con crew, the NYCBM was pretty much the same show they’ve put on reliably for the last few years. Thanks again to Allan Rosenberg and Mike Carbonaro for the hospitality, and a big shout out to table neighbors Sean Chen, Ivan Brandon and Andy Macdonald, and JH Williams! Anyone who can guess the gatefold LP the Supergirl sketch is based on gets a slightly dusty, vintage No-Prize!

I’ll be appearing at the New York Comic Book Marketplace this Saturday, February 27.  It’s run by the same people who put on the Big Apple shows, and it’s even being held in the old Penn Pavilion spot. More details in the link. Come and say hello!

King Con was exactly what I’d hoped it would be: a low-key but busy show with a bright future.  Thanks to Regan and Mike for inviting me and thanks to everyone who showed up for my “spotlight panel.” And a quick shoutout to Will Dennis for making it far more painless than I’d feared! Hope to do this again next year!

Forget Michael Jackson — ‘cuz “This Is It”!  My last show for 2009 is the first ever KING CON right at home in Brooklyn this weekend. New York, and Brooklyn in particular, has always been a home to cartoonists and comics pros, so it’s great to see a show celebrate the local scene. And check out that guest list! There will also be a spotlight panel on me at 12pm on Sunday.  Come check it out!

Thanks once again to Marc Nathan, Brad Tree, and the whole gang for putting on another fantastic show.  This year’s attendance was a record for them, and I think it’s a great sign of things to come.

Watch out, San Diego! We’re back, and this year we brought Becky Cloonan with us! We’ve got some great stuff — embroidered patches, screenprints, postcards and even a new sketchbook from Brian — and of course, we’ll be signing and taking commissions all week. Come find us at at BOOTH #1322 (and in the program book under Jill Thompson, Brian Wood, Cliff Chiang).

On Saturday, I’ll be signing with the one and only Kelly Hu at the Secret Identities/Epic Props Booth (#1735) from 2-4PM.  Get there early, ‘cuz it’s gonna be a mad house! We’ll have copies of the Secret Identities book and a special litho for Kelly and I to sign. I’ll also be signing at the DC booth on Thursday (4-5PM), Friday (4-5PM), and Saturday (12-1PM).  Holla!

UPDATE: We’ve expanded our booth!  Screw the economy! And (how cool is this?) now joining us are Vasilis Lolos,  Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba! So you now officially have no excuse not to drop by Booth #1320-1322.

This weekend is the first annual Asian American Comic Con! It’s this Saturday, July 11, 10:00am - 5:00pm at the brand-new Museum of Chinese in America in New York City. You can register here – but do so quickly, as there are only 250 tickets available. It’s a full day of programming, with panels, the presentation of the first Kiyama Award to the legendary Larry Hama, and even an artists alley! Ken Chen, of the Asian American Writers Workshop, describes it as “a mash-up of a fan convention, an Asian American Studies conference and a literary festival… a one-of-a-kind event that’ll put superhero comic artists, professors, and novelists at the same table to discuss how we read comics today.” Along with myself, there’s great list of guests, including:

Larry Hama (writer, G.I. Joe)

Bernard Chang (artist, Wonder Woman)

Derek Kirk Kim (artist, The Eternal Smile)

Greg Pak (writer, Incredible Hulk)

Khoi Pham (artist, Mighty Avengers)

Sean Chen (artist, Iron Man)

Christina Strain (colorist, Runaways)

Fred Chao (writer/artist, Johnny Hiro)

Christine Norrie (artist, Breaking Up)

Tak Toyoshima (writer/artist, Secret Asian Man)

Misako Rocks! (writer/artist, Biker Girl)

Kuo-Yu Liang (VP Sales & Marketing, Diamond Book Distributors)

Sharad Devarajan (CEO, Liquid Comics)

William F. Wu (writer, Hong on the Range)

The Editors of Secret Identities

Other special guests of the con will include: Ben Nugent, author, American Nerd; Hua Hsu, professor, Vassar College; Ed Lin, author of Waylaid and This Is a Bust; Monica Ferrell, author, The Answer Is Always Yes; Monica Youn, author, Ignatz (forthcoming); Vyshali Manivannan, author, Invictus; Paolo Javier, author, 60 lv Bo(e)mbs; Jennifer Lee, former editor, Marvel Comics and DC Comics; Kai-Ming Cha, comics and manga reporter, Publishers Weekly; Aimee Bahng, assistant professor, English, Dartmouth College; Ken Okabayashi, founder of Piggy Back Studios; Tyler Chin-Tanner, artist/writer, American Terrorist; Daniel Ketchum, editor, Marvel Comics; Karl Taro Greenfield, author, Speed Tribes; and Arune Singh, sales coordinator, Marvel Comics.

I’ll be participating in a “Visual Storytelling” panel in the morning, and will spend the rest of the day signing and sketching for fundraising at the Secret Identities table (or wherever I can find a seat!). Hope to see you there.

Hard to believe it’s convention season again! About to head out for HeroesCon this weekend, but I wanted to put up some of the sketches from the recent NY shows.  We’ve got a few headshots I did for fundraising at MoCCA as well as some pieces from the Big Apple Con. (If anybody else from MoCCA has scans of the sketches I did, send ‘em in and I’ll add them to the post.) Special thanks to Elan Bosworth from MoCCA and Allan Rosenberg from Big Apple for running things so smoothly.

For those of you going to Charlotte, I’ll be at table 631, right next to my good friends THE BLVD. I’ll have my banner this year, so I should be easy to spot. See you there!

Who doesn’t love Elektra:Assassin? Or Jennifer Beals, for that matter? Originally, this was going to be Elektra on a rooftop with dead ninja at her feet, but luckily I remembered that classic honeymoon suite scene, which allowed me to throw in some more comic references.

This was a blast to draw. After years of brush inking, it was liberating to grab a pen and just mess around. I think the brilliant source material inspired me to experiment and play with the look of the piece, and it turned out to be a great learning experience. I’ve still got a few more ideas for other album covers that I’ll get to soon.

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Just a quick update: I will be at the New York Comic Con next week.  You can find me in Artists Alley at table J18 and at the DC booth (Fri 2-3, Sat 1-2, Sun 4-5).  I’ll be doing commissioned sketches and will have some limited goodies, too. While we’re on the topic, check out the “signings” link for my upcoming convention schedule. See you there!