ripped off juvenalia

I (badly) copies these Arthur Sudyam pages from Marvel's Epic Magazine when I was maybe 12 or 13.
I remember showing friends and passing these off as my own work. What a turd I was. I always felt guilty about that looking back. I got to meet Mr. Sudyam at a convention once and told him and apologized. He just laughed.

seabrook book spreads

I'm still working away at old Seabrook. Some spreads.
Three scenes, Haiti, Africa and New York City.

TCAF 2015 Report: blurry photos, yes, but lots of them.

Good ol' TCAF is over here's my tired, footsore report. 

This seemed like the biggest, best-attended version of 

an already enormous festival and it runs smoothly 

because of the great organization and the millions of 

cheery volunteers. Thanks and congratulations to the Library,
Peter, Chris, Andrew, Miles and everyone involved
in forming this elaborate, giant human pyramid.
(amended: File under, I'm Senile and a monster:
Forgot to mention, Conundrum's Meags Fitzgerald
won The Nipper at the DWAs for Photobooth AND
congrats to Drawn & Quarterly for 25 years of making
great comics, AND Peggy Burns taking over from
Chris Oliveros as publisher and Chris returning to drawing comics (yay!).
Congrats to all of you and I don't have any photos.

before…

After…

big smoke burger brings new meaning to gluten-free 

with Andy's iceberg lettuce “bun.” 

Which inspired another shitty noo yorger cartoon (below).

Our booth backed on to this guy. The fantastic Dustin Harbin
assembles his pan flute, getting ready to kick out the Peruvian jams.
His Diary Comics from Koyama is beautiful, buy it!

Team Koyama won at pervy scrabble.

This was the ONE book I had to get at TCAF, 

a new comic from one of my favourite cartoonists in the world.

The great Jordan Crane signs his new book.  

How did I get the shot from this angle? 

Yeah, I got behind his table and was being a pest in general.

Doug Wright Award's main honch, (I know it's actually honcho,
but honch sounds better) Brad McKay,
duplicating those old celebrity reading about them
self in Mad Magazine's letter page,
imagine “Brook Shields reacts to our version of The Blue Buffoon.”.
(that's frontier he's holding from Ryan Sand's Youth in Decline.
Ryan has impeccable taste as a publisher
and gathers the absolute best artists. Jillian Tamaki's in issue 7
was the best story I'd read in a long time, and Emily Carroll's story
 in issue 6, made the hair on my arms stand up. A comic book did that!
That has never happened to me before.
So good!

The fantastic Nina Bunjevac,
won the Doug Wright best book award for the wonderful Fatherland,
and Lynda Effing Barry presented it to her!!
This is Nina, kindly signing her Conundrum book, Heartless,
dressed as one of the stars of Fellini's 8-1/2

Cartoonist, and dreamboat, Pascal Girard
unveiled his new longer hair to the crowd's audible swoon.

Non-stylish, hiking shoes are your feet's best friend,
when “sitting isn't selling” is the old guys' buzzword at these things.

Charles Burns and Adrian Tomine. I never get over how
 TCAF makes me giddy,with my favourite cartoonists
in the world are just standing around chatting
like normal people. and me skulking around taking their photos.

National treasure, good old Jeet Heer and daughter Bella.

Good cartoonist, good kid, Dakota McFadzean.
He's one tenth of my age, but grows a more manly beard.
No one said life would be fair, but seriously, his beard is bullshit, he's like 17.
I'm 77, where's my facial hair? His new Conundrum book,
Don't Get Eaten by Anything, comprising
3 years of daily comics is both impressive and fantastically funny!

Good buddy, and fellow Hamiltonian, the great Dave Collier.
Dave did a great job presenting at the Doug Wright Awards.
Dave's hard at work on a new book for Conundrum!!

Good people! Hope Nicolson, R Sikoryak and Kriota Wilberg.

The smashing Jessica Campbell and equally smashing,
Zach Worton shooting the shite, yeah, I used to live in Montreal too, guys.
Zach's new Conundrum book, The Disappearance of Charlie Butters  is great, buy it!

Jordan Shiveley and Ed Kanerva find the convention

badges too heavy for their pencil-thin necks.

ha ha, both lovely dudes. 

but both physically frail.

Robert Sergel and Leon Avelino from Secret Acres.
Nice guys. Leon called the Doug Wright Awards “the Dougies,” Which I thought was great and appropriately evokes Bob and Doug MacKenzie.
Robert was right behind us, and conventions are like this,
I suddenly realize he creates Eschew, a comic I love. Got the new issue.
The new issue of Eschew.

My daughter Liz dropped by,  looking stylish, while my hair looks
like the hill billy kid's in Richie Rich comics.

Saw mom on sunday mother's day before the show.
She pretended she got a phone call so I would leave.
The show doesn't start til 11 today, mom!
I gotta take this call, son.
but mom, the phone didn't…

it's over. this empty crumpled cup represents something…

Good Ol' Andy Brown dons his “travel slanket©”
and we load him onto a plane for Nova Scotia.

A small haul this year, so, as a bonus, 2 of my gross,
mis-shapen toes in the bottom left…
Thank you TCAF!! See you next year.

Mocca 2015

It was a fun weekend with my homeboy and publisher (I also think a lot of people think we're married as well) Andy Brown of Conundrum Press in NYC at Mocca.
Andy already beat me to an action-packed recap of the weekend here. And the smashing Heidi Macdonald also has a great post here. Look, I got the same pictures and they stole all the good jokes, so this Mocca report is gonna be a real sad sack.
but here we go anyway, or BHWGA, as the kids say.

I met Andy at the Toronto Airport. “I'll be wearing a professorial
corduroy jacket” he told me.
He would later be taunted by NYC thugs who derisively called him “patches.” 

Our flight was cancelled, did we panic, no, we ate a veggie burger.
This photo was first ever Conundrum live social medi… (fart noise…)

Setting up is a sweaty, anxious business.
Oh my God, too many books, oh my god, not enough books.
It always works out.

See, it's fine. Let's do this. Nice venue, lots of light.
I liked the dark Armoury too though.

Love these two. Two of the nicest and best publishers in Canada.
and the order of Canada goes to Annie Koyama and Andrew Brown.

cutie buddies. Jeez. love.
Deforge updated me on the whole butter tart affair.
It's for real and it's on. I think I'm going to attend.
I am also going to get Michael one of my mom's butter tarts.
You know who makes the best butter tarts? My mom.
(I know that's a Regular Show reference and he's not affiliated with them, relax!)

big crowds!

braaaaains… I mean, boooooks… excited crowds.

Brownie got an iphone. Hilarity ensued with us trying to use it.
His “roaming charges” will be monumental, I suspect.

Old pal, Jillian Tamaki signs copies of her
Conundrum book, Gilded Lilies.
Great to see her and get her Youth in Decline book
which she signed to“old Joe.” Jillian is the best.
It was good to meet Ryan Sands, who is lovely and is publishing
some of the most exciting comics out there.
He also has books by Sam Alden and Emily Carrol
which I have to get, they look insanely good.

Andy said he got carded buying beer. I suspect it was a
misunderstanding or a practical joke. 

Andy in front of the Chelsea Hotel. respect.
the kids we were walking with didn't share the
enthusiasm of us two old guys.

Just three images from the Alt Weekly show. 

My camera died. The show was extensive and incredible and really 

showed what an influence these strips made on generations of cartoonists.

Kudos to Bill Kartolopoulos and Warren Bernard for putting the show together.

Just being in the Society of illustrators building
was a crazy experience. Then, they gave people free beer and a never-ending buffet.
Incredibly gracious hosts in a club filled with history and art,
my hair stood up looking at the original art on the walls.
I'm starting a club
for cartoonists in Hamilton soon.
It'll be only be me and Collier at first.
and it will be in a alley, or a treehouse.
more details to come.

I hope this gentleman will not mind me posting this image
of his trumpet seated trousers, which were excellent.

The intrepid Heidi Macdonald interviews
Kat Verhoeven about her new Book, Towerkind,
which looks excellent. Kat was fun to hang out with and a great help
at the table. Another good Conundrum kid.

Dakota, one of my favourite people and a great cartoonist, at work on more daily comics
People were very excited about his new Conundrum book, Don't Get Eaten by Anything.
Handsome smiling guy is Andrew Warner, cartoonist and publisher of the excellent anthology Irene .
He let Conundrum use and abuse his credit card swiper and saved our asses and was completely
kind and gracious about it. Glad to have got to meet him.

Two great guys, happily solving an argument using Ask Jeeves.
The great Sikoryak and Jon Chad.

The table near the end. Though in truth,
some of the books were eaten by the crowds in
that earlier picture.

Thanks to the organizers of Mocca for a great, well-organized show.
and thanks, as ever, old Andy Brown.