Yesterday's signing at The Hundreds clothing boutique in Los Angeles went really well. There was a line going down the street when I arrived with my daughter Hannah (who just got her license, and wanted to drive). A lot of friends from the UY website (www.usagiyojimbo.com) came by. People traveled as far away as Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and even San Francisco just for the event. Even Mark Evanier came by, but just to drop off Groo pages.

Post signing, we had lunch down the street at Canter's Deli with Maka and his family.

The Hundreds have posted pictures on their website (where I got the above photo), including a short video of me drawing:

http://www.thehundreds.com/wordpress/?p=13129


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My favorite feature in Highlights magazine has always been the Hidden Pictures. I used to do them at the library when I was a kid, and I still do them in my dentist's waiting room. And, yes, besides Highlights, Dr Nick also has copies of the Usagi trades, as well as his cousin Stefan Pastis' Pearls Before Swine collections.

Chuck Dillon is an Usagi reader from way back when Fantagraphics was publishing the individual issues. He would send in fan art for publication. Chuck still does art, but as a professional. He is a very talented freelance cartoonist, and one of his regular jobs is creating those Hidden Pictures for Highlights. He inspired me to do my own, with Usagi. This was printed as the back cover to UY #122, this past summer. I'm doing more of these games. The next one was swiped from Sergio's "Find 10 Things" that used to run in the World Weekly News. Click on the image, and keep clicking on it for easier searching, or keep it small if you want a real challenge.


If you would like to do one of Chuck's hidden pictures, here is one from his very excellent art blog. This one is done in a more realistic style than what he usually does. He does know his polar bear anatomy.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BxFC075qvXk/SoM84hMJcGI/AAAAAAAABPY/9yMwWzjjPVw/s1600-h/HP_polarbear_web.jpg

PS-Congratulations, Chuck and Daisy, on becoming new parents!

The Comics Journal 300, the last of their magazine format issues, is on the stands. It features conversations of gristly old pros with hot young creators. I'm paired with Chris Schweizer, the cartoonist of the wonderful Crogan's Vengeance and the upcoming Crogan's March, both from Oni. I dislike reading my interviews, because I always come off sounding like an idiot. Chris, of course, sounds like the articulate professional that he is.

On another note, Assistant Editor Brendan Wright has blogged about the art that is on the backs of the boards that artists turn in, and uses a couple of visuals from the issue I turned in earlier this week:

http://wrightopinion.com/2009/11/19/the-back-of-the-art/#comments

I will be doing a signing at The Hundreds in LA on Saturday 11-noon. It is a boutique, not the sort of places I usually sign at. They specialize in exclusive and limited run designs, so I did two new pieces of art for T-shirts. Here is one below, obviously influenced by the Live Art colored piece I did at the Baltimore Comic-Con.



The first 25 people will be given a copy of my new hardcover Usagi Yojimbo: Yokai.

I'm going to Japan, one of two traveling artists for a student group from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Sharon and I are first going to Hawaii, then meeting the group in Tokyo. Evanier promised to FedEx me an entire issue of Groo to letter, so I'll have something to do in Honolulu.

Bernard Chang is the other artist, and we will be teaching classes in the morning, and we can join the group for sightseeing in the afternoons or go off on our own. I am also meeting a journalist and a couple of mangaka there. One of the neat things I was able to get is an invitation to tour Studio Ghibli. I was also able to include the entire group in the invite.

The last time we were in Japan was about 11 years ago as guests to Osamu Tezuka Productions. That was an amazing trip. The photo above is our little group at the Tezuka Museum in Takarazuka, just outside of Kyoto. Left to right are: me, Erik Larson, Sharon, Lynn and Rod Johnston. I will have to write about that trip sometime.


One of the high point of that trip was a "100 Year Celebration" at which a lot of animators and mangaka were present. Astro Boy and Astro Girl were there too.

I heard through the cartoonist grapevine that Shel Dorf passed away at 1:15 PM Tuesday, after a very long illness. Shel was, of course, one of the founders of the San Diego Comic-con, aka Comic-con International: San Diego. I first met Shel in 1979, at my first Comic-con. He was a fixture at the con until 2001, when it became physically too difficult for him to get around.

What a legacy he leaves.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Albedo-2-CGC-9-8-WHITE-Pages-1st-App-USAGI-YOJIMBO_W0QQitemZ230389856119QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item35a44e3777#ht_1044wt_1165

Who has that kind of money to spend on a comic book?

And how do I meet him?

The Baltimore Comic-con was almost a week ago, but I haven't posted about it because I'm still behind on deadlines. I brought 5 pages to ink in Baltimore, but was only able to finish one. I did write and thumbnail the story for UY 127 on the flight over, and thumbnailed 128 on the way back to LAX. It was a good flight both ways. Len Wein, Rob Leifeld, Marc Silvestri, Mark Waid, and Steve Niles were on the plane with me.

I had a great time at the convention. The entire con is all about comic books and comic art. It was well organized, and guests were treated very well. I was in a corner booth next to Evan Dorkin. I have been a fan of his for years, but we had never met. I wish we had more time to talk, though, but we were both really busy throughout the con. Other creators attending included George Perez (with whom I sat at the Harvey Awards), Michael Golden, Erik Larson, Walt Simonson, Matt Wagner, Don Rosa, David Petersen, Steve Leiber, Frank Cho, and Neil Adams. I also got to meet Bernard Chang, with whom I am going to Japan next month.

One Usagi fan brought his entire collection of Usagi comics--from Fantagraphics, Mirage, and Dark Horse--about 180 comics. I asked him to leave them and I would sign them all at my leisure, if he would make a donation to either the Heroes Initiative or the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.


Like most people, I like getting stuff. I know there is an entire community of Lego customizers who make new characters out of Lego. I have an Usagi Lego myself. I had never heard of Mr Potato Head customizers, though. Until now. An Usagi reader gave me one of my tokage lizards made from a Mr Potato Head. He is also working on an Usagi Potato Head.


I usually don't do color pieces at shows, but this time I did two. I did a live art drawing for their charity auction on Saturday, using a sharpie and acrylic washes. I did a large crayon drawing for the daughter of one of the volunteers on Sunday.

If you are looking for a comic-centric convention, Baltimore is for you. It is a fun, well-run show, with an impressive guest list. The Baltimore Marathon was held on Saturday, but never interfered with the convention, except when I had to cross the street between runners. The con attendees are great. And generous. There may be one or two people at each convention I attend that insists, "Keep the change." There were at least 10 at Baltimore telling me to keep anywhere from a dollar to five dollars. Wow!

I also did a presentation on Sunday:
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=23317

I'll be a guest at the Baltimore Comic-Con this weekend. It will be my first time there, but not my first time in Baltimore. I was a speaker at Johns-Hopkins many years ago. The neatest thing about that was that I found a nifty Indian 50's diner just across the street from the campus. It had a juke box, posters of Marilyn and James Dean, and served a killer curry. The owner even gave me a free slice of coconut cake.

Here's the convention website:

http://www.comicon.com/baltimore/

If you are going there on Saturday, leave home early. The Baltimore Marathon runs the same day, and there may be some street closures. If you are a marathoner (as so many comic-book readers are), come to the con after the run.

Helsinki 09/11-15/09

I love The Amazing Race. It's the TV show where contestants race around the world, stopping at various destinations along the way. Oftentimes, they determine their own routes, and incur a lot of mishaps and roadblocks. My opponent was Sergio Aragones, and our destination was Helsinki. I was traveling by way of Prague and Budapest, and Sergio was going through New Jersey. I barely made my connection in Hungary, but Sergio missed his completely. Don't feel bad for him, though. He went over to New York, had dinner with friends at Mad Magazine, had a good night's sleep, and still got to Finland before I did.

Actually we were guests of the Helsingin 24 Sarjakuvafestivaalit, the Helsinki Comics Festival. I left for Europe a day early to do a presentation and signing in Prague at the invitation of my Czech publisher.

( click here for the rest of the report, with photos )