I'm on a roll, so here's a couple more Usagi drawings by other creators:


Travis (Wildcats) Charest and his wife were guests at the Gijon, Spain comics festival along with Sharon and me. They are very nice people (as were the other guests). It seems that whenever we do these art trades I get the better end of the bargain.


Here's another Sergio piece. How many of his characters do you recognize? I include this one to segue to the next drawing.


This one is not Usagi, but it is a neat piece--Groo penciled by Sergio and inked by the late, great John (Conan) Buscema. We were guests at the comics festival in Bergen, Norway in 1999. John was an extremely gracious man, a very proud Sicilian. You will really have to enlarge it to see Sergio's pencils. Just keep clicking on the drawing.

I've gotten a fair number of Usagi drawings over the last couple of decades from friends and fellow cartoonists. I posted a couple of them last month, and I think I'll turn this into a semi-regular feature. Here are a couple of old drawings by two very good friends--Peter Laird of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Sergio Aragones of Mad, Groo, and (currently) The Spirit.

Click on the drawings to see a larger image.


Peter did this at the 1985 San Diego Comic-con, when it was still at the old downtown Convention Center. Both the Turtles and Usagi had been around for only a few months. I believe we were all at the San Diego Hotel. It was THE hotel to stay at, right across the street from the tattoo parlors and bail bondsmen. This was the first time I had met Peter and Kevin, though we had exchanged letters and admired each others' work.



Sergio is one of my oldest and dearest friends, ever since I found his name listed in the phone book. Don't bother looking though. He pulled his name from the listing soon after we met. I have a bunch of his drawings, and he has a lot of mine. He did this one in 1999.

I turned in my Samurai Hulk cover this past week. My editor at Marvel was leaving for another job, and Friday would be his last day so I wanted him to see it before he left. This project has a new editor, but it still has not been put on the schedule, so I don't know when it will be published.

I had heard about the Orphan Works Act, making art theft legal. I am not a lawyer, but basically, if an "infringer" wants to use any piece of art but cannot locate the creator after what he himself decides is a "reasonably diligent search", it is orphaned and is up for grabs.

I received this from the National Cartoonists Society yesterday. Part of it has been edited out, as it may pertain to members.

"The NCS Board and Stu Rees (NCS legal counsel) are taking the unusual step of urging you to write Congress in opposition to the pending Orphan Works Act of 2008. If enacted, this radical legislation will undermine key elements of your copyright protection. The House and Senate have different versions of the bill, and there are likely to be some modifications, but nothing under serious consideration makes this legislation remotely acceptable.

To take action, simply click this link

http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/

and select one of the form letters. We recommend the letter titled “For Visual Artists – Any Image Can Be Infringed”. All you’ll need to do is add your contact information at the bottom of the page and press “Send Message”. It’s as easy as it is important.


/s/ Jeff Keane, NCS President
On behalf of the National Cartoonists Society

/s/ Stu Rees, Attorney for the NCS"


The above link also explains how the bills will affect visual artists.

Click here to see a copy of Senate version of bill S 2913 The Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008:
http://www.sellyourtvconceptnow.com/orphan/The_Shawn_Bentley_Orphan_Works_Act_of_2008.pdf

Here is the House version of the Orphan Works Act of 2008:
http://www.sellyourtvconceptnow.com/orphan/The_Orphan_Works_Act_of_2008.pdf

Stockholm, Sweden April 24-29, 2008

I arrived at Arlanda Airport at about 10 AM Thursday. The flight from Warsaw was only three-quarters full, so baggage claim went quickly. I exchanged euros for crowns because it was about 1 for 1, whereas the dollar was half that. Anders from the Culture House met me, and we bussed the hour into Stockholm. We walked over to the comics and graphic novels library at the Culture House in downtown, where I met Kristiina, the head librarian and director of the SPX. The graphics novel library is separate from the regular library, and contains English and Swedish comics and albums. I wish we had libraries like this in the US!

Anders and I took a walk to see the cherry blossoms. It is said that there are three days of cherry blossom viewing. If that is true, then we were there on the third day. It was beautiful, with everything in full bloom. However, there were a few sprigs of green leaves just starting to emerge.


( read more with photos )

Poland April 19-24, 2008

I had been invited to be the guest of honor at the Swedish Small Press Expo in Stockholm. Since I would be in that part of the world, Egmont Polska, my Polish publisher, invited me to return to that country for a few days of signings and interviews. In the 5 or 6 years since Usagi was first introduced in Poland, all 21 books and Space Usagi have been published. Tomoe's Story comes out in the US in July, and it is already scheduled for November in Poland. My last trip to Europe was about six months ago, and much has happened in terms of air travel. Three airlines had declared bankruptcy, security had tightened, and, just last week, American Airlines had canceled about 2,000 flights. I had traveled a few days ago to Vermont, then on to Oregon, and back to Los Angeles. The Vermont/Oregon leg took me 29 hours to complete because of weather, so I was not looking forward to flying again so soon. I would be taking a United Airlines flight from LAX to Frankfurt and would have 40 minutes to rebook at Lufthansa-Frankfurt, get to my gate, then continue to Warsaw. I was told this would be no problem. No problem at all. There would be plenty of time.

Day 1-2: In which I miss my flight
I left LAX early Saturday afternoon. The flight to Germany went smoothly. I received my seat assignment at the gate at LAX. They did not have aisle seats, but I was given a seat next to the aisle in one of those extra-legroom rows, a $200 value on one of these flights. I had to write two stories on this trip--an 8 pager for Dark Horse Presents, and a 60 pager for a special project. I started on the longer story, and had most it it written by the time we landed. I don't sleep much on planes.

I had never flown to Frankfurt, so had no idea of the airport layout. I thought it would be a matter of walking over to my gate, checking in at Lufthansa, and flying out. The reality was, I had to go through passport control, check in at Lufthansa in the main lobby, and go through security. It took me an hour to get to my gate, and, of course, my flight had already left. I rebooked on the next flight, leaving three hours later. I tried calling Tomek, my editor, but could not get through. I hunkered in for a long wait, hoping someone would meet me at the other end.

The flight arrived at Chopin Airport at 7 pm Sunday. I exchanged some dollars for zlotys. When I was here almost 4 years ago, I had gotten almost 4 zlotys per US dollar. Now I got 2 for 1. I bypassed passport control, because I flew in from another EU country. Tomek was waiting for me outside of baggage claim. When I was not on my original flight, he inquired if I had rebooked for another. We went to his home for a delicious home-cooked meal with his wife, two children, and friends.

I got to the Campanile Hotel at 10:30, brushed my teeth, and fell asleep.

( read more, with photos )

I am a thesis advisor for a student at the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont, so it was not totally unexpected that I was invited to be a guest artist to the small college last week. I was also to be a guest at the one day Portland Comicbook Show in Oregon a couple of days later. American Airlines had cancelled 1900 flights last week, but I was flying on 3 different airlines none of which was American. I was more concerned with the tornadoes and thunderstorm in the midwest. However, the flight to Manchester Airport in New Hampshire went smoothly even with the connection in Chicago.

I had a great time in White River Junction, where the school is located. To say that it is a small town would not be exaggerating. Across the street from the CCS is a typewriter sales and repair store! Here's a couple of photos of the downtown:



Despite the "Do Not Enter" sign, the Polka Dot Restaurant was pretty decent. It is an old time diner where the waitresses call you "Sweetie" or "Cupcake".


The CCS is housed in an old department store.


I was quite impressed with their facilities, and more impressed by their curriculum and students.

Anyway, it all went well, until my Friday flight to Portland, OR.

( read more )

I'm being interviewed at noon Pacific Time on the radio today on KPCC's Offramp. In Southern California, it is 89.9 on the dial.

On the internet it is:

http://www.scpr.org/play/live.html

You can used iTunes, windows media player or their player.

It will be rebroadcast Sunday at 8 pm.

A couple of weeks ago Peter Laird, co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, sent me the Usagi banner, a prop from the third movie--the one the Turtles go to feudal Japan. What, you say you're a big TMNT fan, have seen the film a dozen times, and have never seen the banner? Well, it's there--hanging in the hall where they have a big fight against samurai. However, you could not see the banner the way the scenes were shot. But it's there.

The banner went on to hang in the Mirage Studio offices for a few years, then Peter decided to take it down. Including the hanging cord, it's about 9 feet long so the only wall in my house tall enough to accommodate it is the stairwell. There it hangs. I'm standing on a chair in the photo.



Hopefully, I'll see Peter when I fly over to Vermont next week.

A couple of weeks ago, there was a Gremlin signing at the Disney Soda Fountain in Hollywood, next to the Disney El Capitan Theater. Signing were Mike Richardson (Dark Horse publisher and writer of the new Gremlins comic), artist Dean Yeagle, and film critic Leonard Maltin who wrote the intro to a reprinting of Roald Dahl's Gremlins book.


left to right: me, Sergio Aragones, Mike Richardson (the tall guy in the back), Leonard Maltin, Dean Yeagle, and Mark Evanier.