Montreal Mini Comic Con

  Memo Man! His weapon is Post-It notes.

 Azazel gets good news

Zombie caricature (this dude was totally into it) 

The Red Hood 

Rebel Blood-style zombie moose

The Montreal Mini Comic Con was yesterday! The show went very well; it was the best mini-con I've had in a few years. Thanks very much to everyone who came to my table. I sold out of most of my books and did a bunch of sketches (many for new fans, which is great). Met Marvel artist Nick Bradshaw, who was very cool. We had a nice chat about N.C. Wyeth, and Wolverine.


Now comes the big push before Christmas; finishing up freelance design and illustration work, clearing my commission list (thanks again, everyone!), and finishing up letters for the next issues of Bedlam, Dia de Los Muertos and a new unannounced book.

It's been a hard year, but it's been a very good one. I am very grateful for my fans, my students, my friends, and my family; I really couldn't do any of it without you.

Montreal Comic Con roundup

Another Montreal Comic Con has come and gone. The show has ballooned from less than a thousand people only a couple of years ago to something like 20,000 people. That's great for the city and the show itself, but I definitely felt the growing pains this year. Sales were lower than last year, which were lower than the year before that. I think the show is entering that comfortable sweet spot for bigger guests, but it's becoming less profitable for fellows like myself.

Here's a sample of the sketches that kept me busy all weekend. Thanks to everyone that came out to see me and pick up some comics, pages, and sketches from me.

 Spoiler Robin

 

Spider-Man

 

Solid Snake 

 

The Spectre

  

Batman Beyond 

 

Shepard (from Mass Effect) Gangnam Style

The Spectre

Ariel (from Green Wake)

Speaking of Green Wake... Kurtis Wiebe won the Shuster Award for Best Writer on Saturday night! Since Kurtis couldn't be at the show, I accepted on his behalf. Very proud of him and very proud of the book.

Other highlights of the show included the three panels I did on Saturday; my own panel on Making Comics (the class I teach at Syn Studio), the Elephantmen panel with my excellent friend Richard Starkings, and the Ben Templesmith panel. Ben is a tremendously clever and fun guy, I had a great time chatting with him all weekend. I also had the great pleasure of meeting the tremendously talented Mark Chiarello and seeing the unlettered, uncoloured pages from Hellboy in Hell #1 (thanks to Christine and Mike Mignola for such an honor). I spent a bit of time with Darwyn Cooke and he told me some good news about upcoming Parker projects. Very exciting.

Back to business! Bedlam #1 is on its way and I'm supplying the letters for it. It's some of Riley's best work yet and I can't wait until its unleashed on the world.