Long John

This week has been very hectic and stressful––tasked with grading 140 final projects in a week and a half. However, after that week and a half, the school stuff will be done and I can relax and focus on the fun stuff for about three months. However, that doesn’t mean I haven’t done stuff to talk about.

LONG JOHN NEWS RECAP:

In case you missed it, Long John, Volume 3 is ON SALE NOW in the Long John store (on Etsy). It’s $8 plus $3 shipping, and, when you get it, the purchase comes with an original Long John sketch on a card stock comic book backing board, and a Long John bookmark.

Also available now is a 3-book bundle, available at a discounted price of only $20 (plus shipping), but I’ve been keeping it on the down-low because supplies are limited right now, though they should open up soon. Once that happens, I’ll post it all over the place. So, if you’re holding out for that, go ahead and jump on it, but know that delivery may be delayed slightly (though not likely).

Also, Tuesday June 12 has been announced as the day Volume 3 will start updating on the website––twice a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays. We’ve got thirty-four pages of action and drama to bring you and I can’t wait to show them to you! Be here on Tuesday, June 12!

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2018:

I was a bit upset that I didn’t get a silly video done in time for Free Comic Book Day, like last year, but that failure aside, I was eager to debut Volume 3 at this year’s event, held at the comic shop, Empire’s Comics Vault, in Sacramento. I can confidently say that the event was an unbridled success. People came to the table eager to pick up Volume 3 (and I was eager to get it to them), which warmed this jaded heart a bit.

It was a much bigger and much more organized version of the event than last year or any year in which I’ve participated. The folks at Empire’s have introduced new crowd management systems and layouts and the traffic at the show never got backed up or felt congested in the slightest this year. Their efficiency was remarkable to see and it really helped get people out of line and wandering around the wares being sold by local creators.

I don’t usually do sketches at shows. This is mostly due to it being just me behind the table, which means that I have to keep an eye out for potential customers who need to hear the pitch and chat about comics for a bit. This year, however, considering it was such a relaxed atmosphere and I was feeling like a seasoned pro, I ended up doing some drawing while gabbing with customers, peers, and enthusiasts. I was inspired to draw some Marvel characters I’ve had a fondness for and it was fun to dip in to a little bit of fan art every now and then.

These sketches are silly things that let me have fun with the talents I have, which I don’t usually exercise on a whim. Though I won’t make a separate category in this post to talk about it, I have been reading Marvel’s All-New Wolverine in trade paperback collections recently, having heard it was a good series. As an X-Men fan from the early ’90s, “my” Wolverine was the grizzled, over-powered, enigmatic Logan. In the comics, he has since died and his clone/daughter, Laura Kinney, has taken up the mantle. The series is delightful, which makes it even more sad to know that the final issue of All-New Wolverine released this week before the “Wolverine” moniker gets passed back to the recently revived Logan. It’s too bad, really; I would have liked to see Laura take the character of Wolverine into new and interesting directions for another five years (at least). But what we got from her is quite a legacy in its own right. Bravo!

Until next week, that was a week!