Work

Here's a spread from my book inspired by a day in my office. I manage a marketing group; about 1/3 of the group has been there for 10+ years, 1/3 has been around 5-6 years, and 1/3 is fairly fresh out of college. It's a good balance, and I've made great efforts to build a cohesive team. Sean, to the left, keeps suggesting he's going to write about some our innappropriate moments (such as when I hosted an "unveiling" party for one of our teammates who got a boob job). Anyway, Sean was meeting with me and Katha when suddenly, for no apparent reason he started making this monster face. In the second image, we were discussing the recent death of family friend of one of our teammates. I was asked if he was old or young, and I replied, "60. Young for 'death,' but not for 'life.'"

Publishing

You may have seen my announcement on my site and Facebook about my latest book being dropped from DCD. This is bad news, as it represents a solid third of my sales.

While my business model allows me to print a new book from the profit of the last book, this is not a crisis for me. However, it does call in to question my future as a publisher.

DCD has encouraged me to solicit future projects (perhaps when the economy is better). However, without profit from the current book (likely if I can't sell it) to pay for the next, it's not encouraging to toil on a project for 18 months just "for me" (I'm not in this for the money, but I can't be losing thousands of dollars either).

So, what does this mean? The future is unclear. If I stay viable, I will proceed with "Baby Makes Three." I was gearing up to finish the OGN I started in 2005—I hate unfinished business!

If I don't sell enough copies of "Trust/Truth", I will likely just do a mini here or there, and work on pitch proposals. It seems like so many of the self publishers that were influencial in getting me started (Carla Speed McNeil, Randy Reynaldo, Paige Braddock) have scaled back dramatically or are on the verge of giving up. Feels like the end of self publishing!

Lunch

The office building I work in has a small cafe in which one can buy coffee, pre-made sandwiches, sodas, chips, and a hot buffet lunch provided by a caterer. It ranges from super-yummy to downright disgusting.

I try to bring my own lunch as a general rule, but since the eating area is open to all, regardless of purchase, it's likely that I end up at the cafe at least once a week. My pal Corey (left) is a regular, and he's shown here waiting for his teammates to arrive. To right shuffling in is another building mate.

I haven't gone out of my way to show these to anyone in the building, but the few people who have seen them knew who the drawings are of, instantly.

On the subject of my day job, I am no longer acting director and am off the "senior management" team. Yay—it feels like things are getting back to normal and I can think about comics more often. It was a long haul as an acting, 15 months (was supposed to be 6-9 months). Now if only my debilitating headaches would go away. But sadly, they are increasing in frequency and intensity. Boooo.

New Mutants commission

Not too much to say about this one...just a little 3"x6" commission I decided to color for fun. I have so much free time on my hands since I finished my book! Just kidding—between my class, and two short stories with Marvel due by Thanksgiving, I shouldn't be playing with Painter now. Anyway, this was an on-the-spot sketch, and since I'd only ever read one issue of New Mutants (in preparation for my Cannonball story for Marvel a few years back), this is what you get.