Will Allison

From Coast-to-Coast: Butterfly Country:


More overwhelming coolness here. When I mentioned Jason Rodriguez stopping into Nashville to talk comics with me and newjason , I didn't know it'd be such a good time. Thanks for letting me talk your ear off, J-Rod, and for all the kind words in your article. Let's be best friends.

Still a very long way off, but maybe it's time to start paying attention:



The above forecast track is actually a bit out-of-date, a slightly more updated map that I saw on the nightly news has about half the possible tracks ending in south Texas between Brownsville and Corpus Christi, the other half terminating in northern Mexico.

And, of course, predicting how tropical storms and hurricanes will behave is notoriously difficult. Still days away, hardly worth getting worked up over at this time. But the tracking buoys in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico show the water temps are nice and warm, and we are only just beginning the hurricane season. So, time to keep an eye on the tropics.

My fave source of info: http://www.thestormtrack.com

I dunno if I mentioned it in my LJ, but I made friends with a rock band after A-kon.

I really liked the movie. That's all you need to know if you haven't seen it yet.

( But if you have... )

My business cards for Comic Con should look something like this. It's all in Kinko's hands now.

Not the most interesting of cards, in fact they pretty much suck, but not too horrible for a last minute kinda thing.

With the last load of Pat's stuff and his scooter being brought over a couple of nights ago my moving nightmare is officially over. Not that it was so bag, but packing up and carting over a crapload of boxes is officially No Fun. I then helped Elin and Will move for a couple of nights and got to see Elin horribly mauled by one of her cats that freaked out about being put in a cat carrier to make the move. Ouch. Anyway, I've now got a ton of boxes of stuff to unpack, most of it being toys I should really get rid of.

Oh, I've officially adopted the stray cat that's been hanging around my apartment for the last five years. I took her to the vet and got her shots and everything. She still doesn't have a name and probably never will other than "cat". Very "Breakfast At Tiffany's", I know.

Only four more days until San Diego. In many ways I'm not looking forward to this. Once I get on the road it will be okay (until the point where I start to fall asleep at the wheel) and hopefully we'll pull over for a few hours to get some sleep. Then it will be fine at the con again where I'll have fun working the booth and finally I'll get post-con depression after I get back and realized I could have stayed home and worked the store and gotten paid instead of using a week of vacation to, well, work some more in San Diego. Finally as time passes I'll just remember the fun stuff like looking at the booths, going to panels and hanging out.

Stuff I want to see at Comic Con this year:

The big 20th anniversary MST3K reunion panel where supposedly EVERYONE will be in attendance.

The Torchwood panel and autograph signing where, again, nearly everyone (sans Eve Myles) will be there. The autograph session requires a ticket, though, and I'm afraid I'll miss out.

The Doctor Who panel with all three of the producers. This may be interesting as Russell T. Davies has made it very much a point to NOT attend conventions since the show started. Maybe now that Steven Moffat is taking over he's relaxing that. All three of these producers will be gone soon. Phil Collinson has already left and Julie Gardner is also getting ready to leave. Again, there will be an autograph signing that requires a ticket.

It's that San Diego Manchester Hyatt thing. Doug Manchester made a $125,000. donation to Prop. 8, which limits California marriage to between a man and a woman.
The Hyatt, in spite of its lousy, surly, painfully slow service is actually a place Comic-Con goers meet en masse. Chris Butcher's stance, the only one so far that make any sense, is to not go to the damn Hyatt.
No "flying your freak flag high," (and spending at the Hyatt which'll show Doug Manchester how much money he'll lose...next year), no rationalizing that you're hurting the Hyatt waitstaff so you can be socially conscious and still drink at the Hyatt. (Mmmm, that bread sure is good when it's buttered on both sides.)

You don't go. You don't put your ass in a chair and do nothing. That does hurt the waitstaff. You. Just. Don't. Go.

And you do this, as suggested by GirlAMatic.com editor Lisa Jonte (arcana_j):

If you are boycotting the Hyatt:

1. Drink anywhere other than the Hyatt

2. Save your bar tab(s)

3. Scan or photo your tab with the total amount spent. (Include tips and food.)

4. email it to me lrjonte at gmail dot com

 

I will post the convention total on a public website."

You're saving those receipts and bar tabs anyway, folks.
Want to show Doug Manchester something that hurts, show him you spent his next $150,000. phobia money someplace besides his hotel's bar.

ETA: I love Tom Spurgeon for his post about making an easy decision stupidly hard.. He says everything I want to say, only better.

http://www.zudacomics.com/street_code

CHAPTER 17 CONTINUES! again :)

My current goal in this game is Zul'Aman and so i need some pretty kick-ass gear.  To this end, I have slogged my way thru countless battlegrounds and earned enough points to purchase the world's most ridiculous helmet.
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31962

Ugh, like some heavy metal album cover designed by 13-year-old boys :P  HIDE HELM!

But at least now my armor is mostly purples, as you can see:

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Eldre%27Thalas&n=Toothache 

So tell me fellow players, what else do I need before I can attempt Zul'Aman?  Be honest.

My art now adorns the storefront of CHALLENGERS Comics + Conversation, in Chicago, IL!
 

Nice little pinup by the one and only Robert Ullman. Click to make it biggerer.

Oh, local politics sure can be a funny animal. Up in bible-thumping Oklahoma, commissioner Brent Rinehart is facing an uphill battle...so he decided to put out a 16-page comic book to help, uh, clarify his positions.

Here's an article on the comic: http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080717_12_OKLA363263

And here's a link to view the whole thing. Go ahead and take a look (eye bleach optional): http://downloads.newsok.com/documents/rinehartcartoon.pdf

Donchya just love the world of amateur, indy-press comic books? I put this one right up there with such fine quality comics as "Timelines" or "Stars and Stripes".

Sample pages:

You can't make this stuff up. This would be funny...if it wasn't so very, very on-the-mark.

Back in January 2001, as Bush was just starting his term in office, The Onion wrote a tongue-in-cheek article about how Bush was going to bring about an end to the "Clinton nightmare of prosperity and peace". What is tragic is that even though the article was written back in 2001, it predicts so much of what actually happened over the past seven years.

Go, read the whole thing here: http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28784?utm_source=onion_rss_daily

Excerpt:

"...Bush swore to do "everything in [his] power" to undo the damage wrought by Clinton's two terms in office, including selling off the national parks to developers, going into massive debt to develop expensive and impractical weapons technologies, and passing sweeping budget cuts that drive the mentally ill out of hospitals and onto the street.

During the 40-minute speech, Bush also promised to bring an end to the severe war drought that plagued the nation under Clinton, assuring citizens that the U.S. will engage in at least one Gulf War-level armed conflict in the next four years.

"You better believe we're going to mix it up with somebody at some point during my administration," said Bush, who plans a 250 percent boost in military spending. "Unlike my predecessor, I am fully committed to putting soldiers in battle situations. Otherwise, what is the point of even having a military?"

On the economic side, Bush vowed to bring back economic stagnation by implementing substantial tax cuts, which would lead to a recession, which would necessitate a tax hike, which would lead to a drop in consumer spending, which would lead to layoffs, which would deepen the recession even further. ... Asked for comment about the cooling technology sector, Bush said: "That's hardly my area of expertise."

Work in progress on Ch. 26 (lousy photograph).

Spoilers: Ramona takes a bath!!

I'm not sure what to say about San Diego Comic Con. It's a week away, but some aspects of it are still up in the air. Rest assured that if you find me there I will have an awesome, new, fancy, exclusive, full-colour comic booklet for sale, plus the new button set, plus the old stuff - stickers, postcards, original art, books, etc.

The new thingy is being shipped directly to the show, and I just hope it shows up in time and doesn't have problems or anything. I hesitate to show a picture of it until I've seen it in real life, you understand. (No, you probably don't. Well, maybe I'll show a tentative cover for it tomorrow or next week.)

Also, I'm told the Oni Press panel is at 5 PM on Saturday in Room 3. On this panel, someone will tell someone the name and release date for a certain book, whilst unveiling the brand-new cover of this book on a big screen of some sort. Be there!

At Comic-con, I will be in the IP Pavilion at booth 2102, which is right here:


It's not the main "Webcomic Pavilion" that formed over in the 1200-1400s. But it seems to be where Comic Con is sticking the webcomics that won't fit there. Apparently I am right behind the Something*Positive/Devils Panties/Two Lumps/Punch n' Pie/Holy Shit booth and Halfpixel will be nearly across from me, so I'm in good company!

It was going to be the Slipshine booth, but things have changed and it will now be the Slipshine/Girly booth. Joining me will be Slipshine artists John Joseco, Cheezy WEAPON, and 0069. Join us. It'll be fun. Of course, if you're going to the con, I'm guessing you already have passes seeing how they sold out and cancelled on-site registration for the first time ever as far as I know.

I'm thinking of making this my last SDCC for a while, but the way things look, the con may have to move away from San Diego soon anyway. =O

Took a trip to kinkos today ( no printer..i know, i know..) to get some things done. Made this little laminated stand up to help attract people to the table. He's CUTE. In fact, the manager at Kinkos liked him so much i let her make a large print of him to keep. She even asked me to sign it! It was pretty great. I love sweet kinkos people :)

Here's the mess that is me prepping packaging and prints:


The pink sheets are packaging labels for the packaged button sets, then an email sign up sheet for the new email news list. So I'm trimming prints, drinking delicious ice cold unsweetened green tea and watching Cops. Cold green tea makes me so happy. I'm trying not to use my car's air conditioner to save energy or whatever and it SUCKS. But it's almost worth being hot to come home to cold-ass tea in cans.

Also pictured: dog toy that is a werewolf that turns into a woodsman ( delightful toy but she loves it far more than i do so she gets to chew it up) my new cowboy boots that i got for a steal ( i miss Texas) and the bottom half of the container i use to travel with the werewolf costume. A HUGE pain in the ass.

I hate working at desks and have sat on the floor to work since i was about 15. The floor just feels better. I guess desks remind me of being at work or school so i avoid them when i can.

Not pictured! Tabouli Brothers Wanted posters! JFish is working on a cool looking comic due out in the fall so I'm going to hand out some stuff for him at comic con to help out :)
http://studiojfish.livejournal.com/


PS, remember if you want to sign up for the new news list send an email titled ADD ME to missmonsternews@gmail.com. It is only going to be used for news, not for info sharing or correspondence. Just in case you don't want to have to check my journal or slog through entries about farts or loud neighbors. The news list will just deliver the juicy bits like new art for sale, pre orders and events!

http://comics212.net/2008/07/17/the-san-diego-service-industry/

I’m terribly sorry to morally or ethically inconvenience anyone about this. But. 

There are probably 20,000 service industry workers in San Diego that all appreciate your tip-dollars more-or-less equally.

There are two or three properties in San Diego where your drinking money goes into the pockets of a homophobe who is working against human rights, and using the money he is given from those properties to do so.

It’s a simple decision to make, but it is a decision. Anything else is honestly just rationalizing. I’m not going to be holding a placard outside your hotel room or anything, but there are probably 200 establishments for drinking and congregating within 15 minutes walk of the convention centre. Drinking at any of those probably won’t fund jackholes, and drinking or eating (or, unfortunately, staying) at The Hyatt will.

And you know, when the money goes into his account, I’d wager that the bank doesn’t keep a column next to it for whether it was spent by folks in favour of his actions, or critical of them. It’s all money.

So, your decision. This is the last I have to say on the matter.

- Chris

"I'm not your mother, and if you keep on calling me 'Mother!' I am going to TREAT you like I'm your mother."

More later.