Down Time

It's going to be quiet here for a few days as I take care of some family business. Nothing serious; in fact, I expect it to be kind of fun.

I'm starting to gear up for Comic-Con International in a week and a half, especially my Spotlight Panel. I'm taking the advice of a syndicated cartoonist who met me for coffee a while ago and gave me a couple of insights. One: especially at an event like Comic-Con, most of the people who come to my panel are going to be less interested in me than in learning how they can take my place. Two: no one wants to hear anyone drone on about themselves for an hour, especially in the warmth and humidity of San Diego in July, so you'd better bring along some visuals to interest and/or distract them.

To those ends, I'm putting together a talk and PowerPoint program that I expect will do the job. I'm working hard on it--probably a little too hard, knowing how fast 45 minutes (leaving some time for Q&A, etc.) will fly by--but I'm hoping to give a good, snappy, occasionally funny presentation about how I got to be in a position to get Mom's Cancer published, how that process worked and what it was like, and my impressions of life since. I expect this audience to be more interested in the "Publishing a Graphic Novel" story than in the "Family Facing a Health Crisis" story, but I should be able to adjust as needed.

Quick Preview: Me at age 14, showing off a gouache piece I did for a little gallery exhibition of student work, featuring Dr. Strange and the dread Dormammu....

That punk needs a haircut....