I'M A BUSY BEE. NOW SHOW ME THE HONEY….

I've just read what I typed, and that makes no damn sense. Or very little damn sense, at least. It's meant to illustrate just how busy I've been lately, in the best possible way. We've only been in our new apartment for two weeks and the art gigs have been pouring in, which is exasperatingly great! Here's a run down of what's been up since I last posted:

WE MOVED:
By now you should all know that we traded apartments with the girl down the hall from us, so we now have a spacious two bedroom, which for the first time in over nine months, allows me (gasp!) A STUDIO!!! And man, I've been using it for all it's worth! Our number's the same as before, and our address change in 301, from it's previous 304. Write it down, people. I ain't gonna repeat it.

VISUAL STORYTELLING SHOW AT GALLERY PROJECT:
That was big fun to participate in! To once again be in the company of such great comic book creators and to meet some of them face to face (Katie Cook and David Petersen, you guys are awesome) was a super experience. The opening reception was just packed, and I was fortunate enough to have my family and friends in attendance (much love and appreciation to Laura, Mom, Scott, Grandma, Aunt Karen, Nick, Jon, Tim and Matt for showing up and supporting me). I'm hoping more gallery shows come my way in the future!

LITTLE GREEN MEN:
I'm thirteen pages done with my twenty-page commitment to "Little Green Men", a comic book concept my editors at Ape created, then handed over to me to flesh out, write and illustrate. It's been a blast to do, and as soon as I get permission, I'll share some of the work with you guys.

ARCHIE SKETCH CARDS:
I was recently approached to illustrate a set of officially licensed Archie sketch cards, and I've just begun drawing the first of my twenty-four cards. The proceeds from their sale go towards The March of Dimes, and I'm proud to be contributing. I'm also excited to draw my interpretation of these classic characters that I've read and loved since I was a kid! Several prominent cartoonists are also contributing to these Archie sketch cards, among them my friends Evan Shaner and Katie Cook, and I'm thrilled to be in such great company! Again, when I get the okay, I'll post my artwork for you guys to see.

GREETING CARDS:
I just sent in an invoice to Marian Heath Greeting Cards for two political greeting cards I wrote (one of Obama, one of McCain). This was the first time a company bought just my writing rather than my writing and art, so it's kind of new and exciting for me. I hope this leads to more card work, hopefully with me drawing some, too!

CARICATURING:
I've got caricaturing gigs coming out of the woodwork, and ironically, the bulk of them are dragging me back to my old hometown of Saginaw and the surrounding towns of Midland and Bay City. I just did one yesterday at Weiss Elementary in Saginaw for their STARS Day (a career day-type of event). It was my third year doing it, and I hope to do it for years to come. So for the rest of May into June I'll be going back and forth for these types of gigs, so if anyone from the tri cities wants to meet up for lunch or a beer, gimme a call now. My schedule's only going to get crazier as the dates draw closer. I do have one gig lined up in Ann Arbor on June 7th, which will be at Gallup Park. It's a beautiful place, and I look forward to the experience, not to mention working within five minutes driving distance of my home versus a three hour round trip.

COMMISSIONS:
On Deviantart.com I've recently begun accepting commissions with a classic cartoon theme. I've had some awesome ones come across my drawing board so far, at least three of which being of a 70's Hanna Barbera themed, which is sooo my meat and potatoes! If anyone's interested in commissioning me in this current theme (or for anything you'd like drawn, for that matter), just drop me a note at my Deviantart page or e-mail me at fourpanelhero@hotmail.com.

DEAD DUCK and WIZARDWORLD CHICAGO:
First off, a reminder about the online Dead Duck comic. It's going great guns, and you'd be a sucker to miss out on all the online hilarity. So check it out HERE if you aren't already, and every Friday thereafter.

I've been talking to my editor at Ape about how to go about promoting Dead Duck at Wizardworld Chicago, and it looks like I'll be selling Dead Duck buttons and t-shirts, as well as a special edition four-page Dead Duck comic book that I'll be creating especially for the con! On top of that, I'm hoping to sell prints of my work (some Dead Duck pieces and some pop culture pieces, too) and do sketches. So it sounds like it'll be very cool, and I hope you can be there to experience my first major con appearance with me!

MOTOR CITY COMIC CON:
No, I won't be manning a table there (though I probably will be either in October or May 2010). But I will be walking the floor on Sunday May 17th with my wonderful wife Laura, who'll be celebrating her birthday that weekend (Happy pre-birthday, sweetie!). My main purpose for attending is to meet the great and powerful Doug Jones (no relation to the great and powerful Oz, though he should be) who'll be signing autographs! I want to thank him in person for writing his wonderful foreword for Dead Duck and hopefully take a photo with him (sure I'm his pal, but I'm still a gushing fanboy, too!). Anyway, I hope to see some of you kids there and get you excited for when I bring Dead Duck to the Motor City Comic Con in late '09 or mid '10 at least!

AND OTHER POTENTIALLY BIG NEWS:
Sorry. Too big to share right now, plus it's still in the negotiation stages. But if it happens, well woo dogey, it'll be a real spitfire of news to share, people!

Thanks for checking back with me. Sorry for the multi-week absence in blogging. But rest assured, there's more big news a'coming down the pipeline! Be here to catch it when it happens!

Much love,

--Jay