"Take me back to Chicago...Lay my soul to rest..."

This is a very appropriate blog title on so many levels...
1. I'm returning to Chicago (specifically Rosemont, Il.) to attend Wizard World Chicago on Aug. 11th-14th
2. They're the opening lyrics to one of my favorite songs from the group "Chicago" (as if I had a not-favorite song of theirs)
3. Perhaps you noticed the adorable zombie above. Lay my soul to rest...he's dead, y'see...so there's the connection...ahem...
4. I LOVE Chicago, my third favorite city after my number 2 (Ann Arbor) and my number 1 (I'm looking at YOU, Toronto).

So if the intricacy of the photo seen here isn't evidence enough, I'm very excited to attend Wizard World--the very first con I set up at back in '09--and I'm pulling out all the stops to make a great showing! I've spent the past week making props to adorn Abner Cadaver with to better promote "Necronomicomics". I'm particularly proud of the mini-Rue Morgue magazine I've put together. The severed hand was a last minute choice and a terrific find at a local dollar store. But that word balloon was the real accomplishment: foam board, a coat hanger and a lot of packing tape. I feel like the original crew at ILM who cobbled together the earliest Star Wars props with chewing gum and chicken wire...

I also built some colorful new table signs that will hopefully up the gravitational pull of my table. And on the merch front, I've made FOUR NEW PRINTS to be sell at this show (check 'em out below)...

This was originally a print I made last year. At that time I printed it on plain ol' copy paper, but it was still proving popular with fans of the TV show Firefly. This time I polished up the design a bit and printed it on a nice glossy card stock. Coupled with actress Morena Baccarin's appearance at Wizard World (that's her in the middle row on the far left), I predict these will go over big.

This is a mash-up I created of the comic book Watchmen with the classic cartoon Rocky and Bullwinkle. For the past few years, I'd been selling a smaller print on flimsier paper based on this idea. But I felt I could do so much more with it, and a far better job. This is the result of that push, and I think it's going to be popular. I particularly want to make a blood-dripped "Wossamotta U" pin, if only for myself.

These two prints are components of my overall Necronomicomics promotional campaign. For now, I only plan on releasing these two cartoons. Hopefully in a year or two, I'll be able to print a collection of the cartoons, so fans can get their fill in a complete collection. I hope these will satisfy folks' cartoon blood lust in the meantime!

If these prints all sell well, count on seeing them for sale at my next appearance: Detroit Fanfare on Sept. 24th and 25th! I'll also be unveiling THREE NEW PRINTS at that show, two comic-themed, and one to coincide with the appearance of actor and Michigan native Bruce Campbell at the con!
 
So if you're planning on attending Wizard World or are just in the area, pop on over to the Donald E. Stephens Center and look for table #3106. I'll be the cute guy with glasses and a goatee drawing dead ducks and voluptuous chickens, and with a zombie puppet riding shotgun at my table! Hope to see you there!

Lastly, I'll be doing a new Live Sketch Show this Monday, August 8th, at 8 pm eastern time. It will be short, but it's going to be a special pre-Wizard World send off. Click on the link to check it out when the date and time hit. And as always, you're welcome to talk with me online via Ustream's chat window. You need to log in to Ustream to use the window, but registering is easy. It only takes a username and an email address. Once you've entered that info, you can chat with me, simple as that!

Thanks for your viewership, readership and friendship, folks! Hope to be in touch with you all soon!

--Jay