Hope to see you at one or both of the events!

Reading With Pictures Workshop
Date: Sat. September 11, 2010
Time: 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Location:
Sulzer Regional
4455 N. Lincoln Avenue
60625

Program: School Age Programs (6-9 years)

About this event:
Comic writer Trevor Mueller teaches kids the basics of storytelling, how to write dialogue, and how to make their own comics. There will even be a reading from his latest all-ages story: ‘Albert the Alien is New in School,’ published in the Reading with Pictures anthology. Copies of the anthology will be available for purchase. For children ages 6 yrs and older.

Registration:
Please call 312-744-7616, extension 3 to register.

Last year, many of the publishers in the comic industry pulled out of the show and many of us were wondering if the show would continue on without them. Many of us wondered if we would ever again make the trek from the Hyatt Bar back to our hotels, exhausted and satisfied (and maybe a little tipsy). There were only two ways that the next year’s show could go: the show would thrive without the publishers, or the show would disappear.

When I agreed to get a table at WCC this year, I figured even if the show sucked at least I’d have fun with my comic friends. The fear from the previous year still prevailed, however, and I wasn’t sure what would happen. The unknown invigorated me, and the adrenaline was high on Thursday when I left the office and headed out to the show once more. Suffice it to say, our fears were unjustified. The show was AMAZING.

Alan Evans – creator of Rival Angels

Thursday night and everyone there had already made a ton of sales – and the show didn’t even start until the next day, officially. We celebrated the weekend by going to the Ram (one of Russ’s favorite places) and downing a few stiff adult beverages. The next day would start our weekend of selling comics. Including our new book, Reading with Pictures!

Trevor (hey, that’s me) models the Reading with Pictures anthology

Of course, other books were on sale as well. Russell was selling copies of The Batman Strikes, Hope: New Orleans, and his self-published work The 29.

John Bivens was selling copies of Comic Book Tattoo, PopGun, and his other anthologies. Steve Wallace was selling copies of Sequential Suicide, Binary Love, and his Sandman prints. And of course, I was on hand with RWP, as well as a little book we all know and love called “@$$hole!”

I love this book a little too much, sometimes

Russell and myself were interviewed a few times by several news outlets, including Bleedingcool.com and appear in their write up of the show.

The table display…yeah, it’s important

Sales were high all weekend, and I even got to meet a few of the celebrity guests including Paul McGillion (Stargate: Atlantis), Walter Koenig (Star Trek, Babylon 5), and John Schneider (Dukes of Hazard, Smallville). Paul and I chatted at the bar after hours about the show (since he admitted to being a little new to the comic scene). But most of the time was spent with my good comic friends…and losing my voice selling.

Many fans and friends came to visit me at the table, and it was awesome to see them all. And many new friends were made. And a personal victory for me was that I completely sold out of the first box of Reading with Pictures. The book was a huge success, and people loved it.

The show was tons of fun yet again, and while I’m going to be really busy at shows coming up, I totally plan to attend the show again next year. And that last sentence totally doesn’t make any sense….

Expect to see this image in a coming @$$hole! comic

Remember that big news I’ve been teasing about for the past several months? Been asking yourself why the website hasn’t been updating lately? Well, it’s because my lifelong dream has taken a major step forward to becoming a reality. I’ve been published.

Reading with Pictures came out several weeks ago, and the premiere event was at Challengers Comics in Chicago. Several of the creators were on hand, including Josh Elder, Russell Lissau, Jeff Brown, and Jill Thompson. And the book sold gangbusters!

Lots of people came into the store that day, and many of the creators were on hand to sign books and mingle with fans of the book, the project, or our individual works. The store bought boxes of the books (and I’m told, have bought and sold boxes more), and we signed them all.

There was a charity BBQ as well, with the coolest guy making some great food.

The book was available for order in the June Diamond catalog. Diamond ordered about a thousand copies of the book, and we’ve been selling them individually at conventions as well.

I have a bunch of events that have been keeping me away from the regular updates, and I apologize for that. My schedule looks like the following:

August 17-22: Wizard World Chicago (con report to follow)
September 9-12: CECE (guest of honor)
September 11 (yup, same weekend): Library workshop in Lincoln Square for kids on how to make comics
October 4: FallCon
October 8-10: New York Comic Con
November 6-7: Mid-Ohio Comic Con

Littered throughout the year I have weddings to attend and whatnot as well. It’s a very ambitious convention schedule, and unfortunately it’s cutting into my creation time. On top of all this, I’m also working on another children’s story AND a regular series pitch based on my Reading with Pictures short story.

Lots of great work on the horizon, and I hope to see some of you at a convention soon. Thanks for sticking with me, and no worries – comics will start up again soon.

Don’t believe me? Here’s a link to my Wizard World Profile!

There will be a bunch of celebrity guests in attendance, as well as some cool comic artists. I’ll be sharing booth space with Rival Angels creator Alan Evans, as well as several great comic creators / Reading with Pictures contributors including Russell Lissau, John Bivens, and Steve Wallace.

Will there be a comic made out of this weekend? Most likely!

Scott (the man who made this very fine website that you’re on right now) will be on hand as well, and probably taking some pictures. I’m coming up with a story already for the show, so @$$hole! can get back on schedule.

As much as people tend to rip on Wizard, I always have fun at their shows – and you should stop by and have fun with us! Hope to see you there!

But not to worry, this is not the end…but the beginning!

For now, though, we’re taking a break.

Thanks again!

There won’t be any @$$hole! comics this week, I’m afraid. But I’m keeping track of the number of pages that haven’t updated, and I’m going to make it up to you all with some black and white updates (or more photo comics) soon.

I’m happy to say that @$$Hole! was nominated in the 2010 Drunk Duck Awards for best Photo Comic 3 years in a row! The nominations are all voted on by the readers, so I thank you all for the nominations and for liking the comic so much. The least I can do is update the darn thing. Just give me a little time. Winners get announced at the end of August, so maybe we’ll pull of a win this year. Fingers crossed for me.

I’m going to try to blog a bit later this week with the photos from the Reading with Pictures premiere signing event at Challengers last weekend. It was a blast of a time, and we sold a crap-ton of the book. I’ll be pimping the work at Chicago Comic Con next week with many of the book’s contributors, including John Bivens, Steve Wallace, Russell Lissau, and many more!

Alright, that’s it for me for now. Gotta rest up and review this script draft before sending off to the editor.

And then I got to thinking about people on the internet, and their fascination with gross things. Like two girls and a cup (don’t google search it). And then “eewbies” where born.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, I’ve been swamped trying to launch my first non-self published work. Reading with Pictures is an anthology that I have an 8-page story in, and it’s available at your local comic store today. And if they don’t have it, order it! It has some amazing stories from various creators throughout the industry, including Jill Thompson, Russell Lissau, John Bivens, Joe Dunn and Phil Chan, and many others. Myself among them.

If you pre-ordered your copy through kickstarter, you’re awesome. They should be arriving in the mail soon.

I’ll be at Challengers this weekend for the kick-off party, and we’ll have the world premiere of the book at Wizard World Chicago (Chicago Comic Con) at the end of the month.

Be sure to ask for the book from your local comic store. It’s going to be an awesome read!

Here we see more scheming from Cardinal Milikin, with his usual cronies: Malukai and Kidjo (the man with beady eyes).

And who do we have in the folder? It looks like the bandit leader from the original Temple series to me….

More to come next Monday!