Signing at McNally Jackson! First Second's 5th anniversary!

First Second, publisher of Journey into Mohawk Country, Ball-Peen Hammer, The First Second Nursery Rhyme Book, and the Olympians series is turning 5 years old! Join me in raising a glass to the wonderful people who, for some reason, keep seeing fit to publish me this Tuesday, November 15th at McNally Jackson Bookstore in Soho! I'll be joined by other such First Second luminaries as Dave Roman, Mike Cavallaro, MK Reed, Mark Siegel, Molly Crabapple, Danica Novgorodoff, John Leavitt, Susan Kim, Laurence Klavan, Carla Jablonski, Matt Madden, and  Joe Infurnari!

The fun begins at 7 Pm, see you there!

Live Comix Reading at Book Court!

Join me this Wednesday at Book Court in Brooklyn for a live Comics reading from Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory. I'll be joined by Jennifer "Underwire" Hayden and Leslie "Eye of the Majestic Creature" Stein who will also be performing their comics live. Basically, it's going to more live comics reading than you can shake a stick at, yo.

Fun begins at 7! Be there!

Appearance! Tomorrow! Brooklyn Public Library! The big one!

As part of their "Teen  Week" celebration, I'll be appearing tomorrow,  Thursday, October 20th at the  Brooklyn Central Library located at Grand Army Plaza between Flatbush Avenue and  Eastern Parkway. My program will start at 10:00 am in the Dweck Center auditorium, which I honestly don't much about , but I will remark is a cool-sounding name. I'll be giving a slideshow, talking about Olympians, and sharing some sneak peeks of Hades: Lord of the Dead and Poseidon: The Yet to Be Subtitled. Hope to see you there!

New Interview at The Comics Journal!

Check out this interview with me at The Comics Journal! It's a huge honor for me to be featured in such a prestigious institution, and it's probably the most in-depth interview I've ever given. Please, everyone, give it a read!

Note for my younger readers-- there might be an instance or two of adult language in this interview, so make sure that you have a parent or guardian check it out first, okay?

Me on the TV

While up in Maine over the weekend I was interviewed on the local news magazine show 207 about Olympians. You can watch the clip below, or give a click through here to see the video of my more-or-less coherent interview on their site

Signing at Casablanca Comics!

The wonderful folks at Casablanca comics in Portland, Maine are hosting a signing with me this Saturday, October 1st. I'll be signing copies of Zeus, Athena and  Hera, doing drawings and sharing sneak peeks of upcoming volumes of Olympians. The fun begins at 11:00 AM and goes to 2:00 PM. If you find yourself in the neighborhood you should, like totally, stop by.

Casablanca Comics is at 151 Middle Street, in Portland, ME 04101. Click here for directions, or give them a a call at (207) 780-1676. See you there!

Signing at Books of Wonder!

Sorry for the short notice (been on the road with limited internet action) but I have a signing tomorrow at New York City's famous Books of Wonder children's bookstore. I'll be appearing alongside such children's comics luminaries as Carla "Resistance" Jablonski, MK "Americus" Reed, Dave "Astronaut Academy" Roman, Ryan " Zoe and Robot" Sias, Sara "Bake Sale" Varon, and Neil "Joey McFly & the Big Hairy Drama" Numberman.  I'll be signing copies of Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory, and anything else you put in front of me.

The festivities begin at 1PM, at 18 West 18th Street in NYC. Hope to see you there!

Interview on Diamond Bookshelf

Head on over to Diamond's website (y'know, the people who supply everything you find in your local neighborhood comic shop) to check out this interview with yours truly, where I discuss the character of Hera, the upcoming Hades: Lord of the Dead, and how I hope my art can be considered "real good".

Where all the magic happens

I'm trying something a little new here: specifically, a little video action. We're working on a major renovation of the greater Olympiansrule website, with the video component scheduled to play a big part in the revised site. Consider this little treat, a short virtual tour of my drawing desk, to be a kind of teaser for some video goodness to come. I act a little silly, and show off some artwork for the upcoming Olympians Book 5, Poseidon: The Yet to be Subtitled, amongst other things.

Special thanks to my pal Natalie Kim for putting this together, She's one half of the Supertwins, a new comedic web series premiering this October.

Amazing Hera review at SLJ's Fuse#8 blog

The amazing uber-Librarian Elizabeth "up in the sky, is it a" Bird posted up a really blush-worthy review of my latest, Hera: the Goddess and Her Glory at the Fuse#8 blog on the School Library Journal website. Please give it a read here. It made my morning!

Come see me in Baltimore!

If you find yourself in Maryland this weekend, I'll be at the Baltimore Comic Con signing copies of my books, drawing pretty pictures and just generally having a good time. I'll be at booth # 1707, as a guest of the immensely talented Dean Haspiel. There will be a whole posse of us Brooklynites down there at the same table-- also signing will be Michel Fiffe, Kat Roberts, Natalie Kim, and that Chris Miskiewicz fellow that all the kids are talking about. Also, my studiomate Rip-Roarin' Reilly Brown is going to be around somewhere as well, hopefully at our table. It's basically going to be the best thing since sliced bread-- you can even read a press release about it here.

Hope to see you there!

New event at WORD Bookstore! Making Comics with kids!

For awhile now I've been hearing these wondrous tales about this great new bookstore in Brooklyn called WORD. So when my publisher called, asking if I'd like to do a comics workshop there, I jumped at the chance. This Saturday, July 30th, at 1:30 I will be at WORD presenting a comic making workshop for kids (in case you attended last week's event at Bergen Street Comics, this will be a completely different workshop). All supplies will be provided, click HERE for more info. afterwords, I'll be signing and sketching what ever you stick in front of me.

The Party That Was, at Bergen Street Comics

So this past Saturday, July 23rd, was the official book release party for Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory at the world's greatest comics store, Bergen Street Comics.

The festivities were divided into two portions. First, at 4pm, was the Make Your Own Olympian workshop. A lot of time has passed since the original Olympians came on the scene, and a lot of new things have popped up in the world since then. After some quick drawing exercises, the kids in attendance hunkered down to create their own new gods/goddesses/heroes/monsters. Some of my faves included a goddess of Nutella Sandwiches, a goddess of birds, and an elephant-like Republican Monster (this from a young boy with a Che Guevara shirt on).

Yes, I am wearing a golden wreath. Everyone got one. Aren't you jealous?

I'm drawin' a picture.

This and the above photographs courtesy the lovely and talented Natalie Kim. And, before you ask, yes, my eyes really were glowing like that.

Following the kid's workshop, we took a brief break and reconvened for the adult portion of the evening, or as I preferred to call it, the Bacchanalia. I left my orderly, Apollonian wreath aside for this part, and opted instead for a more appropriate, Dionysian set of goat horns.

This  photograph courtesy the lovely and talented Chris Sinderson. And, before you ask, yes, my eyes really were glowing like that, too.

Notice I'm not the only set of horns in this picture.

Some of the wonderful folks who turned out for this, braving the 100 degree heat.

The end of the night. If you don't know insanely talented Foiled cartoonist Mike Cavallaro personally, you will never understand how funny this photo is. Oh, This and the above photographs courtesy the lovely and talented Arta. And, before you ask, yes, my eyes really stopped glowing like that. I was tired.

Extra-super special thanks to Tom, Amy, Tucker and the whole crew at Bergen Street Comics fro having me, and for making the best darn comics shop in all of creation.
Thanks again to everyone who showed, I was immensely touched at the crowds that came out, ESPECIALLY considering how unbelievably gross it was outside. As I admitted to my GF after the event, I wouldn't have come out for me, if that makes sense.

REMINDER! HERA: THE GODDESS AND HER GLORY RELEASE PARTY IS TOMORROW!!!

ARE YOU READY?! Join me TOMORROW, Saturday, July 23rd at the amazing Bergen Street Comics, in the great borough of Brooklyn, for the official Release Party of the third book in Olympians, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory!! Whoo-hoo!

It's going to be an (almost) all-day affair. At 4:00, I will be hosting a comics creating workshop for kids  and the young-at-heart, where we will create our own latter-day Olympians, Monsters and Heroes for an art-show that will be hung on the walls of Bergen Street Comics. Then, we'll reconvene at 8 for a Bacchanalia of Epic proportions. All ages are welcome, but Nectar and Ambrosia will only be served to those of age; togas are encouraged but not mandatory. Throughout the day I'll be signing, drawing and talkin' mythological matters with anyone who comes by. Maybe we'll have a visitor or two from Olympus itself?

For more info, click here. Hope to see you all!

New interview!

There's interviews, and then there's interviews. Click here to read a great interview that goes a little bit deeper than my usual fare. Deb Nam-Krane, the woman who runs the Written by Deb blog, asked me some hardcore mythological questions. Please give 'em a read!

ALL HAIL THE QUEEN!

Book 3 of Olympians, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is officially released today! Whoo-hoo!

 Keep watching this space as I'll be unveiling lots of new cool things regrading Hera, including appearances and such. If you're going to be in Brooklyn Saturday, July 23rd, you ought to come down to the official Hera Release Party!

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #77

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks every week day until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from April of 2007.

Nothing too fancy today- just a rather nice gestural sketch of Athena.

Oh, and HERA IS RELEASED TOMORROW! So that's something.

New interview up at 7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast

If you're so inclined, please go check out this interview I gave at the wonderful book blog, 7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast. Hear me ramble on about all kinds of stuff, and also get to see a bunch of artwork, including some sneak peeks of Hera and Hades.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #76

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks every day until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from April of 2007.

I included this sketch because, well, it's not very good. Hermes looks like a bunny rabbit or something in this one. Not sure what I was thinking when I drew this.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #75

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks every day until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from April of 2007.

Today's drawing is an early design of the invisibility-causing Wolfcap of Hades, as well as a shot of a Cyclops holding said helmet. The scene of Hades and Poseidon receiving their weapons from the Cyclopes had to be trimmed from Zeus: King of the Gods due to pacing; I had hoped to include that scene in the upcoming Poseidon: The Yet to be Subtitled but just had to trim it as well. This little sketch might end up being all you ever see of my version of these events.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #74

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks every day until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from April of 2007.

Today's drawing is not exactly the best thing I've ever drawn, but it was interesting for me, coming across this sketch and others like it. I had forgotten that there was ever a time when I contemplated Zeus growing to Titan-size for the final confrontation with his father. Glad I didn't go this route.

RELEASE PARTY FOR HERA: THE GODDESS AND HER GLORY!!!

It's almost here!! Join me Saturday, July 23rd at the amazing Bergen Street Comics, in the great borough of Brooklyn, for the official Release Party of the third book in Olympians, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory!! Whoo-hoo!

It's going to be an (almost) all-day affair. At 4:00, I will be hosting a comics creating workshop for kids  and the young-at-heart, where we will create our own latter-day Olympians, Monsters and Heroes for an art-show that will be hung on the walls of Bergen Street Comics. Then, we'll reconvene at 8 for a Bacchanalia of Epic proportions. All ages are welcome, but Nectar and Ambrosia will only be served to those of age; togas are encouraged but not mandatory. Throughout the day I'll be signing, drawing and talkin' mythological matters with anyone who comes by. Maybe we'll have a visitor or two from Olympus itself?

For more info, click here. Hope to see you all!

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #73

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks every day until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from April of 2007.

Today's drawing is a shot of Poseidon striking the ground with his earth-shaking Trident. I've been working on Olympians Book 5, Poseidon lately and have had many occasions to draw a variation of this pose.

I've gotten pretty good at it.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #72

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks every day until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from April of 2007.

 

 

I really like this drawing of a Cyclops I came upon. He either looks like he keeps on truckin', or maybe that he's going to ease on down, ease on down the ro-oad.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #71

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks every day until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from April of 2007.

 

 

 

Well, I took off a few days. IT WAS HOT! Not a good reason, I know. Truth to tell, I had an enormous amount of work that came upon me, and, well, I just couldn't bear the extra few minutes in front of the computer. I'm back now with this smoky drawing of a Titan coming out of the gloom.

An Intro to Greek Mythology in 10 Panels

I was recently asked to do a short comic for the Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy blog: An  Intro to Greek Mythology in 10 Panels. Click here to  check it out!

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #70

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks every day until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from April of 2007.

Well, I took a day off yesterday. IT WAS A FEDERAL HOLIDAY, SO SUE ME! I was actually busting my hump on a cool Greek Gods comic project that is not Olympians that you'll hopefully be seeing soon. But I digress. Here's a drawing of Hades and his dad.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #69

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks every day until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from February of 2007.

One of the designs I was most pleased with in Zeus: King of the Gods was the Hekatonchieres, the 50 headed, 100 handed brothers to the Titans and Cyclopes. Here is an early drawing of one of them shredding a mountain that, as I recall made it pretty complete into the final book.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #68

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks every day until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from February of 2007.

Today's sketch is a sea of Zeus faces, with a early appearance by Heracles right in the middle. It was interesting to me to note that Heracles apparently emerged fully-formed out of the ether-- this is the earliest sketchbook appearance by him I could find, and he looks pretty much exactly as he will in Hera: The Goddess and her Glory.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #67

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks every day until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from February of 2007.

Hot on the heels of yesterday's sketch of Impetuous Zeus, which was, as I wrote, the first time I felt I 'got' Zeus as a character, is this shot of Zeus from the opposing page in the same sketchbook. What I see here is that at this point, while I may had finally figured out Zeus's face, his aegis was still awhile off. Looks like he's wearing a mink stole.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #66

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks every day until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from February of 2007.

Now I know I've posted this drawing before-- I've posted this drawing all over town. That's because this drawing is one of my favorite drawings ever. I like this drawing so much I actually named it-- "Impetuous Zeus". This was the first time I ever really "got" the character, my version, of Zeus. So even though I've posted this other places before, when I came across this in my sketchbooks again I just had to post it chronologically with all my other sketches. So take that.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #65

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks every day until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from February of 2007.

 I was skimming through my sketchbooks when I happened upon this drawing with some amusement. An evident early pass at a Gigante, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, it appears.