So convention season is over. Now what?

Hello hello hello there. So, lot's of things going on here.


1. Baltimore Book Festival was all right. It was pouring rain the day of the Zine Pavilion and not really anyone stopped by. The talk, however, went really well. The Pavilion was empty when I started, and then filled up to about 25 or so people. Red Emma's said they'd invite me to their shop to give an in-store talk as well, which would be a lot of fun. It was really exciting to share my process (is there no way to sound more pompous than by saying "my process?") and the history of Gay Kid with so many people.

The rain mirrored my emotions.

2. I stopped writing Office Bitch for TheNewGay. I was feeling a bit burnt out with the story and was having some issues with the overall vibe/feeling of the site. I'm going to start a weekly comic here in the next few weeks. It took a while to realize it, but no one I know really reads TNG. It's not really my scene; think HRC vs the radical queer collective that throws potluck fundraisers and you'll know what I'm talking about.

The new strip has yet to be determined, but I'm excited to figure that out and get started!

3. There are two new comics that will be started in the next month or so: Gay Kid 4 and Culver. Culver is a book I'm going to be illustrating, and is written by Matt Smith.Gay Kid 4 will be the next installment in the series, following issues on Seventeen Magazine, Fashion, and Anxiety. I'm thinking it may be about friends and/or family.

In the meanwhile, here are some doodles I've done at work while talking on the phone.

I'm working on a short comic about getting my wisdom teeth out. This is me feeling anxious. DUH.

Molly, our old beagle, in a Santa costume looking doleful.

Ok, that looks better.

It's Pride!

I know it can be kind of backwards and sellout-y, but I do love Gay Pride month, and all it entails. Everything's got so many damn rainbows on it, there's a lot of greased up boys trotting around town on roller skates (ok, maybe just during the parade) and it seems like every night is ladies night somewhere.

This weekend was pride in DC, and I had a super time. I went to a party, a brunch, and a parade and it was all FABULOUS. The only part that was a bit upsetting was that the blog I cartoon for didn't do anything special for it. I get it, I get it, you're "over the rainbow" or whatever, but Pride is so much fun! And if we need to have a more cynical reason, the parade is a great way to just get your name out there. There's a lot of gay-ass eyes looking at those floats. Also, I wanted to march in the parade, so there.

Lady Gaga.

  I hate how reactionary my cartoons can be sometimes ("whoa, this thing happened, and it really pissed me off! LET ME DRAW ABOUT IT."), a knee-jerk reaction to a looming deadline and a lack of inspiration. It's easiest to think back to what has recently made you mad and work from that, but you don't always want to sound like such a Debbie Downer (who wants to hear about cat AIDS, anyways?).

  This cartoon came out of a recent series of posts on The New Gay, where gay dudes were bitching about how Lady Gaga is a problem. It seems like the cool thing to do is to think her advocating is passe and a farce, instead of her being an actual supporter (she's been to marches and uses her publicity to talk about our issues). Whatever, I don't need to get on my soapbox here, but it seemed pretty dumb to me. Why would you shoot someone like that--with so much fame and power and is a huge ally--in the back?

  So I let the cartoon do the talking, and was happy to have it posted on TNG along side all the Gaga negativity. There wasn't much conversation about it, which I was kind of bummed out by, but at least I got to say my piece.

As much as I love her, that line makes NO sense.