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EndgameMar 7, 2019

(Click it to reduce eye strain!)

The note kind of spells it out.

NOT THE END! See you all again before you know it.

In full color?? OMG!Jul 23, 2025

Friendos! As mandated by my blood pact with San Diego Comic-Con, you’ll once again be able to find me at my Cool Jerk table in Small Press K-9, which is right by the bathrooms where people constantly enter/exit the wrong direction.

Brand new this year is Cool Jerk OMG Color! Vol. 1 & 2, which is an awkward title to be sure. It collects — for the first time ever in recorded history — all the Sunday-sized strips from Cool Jerk volumes 3 & 4 (Bimboozled and Thinkulus) in full color! It ALSO includes the long out-of-print OMG COLOR! Volume 1 from 2011. It’s 32 pages, one ad, $15! As a bonus, I’m including a full-color poster of the T-Waster game (from Bimboozled) FREE with any purchase of OMG Color! Vol. 1 & 2! It’s 16” x 20” and a Comic-Con exclusive, as I won’t be able to mail these out (it would be cost-prohibitive, bet). I only have 75 copies so it’s first come, first served!

The Cool Jerk table will be stocked with all the familiar products and publications, including:
• 88 Hours— Lost and Scared This is Darlene’s and my graphic novella true story of our dog, Doctor, and how he went missing over five days due to a negligent pet sitter. It’s an emotional, multimedia tale filled with twists, turns and surprises, and luckily a happy ending. The book is 32 pages, full color and retails for $10 ($1 of each sale goes to A Way Home For Dogs, a local charity run by Babs Fry, who played an instrumental role in 88 Hours). If you’re not able to make it to SDCC in person, you can order one online at the Cool Jerk store. All copies are signed by us (incl. Doctor’s pawtograph)!

• All Cool Jerk collections — Hodabeast, Chickadoowa, Bimboozled and Thinkulus — and Doc Splatter Ominous Omnibus. Get ’em signed by yours truly!

• The Mightily Marvelous Cool Jerk Fun Book! It’s my first all-ages product, if you can believe that. *looks through archive, believes it* It’s a magazine-sized laugh-maker filled with puzzles, games, mazes and other fun stuff. A mere $7.

• Like, For Shore! The Complete Works. It’s three volumes collecting more than 170 college-era strips that preceded Cool Jerk. Armpit, Puppy and the rest of the Spittle Beach gang are all there, and I remastered nearly every strip in graphite. The first printing is in a very limited run of 75 signed-and-numbered copies, and most are gone. Sold as a set, $18.

• Canvas Panels are here for $15 a pop, or $40 if you want a long-form canvas (contains a whole strip, not just one panel), which I can custom-make for you if you order one up in person or online.

• Cool Jerk Enamel Pins. They’re $10 and you get one-of-a-kind original art with each pin. Choose among the COOL word balloon, JERK thought balloon and/or the ubiquitous CENSORED bar… perfect for any jacket, backpack or tongue piercing!

Attendees will also find The Girl Who Kicked The Donut Habit (Darlene’s second comic) and the Jerkopædia (Official Style Guide to Cool Jerk), both of which I’ll have on hand in limited supply.

Hope to see you there!


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SDCCI ’22 Photo RecapAug 3, 2022

This was my 20th year in a row exhibiting in Small Press at San Diego Comic-Con, in pretty much the exact same spot (yes, I’m including the last two “virtual” comic-cons). Being behind the Cool Jerk table once again was like muscle memory, although there were subtle differences that apparently evolved over the past three years. For example, the exhibit hall floors lost a LOT of their temporary carpeting, the security detail had changed hands from Elite to some other service, you can no longer roll your cargo into or out of the exhibit hall (they instead want you to carry your hundreds of pounds of merchandise from the concourse across 20 yards of lobby carpet into the exhibit hall), several mainstay exhibitors (eg. DC, Dark Horse) were no-shows for whatever reasons, and cosplay seemed to be about half as prevalent as usual.

The only new product Darlene and I had at the table was our collaboration, 88 Hours— Lost and Scared, a full-color graphic novella documenting the five-day span that our doggo Doctor was missing due to a negligent pet-sitter. Many people knew the story already, having watched it unfold live on social media back in 2018, but to see it illustrated and packed with additional information was a totally new experience. The San Diego Union-Tribune thought our story was compelling enough to publish a column about it/us, as did Times of San Diego (and a hilarious site run by a robot). We’ve received a lot of great feedback — some of it emotional — and we think it’s a contender when awards season comes around. Each book is pawtographed by Doctor and you can get a copy (or two) via my Cool Jerk store, here!

Now, on with the show!

How things look a couple days before the show.

Here we are at the table, with longtime friend and comic-con bon vivant Dennis Schamp dropping in!

Let’s get to the cosplay. Here’s Beetlejuice (Mindy Conley) and Stimpy.

Excellent Rogue from the X-Men: Evolution cartoon.

The lovely Nadja (my buddy Sandra Krombacher) taking a rare day trip out of the shadows. She slayed me.

It’s not all about the cosplay, tho. It’s also about capitalism! Aw, who’s the best boy? YOU are…!

Definitely a must-have for any kitchen.

A lovely print with a bonus Kumi Mizuno in the corner (thanks, Darlene!).

Almost bought it.

OK back to the cosplay. In related news, here’s Dr. Doom…

…and Reed Richards.

And here’s Reed and Doom, clearly variants from another timeline since they’re not at each others’ throats.

All hail! Prince Namor of Atlantis is in attendance. Imperius Rex!

Kate and Clint— Hawkeyes.

Did you think Rawhide Kid? Kid Colt? Nope— Two-Gun Kid.

I’ve seen Hela before… but Surtur? That’s a first!

Richard Rider (Nova) stopped by. His helmet’s eyes light up with the power of the Worldmind OF COURSE.

Not the first Sailor Moonknight I saw (there were at least three on the floor), but this one is the best.

In related news, here’s the aforementioned Sailor Moonknight in her Jake Lockley identity, along with a couple long-time Cool Jerk allies (they’re most certainly seen in my previous comic-con photo wrap-ups).

Hey, has anyone seen my Wookie co-pilot? I wish I could find him in this crowd.

Best use of masks we saw.

A gaggle of Spidey rogues (and Peter Porker in the back, likely attempting a sneak attack).

Doctor Strange variant from Earth 92111 has entered the chat.

Unused clip from “Spider-Man: No Way Home”(2021)??

Best for last— crossplay Disney villains Hook, Prince John, Gaston and Hades. *chefs kiss*

 

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‘88 Hours— Lost and Scared’ debuts at San Diego Comic-ConJul 17, 2022

San Diego Comic-Con International is back for reals this year. I say “for reals” because the last two summers SDCCI had to do things virtual, and their mini-convention in Nov. 2021 wasn’t really much of an affair. But hey, the pandemic is over, right?? So you’ll see Darlene and me in Small Press as we’ve been every year since 2003, table K-9.

And if that isn’t a perfect segue, I don’t know what is!

This year we’re debuting a new book: 88 Hours— Lost and Scared. (Or 88 Hours if you’re nasty.) It’s an off-brand format with an off-brand true story of our dog, Doctor, and how he went missing over five days due to a negligent pet sitter. It’s an emotional, multimedia tale filled with twists, turns and surprises, and luckily a happy ending. We’ve been fulfilling pre-convention orders all week and if you’re not able to make it to SDCC in person, you can order one online at the Cool Jerk store. The book is 32 pages, full color and retails for $10 ($1 of each sale goes to A Way Home For Dogs, a local charity run by Babs Fry, who played an instrumental role in 88 Hours).

We’re exceptionally proud of this book and, not gonna lie, it took more than two years to complete due to PTSD. Look for a write-up in The San Diego Union-Tribune this week!

Beyond 88 Hours, the Cool Jerk table will largely be populated with all the familiar products and publications, including:

• All Cool Jerk collections — Hodabeast, Chickadoowa, Bimboozled and Thinkulus — and Doc Splatter Ominous Omnibus. Get ’em signed by yours truly!

• The Mightily Marvelous Cool Jerk Fun Book! It’s my first all-ages product, if you can believe that. *looks through archive, believes it* It’s a magazine-sized laugh-maker filled with puzzles, games, mazes and other fun stuff. A mere $7.

• Like, For Shore! The Complete Works. It’s three volumes collecting more than 170 college-era strips that preceded Cool Jerk. Armpit, Puppy and the rest of the Spittle Beach gang are all there, and I remastered nearly every strip in graphite. The first printing is in a very limited run of 75 signed-and-numbered copies, and most are gone. Sold as a set, $18.

• Canvas Panels are here for $15 a pop, or $40 if you want a long-form canvas (contains a whole strip, not just one panel), which I can custom-make for you if you order one up in person or online.

• Cool Jerk Enamel Pins. They’re $10 and you get one-of-a-kind original art with each pin. Choose among the COOL word balloon, JERK thought balloon and/or the ubiquitous CENSORED bar… perfect for any jacket, backpack or tongue piercing!

Attendees will also find The Girl Who Kicked The Donut Habit (Darlene’s second comic) and the Jerkopædia (Official Style Guide to Cool Jerk), both of which I’ll have on hand in limited supply. Also running a bit low on T-shirts, but I’ll bring what I have.

And last but not least, here’s a convenient map I whipped up while getting my second Moderna booster.

Click it to embiggen it!

Hope to see you at the show! Wear a mask and stay safe!

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> sigh <Jan 7, 2021

2021card
SPOILER ALERT: They failed their mission. 2021 was still a shitstorm.

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Cool Jerk and SDCC 2020, or “Sorry folks, park’s closed. Moose out front shoulda told ya.”Jul 22, 2020

This year, the “con crud” could kill you

Due to Covid-19, San Diego Comic-Con had to cancel its annual 5-day event for the first time in its 51-year history. I know people are depressed, disappointed, upset… but considering how every summer SDCC becomes a 133,000-population Petri dish regardless of a coronavirus (Darlene and I get sick about every third year post-con), I can’t even imagine how many people would be exposed to Covid-19. Due to my congenital asthma, I probably have less than a 50-50 shot at surviving a full-blown case.

I haven’t missed a SDCC since my first year attending in 1983; one year I only managed the last 3 hours on a Sunday but hey admission was like $6 and I got the souvenir book. I’d be absolutely ruined (emotionally) if I couldn’t make it due to illness or some other conflict (I blew off my 20-year class reunion because of SDCC)… but this year I’m just sad that so many people had to scuttle plans for this show, the largest of its kind in the U.S. And I really feel for my fellow professionals who rely on comic-conventions to make a living. For me, it’s officially a side hustle though I won’t sugar-coat it, I’ll definitely miss the income exhibiting at SDCC provides each year.

The last convention I exhibited at was San Diego Comic Fest in March, and it seems like last year TBH. I had hand sanitizer at my table, people were semi-jokingly greeting each other with elbow bumps and people were sharing news of other conventions/events across the U.S. that were being canceled (WonderCon, Emerald City Comic Con, SXSW, Burning Man, concerts, monster truck pulls, campaign rallies, etc.). The salad days.

A month later, the folks at SDCC announced their cancellation of the 2020 show, though they thought up a Plan B— a virtual comic-con you can attend from your home computer or mobile device. I haven’t seen it in action yet, but apparently you’ll be able to wander through the convention floor and explore exhibitors’ tables and booths as you would in real life. And it won’t cost a nickel to attend.

Not 100% certain how this Comic-Con@Home will translate to buying Cool Jerk books and merchandise from yours truly, but I think once you come to my “table” in Small Press, K-9, you’ll be able to link to my website and online store. From there, I think you can order my goods and I’ll ship them out (or maybe do a safe in-person delivery if you’re a local). As ever, I’ll personalize books to you and include a quickie character sketch.

This virtual comic-con will run today (Wednesday) through Sunday, July 26. I hope you’ll swing by between Zoom panels, YouTube programming, webinars, cosplay live-feeds and virtual awards ceremonies.

This summer just won’t feel the same without the annual pilgrimage to the San Diego Convention Center, loading in and setting up the Cool Jerk table, catching up with my friends, sharing war stories with fellow exhibitors, meeting (and making) new fans of Cool Jerk and Doc Splatter, stalking my mentors, having chance encounters with comics celebrities, buying that one item you can’t get anywhere else, “swimming through the sweaty rivers of meat” (i.e. the crowds) in order to explore the convention, laughing until I’m hoarse, having the traditional Saturday night downtown dinner with Darlene, taking photos of mind-blowing cosplay and exclusive merchandise, getting as-it-happens updates and scuttlebutt from the movie studios, the inevitable projectile vomiting (not necessarily from me)….

sigh.

Thanks for reading, thanks for coming by (virtually) and thanks for helping to support the independent creators. Darlene and I will miss you all terribly, but we’ll make up for it next year. Now be safe and go have fun!

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