I flew back from Portland yesterday after the 3-day Fan Expo show and it was a strange day of travel. I had to head to the airport from my hotel at 3:00am and hazily made my connection in Denver before mechanical issues kept us hanging out on the tarmac for an extra hour. I rarely sleep on planes and had an aisle seat this time, so even when I did nod off it only lasted for a minute or two before someone needed me to get up or moved alongside me on their way to the back of the plane. Waking up this morning after some deep sleep, I still feel tired and out of sync with the waking world. Hoping I can shake off this lurgy feeling today and dive back into my To-Do List.
In a similar fashion, it was nice seeing friends and fans in Portland but I don’t think my brain was ready for a January convention. This is the first time I’ve ever headed to a show at the start of the year and now I know why – I need more hiberation time and a few deadlines under my belt before I dive back into convention culture. No one did anything wrong and the show itself was fine, I just felt like I floated through most of it instead of being fully engaged.
That said, I did meet some new fans who were really nice and drew up a few sketch covers that turned out pretty solid:
When I was starting out in this business, conventions seemed to run from around May to September and now there are pop culture conventions every single weekend of the year. On one hand that’s great, but on the other it can start to feel like an endless maze of events and social pressure, so I need to be more careful about defining limits on when travel for work.
Big Fight in April
Over on AIPT, they’ve just posted covers for April’s CONAN THE BARBARIAN #31. This issue is where things really explode with a full 22-page battle between our favorite Cimmerian and our brand new villain called The Son of the Tooth!
Talking to The Shortbox
I spoke to Badr Milligan at The Shortbox in their latest podcast episode all about my career in comics, tabletop gaming, iconic characters, pulp writing, working with incredible artists, almost creatively burning out, teaching college students, writing advice, and more. Give it a listen or watch it here:
Current + Upcoming Releases
Upcoming Appearances
I’ll have more convention announcements for March, April and the summer coming soon, but for now there’s just one confirmed event happening in February.
| Feb 14-16, 2025 | Fan Expo Vancouver | Vancouver, BC, CANADA |
Other Links
• Hank Green raises some really good points about the commercialization of everything – how we’ve grown exhausted with the spectacle of it all and need to enjoy social time with others away from endless ads.
• Shannon Newby goes through the structure of his contracts when hiring a creative team to work on comic projects. Defining the terms of work – deliverables, timeline, compensation, and ownership – is extremely important and this is a solid reminder, especially on creator-owned work being put together with friends.
• Over on Futurism, Frank Landymore discusses how AI seems to be failing to boost productivity despite billions of dollars being poured into it.
• Need a good recipe for banana bread? This is the one Stacy and I use.
Jim
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