– I went down to Clarence Square Park last night to watch people spin fire. Little did I realize that I’d be tricked into trying it myself. Spinning a pole with two blazing ends is a weird feeling. You can hear the whooshing of the fire sweep by you as you whirl it in a pattern- adrenalin keeping your senses sharp. It was pretty darn cool. Unfortunately I didn’t bring my camera to get any pictures of my courageous little stunt. If I go again I’ll be sure to get photographic evidence.

– Makeshift’s been getting a boost this week with press about the book:

PopImage
Starslip Crisis
Narbonic
Comixpedia
Gail Simone’s blog
Mal’s Blog
Goats
Eric Kim’s Inkskratch
CBR’s Pipeline
The Wired Blog

Thanks everyone. More links as I find them.

– Finally, a little homage to my own stuff. Back when Makeshift first started I sent Scott Kurtz a piece of fan art hoping he’d link up to my web comic and increase my traffic. Finding the old pic while I was digging through folders, I thought it would be neat to do it up again with a lot more effort and the skills I’ve learned since then. Here’s the result:

OLD

NEW

The Gameboy Advanced gives way to the DS Lite, but the overall effect is the same. 🙂

I was giddy as I got on the C-Train in Calgary that morning and headed to the art college where I was teaching. The night before, I’d launched Makeshift Miracle on Keenspace and was eager to tell everyone at the school about it. Finally a chance to work on my own story and serialize it on the web.

When I came into the school grinning from ear to ear, people were in a stupor. Then someone told me –

“A plane crashed into the World Trade Center. It’s on fire.”

“That’s awful” I thought. What a terrible accident.

Then Dave, the head instructor, came in. His eyes were bulging as he spoke.

“A plane hit the second World Trade Center tower!”

Several of us replied. “We know a plane hit. We’re trying to get a TV set up here to see what the heck’s going on.”

“No… you don’t understand. A second plane rammed into the other tower!”

That’s when the gravity of it struck us. It wasn’t an accident at all and things weren’t just going to go back to normal.

Class that day was quiet and the students worked away on projects, sometimes chattering a bit about the towers. I would occasionally try to go to the CNN website to get info, but their servers were overloaded and rarely showed anything. One of the students I usually thought was pretty on the ball talked about how glad he was that it had happened, saying that “The U.S. was cocky and needed to get caught with their pants down” which absolutely stunned me. Who would ever wish for this kind of thing to happen to anyone?

I wrote about it all that night.

5 years later and the world is a very different place. Different home, different people, different career. But the memories of that day are still with me. I remember sitting on the couch in Sunnyside holding Gal as we watched the news footage play out. We wondered what would happen in the days to come.

Now we know… for better or for worse… now we know.

Busy times and all sorts of things on the go.

I went and saw the Korean monster flick The Host on Friday at midnight as part of the Toronto Film Festival. It was kooky and strange, with ridiculous plot points and twisted logic, but also oddly entertaining even when you were scratching your head wondering why the story had taken certain turns. Afterwards, Kean and Nadine came by to play Guitar Hero and drink Crown Royal… until sunrise. That kind of threw off my sleep schedule for the remainder of the weekend, but it was good fun.

I’ve signed up for a digital painting course that’s running on Thursday nights at Sheridan. I’ve heard great things about the class and am looking for more skills to add to my little digital toolkit brain. I really want to kick my quality up a notch next year and ideally this will be a boost towards that. I’ll let you all know how it goes and whether I recommend it. My boss at Seneca thinks I’m a nut trying to do a night course as well as life drawing once a week, manage projects, do artwork, get the book out, teach classes and coordinate the course at the college…. especially since I’m headed to Japan in just over a week.

*You read that again, especially the last part… wha- huh?*

Zub Tales – Japan Edition.

Yeah. It’s completely insane and doesn’t feel real.

Erik and I are going to the Tokyo Video Game Show next week. I’ll be gone from the 20th to the 27th. 4 days of business stuff with Capcom and other companies and then 3 days to wander and be a tourist. I’m going to take hordes of photos. I’m going to be overwhelmed and busy too. On the 14 hour flight over I’m going to be clacking away on my laptop doing edits on manga translations and writing PR text for an as-yet unannounced secret project Udon has coming up.

What else?

This week is a major PR blitz for the Makeshift Miracle site. I’m mustering all my contact power to get the link out there and hope people read it and/or pre-order the book. I received a jaw-droppingly nice quote from Gail Simone. It’s seriously amazing.

Finally, following up on my earlier post about Lea Hernandez’s house fire. Erik and I talked about it at length and Udon will be making a healthy donation to her Paypal account this evening to help get her and the family back on their feet. The comic community can be hard to gauge at times, but it’s nice seeing people stepping up to help a creator in need like this.

Whew… okay, a lot to take in from above. Tomorrow I’ll ramble about the 5th Anniversary of Makeshift Miracle and my recollections of September 11th.

It’s weird, now every time an e-mail pops in I wonder if it’s business for Udon, admin stuff for the college or a book pre-order.

I have to walk away from this computer tonight or I’ll go mad with paranoia about the pre-orders. I know it’ll work out fine, I’m just being a goober.

*twitch, twitch*

Go artist self-defeating ego power – HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Well, here we go… roller coaster is fully engaged and no turning back. If you’ve ever given a good golly damn about me, please spread the word through your websites, blogs, e-mails to friends, media contacts or word-of-mouth. I need pure web traffic eyeballs on my website to make this all zing together.

The Makeshift Miracle archives are now completely FREE. No subscription, no micropayments.

I’m banking on the fact that people will like the story enough to want to support it rather than keeping it under lock and key. If you’ve never had a chance to read the entire story, now is your chance. I urge you to read the original version of the pages there. The printed version coming in November has spiffy remastered artwork and lettering, but the story is the exact same.

On that important note, the Makeshift Miracle book is now available for preorder through your local comic book retailer or directly from me:

If I can sell 350 or more pre-orders of the book through my website, the whole thing will click financially for the print and advertising costs, regardless of the comic book store order numbers. That’s my current hope and goal – I’ll keep you all updated as orders begin to come in.

I hope you enjoy the story enough to consider ordering it.

If you’re going to get a copy from your local retailer, please have them set one aside for you. Many comic book stores are lax in stocking independant graphic novels, so it’s very important to let them know that they should carry the book and you would like a copy put aside for you. Stores are currently preparing their November orders, so these next few weeks are the crucial time to let them know you’re interested. Unless re-orders are quite high, it’s doubtful the book will go into a 2nd printing, so don’t miss your chance.

If you have close ties with comic retailers in your area, I can mail you some postcards for the store that have the cover image, solicitation info and quotes from industry pros about the quality of the story. Send an e-mail to jimzub( at )gmail.com if you can help on that front. Same goes if you’re on the web and need a cover image or other samples.

Last night Lea Hernandez escaped from a devastating house fire. She and her children are fine, but they lost 6 beloved pets and almost all of their possessions, including her original artwork.

She’s a fellow comic creator (Cathedral Child, Rumble Girls, Killer Princesses and more), a friend and an inspiration to me. Half a day before this she sent me a beautiful quote for the Makeshift book.

I can’t even imagine how devastating this would be to suffer through.

Gail Simone, writer of Deadpool/Agent X, Birds of Prey and many other titles (as well as being another good friend), is rallying people to the cause-
Donate whatever you can (PLEASE) to Lea’s Paypal account at: divalea@gmail.com

Many thanks for anything you can do,
Jim

The Toronto Fan Expo was a huge success for the Udon crew. Tons of fans came by, sales were hopping and silliness was had by all.

Thursday night I hit the industry get-together with Kandrix, Alberto and another buddy of mine named Kurt in tow. Good conversation and a few pints followed. Feeling tired, we headed back to my place, only to have Ken and I chat deep into the night getting caught up on personal and business stuff.

That lead to a groggy Friday where we barely made it to the con floor in time, scrabbling to get set up before the show started. Even though the crowd seemed light, our sales tally at the end of the short first evening was strong, giving us a real morale booster as the show wrapped for the day. After that was a nice dinner out at the Chun King chinese restaurant on Spadina. More good conversation followed.

Omar (Street Fighter Legends) Dogan sketches for fans.

Talking that night with Alberto was amazing. Looking at his artwork first hand, discussing the strength of his gestural lines and the confidence that makes his work tick really inspired me. So good.

Saturday was craziness. It was a blur of meeting people, making deals and hanging out at the con. Roberto and his girlfriend were able to drive up to the show, which was seriously kick ass as well. Roberto is such a talented painter and always upbeat… a real trooper.

Even at the con Roberto is coloring away.

The Udon crew had a casual Korean dinner with Jim Lee and then a small crew of us headed down the street for Mr. Butcher‘s typical Saturday Night Blitz-style party that always starts at Rocco’s and degenrates into karaoke. I admit, it felt surreal when I came in with Jim Lee in my crew and Chris handed me a swath of drink tickets that Udon had sponsored for me to hand out to people.

Dinner with Jim Lee. My life is surreal.

Um… good times ensued.
Rock N’ Roll was unleashed.

Nadine, Zub and Drake… for those about to rock – we salute you.

Kandrix and Alberto had left early because they were exhausted and I woke up Kandrix just before 5am to let me in so I could grab a few hours sleep before the Sunday show start. When I woke up I discovered that my voice was completely gone, with only crispy hoarse noises issuing forth. Ouch.

Sunday was more relaxed. We hit our financial goal for the weekend by Saturday afternoon, so there was a wonderful sense of victory and zaniness at the booth throughout the last day. I bought a mask I intend to wear for Halloween, got my butt kicked at Mario Kart DS and generally chilled out, trying not to use my voice too much.

Ken scares Alberto with the power of Lucha Libre.

Afterwards a horde of us went out for a victory dinner.

Monday was just hanging out with Ken, wandering the city and doing some shopping.

Today was the first day of class, with a whirlwind of administrative duties keeping me out of trouble. As always, things rarely slow down.

Lots of neat news and stuff coming this week. Be prepared!

I’m a guest at the Toronto Fan Expo this weekend. Comics, video games, role-playing games, sci-fi or horror…whatever your geek poison, it’s got you covered.

Udon will be set up at booth #438 and I’ll be there for the majority of the weekend. Also, checking the panel schedule, I’m hosting a panel all about getting your art portfolio ready for comics/illustration at 4:00pm on Saturday. It should be fun stuff. Go!

Tonight I pick up Kandrix and Alberto from the airport and hopefully head down fashionably late to the comic people meet-and-greet going on at the Victory Cafe after 8pm.

From Friday onwards it’s going to be good ol’ con chaos. Photos and stories will be forthcoming, as well as details on a late September adventure I’m planning and more Makeshift Miracle book news.

Speaking of the book… the story pages are done, all tweaked and relettered. Considering how much other stuff is on the go, I’m amazed it’s ready. Now I just need to get all the supplemental stuff finished and then start promoting the heck out of it. Ever closer.