Zub Tales

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.

I just woke up from a hardcore nap that my body sucked me down into, with no ifs ands or buts from the ol’ brain box.

I was at the college today rearranging the classrooms for the upcoming semester, shifting tons of animation desks, checking equipment and cursing every one of my previous students who didn’t clean up after themselves the semester before. There’s nothing else quite like finding dozens of gaudy stickers and wall hooks bonded to the surface of a desk or shelf area. The logical part of their brain that should go off saying “Wait a minute, can this shit I’m putting on my desk be removed without a paint scraper and unholy pressure? I’d better not do this.” Same goes for duct-taped posters on the walls, stacks of musty old life drawing pads, rotted food and other garbage or moving their desks in bunker-like fire hazard inducing configurations.

The janitors scoffed at the whole thing, refusing to touch it and I don’t blame them. Their job is to clean the floors and windows, wiping down dust and taking out the garbage. Each class having a creative place to work is great, but that shouldn’t equal a garbage dump/den of stupidity.

The sheer selfishness of doing this kind of shit and then laziness for not undoing it before they left makes my blood boil. I would never fathom acting that way… and never did when I was a student.

Anyways, to make a long story short, students will have a new fee when the semester begins next week that we’re calling a desk deposit. $20 per kid that gets returned to them at the end of the semester when we see that their desk is cleaned up and in the proper spot. If they want to leave their shit in chaos, fine, then it goes to me or the TAs as combat pay for cleaning up that desk area, which today would have added up to easily over $400 if the policy was in place.

So I got home and my body said “Fuck this physical exertion stuff, Zubkavich” and sent me straight to bed in a stupor. Now I’m awake again with a sore back and need a shower.

The week before the Fall semester begins and the week before the big-ass crazy Toronto comic convention.

Oh man, I wish I was back in bed.

E-mails are flying fast and furious. Red tape is whirling. Time is squeezing.

It must be that good ol’ last gasp of summer. 🙂

This is one of those days where I attack my e-mail in-box with gusto and try to reply to everyone who’s been waiting for correspondence with me.

Other things on the go:

– I’m working on the last chapter of Makeshift finally. It’s looking good, but the extra time I’ve had to put into it is nuts. If it wasn’t for me I’d be cursing this project up and down for the time involved. 😛

– Saw Little Miss Sunshine on Monday. It’s GREAT. Very funny, character-driven and touching. One of the best movies I’ve seen in the theater in a long time. Go see it. Do it.

– Rewatching some Black Adder lately. It’s still great after all these years.

– I need to purge excess copies of RPG books that I’ve accumulated while working at Udon. Too much stuff. I remember when Ramon was giving away Palladium books by the bagful soon after I met him. At the time I wondered how he could just huck away all that stuff for cheap/free… now I understand. It takes over shelves and just piles up every where. The collection takes over.

I’ll post a list up here soon and either ebay them in lots (like 8-10 Exalted 1st ed books as a block) or just offer them up for flat fees. If you’re a friend of mine in town and want some stuff for uber-cheap, that’s cool too – you can just come pick up things instead of the hassle of shipping it somewhere.

People doing comics that make me squeal with glee…

Well, Flight Volume 3 is out. My god these people are kicking so much ass. This group is such an incredible wellspring of energy and talent. It’s seriously brain-bogglingling. If you haven’t bought Volumes 1 and 2 yet… you are a fool, plain and simple.

I have always loved Eric Kim’s artwork, but I have NEVER seen his use of stark black and white so perfectly utilized as I have with his new story entitled Vulture Gultch. I had no idea that he was BORN to draw whip ass western stories.

CHECK THIS OUT!

AND THIS!

I can just see Eric sauntering up to a bar and saying “No color for me thanks, I just kicked the shit out of everything in black and white! Color’s a sissy game.”

That not good enough? Go read Jellaby.

More rockin’ comics as they come to me over the next few days. You’ve been warned.