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This marks the start of chapter two!  Wowzers!  If you're one that likes to read ahead, you can go on over to the shop and pick up book two.  Book three should be out sometime mid-march.

I've also posted a link to another review that I got on the Comics Reporter alongside Colleen Frakes and Joe Lambert.  Check it out!

http://www.tcj.com/minicomics/minis-monday-ill-c-frakes%E2%80%99-guilty-pleasures-jon-chad%E2%80%99s-guilty-pleasures/

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  Riding on the back of someone else's bike is something I've never done, but have always wanted to.  When I used to live in Georgia, I had a bike with a rear rack, and I would give rides to the girl I was dating.  I'm sure it wasn't good for the bike or the rack, but it was fun.  Back then, I weighed around 230 lbs (not the 150 lbs that I do now!!) so I never got my chance on the back of the bike.  Oh well, I can live it vicariously through Pedl.

So, I'll stop beating around the bush!  I bought myself a pinball machine!  I am now the proud owner of a 1993 Data East Jurassic Park Machine.  I picked it up last Tuesday, and have since started the laundry list of repairs and upgrades that it needs to get up to my tough standards : )

Here's a shot of the machine in may apartment.  Now it lives next to Alec's Medieval Madness!  They're like two peas in a pod.  The machine is completely off the hook!  There's so much dino-action, it'll make your head spin!

 

The  T-Rex eats the ball!  Nedry has a ton of quotes!  If you hit the skill shot, a raptor EXPLODES!!  All I'm trying to say, fellahs, is that I'm living the dream!

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Pinball RAGE

I'm acutally really excited about pinball (like ALWAYS) and I have some really amazing news to share with all you guys!  Once I get a couple good pictures, I'll post them here!

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Sorry for a later Tuesday post than usual.

Fall is in full swing and the leaves haven't been the only thing that are changing.  This has been the season of new interests.  I feel like every weekend I'm getting hooked on some other sort of activity.

First, it was roller derby-ing and roller skated.  Now, granted, I still haven't gotten to skate in a roller derby game, but I'll get there!  I had seen roller derby bouts online from time to time, and I really enjoyed the sport, but it wasn't until I saw my first LIVE bout down in Northampton, MA with Colleen, Betsey, Beth, Mo, and Carol that my love of the sport was really cemented!  It was so exciting to watch!  Shortly after, me and the girls honed in on an actual, honest-to-goodness skating rink in Enfield, NH, the Great View Roller Skating Rink.  We've been going there pretty much every week, and it's been a blast!  This weekend there's a bout up in Burlington, VT that a bunch of us are going to!  GO GMDD!

Second, last Sunday Collen, Ryland, Emily and I went out my co-worker, Val Fleisher's house to watch her and her husband homebrew a pumpkin beer.  Emily and Ryland are HUGE beer aficionados, so it was really great to hang out with them and taste some really amazing beers.  I know this sounds really "frat-y" of me, but I really want to get into beer, and have a more discerning taste in beer.  I can't stress how awesome Emily and Ryland are.  They even clued me and Colleen in on a secret micro brewery in Waterbury that we're going to check out and report back on.  Read Emily's blog on beer; it's AMAZING.

Obviously, I've been riding the wave of pinballdom for awhile now, but some pretty exciting things are happening right now.  If you've been following the Drop Target Zine site, you know that our first issue has been done for a couple weeks now.  Last weekend Alec and I sent out a couple comp issues to some of the Pinball Illuminati that have been really inspirational to us.  We've been hearing back from some of them, and it's been really encouraging / exciting as all heck!  On my own personal pinball front, I might have some news for you guys in a couple days.  Until then, let's let this tempt your palette:

Have you gotten your PINBALL fix yet!?

Drop Target #1 is now available for ordering!

Now available in the Drop Target Zine shop!

DROP TARGET #1 - The Introduction Issue

52 pages - 5.5" x 8.5" - B&W printing
First Printing: 8.5" x 14" full-color centerfold, screenprinted cover

FEATURING:
- Pinball Glossary
- TILT TALK: Interview with Multiball editors Brinda Coleman and Sam Soule
- THE REPLAY REVIEW: Star Wars: Episode I (pin2k)
- DREAM MACHINES: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Lawrence of Arabia
- PINHALLS: White River Junction, VT
- VIDEO MODE: Tilt: The Battle to Save Pinball
- From Zeros to Heroes: Part 1 - OBSESSION

Oh man, you guys!  I feel bad for being the last one out of the blocks on this one, but EVERYONE should head on over to the Drop Target Zine blog and pick up a copy of the brand-spanking new zine about PINBALL by myself and Alec Longstreth.  Even if you would only consider yourself a casual fan of pinball, I know there will be something in this issue for YOU!  This zine is all about pinball, and getting excited about pinball, and I'm ecited to share it with all of you!

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Hey everybody!  Sorry about the lack of blog posts lately.  My life has been on a slippery slope of increasing busyness. 

First, about two weeks ago, we had our orientation for the new students that enrolled this year.  We all got a chance to introduce themselves, go over the program, and then show them around the campus.  Some of them had been here before on portfolio days or individual visits, but it was still exciting to show them around the crock-pot of awesome where they'll be making some REALLY AMAZING comics for the next two years.  There is a real spread in the styles and artistic backgrounds of all the new students, and I'm really pumped to see what's produced. 

Since that following Monday fell on Labor day, we got a long weekend!  The following first week of class went well.  The visiting artist was fellow faculty member Steve Bissette.  A selection of work from his personal collection is currently hanging in the Colodny Gallery.  He gave a really amazing talk about the separate pieces in the show, and how they are important to him as an artist.  One of my new duties this year at the school is to introduce the visiting artists.  For some reason, I have zero problem with talking to my class, but I still get the heebie jeebies when I have to address the WHOLE SCHOOL.  I know that it was first week jitters, and it'll probably blow over.

THAT WEEKEND was SPX!  I know that SPX is almost 2 weeks behind us at this point, but all I want to say is that it was a BLAST!  Alec and I had out new pinball zine, I had a new Bikeman book, and I was in more collaborations than I can count.  I met a lot of great, new cartoonists and connected with a lot of my best buds from my old SCAD days!  The trip down was taxing (10 hours!) but it was sooo worth it, it's not funny. 

I will make another post this weekend about what's going on.  I don't want to weight you all down with text.  In the meantime, here's another FBI illustration.  DON'T TELL ANYONE!

TOP SECRET! FBI PAGE!

Here's a page from the children's book that I did with the FBI this summer.  Now, I know, I know, there is a BURNING questions that needs to be addressed here:

Is that a dog in a blue vest and a dog in Kevlar RIDING a tank?

YES.  Yes it is.  It's pretty much one of my favorite pages.  I talked to the FBI agent a little bit before SPX (i.e.-three weeks ago) and he said that the book was just going to print!  That was quick!  That was way faster than I thought it would be!  I'm excited to get my illustrator copies in the mail and see how all of the spreads look, and how the final draft of the text will sit around the images.

Bikeman page tomorrow!

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Books Books Books!

With SPX right around the corner, I just wanted to show off what I'll be selling at my table (H15) with my partners in crime: Colleen, Katherine, and Laura!  As I've mentioned once (maybe twice), I'm in more collaborations in just this one show than ever before!

First, here's Daily Catch, an ocean-themed anthology with works from me and my table mates!  Here's a couple panels from mine:

Next is the pinball zine that Alec and I have feverishly been putting together.  I've been teasing you guys with little snipits of this zine for the past couple weeks but FINALLY, after a no-sleep weekend, we've put together 400 of these slick puppies.  I really pulled out all the stops on these.  If you like pinball or comics, you'll like this zine.

Colleen and I put together a little split mini that outlines what our guiltiest-most pleasures are.  I actually had a hard time with this, since my life mostly involves comics and vegetables; niether of which I'm ashamed of.  I dug down deep though, and found some stuff to draw.  Here's they are.  They come in a plethora of colors:

Here's a page of mine from the mini:

Next is a contribution I made to an anthology about time put together by the good people at the Trees and Hills comic gang.  I had a lot of fun drawing my piece.  Here's a couple of panels from mine, just to give you all a taste!

Oh man, crystals...OLD magic...I love it.  The last thing that I will have debuting at SPX this year is the second issue of my graphic novel Bikeman.  Yes, THAT Bikeman.  The VERY SAME Bikeman that I have been serializing on this site.  I already released Issue 1 last spring, which you can pick up in the store.  I'll have Issue 2, still hot from the printers, at the show, but I'll put it up for sale on my website after SPX.  For those of you that want to read ahead, feel free to pick up the books, if not, I'll still be uploading pages here every week!

I'll also have Whaletowne, The Ruby, and the Bad-Ventures of Bobo Backslack, but those are old hat.  I can't tell you how pumped I am about the show.  Oh, I'm also super into THIS.  I'm a really huge Sparks fan.  I picked up their 1974 album "Propoganda" and it COMPLETELY changed my world!

SEE YOU AT SPX!!

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Oh man!  I've been super-duper busy getting ready for the academic year to start up.  I'm going to be teaching all new classes; it'll be a blast.  I've also been up to my neck hair in pre-SPX preparations.  I have a book that should be getting back from the printers any day now, as well as more collaborations than I've ever done.  Not to mention issue 1 of the BRAND NEW PINBALL ZINE that Alec and I are putting together!  It's going to be a thing of beauty.  This weekend I'll put up a bunch of photos of all the new stuff that'll be at the show.  For now, though, I've swiped this handy-dandy map from my partner in crime, Colleen , that shows where we're going to be.  It seems like a pretty choice spot!

Pretty Cool!  Also, I went to this WEEZER concert last night that really blew my socks off.  Once I get around to finding said socks, and putting the pieces of my BLOW MIND back together, I'll write a proper blog post.  Until then, Alec does an amazing job of summing it up right here.  It was, undoubtedly, a night that will never be forgotten.

Oh, I got an email from the FBI two nights ago and it totally reminded me that I never posted any pages from the book I did with them.  I'll try to do that this weekend too.