Upcoming Events

After Comic-Con, I'm taking a break from the convention circuit for a few months. I'll definitely be at Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco for Spring 2008, but beyond that, I haven't quite decided yet. I'll update with more news when I sort out and decompress from Comic-Con.

Past Events

APRIL 2007
Kawaii-Kon - Hawaii's Anime Convention
April 27 - 29, 2007
Hawaii Convention Center

I survived Kawaii-Kon (or at least two days of it) with Jon J. Murakami drawing madly at my side. Lots of great costumes and very, very nice people. Thanks to everyone who came by our table to say hi and get a drawing or two. You made our day!

Some favorite finds:
Nemu-Nemu by Audra Furuichi and Scott Yoshinaga
So cute -- and so much nicer to read their webcomics in one tidy volume. Great drawing, and very sweet story.

Big ups to Audra's mom who made some absolutely adorable AnPan dog dolls - 50 of 'em! Daaang! She wins the "Mom of the Year" award in my book! (My Mom's already in the Hall of Fame)

MechaHawaii
1126 12th Avenue, #105 in beautiful downtown Kaimuki
Thanks much to the friendly folks at MechaHawaii -- especially for the ono 'local-kine' cone sushi. Drop by their shop for those hard-to-find anime toys and models that you just gotta have.

My Pocky handbag
I didn't buy it from this company, but I just gotta show it off. It truly is one of my favorite finds from the show. Pocky rocks!


Alternative Press Expo - a.k.a. APE
April 21 - 22, 2007
Concourse Exhibition Center
620 7th St (cross street: Brannan)

Hella-fun at APE! Always a blast to do this show -- I always spend way more on other people's stuff than I really should, but what the heck, I'm keeping the global cartoonists' economy going.

My favorite finds from this year's APE:

Lloyd Dangle's Troubletown - Making life just that much more uncomfortable for Bush and Cheney every week.

Gene Yang's American Born Chinese - The recipient of oodles and kaboodles of book awards, for a very good reason -- it kicks ass. Brilliant, sensitive and beautifully drawn and colored. A must-buy!

Derek Kirk Kim's mini Lowbright collection - Here's what I don't get about this guy: He draws himself as the lonely loser, but everytime I see him at these shows, he's such a superstar! Hrm.

Jim Mahfood's "Ask for Janice" -- an exhaustive behind-the-music tale about the Beastie Boys' "Paul's Boutique" CD, one of my all-time favorite CDs.

Hope Larson's Salamander Dream -- just lush and lovely. Sigh. Dang. Now I have to go out and find more of her books!

So much great stuff out there! Buy more comics!


OCTOBER 2006
Stumptown Comicsfest
October 27-28, 2006
Oregon Convention Center

My pal Martin Hsu and I did this one this past fall in one of my favorite cities, Portland. The city was ablaze with autumn foliage, a nice change from one-season-fits-all L.A. 

While the show was so mellow, almost to the point where I had to fight off a narcolepsy attack, it was filled with lots of nice folks who love comics, including:

Cliodhna Lyons
who came all the way from Dublin! Check out her blog account of the weekend!

Clio Chang
another amazing artist who was totally sweet too. check out her Flickr photo set of the Stumptown fun!

Karin Yamagiwa Madan
I really loved her "tastes like chicken" keychain and most of the rest of her goods too. She paints, sews and just makes neat stuff.

Paul Whitehead
Paul did a pretty funny series of computer frustration post-it sketches titled "Don't Kill the Messenger." Amen to that.

Other favorite discoveries: the Cork Wine Shop on Alberta Street, where I bought that infamous $30 bottle of pinot noir that almost got taken away from me at PDX security: