September 14, 2023 I truly hope you all have a brilliant time at Granite State Comic Con this weekend! Some disappointing health issues and other annoyances preclude my participation this time around but I hope the awesomeness is brought to new heights. Miss you my dears! August 1, 2023 #blacklivesmatter #teachtruth #dothework Some more amazing lives and accomplishments that certain states and school districts would rather you not learn about. Your summer reading assignment is to get familiar with such names as Phill Wilson, Barbara Jordan, Bernice Robinson, John Hope Franklin, or Maria Stewart. Go study; it's become an act of subversion. July 20, 2023 Time for a controversial nerdy pop-culture opinion (I know, y'all were just hanging on this...): I think Doctor Who is just leaning waaaay too hard into the nostalgia. I don't know if this is some form or pre-emptive appeasement to the new American distributor or something, but... the show is not supposed to be about regressing, it is supposed to be about change and renewal. Since the moment Patrick Troughton got to his feet in the very same spot where William Hartnell collapsed a moment earlier, the show has always been at its best when it shakes everything up, tosses out 97.5% of what you thought you knew, and starts afresh. But that doesn't seem to be happening this time around; so far the impending 60th anniversary is bringing back: a prior leading man, a prior companion, a prior showrunner, a prior soundtrack composer, and has even resurrected an old logo. Now we have a just-announced sonic screwdriver that's a mishmash of prior eras --except, significantly, the era that just ended. It really seems as if there is a determined effort to erase every trace of the Whittaker/Chibnall era at every level, and dive back into the "safe and comfortable" past. Occasional nostalgic fanservice of course has its place (see Ex. A: Picard Season 3), but ultimately that's not what Doctor Who is about. Where's the new? Anyway, there's my rant. I promise you the above complaint does not mean that I am not eagerly looking forward to Ncuti Gatwa with every bit as much enthusiasm as any of his predecessors. I sincerely hope everyone has a lovely time at SDCC this weekend, and I also dearly hope the writers' (and now, actors'!) strike corrects some long-standing imbalances and injustices. And I particularly look forward to seeing all of you at Plastic City Comic Con in a few more weeks! Drop by my table, check out what I've been up to --and heck, even offer a rebuttal to the above if'n you're so inclined! [grin] (Oh, and I almost forgot to share: pictures from a truly awesome and unforgettable Free Comic Book Day at Jetpack Comics this past May! Go lavish some love and attention on my fellow comic book creators and illustrators --I am forever awed and humbled at being able to share hall space with such talent.) March 31, 2023 And another confirmed official appearance! Come see me at Jetpack Comics in Rochester, New Hampshire on that holiest of holy days, Free Comic Book Day! The whole darned town gets in on the festivities; it is simply not to be missed! Amazing guests, next-level cosplay, scavenger hunts, all-day events. Drop by my table and I'll unload some free swag for you! February 15, 2023 'Nother confirmed official appearance! Come see me in Fitchburg, Mass. on August 19 for at Plastic City Comic Con 2023! 'Twill be a wonderful bit of summer fun; come by my table and I'll draw ya somethin'! February 1, 2023 First confirmed official show of 2023! Returning at last to the comic-con circuit in my beloved Boston! See you all the weekend of April 22-23 at the Hynes Convention Center for Wicked Comic Con 2023! A phenomenal lineup of some of the genre's greatest artists and illustrators --and as always, I'm humbled at the mere idea of just being in the same room as them. Should be a great start to spring! January 8, 2023 Finally diving in and exploring some wonderful new toys; among them a proper drawing tablet and the unlimited possibilities of some fresh-out-of-the-box graphics software. I really am blessed with the best go**amned friends and family in all of Explored Space. Lots of new art and illustration projects coming your way soon, not to mention some long-overdue conventions and show appearances! Love you all. Watch this space... December 21, 2022 "Oh, but she was underserved by the poor writing..." "Her last series was let down by bad writing..." "The problem was bad writers, not her performance..." Calling it out for what it is: that perennial complaint about "the writing" in various fan circles is insincere and a bad-faith cover for something else. That same "but the writing..." complaint is coincidentally levelled (sometimes word-for-word) against Jodie Whittaker's Doctor Who, along with Shuri, Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, Michael Burnham, Admiral Holdo, Rose Tico, and of course Rey. Sorry to have to break it to you, whiny incel dudebros --but your code has been cracked for some time now. What you're really saying to the world is: "I love my internalized misogyny more than I love [fandom]." Just admit it and go play with your digital chimpanzee pictures. November 10, 2022 Not done, not by a long way. Those election results were ever-so-slightly encouraging but... nowhere near encouraging enough. Democracy got a teensy reprieve from Monitor's Guild-style fascism but it's still way too close for comfort. More to do. Nevertheless in this moment I do believe a few congratulations are in order; among them to Vermont's newest Senator Peter Welch, Massachusetts's new governor Maura Healey, and perhaps most significantly Maryland's new governor Wes Moore. Okay, that said: Lotta work to be done. You can make a start by studying the lives, accomplishments, and legacies of such names as legendary lawman Bass Reeves, Hugo-winning author Octavia Butler, slave liberator and Congressman Robert Smalls, and former Virginia governor L. Douglas Wilder. #blacklivesmatter #teachtruth #dothework August 9, 2022 Farewell and RIP Les Rosenthal you magnificent Nerd. Without your encouragement and enthusiasm my graphic novels simply would never have come to be. Wonderful listening, wonderful storytelling, wonderful dorky gossip. Thank you for the Upper Valley Comic Expo and all it signified. Thank you for some humbling opportunities to share the mic with some true legends, and just plain thank you for being my friend. #artistsalley #scifisaturdaynight June 24, 2022 Not talking about art or illustration or nerdy pop culture, this day. I could of course stay silent on today's events as befits my unearned privilege as a middle-aged cis white male, but: staying silent in the face of such horribleness is to give it tacit approval. And make no mistake: I do not approve. So... pushback time. This is precisely the dystopic future that The Monitor's Guild banded together to fight against, in the first place. And it isn't going to stop here. Turning women into second-class citizens was only the beginning. They've openly --nay, gleefully-- stated that they still have a long list of targets to eliminate. Most of it grounded in the 14th Amendment's expectation of right to privacy. Meaning birth control. Same-sex marriages, LGBTQ+ rights in general. Mixed-race marriages, eventually. And, yes, patient confidentiality. That means HIPAA, that oft-cited-but-rarely-understood law governing medical disclosure, is now also on the chopping block. Yeah. "Unintended consequences" is kind of an understatement, at this point. Write your damned Senators and Representatives. Especially your state representatives: that's where the real safeguarding has to happen. Make triple-damned-sure you and everyone you know are in fact registered to vote --lotta states playing coy games about that. And then kick some money to The Brigid Alliance, or perhaps The Lilith Fund, or The Yellowhammer Fund, if you're so inclined. And of course there's always Planned Parenthood. Look out for one another my friends. Lotta ugliness coming --we can't let it engulf us. older entries

Recent Projects... ...but some carry tubes.