Every single day of my life until I left for college at eighteen.

Anyway, I’m having a signing event at Crescent City Comics on Freret Street uptown, next Friday (after Christmas). If you are a Louisiana-type person who understandably missed the October book release in Portland, now is the perfect opportunity to get your autographed copy of my graphic novel!

Hope to see you there!

There aren’t a lot of pictures of me here because my head was constantly bent over as a I drew doodles on people’s title pages.

Here are some celebrities holding my books – click the images for giganto versions.

Stumptown Underground editor and zinestress Katie Ash.	The one and only Hopskotch SunDAY! In the background you can see my housemate (and caterer) Katy Ellis O’Brien.
Hereville author Barry Deutches. Barry led the Comic Creators meetup group that workshopped many of SNitLoE’s later pages.	Jake Richmond, who draws an adorable/horrifying webcomic called Modest Medusa. He also led the meetup with Barry.
Kevin Wilson, who draws Titanzer and also provided my button-making supplies.	Ron Chan, who hangs his hat at Periscope Studio where I used to intern.

So BY THE WAY there was an error in the printing that I didn’t notice until after the release party. Page 176 is where page 176 should be, but it’s ALSO where page 76 should be. I am 90% sure this was a mistake on the part of the printers, but they have been so accommodating I’m not going to give them a hard time about it. Anyway, all the copies I sell from now on will have the correct page 76 inserted discreetly in the proper place – you probably won’t even notice unless you feel the scotch tape.

Lastly, here is a picture of me being happy and a picture of my friend Alan doing his best Kafir impression:

Cosmic Monkey Comics was already my favorite comic store in Portland long before they agreed to host this event. I will probably be spending my money there as fast as people are handing it to me!

If you are on facebook, RSVP to the facebook event page. It doesn’t actually matter, but it strokes my precious ego and lets your friends know that you read good comics. Hope to see y’all there!

I will mail your copy (or copies) as soon as the books arrive, probably on or around the weekend of September 24th. Books cost $15 each, plus a one-time shipping charge of $5. If you like, I will sign your book and draw a little doodle of one of the characters on the title page.

The store page also has a free download of the entire comic as a .cbz file. If you have friends who enjoy the soulless experience of reading immaterial comics by the cold blue glow of an iPad or laptop, please tell them about this download!

The store also has buttons! But these are not really worth buying unless you are also buying a book!

Lastly, if you live in PORTLAND FREAKIN’ OREGON, you should definitely save yourself $5 in shipping by purchasing a book from me directly. A good place to do that might be my release party on October 1st at Cosmic Monkey Comics. But you can just as easily accost me in the park, at the Max station, in my own bed while I’m sleeping, etc. and I will gladly sell you a book on the spot.

The one of Kafir, I think, is the oldest. “A lot of surly teenagers think of themselves as being imprisoned by their parents,” I thought. “But what if a guy’s actual parents were his actual jailers.”  Then I drew this image and it was the springboard for creating the entire character. I kinda wish I’d kept the earring!

The early Tonya and the early Theo were both modeled on baristas that I knew. There is one even older drawing of Theo somewhere, which I can no longer locate.

The less said about my drawings skills in the spring of 2009, the better.

This afternoon I messed around with a couple other designs. Please vote! Bare in mind that these are very loose sketches – the exact layout and colors will probably be different, so just vote based on the general idea of the cover.

1.) Original                                                           2.) Blue New Mexico

3.) Abbey Road                                               4.) Face Window

5.)  Thirsty and Miserable                        6.) Upturned Van

There is something about designing covers that draws artists towards symmetry. Do a Google Image Search for the phrase “graphic novel cover” and see how many of them display strong bilateral symmetry. While the interior of a comic may be full of dramatic dynamism and daring diagonals, covers are often comparitavly static images. I think this is because, while comics are supposed to convey the passage of time, covers often show a frozen moment, or a representation of a state of being rather than a narrative event. Look at the amazing similarity between these covers by two of my favorite young comics artists in Portland, Sarah Oleksyk and Dylan Meconis. It’s pretty remarkable.

Remarkable!

When I wrote the first draft of SNitLoE in the spring of 2009, the enormous march on Washington described in the final scene was just wishful thinking on my part. I was irritated that all of my generation’s righteous outrage during the Bush years had ultimately proven so impotent, and that when we finally did mobilize for a cause, the cause was getting a Democrat elected president instead. The DC protest I marched in during the Troop Surge of ’07 was well attended, but shamed by the epic crowds at the Obama inauguration. A nasty spiritual concoction, equal parts naive triumphalism and cynical despondence, utopian escapism and hoarse-voiced fury, seemed to soak us children of the 80s, and I feared we would soon sell out just like the Boomers. So I made a comic about it. (Sorry, Boomers – you know I love you!)

How could I have guessed that two springs later young people all around the world would rise up and fulfill my leftist fantasy? The crowds I’ve drawn on the Washington Mall don’t seem so unbelievable after Syntagma, Madison, and Puerta del Sol. Maybe I should have named Kafir “Tahrir” instead!