Bloom County 2015

Aug29
by on August 29, 2015 at 2:08 pm
Posted In: Blog Posts

Bloom County salute sm2

In case you didn’t know (and I hope you did), but the iconic comic strip from the 80’s (and in my opinion one of the greatest comic strips of all time), Bloom County, is back!

Legendary cartoonist Berkeley Breathed has been creating NEW Bloom County comics for the first time in 25 years. And I couldn’t be more thrilled!

The comics have been appearing  on his Facebook page (Berkeley Breathed) or can be bought on his website here.

Bloom County returns

I was a huge fan of the strip back in its heyday in the 80’s. Everything about the comic is brilliant: the writing, the characters, the timing, the gags, the political satire…Berkeley just did everything right. I can’t even determine how much time I spent re-reading the books (all of which I still own) and drawing Opus and Bill the Cat.

When Berkeley decided to retire the comic in 1989 (thank you at least for waiting until I graduated high school), I was crushed. But I understand that no one knows a cartoon like its creator, and if they say it’s time to stop, it’s time to stop.

Some of our hunger for Mr. Breathed’s work was satiated with strips like “Outlander” and “Opus”, but it just wasn’t the same without the rest of the Bloom County cast.

So to see the ol’ gang back, it’s like a dream come true, and it’s like they never left. I am thrilled beyond belief to see Steve Dallas posting on Twitter, Milo and Binkley using smartphones, and seeing the latest pop culture referenced in a cartoon that has been hibernating for 25 years. *swoons with delight*

Thank you, Mr. Breathed, for coming back when we most needed you: on the road to the 2016 presidential elections! And if was indeed Mr. Trump that inspired Berkeley Breathed to bring back Bloom County, then I tip my hat to him. He won’t have my vote, but he’ll have my everlasting gratitude. 🙂

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Motor City Comic Con 2015

May18
by on May 18, 2015 at 10:28 pm
Posted In: Blog Posts

Last Friday I was extremely happy to be able to attend the Motor City Comic Con for the first time in many years. I did not have a table (not ready for that yet). I was there merely as a patron and to enjoy the environment, and to scope it out in hopes of having a table next year.

Motor City Comic Con 2015

My friend Andrea came along with me. We decided against buying advance tickets; besides having to pay an extra fee, we felt confident that the line for Friday would be manageable. So we were nervous when we showed up on Friday to long lines of people waiting to get into the building…until we discovered that the thousand or so people in line were the advance ticket holders (cue the Nelson, “Ha-Ha!”) The line for those getting tickets at the door had maybe 60 people in it. Woo-hoo! We got into the building long before the poor souls who bought advance tickets.

Even though we would miss all the cool celebrities that were only going to be there on Saturday and Sunday, we had a great time walking around, rooting through boxes of comics, and of course people-watching. And I prefer crowds that aren’t shoulder to shoulder (claustrophobia!)

And there were many great artists there. I was extremely happy to briefly meet Katie Cook of “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” comics and her online comic, “Gronk” I got a not-so-good pic (there were a lot of people in line and I didn’t want to ask them to move), but here it is.

Katie Cook

I was also thrilled to meet and talk briefly with David Petersen of the “Mouse Guard” series. And I was even more thrilled to get a signed copy of a Rocket Raccoon print of his, generously gifted to me from the gentleman standing next to me after he heard I was disappointed that there weren’t any left (you can see it on the table there).

David Petersen

And what a thrill to meet the man who has made many of the Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo models that were used in one of my favorite shows, “Mystery Science Theater 3000”!

MST3K MCCC

Small highlights of the day: finding a $5 dollar bill on the floor that I used to buy a smoothie, realizing that a comic con is one of the only places on the planet where the line to the ladies room is shorter than the line to the men’s room, and finding THIS awesome coffee mug:

Jake mug

We’ll see if I’m ready next year to have a table to showcase Galactic Dragons and to sell my wares. Again, that darn eating and sleeping thing…if I could cut back on those, I’d have plenty of time for my art.

Until next year, Motor City CC!

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Happy Hatch Day!

May02
by on May 2, 2015 at 11:21 am
Posted In: Blog Posts

May 1st, 2015 marks the official launch of the Galactic Dragons webpage (by “official” I mean I turned off the construction site plugin. Not exactly champagne, but it’s exciting for me!).

I have been testing links, re-arranging, re-writing, re-posting, and realized that I will likely never be 100% satisfied with everything, so let us just begin. The dragons have been waiting for so long, they’ve grown quite impatient. So the strip has been freed from its egg! Happy Hatch Day!

Please also visit the Galactic Dragon Facebook and Twitter pages, give them a like and a follow! I’m just learning Twitter so please offer me some patience with the whole hashtag thing. I may add other social media sites later on such as Instagram and Google+, but this is a nice starting point for now.

Any questions or comments that you may have are appreciated! My biggest goal with all of this is to entertain and make you laugh. I love to write and I love to draw; cartooning is in my blood. And while I was never offered that syndication contract, I can still offer my work to an audience via the internet. I’m really looking forward to this, it’s going to be fun. Thank you for joining me on the journey!

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