For Your Shopping Pleasure...

I've joined 10,000 of my closest friends and opened up a store on Cafe Press for EEK!

Right now, the fabulous array of merchandise includes a mousepad, a mug and a tile coaster.

I plan to add T-shirts soon and new designs in the aforementioned product categories.

I'm sure I'll need to hire an assistant soon just to count my money.

Comics Du Jour: Cul de Sac

I hope you're all reading Richard Thompson's delightfully entertaining strip, Cul de Sac from Universal Press. The strip had a nice big launch (70 papers, I think) and should definitely be a hit.

Oh, and some guy named Bill Watterson says it's good, too.

EEK!

It's alive!

Best Belch?

Another of my graphic novels, The Boy Who Burped Too Much, has won an award: The Extensive Reading Foundation 2007 Language Learner Literature Award.

Say that three times fast.

Comics Du Jour

For some reason, I didn't like Brewster Rockit when it first came out. I'm not sure why, as I enjoy science fiction and science-fiction parody, and should be in the strip's target audience.

Be that as it may, I didn't like Brewster and didn't read it. Until last week. I was browsing through the strips at Go Comics and decided to check it out. And I was pleasantly surprised. I like Brewster Rockit. It's funny and clever and nicely executed. I'm not sure if the strip changed or if I did, but I'm glad I gave it a second look.

Controversy

Who knew Go Team Bob could generate so many comments?

regurgitator

To quote Johnny Carson: "This is wild, wacky stuff."

Meet the New Boss...

I used to be a rabid Bruce Springsteen fan. Rabid is even an understatement. I was obsessed; consumed; hopelessly drowning in Bossness. In college and through the early eighties I listened to his albums endlessly, almost to the exclusion of all others (except similar-sounding artists like Dire Straits, Bob Seger, and John Mellencamp, with a little Billy Joel tossed in for "variety").

Over the years, I dutifully bought all things Springsteen: the records, the singles, the bootlegs, the boxed set of Tracks, the single CD (18 Tracks), even the suicide-inducing Ghost of Tom Joad. I was there when he and the E Street Band reunited and toured in 1999-2000, and back again for The Rising tour of 2002.

But I started to lose the faith when he released Devils & Dust, and felt no desire to buy the Seeger Sessions CD. It was obvious Springsteen was off on a musical journey that inspired him; I just wasn't going along for the ride any more. I rented the Live in Dublin DVD (filmed during his Seeger tour, which I purposely missed, and ended up skipping through most of the songs).

A couple of weeks ago, Springsteen announced he'd finished a new album, one recorded with the E Street Band. The record was due in October, with a tour to follow. This record, Magic, was billed as a rocker. But still I was skeptical, like a lapsed Catholic who wants to believe but just can't drag himself back to church.

The first single for Magic, "Radio Nowhere," somehow made it on You Tube and it does, indeed rock. Alas, as of today (Wednesday 8-29) it's been removed, but you can download the official song for free at iTunes.

It also sounds strangely similar to a couple of other songs from the 1980s.

Have a listen.

Shhh...it's a Secret

A friend of mine just introduced me to PostSecret.

Fascinating stuff.

My secret:
I've trained my cats to assist me with writing and drawing. I occasionally spot-check their work, but mostly just nap.

What's your secret?

Excuses, Excuses....

I just received an advance copy of Garfield's Big Book of Super School Excuses, which will be in Scholastic's school book club offering this October.

The sequel to Garfield's Big Book of Excellent Excuses, School Excuses is a fun little tome written by Mark Acey and me, with highly humorous illustrations by cartoonist extraordinaire Brett Koth.

It should be on Amazon sometime in the next few months. I'll post a link when the book is available.