This past weekend I had the privilege and true delight to be a guest at Joe Murray’s Captain Blue Hen’s Free Comic B
ook Day event. Joe’s a great guy, and a big fan of Love and Capes. When he offered to have me out for the day, there was no way I could (or would) say “no.”

It was a top-notch operation, including making sure that I got to see The Avengers before the big day. That was particularly nice, since FCBD is a minefield of spoilers the day after a Marvel movie.

I set up at one of the booths at Joe’s place and did free sketches for kids all day.Later in the day, when the line for the free books got to be about an hour and a half, he asked if I could go out and do quick sketches for the troopers in line. Armed with a drawing board, a Sharpie, and my assistant Maddy,I went out and drew. And drew. And drew.

If I’m counting my stack of backing boards, which I was using to draw on, I did about 80 quick sketches in a little over an hour. I’m a little impressed with that.

Also, here’s a heads-up from your friend Thom. If someone is drawing you stuff with just a bullet-tip Sharpie and he’s trying to go fast, don’t ask for Darth Vader. The Dark Lord of the Sith wears nothing but black, and that’s hard to do with a fine point.

Related, don’t ask for Black Panther either! Yeah, that happened.

Joe got in on the action, too. He has a rack of baseballs with sketches on them, and I broke out the Copics to draw the two Love and Capes couples.

Best of all, I got to to spend time with Joe, his crew, and some fellow pros like Dan Parent, Rich Faber and Jamar Nicholas. A bunch of us went out to a victory dinner, kindly hosted by Joe, as well.

It sounded like Joe had a banner day. I had a phenomenal time myself. I’ve announced elsewhere that I’d like to do a different state every year for FCBD (yeah, I’m lookin’ at you, Alaska) but I am sorely tempted to return to the nation’s first state next year. We’ll see what happens.

Hope you had a great Free Comic Book Day!

Happy Free Comic Book Day! I’m in Delaware for Joe Murray’s event at Captain Blue Hen. I hope you’re doing something great today, too.

FCBD was essential for my success with Love and Capes. I did four issues for the day from 2007-2010. It let me get the book out to a much wider audience, find some new fans, and hopefully helped make the day better. I even did all-new done-in-one issues for each day, something some of the bigger publishers didn’t always do, and I’m very proud of that.

I don’t have a book out this year, unfortunately. It’s just not possible right now for all the best reasons. (Have I mentioned that the new Love and Capes series comes out in August, and is available in the next Previews, from my friends at IDW? Six issues of superhero romantic comedy goodness!) But I can’t not make something available, so here are a couple links to digital content you may have missed.

First up is my 24 page 24 Hour Comic Book Day book, Haunted. the ghosts of the past revisit a young man as he’s about to get serious with his present.

And, I gave away the six-page all-new Love and Capes Valentine’s Day story back on, well, Valentine’s Day. But that was only for three days. Here it is again. This story has never been printed, but will appear with design notes in my Rhinos Bowling artbook, coming out later this summer.

Oh, and before you ask, yes, I saw Avengers and yes, it was two hours of awesome. I can’t believe they pulled it off! And boy, Cleveland blows up really good. (They filmed the Germany scene and a lot of the street level battles there.) I’ll definitely be seeing it again.

Another weekend, another convention. This weekend I’ll be at C2E2 in Chicago. Wait! A new show? A new town? Does that mean a new convention print? Why, yes it does!

You may remember this art from last year when I did it for a charity event. I drew it with having it for C2E2 in mind. So now will be your chance to get it.

I’ll be set up in Artist Alley, table B-20 with Paul Storrie. I’ll be the taller one. I’ll have copies of the second Love and Capes trade and the individual issues, too. If you want any t-shirts or pins, be sure to order them on the Love and Capes store so I bring them.

See you there!

I’m going to be at Marcon in Columbus… Holy Shnikeys, I’ll be there tomorrow! I’ll also be there Saturday as well, so here’s my schedule:

Friday • 4:00 p.m.
Autograph Session
Regency Ballroom Foyer

Friday • 8:30 p.m.
Inspiring Artists
Delaware D

Saturday • 1:00 p.m.
Love and Capes spotlight
Franklin A-D

Saturday • 5:30 p.m.
How to Sell Yourself as an Artist
Madison

I’ll have copies of Love and Capes: Going to the Chapel, the Columbus print that I did, and the Star Trek: Sky’s the Limit book that I worked on with Bob Ingersoll from a couple years back at my autograph session.