THE CRAZY COMIC CON 2015 RECAP IS FINALLY HERE!!!

Can't believe it's been almost a month since SDCC15 already!  It was an insane ten days for me (I had to set it up and take it down too), but man was it wild, as Comic Con usually is.  So many great costumes and moments at this year's show…  How can I possibly summarize it right now?!  Whoa Jon!  Slow down a minute.  Post some slug art first.  That'll give your brain a chance to recalibrate and make a proper review here!

Sorry about that folks, but my brain is right!  Enjoy this polished art while the main course gets prepped!

This art was from a Daily Doodle entry that asked us to draw a slug.  I've always found slugs and snails to be misunderstood critters.  Sure they eat plants, but they aren't really harmful to humans and are also quite gentle.  What's not to love about them?  Plus they got cool eyes and eat weeds in addition to other plants!  And this one is affectionate towards leaves!  Honestly now, how can slugs and snails be bad?

OK, now that that's been taken care of, it's time to get to the main event!  You wanted it, you're getting it!  I present to you San Diego Comic Con 2015!  Enjoy...

The Sharknado crew was out in full force in the Gaslamp Quarter giving away some of the most coveted swag of the con…  To folks that didn't even have tickets! 

Lot's of great free attractions were happening across the street, like the Assassin's Creed Obstacle Course.  I did not try this one.  My body's banged up enough as it is! 

The Peanuts Experience at the Petco Park Interactive Zone was great!  The whole area in general was to be honest!  Best part?  It was free for all!  (You may be noticing a trend here) 

Ooogie Boogie was chilling on the streets of Downtown San Diego.   

As was a Skesis!  Lord only knows how hot it was inside that suit, but it was insanely detailed and fully functional! 

Don't give this kid any gold coins! 

 I'm not sure what game/show/comic this is from, but it was pretty cool!

That raptor really doest take kindly to this dude peeing on its tree! 

Nanoo nanoo, it's a sweet tribute Mork and Robin Williams! 

Couldn't get into the main Masquerade Ball at SDCC?  No problem!  The Petco Park Interactive Zone held an impromptu costume contest at their shindig!

 Pretty cool Dragonball Z Cosplay group!  Watch out for Cell though.  It's been known to be quite combustible! 

 It's Wilfred!

 And Buddy the Elf!  Say it with me folks: "They best way to spread Christmas cheer is to sing real loud for all to hear!"  God I love that movie!

 My niece Kristen got to meet her favorite heroine, Star from Star Vs. The Forces Of Evil!

 Adam and Barbera got interviewed by San Diego's lowest rated morning news program!

Who ya gonna call?  The REAL Ghostbusters!

 Wow!  Just, wow!  How did this guy even see in that thing?  Let alone not suffer a heat stroke?  Truly amazing work on this costume!

 Nerd HQ at the Children's Museum was another pretty cool FREE alternative for folks who couldn't get tickets for SDCC!  Lots of awesome freebies and activities, including the Playstation lounge and delicious food trucks!

 Look who I got to meet!  La Bomba from Conan!  He was so cool!  A real down to earth dude!

And finally, who better to finish out the Comic Con madness with than Joel Robinson and Torgo?!  It's insane how popular Manos The Hands Of Fate is now!  Almost every year since 2008, at least one guy has come to Con as Torgo!

Comic Con was a time and a half for sure!  Had a good time catching up with old pals while making new ones, not to mention seeing all the sights and sounds.  It's still a huge affair, but crowd control's gotten much better in recent years.  I think the organizers finally found a way to balance things out.  Not to mention there's so much off-site stuff happening now that it's helping to draw crowds away from the main show.  Hopefully in the coming years it''ll be done in such a way that all can enjoy it again without the fear of the show selling out.  Here's hoping and that SDCC16 will be even more fun!

Well folks, that's all for now.  I'll be back next week with some art that is "Royally" fun.  Until then, take care and I'll catch y'all later!

MIKE AND MINDY IN THE FELT!!!

Remember that something special I promised last week?  Well here it is!  Felt crafter Michelle Miller of Run Red Run Needle Felted Collectibles recently made these awesome felt dolls of everybody's favorite terrible twosome, Mike and Mindy!  I gotta say, she really nailed their look in 3D and here I am, a month later and STIIL speechless at their awesomeness!  Perhaps it's best to let the pictures do the talking for now...

These two have always been rivals, let the stare-down commence! 

Love conquers all, and the pair decided to take a nice stroll instead! 

Tucked away and ready for shipping! 

As an added bonus, they even got to have a play date with everyone's favorite Sasquatch, Bigfoot!  

I'll tell ya, getting these dolls was a thrill enough, but then having them chill with Vince Dorse and his beloved Bigfoot and Scout was an even bigger thrill!  And then came another surprise: Vince made this mock comic book cover with all these pals having an adventure together!  Vince, you really made my day when I saw this, thanks so much and thanks for making web comics proud!  You're a credit to our branch!  To see more of Vince's awesome Ruben Award-winning work, click here!

Folks, in the world of crafting, Michelle Miller is without question a bright star!  Her magic hands have crafted wonders not only for me and Vince, but many others as well.  From Sesame Street's Grover to Rich Clabaugh's Graveyard Gang, she's dazzled many with her needle felted figurines.  When we first started on this last summer, it was a tough process.  I rarely drew M&M from the front or sides and there was legit concerns Mike's spiky hair may not work!  But Michelle's skill won out and now I have two masterpieces sitting on my mantle!  Thanks again Michelle!  Thank you for helping my "Kids" get real!  If any of you want your own needle felted dolls, click here!  Get yours made by the best!

And lastly, I got one other bit of news.  Remember last month when I announced I'd put my Luchadore Masks on display at the San Diego County Fair?  Well...

I WON A RIBBON!!!  Yup!  My collection got second place in the Home and Hobby Collections!  Not bad for a first effort, eh?  First would've been nice, but you know?  Winning ain't everything.  I'm happy to have placed and hope to take part again next year!  Thanks to all who came to the fair to see my display!

Well, that's all for July!  We'll kick off August on the right foot with a HUGE update from Comic Con 2015!  I know I promised these pics a while ago, so I promise to make them worth it!  We'll also have some new art and new memories so be sure to come back.  Until then, take care and I'll catch y'all later!

ISSA MARIO!!!

Another week, another inked doodle from the past!  This time we got the Mickey Mouse of gaming getting the CRAZY treatment, so lets hop to it!

I can't remember whether this was for Daily Doodle or Sketch Dailies, may have been the latter, but it was fun to draw.  I've often wondered if Mario and Luigi aren't great heroes.  I think they might just be really really high and hallucinating all theses wild things!  Mario's an odd topic for me.  As fun as the games are, the character really is a stereotype on Italian culture, of which I am half.  I guess I'd be less troubled by him if he spoke in a more dignified manner.  I was always under the impression he was from Brooklyn, not Italy itself.  Eh, maybe I'm just over thinking this.

Well, that's all for now.  I got something VERY special coming next week!  A couple of old pals have gotten fuzzy and I can't wait to show y'all, so be sure to come back!  Until then, take care and I'll catch y'all later!

SUCKING WIND… LITERALLY!!!

Greetings folks!  This is past Jon telling you that Comic Con 2015 may or may not have been cool, I honestly don't know yet!  But I DO know that the pics will be coming in early august and that I'm likely to be pretty beat up from the Con right now!  So until then, enjoy this inked art I penciled last year!

 This theme came from the Daily Doodle who asked all interested to draw a Vampire Mouse.  Well, I knew I had to take this to a CRAZY level and made it a Vampire Balloon Mouse!  And yes, I'm well aware that air doesn't make a balloon float.  It's a cartoon folks.  Doesn't have to make sense.  Mice can't be vampires either!

Well, that's all for this week.  I'll be back next time with some art that's actually a little bit relevant to the recent Comic Con.  Until then, take care and I'll catch y'all later!

COMIC CON IS HERE!!! WITH A PUG!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!  IT'S HERE!!! COMIC CON IS HERE!!!  Sorry folks, but I'm just really excited for this week!  Not excited about the Hall H chaos, but I'll be avoiding that hornets nest altogether.  Scratch that.  Even hornets are more reasonable than a Hall H crowd!  Point is, I'll be enjoying the finer parts of Comic Con.  You know, the actual COMIC part of it before Hollywood put its finger into things.  But enough of that for now.  First up, heres a pug...

 This simple little sketch was a Sketch Dailies theme if memory serves.  They wanted a pug, so I gave them one!  I do love a good pug!  Such spazzy little dogs.  Perfect breed for cartoons!

And now, on with the show!  Comic Con 2014!  Here we come...

Did they already kill Kenny? 

 Two things that are cool about this:  First time I've ever seen The Shining cosplay at a con, and the dude in the dress is my pal Jeremy!  Worked with him for years and he and his wife are HUGE SciFi junkies!  They had a horror-themed wedding even!

It's Balrog!  One of Street Fighter's most underrated characters!  True story, he was always the character I'd use!

Oh my glob!  It's a Jake cube!  Loved taking part in all the Adventure Time quests they've been doing the last few years!  Hopefully they'll do another one this year! 

If only the movie had shown this much of Godzilla in it!  Still pissed about that crapfest!

Anyone else up of some Dance Magic? 

Damn!  Didn't realize how hard times have actually gotten! 

The mesh face is a hoot but still some awesome Beetlejuice cosplay! 

Where are the Horsemen?  Where is Sting?  Ted Turner still owes me money from Capital Combat '90! 

For those who couldn't get badges, there is still fun to be had at Comic Con, for FREE no less!  The Petco Park parking lot is turned into its own Mini Comic Con that, quite frankly, has proven to be WAY more fun and have cooler swag even! 

Sadly, not all of the offsite activities are free, but by and large most are.  Microsoft's Xbox Lounge does require a badge, but did have some free photo ops outside!  On this inside, my pal Riki actually won a free XboxOne… His SECOND free XboxOne!  Some dudes have all the luck! 

IT'S DR. ZOIDBERG!!! 

OOOOOO…  HALO RAVERS!!! 

Did I mention how cool some of the outdoor stuff is at Comic Con?  Because it is!  And it's free! 

And finally, Magic Man!  That guy's kind of a jerk!

And so we come to another Comic Con!  2015's edition should be one for the ages and hopefully all will have a fun and safe time.  There are many events going on Downtown.  One such event will be The Third Annual Web Comic Meet-Up!

For several years now, me and cartoonist Jimmy Purcell (Been Better, Book Of Red) have gathered with fellow web tooners and fans alike to share some laughs and food on the first night of Comic Con and this year will be no different!  If you wanna join in, we'll be at the Dublin Square Pub Thursday night between 6-8pm!  For info, check out the event page here!  Hope to see y'all there!

Well folks, that's all for now.  I'll be back next time with a small update because, well, I cue these up in advance and won't have Con pics to share!  Until then, take care, be safe and courteous to others at Comic Con and have a great time!  Oh, and take showers!  It won't kill you to miss an hour each day!  I'll catch y'all next time!

COMIC CON'S HERE BROTHER!!! SO'S UNCLE SLAM!!!

Yeppers folks!  It's Nerd Christmas time again!  And earlier than usual!  I totally forgot that SDCC is two weeks earlier this year and as a result, forgot to start posting past con pics two weeks ago.  So to make up for it, this week and next, I'll be posting EXTRA con pics to get us up to speed!  Pretty cool, eh?  But first, we gotta celebrate our nation's birthday, so here's some more art penciled last year inked for this year!  Enjoy...

It's Uncle Slam y'all!  And he's here to kick some ass!  This theme came from Sketch Dailies who wanted all of us to get patriotic for the 4th Of July!  I decided to update him a bit for modern audiences, just like Michael Bay, but with less explosions, product placements and ruined childhoods!  I also not-so-subtly paid tribute the late great Ultimate Warrior with this piece.  Over the years I poked a lot of fun at the Warrior on this blog.  It was never my intent to mean and hope the lightheartedness came across in those posts.  He was a character in every sense of the word and while yes, he could be controversial, he was still a person and he did make a difference in this world and I'll always be a fan.

And now, it's time for a blast to the past!  Well, 2013 anyway.  On to Comic Con...

 First up, gender-swap Hellboy, er, Hellgirl!  Don't know how she kept the makeup from melting off but she looked awesome!

 Hey!  It's gender-swap High Five Ghost!  Where's Muscleman and Starla?

  

Why hasn't this team up happened in comics yet? 

 The Ice King stood tall over the Cartoon Network booth in 2013!

Every year at Con, our jolly pals from a certain church show up to preach their ways upon us.  Luckily, some pals from a more progressive church also happen to stand by. 

 Here's yours truly showing off another one of my prized Ultimo Dragon masks!  Poor Mega Bloks.  You'll always be the Pinwheel to Lego's Sesame Street!

At the annual free Nintendo Pavilion, 2013 marked the "Year Of Luigi" for Nintendo.  Much has been said about the Wii U not selling so well.  If you're gonna launch a new console that really isn't much of an improvement over the previous one (itself a gaming benchmark), you should probably use your MAIN STAR as the focal point and NOT his tagalong brother!  There's a reason Mickey Mouse is the figure head of Disney and not Bonkers!  With that said, the Nintendo Pavilion is always a blast to go to!  Great swag!  

Master Yoda was kind enough to loan me some lunch money during the Con.  Generous, he is. 

 The Ghost with the most babe!

Roronoa Zoro and his three blades.  Would you screw with him? 

GET OUT OF MY PIPE YOU INSULT TO MY HERITAGE!!! 

Oh yeah!  The Sharknado was there! 

 What the hell?!  Barney cosplay?!  That had to be a first!

And we end on Maleficent!  Somehow, I doubt magic and sorcery will get her into Hall H!

OK, that's all for this week.  But never fear!  Next week will feature even MORE Comic Con fun including info on the annual Web Comic Meet-Up hosted by myself and Jimmy Purcell!  In fact, I'll be posting two days early even, so stay "Tooned!"  Until then, take care and I'll catch y'all later!