#343: Prepping for San Diego Comic Con

+ The Reuben Awards, Someone You Might Like, & Morris says "Hello!"

The Cosplayers are coming…

It’s that time of year again when my belly swells with a heady mixture of excitement and dread at the thought of being crammed into a Convention Center among a humming swarm of 125,000 humanoids dressed as their favourite superhero. That’s right; it’s San Diego Comic-Con.

This will be my 15th Comic-Con

In the past decade, I’ve endured attended every Comic-Con in both New York & San Diego. They are fun. They are intense. They are loud and exhausting.

Convention life is not for everyone. I think I could only really ever do two per year, and even then I require a week in a sensory deprivation chamber to regain my sanity.

Pros at Cons

I have close friends who spend half their year professionally lugging their work around the country to different conventions and trade shows for comics, cartooning, animation, licensing, publishing, game design, toy design, and everything in between. I admire their stamina, but man is it backbreaking work.

Cosplayers and Gamers and Actors (Oh my!)

Over the years, the SDCC vibe has shifted from that of coming to buy or trade comics, meet your favorite comic artists, and possibly get a signed piece of art, to lining up for hours (sometimes days) for access to big movie studio panels or announcements at one of the many convention halls for an “exclusive” sneak preview of up-coming Netflix/Disney/Star Wars/Marvel or DC film/series. Or a new upcoming game. Or an exclusive limited edition toy drop. Or a cosplay competition.

Will the WGA strike [and potential SAG-AFTRA strike] affect that?

Why, yes! Almost certainly. By the looks of it, many of the initially planned announcements and events planned by big studios have been canceled on account of the ongoing writers’ strike, and the looming SAG-AFTRA strike. There ain’t no shows if there ain’t no writers. Or actors. (Oh my!)

Would this mean people might return their attention to (god forbid) Comic Artists at Comic-Con? Who knows. One can only speculate wildly. You can find the full line-up of events and announcements that haven’t been postponed or canceled here.

Someone You Might Like: Comic-Con Edition

Next week, when I know who is confirmed to attend, I’ll share a list of people I think you’d like. You can pay them a visit and see the smile drain from their face when you tell them “Jason sent me!”

In the meantime, here are my times and booth number/location if you’re going to be passing through any of the days except preview night:

SDCC OFFER: Paid Subscribers get a free signed book!

Just look for the giant Jeffy or Calvin!

I will be sitting at the National Cartoonists Society booth for the entirety of the convention, alongside my fellow cartoonists and incorrigible reprobates.

Speaking of cartoonists and incorrigible reprobates…

The Reuben Awards are just around the corner!

What are the Reuben Awards? Well, the history of the who, what, and when of the biggest awards in cartooning are all on the National Cartoonists Society website. In the meantime, you can check out our spectacular line-up of guests and honorees for this year at our shiny new Reubens website:

There’s a “Society” of Cartoonists?
What next, Drycleaners?

You bet your ink-stained fingernails there’s a “Society” of cartoonists! While we don’t have a secret handshake (that I know of), we do have the best cartoonists in the world all mushed together into one beautiful symphony of talent. It aaaaaaall started back in 1946. (Read more below)

I should tell you, I am a member. But, in the spirit of full transparency, I should also declare that…

If you’re a cartoonist and would like to join, click here.

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No New Yorker softball game last week due to Summer break.
Dispatches from the Dugout will return for issue #344!

Do you know a parent who needs some love?

Then do I have the gift book to end all gift books for you: It is designed for parents of babies, toddlers, tweens, teens, and everything in between(s).

Someone snuck into my studio and recorded a short video of how I drew the illustrations for the book using the ye oldé dip pen and ink method. It was a lot of fun. And a real mess. (Does anyone know how to get green ink out of dog fur?)

I’m offering a subscriber discount if you would like to buy the book:

If you enjoy my work, there’s a hefty chance you might like the people I enjoy too. Each week I share a new person who tickles my fancy. This week’s someone is…

Tom Richmond — @Art4Mad

It isn’t an exaggeration to say that of all the people I’ve met, Tom is without a doubt, one of them.

He is probably one of the best live caricaturists in this dimension, and his impression of a “working illustrator” is spot-on. I like to think of him as less as a “dear friend”, and more of an “Older brother from a first marriage I wasn’t alive for.” He is talented. He is professional. He takes the cake for “Best Booth at Artists Alley” (Exhibitor Table# I-02, FYI), and above all, his wife, Anna, is better at life than anyone else presently living. I think you’ll really like ‘em:

File Photo: Image courtesy Minnesota Department of Corrections

Tom’s Abridged Bio:
Legend has it Tom was born with a pencil in his hand… something his mother steadfastly refuted. She would, however, tell anybody who would listen that his head was the size of a basketball.

To pay for his college education, Tom got a summer job in 1985 drawing caricatures at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois. It was here that Tom learned an important life lesson: it was possible to get paid to make fun of people. This remains an ongoing (and some would say futile) goal.

Tom was given his first MAD assignment for reasons that has nothing to do with envelopes stuffed with non-sequential bills. Today he is pleased to be considered one of the “Usual Gang of Idiots”, at least until they can find somebody better who will work as cheaply. Until then you can see his movie/TV parodies and feature article illustrations in almost every issue of MAD going back 20 years.

Read more…

Want the chance to earn a free year?

As always, thank you for being a subscriber and reading my silly cartoons. If you like them, tell a friend to sign up and you’ll automatically earn a paid subscription on the house!

Until next time,
Your pal,

Jason

“Oh, did you plan on sitting here?”