I will leading a discussion on Overcoming Self-Promotion Stage Fright this Thursday for the Nordeast Comics Summit.  The Nordeast Comic Summit was set up as a forum for Minneapolis cartoonists to discuss the craft and business of making comics.  The discussions take place at 6:00 on the first Thursday of the month, which is a half our before our comics jam sessions.  Be sure to stay for the jams!

Why did I pick self-promotion as a subject?  A common theme I hear from other cartoonists is that they don’t like self-promotion… or they don’t feel they’re good at self-promotion… or they feel like they should do more self-promotion.  I don’t think I’m good at self-promotion, either, but I’ve gotten to a point where it’s not painful anymore.  The point of Thursday’s Summit will be to talk about the emotional hurdles that get in the way of self-promotion and how to get over them.

I’m going to be at Cahoots Coffee in St Paul tonight at 6:30 tonight to draw jam comics and socialize.  You should stop by!

Also, and I can believe I haven’t mentioned this until now, SpringCon is the weekend.  I will be there with books  and buttons and all kinds of fun stuff.  Hope to see you there!

Today’s comic will be posted later this afternoon.  I decided to take a last minute swerve in direction, one which will require some photo referencing.  In the meantime, here are places I will be at:

Nordeast Comic Summit – Thursday, May 05, 6:00 PM - Big Time Attic - Dan Olson will be leading a conversation about table design and etiquette.

Cartoonist Conspiracy Jam – Thursday, May 05, 6:30 - Diamonds Coffee Shop – As usual I will be there to draw and talk loudly about ponies.

Art? Opening Reception Friday - Friday, May 06,  7:00 - Altered Esthetics – One of my minicomics, What’s the Point? , will be on display there.  I’ll be stopping by the opening reception as well.

Cartoonist Open Studio - Saturday, May 07, 12:00 AM – Book Arts - I will be there this weekend drawing and discussing the season finale of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic with anyone who will listen.

When visiting my parents last weekend, I found some of my embarrassing old comics.  Below are two pages for a Plungemoman and Wrench Boy series I was working on when I was twelve.  This series was supposed to document the secret origins of Plungemoman and Wrench Boy, starting back when they were Plungemoboy and Wrench Baby.  Sadly, I never made it past two pages.

This series was the precursor to my current Plunger-Man and the Super Plumbers comics.

I also stumbled on the old Crayola iron-on transfer I made for Plungemoman.  Everything needed to be backwards for the transfer to work properly.

I believe I ironed this onto a sweatshirt.

I will be working at the Psychic Cartoonist’s booth at Altered Esthetics 7th Aniversity Party this Friday.  I will be there from 7:30 to 9:00.  Come have your spirit animal, inner demon, or past life drawn!