Okay, time to reveal what I'm doing for this Halloween's The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror issue: I'm doing the artwork for a manga style Simpsons parody of Death Note.

( Frightening preview panel )

15 glorious pages (written by Ian Boothby, who happens to live in the same city as I do -- it's a Vancouver tag team effort!). Make sure to tell all your friends.

Kinda funny, considering I drew Death Note in Simpsons style over a year ago.

Bart Simpson Comics #42, the issue I penciled a seven page story for, is coming out this Wednesday. Do pick up a copy!

I'm currently working on penciling a 15 page (!) story for this Halloween's The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror issue. All I'll say about it for now is: if you're a fan of a certain manga series, you will love it.

Anime North was fun, though if you couldn't find me there, I don't blame you -- my name was in the program, but it wasn't on the schedule. My panel was called "Guest Artist Roundtable." If you were there, then thank you for coming! There was a fair amount of people there... but at least 10 of the people there were my friends, and asides from them, there were only a few others. One of them remarked how difficult it was finding out from the staff members where and when to find me. There honestly wasn't much to miss; there wasn't a whole lot for me to say. I simply told my story, answered some questions, and drew a picture of Hamachi from Yokaiden (which I gave away).

On an interesting note, at the convention I was approached by a journalist from the Nikkei Voice, a Japanese-Canadian newspaper, who wanted to interview me. I was glad to oblige and that article is coming out later this year.

I will be a Guest of Honor at Anime North!

That's May 23-25 in Toronto, Ontario. See my profile here.

And... I believe I'm going to do a panel about myself. Some sort of Q & A session for those interested in my story of how I got my foot in the door. I'm really not quite sure what's going on yet, but I felt I should at least say I'll be there!

What's happening for sure is that I'll be one of the panelists on the Ace Attorney/Phoenix Wright Panel, alongside some of my friends (including Croik of Court Records, the largest Ace Attorney fansite online). If you like that game series, come see us talk about why Glen Elg should be your favourite character.

Yokaiden volume 1 cover released!

At the New York Comic-Con last weekend, Del Rey handed out some samplers that included an excerpt from Yokaiden. I haven't seen it yet myself, but here's what could be considered a sample review from Advanced Media Network Anime:

Del Rey is also trying hard to push their original English-language manga productions -- like the Terry Brooks / Shannara manga, which is already out, but some of their future releases look a lot more interesting, actually. Queenie Chan will be providing art for a manga adaptation of Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas: In Odd We Trust story; the original story Kasumi also looks fairly well-done; but Nina Matsumoto's Yokaiden, which draws on Japanese mythology as much for laughs as creeps, looks like a real winner -- one of the few original-English manga that feels like it does justice to its inspirations.

My result for this year's 10k Sun Run: 1 hour, 08 minutes, 59 seconds. My third best time. Despite last year's conclusion, I didn't stop once, nor did I try to get under an hour. It's best not to worry about the time.

Some interesting news concerning Anime North coming soon...

May 3rd is Free Comic Book Day. I thought my work wouldn't be distributed, but it turns out Bongo Comics is including the infamous Too Crazy Juvenile Prankster: Bartomu! (a.k.a. the manga-style Simpsons comic) in their issue. Don't forget to go to your local comic store and pick up this FREE comic.

Bart Simpson Comics #42 is coming out on June 25 and will feature a 7-page story I penciled.

I'm back from vacationing in Tennessee for 5 days to see some friends of mine. I went to Memphis and Lexington, and saw a bit of Jackson and Nashville. Going to the country was fun for an urban coyote like myself. I got stranded for one day and one night in Chicago due to the snowfall there on my way to TN, but fortunately I had yet another friend there I was able to stay with so it wasn't so bad. I had deep dish pizza for the first time ever.

Some news:
* I'm attending Anime North in Toronto for the May 23rd weekend. Despite being a Canadian, it will be my first time in that city. I won't be getting a table.
* To those going to Sakura-con in Seattle this weekend: a couple of my pieces should be up in the art show and available for bidding. I won't be getting a table and I won't even attend.
* Comics Foundry magazine will be interviewing me this week.
* The 10km Sun Run is fast approaching and I'll be participating as always.

Yokaiden 1 is now up on Amazon, and it has a release date. I've confirmed the date with my editor.

The release date for Yokaiden is...

November 18, 2008!

...WAIT THAT'S MY BIRTHDAY.

Yeah yeah, I thought it'd be released in the summer or fall too, not winter. I've just been repeating everything I've heard and didn't have much of an idea as to when it'll actually be released.

...But why is it being released on my birthday?! Which one am I supposed to celebrate now?! Will I be hearing more "Congratulations!" than "Happy Birthday!"? So conflicting!

Yokaiden WIP: Crooked Temple

Some pages I've been working on for the second book.

I finally bought a set of Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph technical pens, and they've been a life saver. Before, I used single-use disposable drawing pens, which was a bad idea for someone who inks as much as I do -- the nibs wore down quickly, making me have to apply more pressure the more worn down they became, thus hurting my wrist. Now with the metallic tips and refillable ink of the technical pens, the ink flows so nicely and smoothly that barely any pressure is needed at all. I should've bought these YEARS ago. They save a lot of time and grief (and money, in the long run). The pages I just posted would not have been possible without them. As such, the art in the second book is already looking a lot more detailed than the art in the first.

ETA: See how terrible I am with art supplies? I'm only just starting to learn what professional artists should be using! This is why I don't like it when people ask me for advice when it comes to what tools to use -- I'm clueless!

The sci-fi mystery manga "20th Century Boys" (and its final chapter, "21st Century Boys") by Naoki Urasawa (famous for doing "Monster") is pretty much one of the best things I've ever read. And you can read it all online through those links! Expect fanart from me for this series eventually.

If you like Alan Moore's "Watchmen" (the first 50 chapters reminded me of this classic American comic a lot) or Stephen King's "The Stand" (haven't read this, but I've heard it's similar), you'll like it.

The live action movie is coming out this August and I can't wait. At last, something I can look forward to before the "Watchmen" live action movie!

I've done some fairly "complete" scrap pieces since the beginning of this year, for those who don't follow my scraps gallery on my website:

Saturnalia
* Nine x Caret Valentine's Day pic request. Nine doesn't seem all that pleased to be forced into the picture.
* Lan (already posted in the last entry)
* Ellipsis (ditto)

Monster
* Cheers! No spoilers.
* Time for that picnic *BIG SPOILER* for end of series

Ace Attorney (a.k.a. Phoenix Wright)
* Phoenix and Iris *SPOILER* for 3rd game & 4th game
* Matt Engarde and Richard Wellington *SPOILER* for 2nd game -- A sequel to this pic done by a friend.

My hands are always a bit wonky-looking in my sketches...

I begin working on Yokaiden book two today! And nope, still don't know when book one is coming out.

I've been receiving some very nice e-mails lately. Among them was a link one of my friends sent me, which included this life lesson:

16. Most people are actually nice: This is something I've only recently realized. Most people are nice, but not usually to strangers. Once they get to know you and you get to know them, they will most likely seem like very nice people.

It's true, and it's good to keep in mind.

Saturnalia cosplay! Here's some excellent Lan cosplay by envirion at Katsucon 2008 last weekend. (Remember Lan? From that webcomic I once did?) She's also taken the costume to Anime USA 2007. Awesome work! Here's a quick pic of Lan I drew and sent to her. I also finally got around to drawing and sending an Ellipsis pic to the girl who cosplayed her.

Some news: Nekocon (Hampton, Virginia) is interested in having me as a guest this year! That means I can pretend to be important and I'll get to speak at panels and maybe even have a book signing. It's in early November, which is perfect timing, too -- I'll have finished Book 2 and Book 1 will be out by then. The only issue is the costs. Virginia is... pretty far from where I live. But hey, maybe Del Rey can help out since it'll be a business trip? We'll see!

I once picked up my watch, checked the time and thought, "LOS? What the hell is 'LOS'?"

It was 5:07 and I was reading the watch upside-down.

Getting back to work after taking a long break is HARD.

Lately I've been addicted to the Japanese show GameCenter CX. I've been downloading and watching the series while working. Somehow, seeing a man with average gaming skills spending hours upon hours in front of a screen, finishing unforgivingly difficult old school games, makes me forget my own long hours spent in front of a screen, finishing artwork.

Anyway, in the episode where he tackles Mega Man 2, I learned that the robot bosses created after Mega Man 1 were all designed by fans who sent in their own creations. Then I realized.... ohh, so THAT'S why I created my own Mega Man bosses when I was 5 years old. I wanted them to be used in the then-upcoming Mega Man 3 game! I'd always wondered why I drew that when I've never played the game myself. (Machine Man must be related to Metal Man. If you're wondering what's up with his left hand, he's supposed to be spinning around a wrench there.)

Just finished penciling 7 pages for a Bart Simpson Comics story, and today I officially begin working on Yokaiden book 2.

Yokaiden book 1 is going through post-production right now. I'm eager to see how it looks in book form. I think my work always looks better on paper than on the computer. I still need to do some extras I want to put in there, but at least the most important parts are finished. There's been some minor confusion between me and the production team since this is my first time doing a published comic and Del Rey is still pretty new to publishing original manga from scratch, but any problem gets taken care of quickly because their team is very helpful and nice. I feel fortunate to be working for them!

Last month, for whatever reason, my Simpsonzu pic was featured on digg.com yet again. That was fine with me, as it helped get my one millionth page view at my deviantART account before the end of 2007!

Now it's been briefly mentioned on episode 132 of Diggnation, a podcast version of Digg. I didn't even know this existed. They're a little late considering the picture was fresh news over a year ago. Not that I'm complaining -- let's beat this dead horse until I'm rich and famous!

I just realized I haven't drawn my annual new years amputee muse yet. I'll get right on that.

A 2-page story I pencilled, "Window of Opportunity," is out on Bart Simpson Comics #39 and has been since Jan 2nd! Whoops, missed that one because I was too busy to go anywhere during that time. I like the work I did in this one, so check it out if you can.

* Updated the site with a whopping 11 new pictures.

Lazy links (a star indicates it's not on deviantART):

ORIGINAL
Xmas party in my head 2
strange apparitions*
Osu! Tatakae! Yokaiden
Gen-chan*

FANART
Are you OK? (Street Fighter/Fatal Fury)
...Go away (World of Warcraft)
You're a mean one, Mr. Burns (Simpsons)
Snowflake Day (Clone High)
Clare* (Claymore)
Katte ni Tango (Katte ni Kaizou) NEWEST!

GIFT ART
Hyacinth Love*

Whew that's a lot of art this month...

With that, I leave behind sweet 2007, one of the most awesomest years ever.

Free Comic Book Day Webcomic-Related Titles Rejected!

Will you be participating in FCBD this year?

Apparently not, as all three titles were rejected by Diamond on the advisement of their FCBD committee. The reason given was "no core title being currently published, or the current books sales not warranting the FCBD promotional support."

Shame! Looks like my cover won't be seen in comic book stores on May 8th after all. But it will still be used:

It seems likely that we?ll go ahead with the publication of our planned FCBD titles as Comic-Con giveaways instead. But it won't be the same.

How do you feel about this decision? Is it fair?