Boooo: It looks like GMail is currently listing the daily e-mailed Sheldon strips as “spam” mail, and placing the strip in your Junk folder. So for the 1-2,000 of you who get Sheldon via e-mail, and are GMail users, go into your Junk folder and mark them as “Remove Label Junk”.

And if you happen to work at Google…man, throw me a bone with these dang spam algorithms. It happens every 6 months or so. 🙁

Hey Seattle: This coming Monday — May 17th — I’ll be signing at The Comic Stop in Lynnwood with my buddies Scott Kurtz and Kris Straub, from 6:30-8:00PM.

I’ll be giving out free sketches to any and all Sheldonistas who can make it out, plus we’ll have copies of all seven Sheldon books, the Pugs book, and the “How To Make Webcomics” book.

This should be a fun signging: I’m in town for a family wedding, and Scotty and Kris have both just moved to Seattle. So this is sort of a “welcome to Seattle” party for them, and a “Oh, hey, Dave’s in town, too” party for me. (And yes, I am aware that my portion of the “party” carries less excitement.)

———– Here are the deets:

When: Monday, May 17th, 6:30-8PM
Where: The Comic Stop
3333 184th St SW, Suite G
Lynnwood, WA 98037
What: Sheldon/Drive, PvP, Starslip/Chainsawsuit Signing
Who: Dave Kellett, Scott Kurtz, Kris Straub

See you there!

(Ooo, also: I won’t be able to bring gobs of stuff — so if there are any specific books, prints or original art pieces you’d particularly like to pick up, drop me a line to let me know.)

Well my goodness — I’m realizing that my Calgary post that I wrote up last week never appeared in the blog! Time to correct that. It’s time for: The O-fficial Sheldon Calgary Comic Expo Write-Up Extravaganza! Short version: I could not have had more fun at my first Canadian comics show. Calgary is a great, great town, and the people could not have been cooler.

As you may remember, I was a special guest of the show, along with my fellow cartoonists Kris Straub and Brad Guigar. We exhibited through the entire show, and gave a talk on Sunday on webcomics to a really engaged crowd.

But the best part of the show, for me, was the Sheldon readers who came out. Some from as far away as Saskatchewan — a 7-and-a-half-hour drive! In fact, just to reward that commitment, lets start off with that shot! Here she is: Sheldon-reader Nikki, who piled into a car at ungodly hours and drove for almost a full workday, just to make it down for the show! And who got a suitably awesome series of sketches in return — thanks, Nikki!

Sheldonista Darrell U. asked for, and got, a comparison sketch of Flaco and the Drive Pilot. That was a fun one to do!

Lots of kind Sheldonistas e-mailed me copies of the shots they took at that show. Going down the list, here’s Susan:

And Brody, along with me in blink-mode. (…just one of my many modes.)

And proud Sheldon-Original-Art-Ownin’ Amanda and Jerry. (Sidenote: No making fun of my hat. I’m diggin’ the fedora, lately.)

Speaking of hats, I have to mention this: Canadians are the nicest people on earth, as evidenced by the fact that nearly everyone brought me “Canadian-esque” gifts….whether they were Tim Horton’s awesome doughnuts, Canadian-specific Cadbury’s chocolates, Hobnobs, and perhaps the creme de la creme: A genuine “white” Calgary cowboy hat! Check it out!

Awesome Sheldon readers Jeff and Melanie brought that baby to me as part of a traditional Calgary welcome, and man, that puppy was sweet. I couldn’t take it off for the rest of the show! Although, unfortunately, it somewhat changed the view people had of me when I was sketching for them. Adding the hat made it go from this:

To this:

I even wore it to our Sunday webcomics talk…although (wisely) took it off during the forum, as I started lookin’ like there were some cows needin’ rustlin’

Oh! Also! I should mention that Jeff and Melanie also brought out a rare copy of my now out-of-print book from 1996, “A Well Balanced Meal”. Fittingly, I sketched them my current lead character, Sheldon, next to my previous strips’ lead character, Nate.

Among all the free sketches I did for folks, that was a particularly fun one to do….as were all the requests for “Drive” sketches. Thank you for requesting those — makes me feel good about the new strip!

And a huge thank you to show organizer Kandrix Foong for inviting me up as a guest of the show. It was a highlight of my year…and I’ll be back to Calgary anytime you want me! And thanks as well to the folks of Calgary, broader Alberta, and surrounding provinces who drove in. You guys made the weekend for me — and made me significantly porkier with all the chocolatey treats. Thank you, Calgary, for a fantastic show!

Last week’s strips, with Arthur ruminating on the paths not walked in life, generated more e-mail than any recent strips…and I wanted to take a second to thank you for that. It’s always nice to get a personalized note as to why and how a strip touched someone…and last week was a week of that from dozens of folks all over the world, in all stages of life.

It’s here! It’s here! The second printing of Sheldon book two, “The Good, The Bad & The Pugly” is here!

And to celebrate, the book is on sale for $5-off: Just ten smackers!

Head over to the Ye Olde Sheldonne Store to snag your copy: The sale only lasts until May 15th!

It’s Saturday, which means it’s time for our Saturday Sci-Fi Feature, “Drive”. Two things I should mention about Drive:

1.) You can read the full archives of Drive, in order, at the special sub-site

2.) Today’s installment may (may) be the last pen-and-ink Drive ever drawn. I’ve ordered the new Cintiq, and it’s apparently winging its way toward me…so who knows! Next week might be an all-digitally-drawn installment of Drive!

A lot of you kindly wrote in to tell me that a Sheldon punchline was iGoogle’s “Quote of the Day” — thanks for the heads up!

Here was the featured quote: “The English language was carefully, carefully cobbled together by three blind dudes and a German dictionary.”
— Dave Kellett, Sheldon, 02-01-09

And here’s the original strip it came from.

Guys, the trip to Calgary was awesome: Calgarians could not be awesomer people!

I took lots of photos with Sheldonistas at the show — e-mail me those pics, and I’ll incorporate them into this week’s write-up of the show!

Calgary! This weekend is the big Comics Expo, and I’ll be there both days in booth #502!

I’ll have books, prints, original art…and FREE sketches for any and all! But, since customs might stop me at the border, I’m only bringing 50, maybe 55 high fives. So get yours early in the show.

And on Sunday at 1PM, I’ll also be giving a talk in Room A with co-horts Kris Straub and Brad Guigar on “How to Make Webcomics”.

Come on out!

Click HERE for the full-size, printable Sheldon guide to the show!

Canada! It is time to high-five in person!

This weekend is my first Canadian show ever! Ever! I’ll be an invited guest at the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo — for both days, Saturday and Sunday — and I could not be more jazzed.

I’ll be exhibiting with my friends and co-authors Kristofer Francisco Straub and Bradley McGillicudy Guigar.

I’ll be putting up more show info for you later in the week…but I wanted to let you know ahead of time, so you can grab a ticket and make plans to be there!

…and did I mention this is my first and only planned trip to Canada? I may get back up there…but who knows when! So come on out!