It’s the final page from “Pugs: God’s Little Weirdos”, and the original art is now available for someone with an undying love for all things “pug”.
It’s drawn with archival, lightfast inks on acid-free Bristol Vellum cardstock…and just like a pug, this original is guaranteed to make you feel like life is pretty awesome. It features Sheldon and Oso in their big “reunion” shot, after Oso had been lost for days going on his accidental adventures.
Literature that you read in your youth has a weird way of insinuating itself into your adult consciousness.
Today, I was reading about economic trade between the U.S. and Canada, and in my mind, I started to think of the two as Narnia and it’s northern, friendly neighbor, Archenland.
Because if there’s one thing I have always prided myself on, as a cartoonist, it’s my in-depth, thorough knowledge of deep-sea aquatic life. And to finally, FINALLY get credit for that is just….well, it’s long overdue.
So! Now that we have The Discovery Channel’s seal of approval, it’s a green light to pursue some solid, cutting edge, comic-strip science. First up, Sheldon will explain what went wrong with the Large Hadron Collider’s test run, and will conclusively prove why the machine won’t find the Higgs boson.
Then, two weeks from now, Flaco will talk at length about the 1883 Krakatoa eruption, and show beyond doubt how it related to the fall of the British Empire.
Then, just before Thanksgiving, Dante will be reading from his peer-reviewed paper on genetic evolution of maladaptive traits… showing how that relates to the now-extinct Irish Giant Deer.
Because science is what we do here, people. It’s what we do.
All joking aside: Thanks for the kind shout-out, Discovery!
1.) For all of you who liked the Dubai storyline from a few weeks ago, I thought I’d share this little news item.
2.) Sheldonista Kirsten C. sent in a neat shot of her Sunday Original Art all framed up. I always love to see ’em in their final state…
2.) At Baltimore Comic-Con, Sheldonista Kit Q. couldn’t make it to the show, so she sent along a friend with a note asking if I’d draw “the Christmas porpoise” in her book. I knew right away what she wanted: It’s one of my favorite bits of weirdness from the archives.
Anyway, Kit followed up by sending me a shot of her Sheldon collection:
…not only does Kit have all the books, she’s even assembled her Ty pug, duck, and lizard plushes like the guys in the strip when they’re playing Rex Chestington. I love it, Kit!
I wanted to thank everyone who sent in their favorite independent bookstores. Because of your help, we were able to add about 220 stores who might welcome “Sheldon” on their shelves. Stores all around the U.S. and Canada, and even some overseas. Your local viewpoint is invaluable in spotting stores that would work — thank you for that!
As promised, I’m going to be sending some new desktops to folks who sent in suggestions. Those should be going out this week.
Yesterday I said I had only four pics from Savannah for you. Thankfully, though, some folks brought cameras to the really big lecture… so I thought I’d share their pics with you.
It was a very classy setup, with Scott and I off to the side in comfy leather chairs, and our big-screen presentation at center stage.
…as you can see from the second pic, our presentation included nothing but 100% serious slides. 100% serious.
(Got more pics? Send ’em along! Ol’ Captain Forgets-to-Use-His-Camera would love to see ’em!)
The faculty, staff and students could not have been kinder; the facilities could not have been cooler; and the in-class mini-lectures and Tuesday-night big-ol’ lecture could not have been more fun.
Special thanks have to go out to Jeremy Mullins, Department Chair David Allan Duncan, Emily Stockdale, Ray Goto, Dove McHargue, Dean John Paul Lowe, and Julie Collins. These professors invited us into their classrooms for one-on-ones, critiques, mini-lectures, sharing of best practices, and lots of Q&A. If the students enjoyed it, they didn’t enjoy it half as much as Scott and I did.
It is rare, impossibly rare, to have a program devoted solely to Comics and Sequential Art. Perhaps even more impossibly rare to have that program be any good. So, for us, the chance to go to SCAD and see their 400-student-strong Sequential Art department not only humming along, but offering classes *Scott and I* wished we could take — well, that was awesome. It’s an amazing program they have there. I have every intention of getting back there and teaching some day. Ray, I’m holding you to your offer.
I was so wrapped up in the excitement of my visit, that I didn’t take a whole lot of pics while I was there. But I did want to show you four:
First up, the immaculately restored three-story Victorian mansion SCAD put us up in: The university’s guest house, Magnolia Hall. Here’s a shot of Scott and I on the front-facing porch. Look at that place!
SCAD put millions into its restoration, and it shows. We had the 13-room mansion to ourselves — and the place was magnificent. My bedroom had 20-foot tall ceilings, a king bed with 10-foot-tall-posts, floor-to-crown-moulding windows, and every conceivable Victorian and modern nicety you could imagine. Magnolia Hall embodies SCAD’s place in Savannah: The school is slowly buying up classic-but-run-down building around town, and restoring them to former greatness. They’re at around 60 buildings, so far.
The second shot I wanted to share with you was of this amazing cake that Sheldonista Amber B. made for our visit. She took the shot of the lecture’s poster, and turned it into an even more beautiful cake. The watercolored-trees, the characters rendered in chocolate…it was all too perfect, and was heart-breaking to cut into and taste. Thank you, Amber!
The fourth pic I wanted to share was a gift from Samantha de G., a SCAD Sequential Art student who gave me an incredible scultpure of Flaco reclining on a rock. Samantha, I stared at it on the plane all the way home with a smile on my face. Thank you!
SCAD, thank you again for the wonderful welcome. It was the highlight of my year.
Tonight I returned home from my week-long trip to Georgia (…more on that later), only to realize that Wednesday’s strip had not yet
gone live. A bit of a buzz-kill after a near-flawless visit to the Savannah College of Art and Design…but one that’s easily remedied.
And so, compadres, I’d direct your attention back to Wednesday’s strip for our continuing little sojourn into the world of weddings.
Sunday’s strip is a little personal homage to George Herriman’s early-20th-Century strip, “Krazy Kat”.
A surreal and wonderful strip to check out, if you’ve never seen it before. Lots of linguistic twists of “Americana” mixed in with Spanish and flavors of the southwest…all set in odd, dream-like versions of the high desert.
And the simple yet endlessly mutable relationships between Krazy, Ignatz, and Offisah Pup were wonderful. Weird, but wonderful.
Putting Flaco and Arthur into that style was great fun to draw. …I hope you enjoyed it.
Sheldonistas, I need your help! Specifically, your knowledge of local bookstores! Here’s why…
This week, I hired an awesome guy to start bringing Sheldon books to stores around the country. But we’re doing it in a very cool new way. We’re going to bypass Borders, Barnes & Noble, Wal*Mart, Amazon…and just focus on local book stores and comic book shops.
Why avoid the mega-chains? Because the fundamental way they do business is broken…and even they kinda know it. Borders essentially declared bankruptcy this week, and Amazon and Wal*Mart constantly chase each other to see who can offer “Harry Potter” books at a bigger money-losing price of 70-or-80%-off. And in the meantime, all the little guys up and down the line can’t survive.
But! Since Sheldon doesn’t traditionally rely on bookstores anyway, we can afford to try something new. Something different. Something better.
We’re going to bypass the big guys altogether, and just deal directly with real people who own their own local stores. The store owners will get waaaay-better-than-usual rates and freight, you’ll get Sheldon books locally, and no one will need to go bankrupt in the process. 🙂
HERE’S HOW YOU CAN HELP:
Share with us your favorite local stores or comic book shops that you think would welcome having “Sheldon” on their shelves. Your local eye is key, here: You’re our eyes ‘n ears! You’ll know way better than we would if “Sheldon” fits in your local store. Plus, it’ll just take a second to fill out THIS E-MAIL LINK….and send it to us. Easy-peasy!
As a thank you, everyone who e-mails in will get free Sheldon desktop wallpapers next week, when I’m back from the Savannah talk! *Thank you!*
[EDITED TO ADD:]
In case you’re on Gmail, Yahoo, or webmail, and the link doesn’t work for you, here are the details we ask for. Feel free to just e-mail these to “[email protected]”:
