A quick note for Euro-Sheldonistas: I notice that France’s Angoulême Comics Fest is coming up at the end of January. If you’ve never been, I highly recommend attending. I once thougt that San Diego Comic-Con was the be-all, end-all when it came to comics, but Angoulême — and, I’ve since come to learn, Japan’s Comiket — are right up there.

I won’t be in Angoulême this year, much to my chagrin, but I highly recommend it to any and all that can make it. There’s a wonderful celebration of the art of “La bd” (“La bande dessinée “, the comic strip), at Angoulême. And if, like me, you’re used to cartoons and comics being looked at as “low art” or “something for kids,” Angoulême puts it in a whole new perspective. The festival is an amazing forum of comics, fans, signings, art shows, critical forums and in-depth presentations, and some of the most amazing comics collections you’ve never seen in the English-speaking world.

So if you can, check out Angoulême Comics Fest.

There is, in my mind, a perfect vessel for coffee. A Platonic Ideal, if you will, of what a coffee cup should be.

Let me give you a parallel, so you know what I’m getting at: Have you ever been to a friend’s get-together where wine was being served? But your friend’s collection of 8 wine glasses are all used up, so you end up with a repurposed Burger King Kids Meal mug, or a throw-away plastic party cup, or some weird, heavy, steel beer-stein? The wine, it’s odd to say, doesn’t taste quite right. It should taste just the same, but it doesn’t.

Well, oddly enough, I find the same is true of coffee. The wrong mug or cup can kinda ruin it. But the right mug or cup can make it sublime!

Well, I’ve had this image of the perfect coffee cup in my mind for years now, but I can’t find the darn thing anywhere. That’s why I half-jokingly called it a “Platonic Ideal.” I can *see* the mug in my mind’s eye, but can’t *find* the dang thing in any shop I check.

(Before I go any further, I should make abundantly clear that I know how ridiculous this entire blog post is. It’s ludicrous that I’m even writing about this. I know this. I’m aware of this. But it’s kind of maddening to have created an un-procurable mug in your mind, and find that no shop anywhere carries it.)

Here’s what I’m looking for:

– Both the base and the rim share the same, perfectly circular diameter of 3 3/4 — 4″. The wall of the mug, therefore, is a cylindrical and smooth all the way ’round.

– The wall of the mug itself is pretty thin. This would no doubt mean it was fired from a pretty high-quality ceramic. But I find it very odd when I have to mouth an inch-thick of ceramic just to get a sip of coffee.

– The mug sits about 4″ high. Something about small coffee mugs makes me feel dainty.

– The volume of the mug is about 16 fl. oz / 500 ml. Granted, this is a lot of coffee…but for some reason, I always seem to want more than an 8 fl. oz. cup.

– There’s no ornamentation on it: No dancing kittens, or “Starbucks” logos, or Christmas bears, etc.

– The handle can easily fit three fingers through it. Four would be awesome, but I’ll take three. I’m not having tea with the Queen Mother in 1854: I don’t want to have to “pinch” my handle.

I’m imagining that I’m going to end up having to travel to Germany or northern Europe to find my ideal mug. I remember walking through German shops in Berlin and Nurnberg and thinking to myself, “The Italians or the French or the Cubans might make the best coffee, but MAN, the Germans have all the best accoutrements for it.” Something about the German design aesthetic — when it comes to kitchen wares — just so nails it for me. Such clean, beautiful lines. They really do beautiful work, design-wise.

I need to start a website, clearly. “Specific – Coffee – Mugs – for – Cantankerous – Cartoonists.com”

I want to thank all of you who have been sending me Christmas photos of folks unwrapping Sheldon gifts or readin’ their Blizzard books. I’ll be honest: Working as a cartoonist, I’m mostly operating in a vacuum… I never get to “see” the people who are reading and enjoying Sheldon. So the recent spate of pics has been fun, and very appreciated. Thank you!

(…this one was sent in by Sheldonista Jessica S. Looks like they got an Arthur, Oso, and Gramp in their Artist Editions.)

If you live in and around Seattle, fun news: I’ll be up there May 10 and 11th, for the big Emerald City Comic-Con.

Emerald City Comic-Con was a blast the last time I went up there, and Seattle has a huuuge Sheldon audience (the biggest in the U.S., interestingly) so it’s gonna be really good fun to get up there.

I’ll be exhibiting with my three buddies from Halfpixel, and we’ll be doing a joint panel-talk on the “How To Make Webcomics” book. Those three make me laugh like nuthin’ else, so I’m looking forward to it.

So if you’re in or around Seattle, make plans to attend — it really is gonna be a fun ‘con to go to.

I saw this featured ad at the Image Comics site, today, and got really excited:

Pre-orders for the book from stores are blowing my mind: They’re far, far exceeding our hopes — which is awesome. You never know, when you sit down to write a book, whether folks will respond. Happily, it looks like there’s a lot of interest for it!

And in more good news, we’ll have copies available in the Sheldon store in late January!

Now that all the store orders from the last few weeks have arrived at their destinations, folks are starting to e-mail me pictures of Glornak stickers on their cars! It’s been fun to see ’em on roads around the world, like this one from Oklahoma:

…make a cartoonist’s day: Send me yours when you get the chance!

I’m enjoying looking back to some past Christmas favorites. Here’s one I always liked about the “Random Christmas Card.” My wife and I always get two or three of these every year, and we’re always a little freaked out.

Also, because you’ve been asking for it: Sheldon in Japanese.

Sheldonista Rebecca L. just reminded me of one of my favorite Sheldon toons: Christmas gift-giving, the Gift Card way!

Very nice to be ranked #15 in Comixtalk’s 25 most influential “People of Webcomics” for 2007, along with my buddies Scott, Brad, and Kris of Halfpixel. To celebrate, I bought myself some Fig Newtons today.

Fig Newtons: The cookies that shouldn’t be awesome, and yet are.

Just wanted to publicly thank comic critic Gary Tyrell who, over at the Comixtalk 2007 Wrapup, put “Sheldon” in one of his five favorite reads for the year.

You know what I say to that? I say Gary is one of my top five things. That’s what I say to that.

Also: Anyone else notice that the Washington Post is linking to Sheldon, now, in their online comics section? Thanks, Washington Post! Any time you need help investigating President Nixon, give me a call! I’ll totally grab a coffee and hang out.