Cartoonists are *never* spotted in public, so this story is a rare and wonderful tale to tell.

On Tuesday, for the first time, I was recognized in public by Sheldon readers.

It’s one of the quirks of being a cartoonist: you can be Gary Trudeau or Jim Davis or Bill Amend — and have millions and millions of readers — and no one knows who the heck you are. (Point-of-fact: tons of folks think Brooke McEldowney, the cartoonist behind “9 Chickweed Lane”, is a woman.)

Anyway, my wife and I were in Las Vegas these past few days on business for her work, and one afternoon I ducked away from the noisier parts of town looking for a quiet place to draw. (She and I aren’t particularly huge “Vegas” fans. I find it to be a pretty depressing place — which I’m sure is not the intended goal!) Anyway, I ducked out and found a big, quiet Barnes & Noble, ordered a giganto coffee, and got to work cartoonin’.

About 45 minutes in, I heard that very surreal phrase, “Excuse me, are you Dave Kellett?” …and looked up to find two very kind Sheldon readers staring down at me. Once I got over the initial shock of A.) being spotted, B.) being spotted in a Barnes & Noble, and C.) being spotted in a Barnes & Noble in Las Vegas…I invited them both to sit down and chat.

Turns out they’re brother and sister, are both Sheldon readers, and Gerhard is a cartoonist himself! He creates the wonderfully-drawn adventure The Far Reaches. So we ended up not only talking about Sheldon, but about comics in general, which was great fun.

So the moral of the story is this: if you want meaningful vacation moments in Vegas, you’ve got to leave The Strip, drive about 8 miles to the single bookstore in the city, and meet new people over a nice cuppa joe.

“Vegas: Come for the Endless Shrimp Cocktail, Stay for the Good Conversations.”

All Hail Glornak the Ridiculous!

Wow! I have to say: I am VERY impressed to see how many folks responded to the Glornak decal idea.

At current count, I have 317 e-mails from folks saying they share my dorkiness, and want one for their car. Which is rad.

Lots of folks asked me if I could do a Glornak-only decal, or a decal customized with *their* family names…but alas, I’m not set up for that level of customization. And the templated family is half the fun, for me. But! Simple solution! Using the magic of scissors, I’m thinking you should be able to just slice off the templated family, and add Glornak to your existing decals. Huzzah for simple solutions!

I’ll take the next few days to research ways to do a white-printed, clear-vinyl decal, and hopefully we’ll have Glornak decals before I head out to Maryland’s SPX (“Small Press Expo”) on Oct. 12-13!

And for everyone who asked: I’ll consider doing a Glornak t-shirt. Like you, my wife thought that would be a great idea.

…thanks again to everyone who e-mailed!

As a cartoonist, I read a lot of comic strips.

But among the dozens and dozens that I read daily, there are precious few strips which truly shine. Strips which bring me genuine laughter, which show me cartooning tricks I never would’ve thought of on my own, and which I absolutely love to share with other folks.

And on that short, short list…the biggie is Scott Kurtz’ PvP.

Scott is one of the best cartoonists going, and has been recognized by the industry with an Eisner Award for sheer awesomeness (…or “Most Awesome in the Category of Awesomeness”, if I recall).

Anywho, I just noticed this morning that Scott put up a four-pack of his PvP books in one big bundle, which is great for fans like me. And my guess is… if you’re a Sheldon reader, you’ll dig these books just as much as I do.

So if you’re new to PvP — especially if you’re new to PvP — treat yourself to this discounted combo pack, and dive into one of the funniest strips goin’.

The little decal in Sunday’s strip keeps makin’ me laugh…no matter how many times I look at it. So much so, that I’m actually at the point where I want to make this puppy to put on the back of my car. Am I lame for admitting that? You can be honest with me…I can take it.

Would anyone else want one of these, if I made them up? If you would, drop me a line. That will help me decide if I should indulge my dorkiness.

Today’s strip is not the first foray Sheldon has had into the German language.

In fact, two of my favorite Sheldon strips involve German:

1.) The best Batman strip I’ve ever done, and…

2.) A wonderfully odd take on English-speakers’ mis-pronunciation/mis-translation of “fünf” (…which eventually turned into a runner here, and here).

While on the subject of Germany, I should mention my favorite Germany-related memory:

About three years ago, when I was still working for Mattel, I was in Germany for the Nürnberg Toy Fair. While on a break, I stumbled on a *fantastic*, three-story comic book shop in the city center. I had about 3 hours to burn for sightseeing, and ended up spending them all reading German comics at Ultra Comix.

But! The greatest moment of all, the moment that still gets me excited, is this: I walked into the “American Comics” section, and saw two (TWO!) copies of “Pure Ducky Goodness”! It…was…awesome.

But it gets better: the good folks at Ultra Comix, when they found out I was the author, made me an endless series of espressos at their in-store coffee stand, and we talked shop and laughed for an hour or so.

So! If you live in or around Nürnberg, head over to Ultra Comix, and tell ’em Dave sent ya!

Oh! Also! Here’s the only dopey picture I could find from that day…

Friday’s strip is a callback to this gem from the archives.

Before we head into the weekend, it’s worth sendin’ out a reminder: get FREE U.S. shipping on Sheldon book three-packs…but only until Sunday!

The free shipping is offered on both the three-pack of awesomeness, and the extra-special three-pack with an Artist Edition!

For new readers lookin’ to dive into the collections — or for folks hopin’ to give a book or two as a gift — this is a great way to save money. So head on over to the Sheldon Store, click the “free shipping” option, and get ’em while the gettin’s good! The free shippin’ ends Sunday night!

News from the Head Office! Fellow Blank Label Comics cartoonist Howard Tayler is proud to announce the new book for “Schlock Mercenary”, Tub of Happiness. At long last, the first five-hundred and seven days of Schlock Mercenary are coming to a dead-tree near you.

Pre-orders for Schlock Mercenary: The Tub of Happiness are now open. This 240-page volume features every strip and footnote from June 12th of 2000 through November 11th of 2001, and includes a never-before-published “prequel” bonus story covering Schlock’s last twenty-four hours before enlisting with Tagon’s Toughs.

For a limited time, you can order your Tub of Happiness as a Customer-Choice Numbered Sketch Edition. That’s right, for just $10 more, your book is not just signed on the front, but drawn in, and you get to pick which character Howard draws.

All customers will recieve immediate access to a page full of desktop backgrounds based on the cover art, and all pre-orders are automatically discounted $5.00 off the cover-price of $25.00.

If you want to have a look inside, here is a 17-page screen-resolution PDF preview (6MB download), which includes the front and back covers, inside and out, the first page of the bonus, the end of the “Big Haunted Battleship” storyline, and an unsketched sketch page.

.

As you can probably tell from this strip, I have a lot of friends who are graphic designers. And no matter how old or young, rich or poor…all graphic designers seem to share one attribute: they all own a USB Flash Drive that looks like it escaped a nuclear winter.

The cap is gone, the outer casing has slowly been yanked off with use…and now, all that’s left is the USB port connected to a barely-hangin-on circuit board. They’re storing all their work on a device purchased from Sanford & Son.

But that’s the nature of the beast, I suppose. These things are put together as cheaply as possible, using butterfly wings, scraps of paper, and the dreams of a child. Even casual use makes them fall apart.

On a related note…Sheldonista Jose C. has alredy e-mailed me suggesting this little baby, and I have to say it looks pretty neat.

Lots of colleges across the U.S. and Canada have been signin’ up to have Sheldon in their school paper for free…but today we got our first “overseas” addition.

That’s fun in-and-of itself…but I mention it in the blog only because the school’s location will make my mom happy: it’s Trinity College, Dublin.

Now, “Kellett”, as you can well tell, is not an Irish name — but my mom’s side of the family is from County Kerry…so this’ll go down well on that side of the clan.

Aaaaand, this is a great opportunity for me to take that Guiness Brewery Tasting Tour from eight years ago as a write-off, right IRS? That’s legit, right? Even though that sweet old lady gave me her extra drink tickets? Right?

In related news, we’re still signing up colleges that are starting back late, or who just voted in their editorial staff, so you’re not too late to join up (…and Univ. of California system, I’m looking squarely at you…I know you started back this week. So UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, UC Davis, or my grad-school alum, UCSD….I expect to hear from one of you!)

And remember, if you’re a student or an editor who’s interested in having Sheldon in your school paper, it’s as easy as an e-mail! We can have you set up and runnin’ Sheldon by tomorrow!