Month: June 2014

Amazing Vögelein Cosplay!

Earlier this year, a fan of mine emailed me to ask if she could cosplay Vögelein at an upcoming comic convention. Of course I said yes, and yesterday I received a bunch of pictures from her that absolutely stunned me. Have a look at the amazing work of art Rebekah W. brought to the 2014 Denver Comic Con:


I mean, look at the detail! A friend of mine said, “A lot of love went into that costume,” and it’s really true. She made the wings, the dress, the prosthetic ears, got a (really good-looking) wig, and even built both keys from scratch.



Seriously, look at all the detail she put into the wings. They’re amazing, and must have taken weeks to build.


This one’s my favorite, though. It really looks like she’s flying!


And then some jerks went and put her in a cage. I’m not worried, though. She can totally break out of there.

I’m so impressed at the job that Rebekah did translating my character into real life. This is only the second time anybody’s cosplayed one of my characters (a friend of mine here in Kalamazoo was the first, a few years ago on Halloween) and I’m just so honored by her work. How lucky am I, as an artist? How many people get to create something, release it into the world, and then find out it affected someone so deeply?

One last note: It turns out an old college buddy of mine, who’s well-familiar with my books, was working at the convention and actually glimpsed the elusive Vögelein on the wing — but she was busy checking in artists and couldn’t stop to chase her down, then lost sight of her forever in the crowd. “At first I wasn’t sure what I saw; just that I recognised it,” she said. “Then it hit me after I had time to let it sink in but I hadn’t any proof.” Fitting, wouldn’t you say?

Jim Ottaviani and Leland Purvis have a new book — er, webcomic? — out!

Hooray, hooray! Fire up a new browser window, because Jim Ottaviani and Leland Purvis have a new book out! It’s the story of Alan Turing’s life, and as you may be able to guess from standing next to me for five minutes, I’m kind of nerdy about history, especially the kind of true story that involves a brilliant, driven man who helped break the Nazi code during World War II:

Our world is one of computers and secure communications, and Turing’s work is at the heart of both. He was an eccentric genius, an Olympic-class runner, a witty and clear communicator about complicated ideas, and open and honest to a fault. The secret he kept to safeguard his country could have saved him; the secret he refused to keep to save himself meant his destruction at the hands of that same country.”

At the moment, it’s serializing on Tor.com, and will update daily for its entirety.

What’re you waiting for? Go read!

Vault of Midnight photos!



We had a really nice turnout for the Vault of Midnight event — despite the weather, the Ultalounge was packed! Lots of kind folks braved the cold and rain to see a cast of characters perform several scenes from Pete Sickman-Garner‘s newest book, Hey Mister: Come Hell or Highwater Pants.



My talk was also well-received, despite being a lot less funny, and having 100% less Satan. Regular readers will be pleased to note that I still remain utterly incapable of keeping my eyes open while someone is photographing me.


Best of all, I was greeted by lots of old friends, including Jim Ottaviani, Kat Hagedorn, Dan and Katie Merritt (of both Green Brain Comics and Kids Read Comics fame) Steve Lieber and Sara Ryan! (And some guy with a ponytail and his wife who keep showing up. Love you guys!)

It was a really nice time, and I’m so grateful to the folks at Vault for inviting me to be a part of the festival. Thanks so much for having me!

Vault of Midnight is hosting me for the Ann Arbor Book Festival

Hey, everybody!

Sorry for so long an absence — the wrapup from the Kickstarter really took a lot of energy, and I’ve been taking it easy for the last month or so.

This week marks a return — I will be doing an Author Talk this Friday evening from 7pm-9pm at Vault of Midnight in their Ultalounge as part of the Ann Arbor Book Festival‘s 2014 Book Crawl! I’ll be there along with Pete Sickman-Garner, of Top Shelf’s Hey Mister comics. If you’re in the area, come on down! Thanks again to Curtis and Liz and all the Vault crew for having me in. Can’t wait!

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