Category: Signal Boost (Page 2 of 3)

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!

Jane and Paul go KAPOW!

Paul and I were lucky enough to be asked to join the fifth show of comics art to visit Eastern Michigan University, this time called KAPOW! Comics Return to Eastern! Professor Rubenfeld, whom I first had for Art History twenty years ago (cough) is still extending his generosity to us after all this time, and he’s also managed to get art from lots of other talented artists, including David Petersen and Jeff Smith.

The show runs from March 10 through April 16, 2014 in the University Gallery at Eastern Michigan University, located in the EMU Student Center at 900 Oakwood Street, Ypsilanti, MI 48197. You can visit the show Mondays and Thursdays 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Tuesdays and Wednesdays 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m., and Fridays and Saturdays 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

It’s also not too late to take in ‘Demented Detroit: Contemporary Cartoons and Comics from the Motor City‘, the show put together by Sean Bieri that’s being hosted at Henry Ford Community College. Its last day is Friday, March 21st, though, so hurry if you want to see lots of art by some great artists!

I have a comic in The Metro Times!

When I was still in high school, one of the coolest things I could think of to do in Ann Arbor — after going to Dave’s Comics and Dawn Treader — was to hang out in one of the two big art stores, Ulrich’s and Michigan Book and Supply. I’d stay in there for hours, picking out Prismacolors and wishing for fancy sketchbooks. I never left without a copy of The Metro Times, the free weekly newspaper that introduced me to alternative radio, Matt Groening (before The Simpsons, that’s how old I am, guys), and best of all, Lynda Barry. So you can only imagine how excited I was when I got a call from one of the editors at The Metro Times asking me to contribute a comic for an upcoming issue. It arrived this Wednesday, and I’m still on cloud nine about it. Big thanks to Walter J. Sports and Runway Photography, Colin Johnson and DB Family Photography & DJ who all generously allowed me to use their photos for reference for the comic, and to all the skaters who volunteered their words and likenesses!

Clockwork Game now on Comixology! And Bleeding Cool!

One of my kind Kickstarter supporters just emailed me to let me know that he sent word about Clockwork Game to an editor at Bleeding Cool, who liked the book enough to add it to her weekly roundup of new Comixology Submit reviews! Thanks so much, Nicholas! I am very lucky to have such generous readers like you, who are willing to give me such great word-of-mouth recommendations. I literally couldn’t do it without you!

Additionally, Clockwork Game is now available on Comixology, and I hope to have the Vögelein books up there soon, as well.

Clockwork Game in PREVIEWS!

I’m excited to report that Clockwork Game is appearing in the February 2014 PREVIEWS catalog from Diamond Comic Distributors. It’s on Page 334, right between Fantagraphics and First Second in the green Comics and Graphic Novels section.

If you shop regularly at your local comics store, I would be so grateful if you’d let them know — word of mouth is what always drives my sales. I’ve sent copies to the stores who’ve supported me throughout the years, but it makes a huge difference whenever someone introduces my work to a new store. Thanks in advance!

Two Clockwork Game appearances on Saturday Jan. 18th

Man, there’s so much great stuff going on with Clockwork Game right now that I’m having trouble deciding what parts to talk about first.

So let’s start with the time-sensitive information: Unless the weather suddenly rises up and makes the roads impassible (again) I’ll be making two appearances in the Metro Detroit area this Saturday, January 18th!

The first will be at Green Brain Comics from 11am-3pm. Dan and Katie Merritt will be hosting me while I sign books and talk comics — there’s even a Facebook page for the event if you’d like to let us know if you can make it. We’d love to see you there!

After I’m done at Green Brain, I’ll be swinging by Legendary ConFusion where I’ll spend the evening hanging out in the lobby and hopefully running into lots of old friends. I won’t be on any panels, but I will be around. Drop me a line if you’re going to be there and would like to hang out!

One of the nicest things about wrapping up an enormous, time-consuming project like Clockwork Game is finally having the time to visit with folks again, instead of being stuck in front of the grindstone for months on end. I’ve got the box of Kickstarter rewards packed up and ready to deliver to my generous Metro Detroit Area backers, and I look forward to seeing you all again and getting the chance to catch up. Yay!

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2025 JanerBlog

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑