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Tony Salvaggio is here in Japan. Tony was the writer behind one of Tokyopop's AmeriMangas, Psycom. And he's awesome. I had the pleasure of taking him to one of Tokyo's best hobby stores and now I get to enjoy the phone calls when he curses me for ever showing him that place. I think I might have put a huge dent in his wallet.
The last couple of days have been busy with me finally having enough of an office to draw from and meetings with local publishers as a part of Udon. The rain is kind of putting a damper on what otherwise would be a very fun series of trips around town, but at the same time, I hear that right after we left Atlanta it started raining and only just the other day stopped, so I supposed I can't really complain. I mean, the when it rains here it is mostly a slow drizzle. Nothing like the house shaking storms we would get in Georgia.
Today I am off to go to Capcom's Tokyo office. I hear it's a lot like a fortress so I'm really excited about seeing what goes on there.
I have lots of pictures to upload in a few days. Stay tuned!

Here are some pictures of dawn breaking over the horizon in Yokohama where we live. Actually, this is taken from 9 stories up above our condo, but I thought no one would mind because this is a better view than our wimpy 4th floor condo view of traffic and fast food restaurants. But it's good to be here, especially after the long transpacific flight to get here and see family and old friends again. And the most exciting thing, we are only two weeks away from fellow Tokyopop creator Tony Salvaggio visiting Japan! Tony, I can't wait to gaze upon your glorious hair again!!!

We are in the process of moving. For the last 8 years or so (with the exception of last year) we have been dividing our time between our Japanese and our American castles respectively. But a couple of months ago when the housing market started improving the idea got into our heads that we should put our house out there for sale and see what happens; 36 hours later we have a signed contract and suddenly it hits us we have to move. So we are off to Japan. Permanently. We will be back from time to time for San Diego and Dragoncon, but for the most part, our American adventure is over. For those of you we have met at shows, online, all the publishers, at church, and all the random people who have been our friends, thank you for making this a very happy time in our lives. We are excited about what lies ahead, be it family (To be announced later) and manga-wise (to be announced later) and we hope you will all check in to check out our goings-on and about life in Japan.
Talk to you after the very long flight.

I haven't had a haircut in a while.
My head is heavy. And hot.
Low flying birds get trapped while I'm outside.
But I'm only halfway to a proper afro.

I got the chance the other day to go see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. We went early thursday morning and the Imax 3D was cheap so we gave it a whirl. I'm now addicted to Imax movies. And the 3D portion of the movie (which was only about 15 minutes long) was surprisingly fun. I remember the old 3D movies from when I was a kid in the 80s and they always were a little on the velveta side of Cheese. But this was well done and actually added to the experience unlike those 80's horror movies in 3D that just felt gimmicky. But at the same time, when the movie was over I was left wondering what happened to the half blood prince angle of the movie. Was I the only one who felt like all the little clues from the book got cut out? And it might just be me, but I seem to remember a big-ass fight scene at the end of the book after the big D got killed by Snape. Or was that just me?
I'm off to draw something for Udon. Check out Imax people!

I got the chance the other day to go see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. We went early thursday morning and the Imax 3D was cheap so we gave it a whirl. I'm now addicted to Imax movies. And the 3D portion of the movie (which was only about 15 minutes long) was surprisingly fun. I remember the old 3D movies from when I was a kid in the 80s and they always were a little on the velveta side of Cheese. But this was well done and actually added to the experience unlike those 80's horror movies in 3D that just felt gimmicky. But at the same time, when the movie was over I was left wondering what happened to the half blood prince angle of the movie. Was I the only one who felt like all the little clues from the book got cut out? And it might just be me, but I seem to remember a big-ass fight scene at the end of the book after the big D got killed by Snape. Or was that just me?
I'm off to draw something for Udon. Check out Imax people!

We're back from San Diego and trying to get back into the swing of things which is hard when you return from such nice weather to Georgia. But at the same time it's nice to be back in our own house, with our own food I don't have to tip someone to eat. And of course my office and my desks... oh, how I missed you guys so...
So I'm starting a few new projects, all of which are hush hush until contracts are signed and safely delivered to the publishers. That might sound like an easy feat, but lately I've been having a hard time getting them to the Editors involved. As soon as we got back from California on Monday I found one in my mailbox marked return to sender. I think the USPS has it out for me...
So the high points from San Diego can be summed up as my dinner meeting with Udon on Sunday where I finally got to meet most of the artists/creators working there and play with 80's board games and finding out what my next TP Manga will be. More on that once the post office cooperates...

It's con season, and in a few hours we are off to Dallas for A-kon. It's pretty much bad timing for a con since we are still not quite done with CSI, but con season waits for no man! so I guess we have a rendezvous with an airplane later on today.
I don't really have anything special for A-kon in terms of con exclusives but I do have two pieces for San Diego this year. I did a comic con exclusive cover for Starkweather studios:

And I also contributed a piece to the Darkstalkers Tribute book from everyone's favorite publisher, Udon. Here's a sample of that one too:

Anyone who is in Dallas this weekend stop on by our table in the artist alley or try and catch us at one of our panels. Hope to see you all there!

I am happy to admit I made it to the end of Gundam. By Gundam I am talking about the original series which my brother-in-law was kind enough to record for me off Animax(I don't know how I went about being a nerd before Animax). I had seen the Gundam movies, the version where the tv show was re-edited into three long movies, but getting to see the original series really fleshed out the story for me. There were a lot of characters and moments, lighter and not absolutely essential to the main plotline, that were cut from the movie version and getting to see them all there made it almost a different product. And of course getting to see it as it originally ran on tv left me with an entirely different impression when it was over. I felt almost like even though the crew of the White Base along with the federation fought Zion to its knees and won the battle, they didn't really win the war. The federation lost almost all of its military in defeating Zion and almost all of the colonies were destroyed (part of side 6 and of course the Zion home colonies survived) so you can't really say they won. The White Base, part of the federation itself, was destroyed and its surviving crew fled in a shuttle, so they didn't really win either. They just managed to survive. The same goes for Amuro. He lost the Gundam and barely made it out in a core fighter that had clearly seen better days. No, I think the only real winner was Sha, who achieved his goal of destroying the Zavi family to avenge his father. In fact, because he survives it's clear he's the winner.
Now I'm stuck in the middle of Gundam 00's second season. I was really into this when it started but it is starting to bog down and has turned into an endless series of "the bad guys have a new mobile suit that alone is more powerful than all our mobile suits together" fights. I'm starting to sense a pattern to this show and I wish I weren't. But the end is in sight, so I suppose I'll push through to the end, regardless of the strong Zeta-Gundam vibe I am getting from the Celestial Beings fight agains the A-Laws.
On a different note it's almost time for A-kon. I can't wait. A-kon is one of the best run cons out there and the people that run it are the best. And as sad as this might sound A-kon is the closest we get to a vacation. Dallas, here we come... Maybe...

I don't know if it's all the hype about the new Star Trek movie, but the other day when I was in Target with Megumi I saw a tool set with an electric drill that reminded me of an old school Star Trek Phaser and found myself seriously considering purchasing it. Even though I have a really good drill something about the thought of drilling with a phaser made it really tempting. That's how nerdy my job has made me...

Now that I am getting on top of things and the end is in sight for CSI I have for the first time in months had a little free time. Of course like any good dork I've been making good use of it; namely I spend said free time watching anime. I am currently working my way through the original Gundam. I've got the edited movies, but it's really nice to see all the extra story that got cut out. It really fleshes the story out. I have in mind a particular scene that got cut out of the movie where the crew(most of whom are civilians) ask to leave the army and are told they'd have to go to jail if they want to leave because they've all "seen stuff". It's not like it's their fault, but the end result is they have been shanghaied into service and will have to wait the war out. It's a really good moment that makes the good guys seem not so good.
I also recently watched Macross F(in case anyone is interested, Animax is the best thing that ever happened to anyone who likes anime). But I have one nit-pick about the story. How did Aruto not clue into the fact that his friends at school all have part time jobs for a private military provider flying valkryies? I mean, if they are in all your classes and you are all in the same after school flying-backpack club, it seems like the subject would have come up at some point. Other than that I liked it. Especially the Zentradi civil war thing that was going on that planet that got eaten up by the fold-bomb.
So, CSI is close to being done and I hope that the offers I am getting now will still be there when I am done and available. Some of the editors out there really know how to press my buttons so saying no is getting extra hard. But if the past is any indicator, those offers will all dry up the instant I can do them so I guess I won't have to practice the "n" word any longer.

I've been slowly digesting last week's final episode of Battlestar Galactica. There was so much to take in that it took me almost an entire week to come to terms with how I feel about it. And the verdict is: disappointed. I loved the battle scenes. Who didn't? Shit blowing up in space. Neon flashes against a dark background. Space ships. Vipers. Old school cylons. It was pretty much all I could have asked for, and if the show had mysteriously just stopped there I would have been really happy. But since it didn't end there I was a little sad about how things ended. And very confused. First of all, what was the special destiny that the final five were supposed to have? When you think back over the entire series all you can really say is that the final five didn't really play any more or any less a part in the entire show than and other mainline character. They were all in all pretty much equal players in the show. I feel like all the hype about them really led to nothing special. Hence I am disappointed with them. And then there is the decision to abandon not only technology but ALSO culture once they find the new Earth. That just didn't make a damn bit of sense. How can the president of the colonies justify turning his people loose on the planet with only what they have with them; basically just the clothes on their backs? He had to know that since really none of those people with the possible exception of Baltar knew anything about farming they all faced the almost certain fate of starving to death within two or three weeks of setting them loose. And of course what a bunch of sheep. I mean, they all just accepted the president's orders to go and become cave men and didn't consider a recall election or at least a good old fashioned impeachment or anything. They just picked up their tattered clothes and headed off for who knows where. Aghhh... the more I think about it, the more I wished they had ended the show like they did the first one; running out of budget to continue filming episodes and therefore stopping while they were ahead. Talk about a bad taste in the mouth.
Mmm, I should probably do a CSI update for those who are interested. It's coming along. We are working 80 weeks to see it done. It has officially become my Everest. But it's fun. That's the most important part.

Last weekend was Momocon. It was, to put it simply, awesome. I have to take a moment and say thank you to Parson and everyone who put that show together. It seemed like they managed to double the number of attendees again this year. I mean, it was insane. It was so packed that at one point there was a line to get OUT of the dealers room (where we had a table). People were flooding in by the thousand. Crazy. At this rate they'll have become the biggest Anime con in Georgia by next year's momocon. Keep up the good work guys.
So over at the Udon Deviant Art web site you can see a piece I did for them sometime soon after Comic Con last year. Actually it was one of the first pieces I did for them and if I remember correctly I think I ended up putting about 20 hours into the pencils and inks for the thing. It was a beast, but at the time I remember being excited about the opportunity to work with Udon and was determined to do something to knock their socks off. And yes, they do wear socks up in Canada.
So now that Momocon is over all I have to look forward to in finishing up on CSI and then starting the begging process for a new book. If you are in the Atlanta area please keep an eye out for the guy panhandling by highway exits with a sandwich board that reads "will Manga for food".
Here's a recent doodle:

It's been a while since I had enough time to blog here. December and January flew by in a blur of work and before I knew it half of February had gone by. I think in the last 4 weeks I drew something like 45 pages and inked I don't know how many. But with looming deadlines on CSI, I guess I don't have a choice. Somehow I think I'll be doing the 80 hour week until A-kon. I really could use a break...
On the exciting news front (there's been lots of news, some exciting, some promising for future projects, and some downright crushing...) I have become part of the group of creators known as the Udon Crew. Yes, that's the technical name. Anyway, the official announcement can be found here: http://udoncrew.deviantart.com/art/Crimson-Viper-Please-Colour-110948530. If you keep your eyes peeled you'll start to see my art on many works Udon has contributed to, starting with some of the newest Exalted Roleplaying books. I also have a short backup story in the upcoming fifth issue of the new Street Fighter comic, due sometime this spring. Check it out people! It features Crimson Viper in all her glory.

Anyway, here are some CSI pages. Enjoy!

We were watching a new episode of Mecha Ike the other night when I gave myself an asthma attack I was laughing so hard. In fact Megumi, who doesn't have any nerdy lung conditions, was wheezing herself by the end of the episode. It was a recap of last year's Okazaeru when Okamura was invited to dance in the Exile children's backdancing group but instead forced his way into the main act and took over a concert for 40,000 people. I can only describe the whole thing as brilliant. Well worth an asthma attack.
Yeah, that's how I start my first blog entry in almost a month. What else have I been doing? Well, work, and ... work. I came up for air the other day and realized it was December. Where the hell did November go? I think I might have had some kind of Thanksgiving somewhere in there, but it's all a hazy memory. I think that November must have just started with a wimper and gone out with a wimper... well, at least I still have something to do. If you believe the news the world is about to end so it's comforting to still have publishers who want to pay me for my services.
Anyway, My brother in law continues to send us (almost) monthly shipments of Japanese tv shows he painstakingly burns to dvds for us. Unfortunately I don't have that much time to watch anything. I've still got most of the second half of Gundam 00 to watch left waiting for me and it's eating me up not being able to watch it. I know someone is going to call and start talking about it and ruin the whole thing for me if I don't get around to start watching it. But I am able to take enough time to watch the beauty that is Mecha Ike.