Waiting for my ride so that I can hang these photos on the walls at Kafe Kerouac for the Sunday Comix gallery show. I’m so excited!

Maybe you know, maybe you don’t know… I’m a father.

I have three fantastic, wonderful, beautiful teenagers. Two daughters– Gigi & Ashley and my son Aaron (to whom I dedicated “Barefoot in America, Breakfast in the Park.”) Due to some unfortunate circumstances, I don’t live with my children and only get to see them maybe once or twice a month. So it goes. I could bitch and moan about what I wish was different, what choices I would have made in the past (if only I could have made them), how I’d like my life to be different now… etc. etc.

…but I find that it’s better to be grateful for what I do have now and work towards making my life the best that I can.

Whenever I see them or talk with them on the phone or chat with them online, I do everything I can to remind them how much I love them. It will never ever be enough…

Here’s a little doodle I just did in my journal after chatting online with my daughter Gigi (and reminding her about coming to one of my upcoming gallery shows).

I love you, sweetie.

I went to Half Price Books yesterday (there are five in Columbus), specifically looking for some music from the Fruit Bats (Mouthfuls, Spelled in Bones) or maybe a Nada Surf CD (none to be found). I ended up buying “The Raw & The Remix,” a Fine Young Cannibals remix disc from 1990.

Of course, I had to check out their graphic novel selection. So I picked up a few “non-fiction” books: Adrian Tomine’s “Scrapbook” ($10!), “The Essential Guide to World Comics” by Tim Pilcher and Brad Brooks (I borrowed this encyclopedic tome from the Columbus Met Library a few months ago– it’s a good, overall informative comic book resource) and “Does this Cape Make Me Look Fat?” by Chelsea Cain and Marc Mohan (totally fucking hilarious). I also found “The Long Chalkboard and Other Stories” by Jenny Allen and Jules Feiffer (yay!), as well as a smattering of other actual graphic novels. When I walked up to the counter to pay for my haul I had one book on the top of my stack that I was very excited about and couldn’t resist voicing my enthusiasm to the cashier:

“Excuse me, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to ask you a rather self-centered and potentially pretentious question.”

“Go ahead.”

“If I am one of the authors of this book, do I get a discount?”

“I doubt it sir, but if you’d like, I can ask the manager.”

“No, that’s okay. It’s just not everyday that I see this book in a bookstore.”

“So, you really wrote this?

“Nah, I just drew it.”

“Amoeba Adventures. Sounds fun.”

Yeah, so there I was, in Half Price Books, holding “Amoeba Adventures: Mushrooms and Dinosaurs,” written by the great Nik Dirga and illustrated by yours truly. Nik was the creator of the whole Protoplasm Press universe—writing and illustrating these hilarious, adventurous stories of Prometheus the Amoeba and the rest of the All-Star Spongy Squadron: Rambunny, Ninja Ant, Karate Kactus, Dawn Star and Cyrone Julian Spifinov (formerly “Dr. Spif,” then “Mr. Spif” and eventually just plain Spif). Mr. Dirga began self-publishing Amoeba Adventures on his own in 1990 and I (as of issue #14) became the regular artist on the book in 1994, joining him in the creation of “all things spongy.”

Jeez. We had a hell of a lot of fun back then.

“Mushrooms and Dinosaurs” collected issues 15-19 of the series (there were 27 total issues) and it was my very first published trade paperback comic book (and currently my only one).

As I was having a little nostalgic flashback with my cashier, Gwen, the other nearby cashier overheard us talking. She didn’t have any customers to ring up, so she chimed in: “Amoeba Adventures? What’s that? Oh, this Prometheus looks so cute! Wow, you drew this book? I’d love to read it.”

Long story short, I let the other cashier (Grace) keep the book, gave them both postcard invites (with sketches) to one of my upcoming gallery show (Komics @ Kerouac) and bicycled home beneath a clear, brisk January evening sky.

I invite you to the opening reception on Sunday, February 3rd, for “Laughs at Lakeside” : Cartoon and Graphic Arts by Ohio artists.  I am one of over a dozen artists on display through February at The High Road Gallery at 12 E. Stafford Ave in Worthington, Ohio.  With the cooperation of the National Cartoonists Society Great Lakes Chapter and Steve Boreman, who is chair of the show, cartoonists will exhibit framed or matted originals and prints.  Artists whose work will be on exhibit include Russell Merritt, Ron Hill, Susan Sturgell, Paul Palnik, Judith Vierow, and Sunday Comixers Matt Wyatt & your very own Max Ink. (I’ll be exhibiting three pages from “Space To Breathe.”) The show dates are January 30 through February 23.

The free Artists’ reception on Sunday, February 3rd, will take place from 2-4 PM. The cartoonist group I run, “Sunday Comix”, will head a “cartoonists’ jam session” during the opening in which all artists are invited to a progressive cartoon, adding their skills to the panels as they are drawn. Mike Patrick will select prizes for entries in the show and awards will be given at the reception.

Three dimensional additions to the show are enamel pins by Susan Hunt and felted vessels by Suzanne Pusecker.

The High Road Gallery is located in Worthington at 12 East Stafford Ave, one block north of 161 off High Street. Gallery hours are 12-4 Wednesday through Friday and 11:30 to 4 on Saturday. Gallery phone is 614-781-6454. Visit www.highroadgallery.org for more information.

A few weeks ago, I joined Martin Wagner’s Yahoo! Group. I’d read Mr. Wagner’s Hepcats back in the mid 90’s (during the Sim-Self-Publishing boom) and he quickly became an influence on my drawing style of the time. His detailed rendering and ability to draw so precisely was a trait a desired to call my own. Sometimes I think the work I do today comes close to what he had accomplished over a decade ago, but I still have a long way to go.

Anyhow, both Martin & I love the band Yes. So I ordered a print of one of my favorite pages (that’s Joey wearing the classic Yes t-shirt) along with a sketch. As a token of my esteem for Martin’s work I sent him a couple of Blink books. Well, wasn’t I surprised when I saw this a few days later!

Yesterday, my buddy Slay emails me this review by Comics Worth Reading’s very own Johanna Draper Carlson (who happens to be a member or Mr. Wagner’s Yahoo Group)!

I’d have to say my favorite quote is:

“Not the kind of edgy stuff you might equate with most alt-comix, but a nice counterbalance to that sort of work. They’re like little stories to read when you’re in a foul mood and want a pick-me-up.”

I’m certain to get a lot of mileage out of that one.

Of all the idiots I have met in my life, and the Lord knows they have not been few or little, I think that I have been the biggest.

-Isak Dinesen

I suck at writing about myself. If you ever happen to meet me in person, I can blab on and on (and please don’t hesitate to tell me to shut up) but when it comes to typing stuff up to post here…

…urg.

Well, I’d best overcome that idiot self and update this blog more often so that I might let those few people who actually read this thing know what’s going on in the land of Ink.

First off, I’m reformatting and will be reprinting all the BLiNK comics I’ve done so far. They’ll all still be digest sized and look pretty much the same, but I’m tweaking things here and there to make them more accessible to new readers.

Why?

Because this year, I plan on getting a lot more new readers.

Why?

Because (second off) I’ll be doing a lot more public appearances this year.

As such:

Feb 3 Laughs at Lakeside, High Road Gallery, Worthington, OH

Feb ? Komix @ Kerouac, Kafe Kerouac, Columbus, OH (just N of OSU)

Mar 1-2 SPACE, Aladdin Shrine Center, Columbus, OH

Apr 6 Gem City Comic Con, Student Union at Wright State University, Dayton, OH

Jun 7-8 MoCCA, Puck Building, New York, NY

Oct 4-5 SPX, Marriott Bethesda North Hotel & Conference Center, North Bethesda, MD

Nov 29-30 Mid-Ohio-Con, TBA, Columbus, OH

More appearances might be forthcoming (depending on finances & other considerations).

So, I hope that this post will begin a trend for me to write about myself (idiot though I may be) and keep anyone who happens upon this site up to date on what’s going on with yours truly.