fedex...your worst nightmare....but

I ship a lot of art. all over the world...mostly never have a problem. but this summer after
the San Diego comic con, I shipped home 14 boxes....mostly art. This is incredibly stressful for me because some of these boxes are VEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERY valuable. and i had good reason for this stress * fedex lost 1 of the boxes. a gazilion $$$'s worth of art in it.

This happened at the very beginning of the summer trip with still nearly 1 month of travel ahead. i only had a master list, so i couldn't say exactly what was in the box. the people at fedex have a SHITTY system for finding lost packs. It turned out that when we finally started dealing with the "trace dept" that they weren't even in the same state of the warehouse with the lost boxes!!! all they had to go on were the Keywords to search from. we went around in circles until they told me, sorry...just make a claim!! after this Marcia wrote letters to ALL the most important people at fedex, and we were beginning to negotiate with the insurers. when they called and our package was FOUND !!!! the letters worked...because they re opened the investigation. 2 months after being lost...it shows up in Utah. ??? ohhhhhhhhh, where they auction lost packs!!!! BASTARDS !!!!! they told me on the phone that they wait more than a year before things go to auction houses.

Moral of this story: don't give up hope!!!

summer highlights!

soooooooooooooooooo, i've been outta the loop. guilty as charged. it was a long, fun, at some point difficult, at other times amazing summer.
the highlights:!!!
1- San Diego. Terrible marine layer the whole time we were in S.D., but we managed to have fun anyway. Fun at the beach except that nasty stingray assault on my friend's son Sam. He's ok...the kid's a trooper. and OF COURSE there's the food we love: Great Asian, superb farmers' market, 2- 2-our friends from the Netherlands (the Mokken family!!!)... they were in S.D., and they joined us for camping in the Sequoia forest. awesome times.
3-Camping in the Sierra's. ALWAYS a blast. Did some new things this time, the big fire almost blew our plans...but we ended up trying a new camp for the first 2 nites. absolutely amazing and completely pristine.
4- the drive North: short form...
a- dinner at a polish restaurant (chopin) in Walnut Creek
b- the drive up to Mendocino...passing thru wine country with a very nice afternoon lunch in Sonoma
c-MENDOCINO !!!! great seaside town. superb food, great coffee shops and nice architecture and lush gardens everywhere.
d- THE NORTHERN REDWOOD FORESTS !!! amazing.
e- Southern Oregon coast. DUNES !!!!
f- Staying with Marcia's Uncle Ed & his wife Anne in Eugene OR
g- Portland. great city, stayed with Marcia's cousin David and his family.

fri. s.d. Comicon report - ASHLEY WOOD ARRIVES!!!

wellllll, after having his flight canceled on wed, and being held up with nothing to do till now, Ashley arrived around 1pm. All the faithful fans who've been following his blog and waiting patiently have been rewarded. There is a nice little crowd around him chatting and getting signatures and sketches. i'll have photos later !!

EATaly

A completely crazy food experience is heading to New York City in around 4 months...

to find out what EATALY is..... CLICK HERE to read the article about Joe Bastianich's new project

just reading about has me juicy.

i can't wait.

s

counter culture heaven - MERMAID PARADE in coney island

you gotta love people in costumes on parade...? well i do!!!, especially when it's the natty
Mermaid Parade of Coney Island.

scantilly clad mermaids & mermen...from clumsy to carnivale and everything in between, it's a great event with Lou Reed & Laurie Anderson leading the parade!

we had a sensational time starting off the day at the coney island aquarium, and proceeded to the parade route and then a fantastic meal of Russian cuisine on the Brighten Beach boardwalk
@ Tatiana. Cherry filled ravioli, Borscht and then Chicken Kiev & Osso Bucco .

Jim Woodring WEATHERCRAFT opening

Wow, a big thanks to all the fans, friends, artists, bloggers, and Brooklyn neighborhoodies who attended the opening last nite. Those posters i put up in the neighborhood really worked!

Jim's Weathercraft art looked great hanging! We exhibited around 30 pieces including the 24 pages in a row from the end of the book. The art will be hanging for another month!...so try to come in to see it.

It was a great evening with Jim on hand meeting & greeting fans, signing books doing a sketch or 2 as requested...An old acquaintance of his brought in the first zine he made (1982 !!) that she got when she traded hers for his. This was quite THE artifact. very cool to see it.

The evening went swimmingly and the signed Weathercraft books, and limited ed. (50) silkscreen prints we made were hot items~! (contact me for the remaining few that are still available!! - artofcomix@aol.com )

*next time, a 50 lbs worth of ice! dang it was a bit hot in the gallery, and beers could have benefited from a tad more ice...note to self! tho i didn't hear any complaints ;-)

germany day 11& 12...final days of ERLANGEN

it ain't easy stayin on top of this. so, excuse me if i ramble and continue to make no sense like i usually do! the final 2 days of the show were great. amazing times, great biz, and a lot of fun seeing old friends and great artists. to start with Thomas Ott came by and said hi. He, the Swiss master of scratch board art is still making some of the coolest art around. i had a lot of fun with him stopping by and saying hi. also, a real trooper award goes to Veronica in her Wonder Woman costume!!! yes. plus there's a pic of the special dish i was talkin about called Blaue Zipfel in Zwiebelsud.

also great news for my new friend , female artist Ulli Lust who took home several major honors at the awards : !!!!

ICOM prize- independent comic prize _ Erlangen & Munich comic festivals

best graphic novel of the year for "Heute ist der letzte Tag vom Rest deines Lebens" ok...that translates (courtesy of google translate) to Today is the last day of the rest of your life

and the german equivalent of the Eisner awards the Max & Moritz prize for the fans favorite!

and her book got the publishing rights bought by French, Spanish & Italian publishers!!!
so, congrats Ulli!!!!

so the last 2 days just flew by and next thing you know its time for dinner and another fine meal at the Kitzmann brewery....

final day of the show was great and then BOOM! it's over, time to pack up and head back to Munich. no matter what kind of show i've had there's always a sad feeling like "what?" it's ending already???? yep. so, we packed it all up and hopped in Christoph's van and were back in Munich in like 2 hrs. had an uneventful but convenient meal at a local beer garden down the street.
enjoy all these pix from the final days