“We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.” -Benjamin Franklin Jackie and I were horrified, saddened and outraged by the events in France this past week. The key tenent of free speech is that it is not as important to say things that everyone agrees with, but to be…
It’s been ten years since Will Eisner left us. To commemorate his memory, I’d like to share a tribute I wrote for Jon Cooke’s Comic Book Artist at the time of Will’s passing. I reworked and added a couple of details, but the sentiment remains the same. I first discovered the work of Will Eisner…
Back in the early 21st century, I contributed to Smoky Man and Gary Spencer Millidge’s anthology, Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary Gentleman, which celebrated the writer/magician’s 50th birthday. But wait, there’s Moore: Smoky Man now has a blog, Alan Moore World, concerning itself with all things Alan! Smoky posted my two-pager which asks the question posed about…
I want to give a plug to one of my favorite comics-related publications, Robin Snyder’s The Comics! Since 1990, Robin produced this monthly zine, dedicated to being a first-person history of the medium. Robin is no stranger to comics– among his credits are editing and writing for DC, Archie, and Western Publishing. Over the years he…
Little Fish Studios of Ocean Beach in San Diego (under the auspices of San Diego Comic Fest), hosted an exhibit of sketches and illustrations done at the San Diego Opera by such local cartoonists as Scott Benefiel, Marty Davis, Rebecca Hicks, Joe Sanabria, Eric Shanower, and yours truly. The operas included A Masked Ball, Don…
Located in the Gaslamp district, San Diego’s newest comics shop, Boomshop of Comics, hosted their very first “drink & draw” event for local cartoonists on Thursday evening, October 9th. Troy, Gio, and their staff were engaging hosts and made sure everyone was comfortable and had a beverage of their choice! Enjoyed, as always, chatting…
Well, another Comic-Con International: San Diego has come and gone. This year not only marks twenty-five years since I first attended Comic-Con, but I was honored to be a guest at this year’s soiree! Still, my main duty was to helm the Exhibit A Press booth where the new Wolff & Byrd trade paperback, Zombie…
Batton is the featured guest on the latest edition of Chriss Cornish’s popular podcast, The Comics Squee. Chriss, April, John and Batton roll the gaming dice and discuss Alex Die Campi’s Grindhouse, Kickstarter projects, The Charlton Arrow, and Supernatural Law, of course! Listen here.
Here are some sketches I did as a result of watching the dress rehearsal of the San Diego Opera’s production of Don Quixote. Thanks to a brainstorm from SD Opera’s ace PR Director, Ed Wilensky, I got the gig along with several other cartoonists in the San Diego area. Ed’s a longtime comics fan and thought…
Comedian David Brenner’s passing had me reflecting on years past, not only because he was a very funny man, but that I once had an odd peripheral connection to him. Of course, the news of the comedian’s death was sad to hear; once a ubiquitous presence on television (there was a point where it seemed…