THE HORIZON, SHE IS A FATTIE
Much news on the horizon, which is massive but supple--like a former female bodybuilder who still does calisthenics but is hardly still competitive. Forgive me if that metaphor is completely sprained (probably a power-lifting injury)--I thought I'd laid in bed for an hour, then got up and realized I'd mis-set my alarm clock. Meaning I woke up at 5am this morning.
First of all, yesterday was my sister Shawna's birthday. She is now 32, which somehow makes me feel older than actually being 34. Happy birthday Shawna! And today is my friend Nixon's birthday, who I think is now 36. Now that's old! I need to call him--I'm terrible with the phone.
Also, in case you missed it earlier, I am now on Twitter. I'm eschewing the whole tweet/twit/rude-lady-word line of self-deprecating jokes, because a) they're too easy, and b) everyone else has already done them. In any case, if you're into Twitter you should follow me, although whatever I put there is likely as interesting or less than what's right here.
This Saturday is Free Comic Book Day, which we'll be celebrating in high fashion at Heroes Aren't Hard To Find. I think we're hosting somewhere between 15 and 20 different studly guests, who will be signing autographs and doing free sketches under two different tents. Plus, of course, free comics--about 20 different titles, including Drawn & Quarterly's John Stanley book, which is I believe a gorgeous advertisement for their forthcoming Melvyn Monster book. Color me excited! I'm trying to think of a joke involving spelling my name "Dharbyn", but all I'm coming up with is wild-woman references. I woke up early.
Also debuting on Free Comic Book Day will be Wide Awake Press's ANCIENT AGE online anthology, in which I have an 8-page story called "The Under-Achiever." That's the first panel up there. I don't want to give the story away, but I will say it is set in ancient Rome and has an unhappy ending, as nearly all stories set in ancient Rome do. This is the second year I've had something in the WAP FCBD anthology--last year's "Piltdown" had my one-page strip "Door To Door" in it. I'll say more about this this week in a separate post.
Just one week later, I'll be winging northwards to the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, set appropriately in lovely Toronto, Ontario, Canada. TCAF is a lot of fun, and features many more Canadians than our American comics conventions. They're very proud of it actually, almost insultingly so. Almost. I'll be up there tabling with Joe Lambert and Chuck McBuck and Alexis Frederick-Frost, all of whom are CCS graduates and studbolts. I guess they want me to get their drinks for them or something--I'll be pretty outclassed.
Speaking of outclassed, I've also been invited to be on a panel at the show. I'm not sure what it's called, but here's the description:
I don't know anything about any of that, and told them so, but they want me anyway. It's nice to be wanted! If I don't have anything to add, I'm just going to get Dash to draw me naked versions of all the female characters from Bottomless Bellybutton while everyone else talks about Paul Gulacy. And last up on my dancecard is this summer's Heroes Convention (June 19-21), which is 70% of what I do for a living all year. Really, my dancecard is a big HeroesCon flyer, and I jot down my other engagements on the back. I'll point you in the direction of the HeroesCon website for all the details, because jeez-oh-man, are there a lot of them. Whew! This horizon sure is corpulent! Busy summer will hopefully lead to a relaxed fall. Oh snap! I almost forgot to mention this week's DHARBIN! strip, which I posted a day early this week (yesterday). So much to do!Join Frank Santoro, Robin McConnell, Dash Shaw, Dustin Harbin and Robert Dayton for a look at how mainstream comics of the silver and bronze age have a relevance and impact on modern alternative comics. The panel will explore the legacy of some of the more interesting "mainstream" work from the 70's through to the 90's.
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