APE Article on CBR!

A special thanks to John Parkin from the blog Robot 6 for his detailed article about this year's Alternative Press Expo at Comic Book Resources, and for including some quotes from yours truly! Not to brag, but one of my quotes was actually used as the article's headline!

If anyone is checking out my humble little blog as a result of that article, drop me a line, and I'll happily send you a complimentary copy of my first solo self-published comic, Karaoke Comics #1. Otherwise, the rest of my self-published work can be found at KaraokeFanboy Press -- and don't forget to check out my K.O. Comix buddy Brent's new dogs vs. cats apocalyptic western, Dog Town, too!

Hot Air

Thanks to Balloon Boy, hot air balloons have been all the rage in the news lately -- and coincidentally, my latest poetry zine. "What Goes Up," features a poem about hot air balloons! When I was a kid, I was enamored with the hot air balloons that used to dot the Arizona sunrise, and one of them once landed in a field across from my grandparents' house. Here's a poem I wrote to capture that moment.

Hot Air

At first, they freckled the Technicolor dawn
like a connect-the-dot puzzle,
disjointed parts of a bigger picture,
poking holes in morning’s defense against
the fugitive night,
dozens of little eyes looking down at us
dozens of little eyes peering up at them.

Before the other houses came,
one of them descended across the street,
an angel holding aloft his sword of fire.
His puffed chest deflated,
his dragon’s roar now a whisper as
my father ran ahead to see him,
unafraid of the falling sky.

We had just moved to the desert
like a blank canvas for civilization
and from behind the window I watched them
celebrate our Manifest Destiny
with messages in bubbly bottles;
I read their lips as they kissed the ground
from heads held high in the clouds.

Soon, the herald returned to the heavens,
and the other houses came.
Not long after that, my father left, too,
but the dots still stained the pastel sunrise
with an inaudible code I grew to live by:
stand far enough away, and all of us
are just tiny specks on the horizon.

Pac-Man Karaoke

Doctor Popular was kind enough to contribute to the karaoke sketchbook I started at Comic Con this year with this watercolored Pac-Man piece -- VERY cool! I reviewed a book he published over at A Comic A Day, a 24-hour comic called The Magic Yo-Yo by Oke Rosgana, and I included an image of his Pac-Man Ghostbuster. That's right -- thanks to Doc Pop, two of my favorite comic book staples had a baby, and I got to take it home. Check it out!

Back from APE . . .

A special thanks to anybody and everybody that visited the K.O. Comix booth at the Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco last weekend! My personal imprint, KaraokeFanboy Press, made its convention debut, and if you're visiting this blog because you picked up Karaoke Comics #1 or one of my Far & Wee fanzines, welcome! Believe me, this is a new experience for me, too, so if you have any feedback, feel free to leave a comment or drop me a line.

In the meantime, my thanks to Robot 6 at Comic Book Resources for giving Karaoke Comics #1 a shout-out (along with my buddy Brent's new book Dog Town, probably the best comic about dogs vs. cats in a post-apocalyptic Old West I've ever read) -- and my thanks to the Mint, where I sang "Piano Man," not to mention the kind stranger that took this pic for me. Yes, I was alone, and I asked someone to take my picture singing. Vanity, thy name is karaoke!

Just In Time for A.P.E.

Premiering at the Altnerative Press Expo next weekend . . .



Far & Wee #2, the next issue in my neo-fanzine series, stars Mel Gibson, Peter Tork, Jesse Ventura, Mr. T, and, obviously, Baby Jesus.



What Goes Up, and all current issues of my 2009 Poetry Zine Series.

See you in San Francisco, and at the Mint Karaoke Lounge!