This past week has been a catch up period for me. I have another Mary Jane issue to complete in 2 weeks plus e-mails to reply to and bills to pay. I've been ignoring these annoying bills for the past 2 months and they're piling up. I'll get them off Monday.

The quit smoking thing is going well. I'm down to 2 ciggies a day and I'm steps away from completely quitting. The patches have been a great help. It's not the nicotine but, rather, cutting the actual "habit" of it that has been most difficult. Associating it with after meals and coffee. That sort of thing. I'm almost there.

Been watching too much TV lately. The only regular show I watch really is LOST. All the other crap is an excuse to do nothing. It's a time sucker. I should layout my room differently so that it's facing away from my table. I may, infact, take my own advice.

Sleeping too much lately as well. Over-sleeping is almost as bad as under-sleeping. I'm lethargic and lazy all day when either happens. It's too easy to turn off the alarm and close my eyes again. Considering buying another alarm for my other room.

Today's pic is of Detective Gesicht from Naoki Urasawa's brilliant Pluto. If you like Sci-fi and thrillers this is for you. It kicks all kinds of ass.

No wait, it was an AWESOME weekend.

Despite forgetting my passport at home and spending about 100 bucks on cab fare busting back and forth to the airport at 5 in the morning, I managed to reach The Reactor in Chicago. I quickly met up with Felipe, C.B. and Rivkah and had a few drinks to unwind with at the bar downstairs. Talked life, work and how the draft beers tasted like shite. I stuck to bottled Coronas for the rest of the night. Scottie Young dropped by the next day and the con was officially on.

Felipe takes a monster bite outta the crowd with MBQ

I had a few panels to speak at and then spent the rest of the weekend hanging out with the other guests. Scottie took us to his apartment/studio and showed us his mad setup and work. The dude is talented and has his shit totally together. Props. I also got to try some Cajun cuisine for the first time and relished in chicago za. Man, I won't see pizza the same ever again. It was freakin' awesome.

I like this con cuz I have the luxury to just do NOTHIN'. Nights were free for the guests to wander around, get drunk and chill. And chill we did. I can't remember the last time I talked so MUCH about comics. Like, hours, man. Hours upon hours. We couldn't stop. The con staff was awesome as well. SO nice and accomodating. Fuck, everything was awesome!

Anyway, I'll keep this brief. Special thanks to James, Nathan, John, Megan, Brandy, Rich, Vidas, among a whole bunch of others I can't remember. You guys and girls rocked. I had a blast.

Todays pic is, again, from BOTI. Giichi seems to have taken a back seat with the current arc so here he is. Enjoy.

I've got a plane to catch in 3 hours. Still haven't packed or thought about what to bring along with me at all. Been too busy trying to finish a cover before I jet. Luckily, it seems to have stopped raining outside.Yay, weather.

That's it from me for tonight. Updates after I get back.

Today's pic is or Rin from the brutishly beautiful Blade of the Immortal. In terms of historic action and drama, nothin' tops it.

I've been in the habit of taking naps for too long. What's supposed to be a quick 30 minute power nap ends up being 3-4 hours. Sometimes I wake up the next morning and realize all the lights in my apartment are on and I feel all grimy from sleeping in my clothes and forgetting to brush. On top of that I haven't done any work. Talk about a shitty situation. I've been using the patch and cutting the smokes so I think that's what's been affecting my sleep. Argh.

Anyway, I'll be off to Anime Reactor this Thursday. It's a great con in Chicago and they always treat their guests well. I'm really looking forward to this. I'm scheduled to speak at 3 panels: One on portfolio prep and tips, one on comics and one on the future of manga. If you're in the area, drop by and say Hi.

Their site is here: www.thereactor.org

Todays pic is of Takumi from the smash hit Initial D. I'm lovin' where the story is goin' and the battles are gettin' craaaaaaaaaazeeeeeeeeee.

I just rented and watched National Treasure. I think I've made clear what I thought of it. It was SO SO terrible I couldn't help wonder what the creators were thinking. I kept staring at Nicholas Cage's hairline thinking "That is SO not real. We all know he's bald." I think every character in that movie was borderline retarded. The hot blond that tags along: retarded. The FBI: retarded. The villians: Damn retarded. Cage and his partner: retarded. Yup, that takes care of all of 'em. I'm clawin' my eyes out here. Please, make it stop.

Aaaaanyway, today's pic is of Kurono from the uber-cool GANTZ. One of the most engrossing characters for me of late.

I've been up for 16 hours now which sounds normal but it's only 4 pm. Gonna try and stay up for the rest of the day by eating wings and playing poker with some buds. No beer, though. It would only make me pass out. I should be on a regular schedule again tomorrow. Hopefully.

New BFX is coming along nicely. It'll be a monster 8 pages this week + cover. You're in for a treat.

Today's pic is of Atom from the amazing Pluto by Naoki Urasawa.

Just had a big bowl of miso ramen. Yummy. I like it with seaweed, corn, bean sprouts and green onions. Yeah, it's 7 in the morning but I've been up all night workin'.

I've started to reread Hey Nostradamus! by Coupland again. Wait, that was redundant... I think this and Girlfriend in a Coma are two of my favourite books ever. I aspire to communicate as much as these books do in my work. It's not just the message but the present day analogies and visual cues tied into the work that make it especially relevent for today. Beautiful.

I've decided to start a fanart collection of characters from books and movies I've recently enjoyed. At least one with every post from now on. First on the list is Chihiro from the masterpiece Spirited Away.

Finally finished Spidey <3 MJ this morning. God damn. I should really organize myself more. These last 2 weeks were pure hell.

My guitar skillz are steadily improving. I've been playing chords and simple songs mostly. Eric Clapton, The Pillows, some Beatles. It's a natural progression for newbies I figure. Gonna make the switch to an electric sometime soon. Need to buy my new machine first. Oh, yes. 24 inch flat screen monitor and everything. It'll be, like, watching TV and working at the same time. Oh, man.

Bought some no-name figs today at the local Safeway. I haven't eaten them since grade school and the first bite took me back some. It was me in a wind tunnel of nostalgia. The flesh on my cheeks rippling from the days where sweatpants were the greatest thing on earth. I like that they have little seeds in them and they crunch in my mouth when I chew. Strawberry seeds? I dunno. Accompanied with me on this adventure was a cup of coffee and a ciggie. I've grown up. How sweet it is.

Track of the day has been 1979. I've always liked the video for this even though my like for the band hasn't seen the same constant. I'd like to play this tune one day.

So, now I have some time to work on this pitch for ********. I've tentatively named it Gymnopedie. Still trying to decide what genre I'd like it to be since it has room to be many at once. I've been thinking about this thing for over a year now and need to finally get the shit in my head on paper. It's been more difficult than I expected. Daunting infact. I've started by drawing cute chicks.

Corey Lewis' new book PENG. Available today. Just got my copy and it's bustin' with total comix energy. BUSTIN'!! Will give it a good read tonight but the first look through was eye-poppin'. Get this. Now.

I bought some new plates from IKEA over the weekend. A nice white set of six. I've already broken one.

Haven't shaved for 3 days and it still barely shows.

Heard a distant ring of the phone this morning. My mind said yes but my body said no. Whoever called I'm sorry.

Left out some Smarties in the sun. Canadian smarties mind you. Little chocolates covered in a candy shell. The shells remained intact but the chocolate inside turned from solid to liquid. Delicious.

Left a vinyl record out in the sun. It's no longer flat.

Had a dream that I was at my drawing table and erasing furiously. What; I'll never know. The bits were clumping into lumps big as turds.

Diet coke for breakfast kinda burns it's way down.

The first cigarette in the morning always makes me dizzy.

My one plant is officially dead.

Another in a string of rainy days. I seem to be twice as productive when it rains. I dunno. I think it's the grey that reminds me of the nights. Being in Vancouver, I'm locked in for 8 months of this. I'll make use of it somehow.

Got an e-mail from ******* a few days ago. I've been pondering on it. Wondering if I made mistakes but not regretting anything. We've both got shit to do. I know that. If anything, it's motivated me to become whole and not settle for halfway. I've been halfway for the past 2 years. I've forgotten what risk is. What living is. Time for me to ride it again. I'm talking to myself aren't I? Give me half an ear.

Yup. Right here.

The interview was recorded back at this year's Toronto show in August. I talk about Japan, working for Marvel, Mary Jane and Sidekicks. My answers were pretty short. I wish I'd elaborated a bit more.

Anyway, enjoy.

Thanks to Shannon for the interview.

A busy bookstore in the heart of Akihabara where there are no concerns for manga, comics or OEL terminology... or chicks for that matter.

There seems to be a lot of discussion on what people should call J-comic style books being produced in North America. What are they? What defines it? What's with the dichotomy? Aren't they just comics? I, personally, would opt for the last stance on this. They ARE just sequential images on paper afterall and show any dude(tte) off the street and they'll tell you the same. Of course, if you're the one making them and want props from the kidz this isn't exactly a satisfying answer. Well, okay, so now what?

This argument reminds me of what the difference of being Canadian or American is. We live on the same piece of dirt and talk the same language. We listen to the same music, watch the same crap on TV and read the same comics. WTF. To me, being a Canuck is defined by what we aren't more than what we are. We aren't American, that's for sure. And we aren't exactly British either. So, what the hell are we? Well, it's subjective but one thing I can say for sure is that we're unique. We have our own heroes/heroines, our own history and our own logic. Our values stem from a different set of circumstances and there's no getting around that. It's set. It's stone. It's our path, people.

Another great example is J-baseball. It's, like, the great American pastime being played in Japan. Well, all over the world for that matter. Is it the same game? Well, yes and no. The rules are the same. 4 balls and you take a base. 3 outs and you switch from offy to deefy and vice versa. But the appreciation for the game is, like, apples and oranges. They are SO freakin' into it, man. It's crazy. They've literally implanted the samurai spirit into the game. Respect. It's all about respect. Respect the game, the players, the fans, the ball, the bat, the diamond you walk on. The game is also about teamwork more than the individual. I remember watching an interview with Shinjo a while back where he was asked what he found different about the game compared to how he played back home. His answer was something to the effect of "you're a team in Japan but an individual here. It's about how many homeruns you can hit"

Alright, I'm getting a bit off topic, but the jist of the argument is that I don't think I've ever heard an American argue how the Japanese weren't keeping the game 'real'. If such an argument ever did come up then it's pretty evident that they have a broom stick up their jack seat. And if you ever DO manage to attend a J-game, it'll be quite the experience. You'll be eating ramen and takoyaki instead of hotdogs and nachos. You'll have a brightly coloured plastic megaphone and chanting team songs instead of doing the wave. My point; it'll be different but a uniquely J-experience.

So, back to OELs/comics.

Whatever book I draw will be a comic. I don't care what anyone else says, that's what I'm doin'. And if I ever DO decide to do a full length comic it would be an OEL comic. If some kid in butt-fuck-nowhere tells me different, well, screw 'em. I can throw in as many J-references as humanly possible on each page with J-SFX and J-storytelling but it's still gonna be a comic but a comic that's uniquely me. Sometimes, when I work off a script I feel like an extra panel would work nicely for transition or a different shot would be more fitting and I do just that. Luckily, I haven't been fired yet so I guess I'm doing something right.

So, what is an OEL? It's something homegrown and something unique. It's made up of more "aren't"s than "are"s but that's exactly why we're here in the first place. Do you really want an immitation Dragonball or Kenshin? If so, then you suck. In the meantime, I'll be reading the MBQs and Scott Pilgrims, enjoying something called diversity and relishing in a uniquely North American-experience.