Happy holidaze, everyone!

We will return to our regularly scheduled programming in the new year... until then, I'll defer to a friend's accomplishment: To commemorate our soon-to-be 44th president, Charly LaGreca has created this labor of love for all you Obama fans:



Apparently being a full time illustrator, performer and writer of musicals, and podcast host interviewing comic luminaries like Alan Moore and Jeff Smith doesn't keep him busy enough.

P'shop plug-in flattening Holy Grail:

If you're an illustrator and understand the first three words of that title, then you MUST download this. Coloring VIETNAMERICA's 300 pages just got a whole lot faster.

I'm not a Morning person.

I begin my work day with email. Often images come easier than actual sentences which result in these spontaneous, lightning fast doodles. Horribly drawn and of questionable taste, they kick-start my day with a laugh (my low standards a testament to how groggy I am in the morning). A week of October high/lowlights:

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

One of the most enjoyable aspects of working on VIETNAMERICA is rummaging through old family pics and discovering the most hilarious shit:

Southeast Asia knows how to party.

In stores Wednesday is cartoonist Sonny Liew's anthology LIQUID CITY. You may recognize him from his Eisner-nom'd and Xeric winning work for DC, SLG, Image, Villard, and :01 but did you know he could also be a whip-cracking editor adeptly guiding a herd of artists towards a communal deadline?

Newsarama interviews Sonny about his editorial debut here, and visit the book's site for all the glorious deets (including ongoing contests for gorgeous original art!). I was suppose to contribute a story but VIETNAMERICA became all consuming, so now my efforts take the form of pimping my friend's brand spankin' new 312 page baby. Congratulations, Sonny!

Bali Sketchbook: Part 2

Fact versus fiction

This cartoon by friend, collaborator, and writer-translator extraordinaire Hanvey Hsiung perfectly conveys my biggest on-going challenge in researching VIETNAMERICA. This exchange occurred at my wedding between Hanvey (H) and my father (T):

Bali Sketchbook: Part I

The lingering hangover of SDCC

This was a great "welcome home" surprise: thanks to Martin Wong at Giant Robot for including my two cents in their latest issue's SDCC coverage. Check it out to taste the blood, sweat, and tears of me and eleven other Small Press exhibitors as we pursue total world domination.

Bali says relax.

Still shaking the sand out of everything I packed after an awesome wedding and awesomer honeymoon. I'll post sketchbook stuff soon, but mainly wanted to say that I won't be exhibiting at next weekend's SPX due to an unquenchable desire to get back to work on VIETNAMERICA after a month off. I will be attending, though, so look forward to hobnobbing with kindred spirits one last time before we all go into a winter work hibernation.