The reason I decided to update this blog on a strictly weekly basis is that I figured it would be often enough so that people might visit regularly, but infrequently enough so I could write (somewhat) interesting entries without having the blog take over my life. For the most part I think it’s worked out pretty good so far.

This week, however, I’ve been really busy preparing the files for my forthcoming graphic novel Tonoharu: Part One to send to my printer. I’m anxious to get the files off to the printer because there’s an eight-week turnaround time from when they get the files to when I get the books back from them, and I want to start that process as soon as possible. So getting those files in order has been my number one priority.

Because of that, the old blog took a backseat this week. So with these few measly lines, I bring this phoned-in entry to a close. By early next week I should have the files delivered to the printer, and will resume writing the interesting entries you’ve come to expect (*cough, cough*), starting with the forth part of my Creating Tonoharu series. So check back for that.

In the meantime, check out a couple press releases I took a stab at writing here. If anyone who actually knows how to write a press release has any suggestions for edits, please let me know.

Like many Gen X nerds, I collect curios. Quaint little bits of ephemera from America’s past, incomprehensible consumer products from foreign countries, folk/outsider art… all that sort of nonsense.

My tastes are pretty narrow, however. The superficial bric-a-brac pedaled at raunchy mall gift stores, objects designed to be “weird for weird’s sake”, usually don’t appeal to me. I like things that seem to speak to something sincere. As though they’re just the tip of the iceberg, offering the barest glimpse of a heretofore unknown world.

One of my prized possessions is a pair of keychains given to me by a friend when he lived in Japan. Granted, finding weird knickknacks in Japan is like hitting the broad side of a barn, but these keychains are on a whole other level. They have that divine spark that I look for in the things that I use to bring clutter into my life.

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Image from Tonoharu: Part One

At the end of 2006, I returned from Japan exhausted, unemployed & heartbroken. It wasn’t a very auspicious start to 2007, but I decided to make the best of my total lack of attachments with an experiment.

For the whole of 2007, I would remain willfully unemployed. I wouldn’t devote the slighted effort to a job hunt, or an apartment search, or anything else that a responsible twenty-nine year old in my situation would do. Instead, I would swallow my pride and hole up in my parents’ basement, and devote myself completely to my calling of drawing comics.

My hope was to somehow turn full-time cartooning a financially self-sustaining endeavor. I wasn’t sure if that was possible, but thought a year would be enough time to at least give me some idea. If things seemed to be going well at the end of 2007, I’d continue pursuing comics. If things looked less promising, I’d consider a different path.

So as 2007 came to a close this week, I took stock of where my little experiment has left me.

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Due to extenuating circumstances I won’t be able to update this blog for 2 or 3 weeks.  Please check back the end of this month or early February

This is the last entry to go up while I’m still on American soil; next Tuesday, I’m boarding a plane and heading off to Japan, to study Calligraphy at Shikoku University for two years!

What’s that you say, Twin Cities residents? You just couldn’t live with yourself if you didn’t see me at least one more time before I go? In that case, why not join me tomorrow, Saturday March 29 from 4pm to 7pm! I’m throwing a joint book release party with fellow graphic novelist Tim Sievert at Big Brain Comics in Minneapolis, to celebrate the release of our respective graphic novels, Tonoharu: Part One and That Salty Air! For more details, see this post.

But in case my imminent departure from the USA isn’t enough to convince the Minnesotans among my readership to come out to my little soirée, then how’s about these reviews/coverage for my book, Tonoharu: Part One?

Reviews
The Daily Crosshatch / Brain Heater
Comics Waiting Room / Marc Mason
Comic Book Bin / Leroy Douresseaux
Read About Comics / Greg McElhatton
The Japan Times / David Cozy
Best Shots / Micheal C Lorah (Review of Tonoharu a little less than halfway down the page)
Booklist also reviewed Tonoharu, but I can’t seem to find a link to that…

Other Coverage
JETAANY / Alexei Esikoff
Roseville Review / George Fairbanks

It’s both bizarre and exciting to have complete strangers comment on my work; it gives me a whole other perspective than friends and family, whose criticisms naturally soften when confronted by my large, puppy dog eyes. I’ve been very happy with the critical response Tonoharu has received thus far. Most of the reviews I’ve seen have been quite positive, and I’m glad that I managed to communicate something successfully with Tonoharu. Thanks to all the reviewers & reporters for taking the time to read and evaluate it.

This entry is pretty short, but I tell ya, this month was exhausting with all the preparations for this trip, the book release party, the book marketing… I’m beat. So I think I’ll end it here. Hope to see you tomorrow at the party, otherwise, sayonara!

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Actually, one more quick note: I figure for my first few weeks in Japan, I probably won’t want to have to worry about updating this blog, so I’ve prepared six blog entries to autopost for the next six Fridays. So continue to stop on by for those, (the first two of which will include shocking revelations that I dared not admit while still on American soil). And to read about my new life in Japan, check back on May 16 when I’ll post an entry about that.

Pictured: A front view of my Screwed-up Right Ankle 

Back at the beginning of January, I temporarily halted my weekly updates of this blog with an unceremonious two sentence entry that cited “extenuating circumstances” as the reason for the suspension. When I resumed weekly updates five weeks later, I made no explanation as to why the blog went on hiatus.

Now, I figure most people that would really care about the “extenuating circumstances” probably know me personally, and therefore have already been informed privately about what happened to me. But just in case there’s anyone else out there that’s curious, here’s what happened.

On January third, I slipped on some ice and broke my right leg in three places. Two of the breaks were in the ankle area, and the other higher up on the leg (caused, apparently, by the stress put on the bone by the unnatural angle of the ankle).

The ankle break required surgery to properly align the bones with screws. The pain just before and just after the surgery was like nothing I’ve ever experienced. The first half of January was a blur, as I was doped up on pain meds. I couldn’t concentrate on anything for longer than five minutes, and never could get my leg into a comfortable position.

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Pictured: My Parents (faces skillfully photoshopped to protect their anonymity)

I probably wouldn’t have started this blog in the first place if I hadn’t thought it would be good way to market my comic books. But that isn’t to say that all these entries are just veiled sales pitches; as best I can, I really try to write about my life and my comics in an honest and unpretentious way.

But since this is a public blog, I’m not as always quite as forthcoming as I might be in a more private forum. I avoided the subject of my ankle injury for several weeks, for one. And up until right now, mention of my living arrangements has also been carefully avoided. Only in one brief sentence of one lone blog entry did I elude to the fact that for the whole of 2007, I lived with my parents, in the basement of their suburban home.

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This blog entry is about my trip to Japan at the beginning of April, to study calligraphy at Shikoku University as a Monbusho scholar. At that point my ankle was on the mend from an injury sustained in January, and I could put weight on it and get around with a cane. But it was still quite tender.

It was a long trip; I flew from Minneapolis to Chicago via American Airlines, then Chicago to Tokyo via Japan Airlines, and finally flew from Tokyo to Osaka. I spent the night in Osaka, and then took a bus to Tokushima, where my school is located. (more…)