Soccer

Or fútbol as they say in Spain. There's so much that happened in Avilés, Spain, that I haven't mentioned. Here's a photo I wanted to publish before but I couldn't remember a new artist's last name.

I missed the Fan vs. Volunteer/Pro fútbol game. By the time I came everyone was shaking hands and hugging. I did get Paul Azaceta and Briton Dougie Braithwaite to pose in victory.

Doug played so well that the con organizers gave him an award at the closing ceremony. I'm pretty sure I was the least athletic guy there under the age of 60. For those who don't recognize the name he's the fellow who did layouts pencils for Alex Ross's Justice. (See the above post "Doing Justice" for details on Doug's work!).

Paul is a youngster who draws like a young John Paul Leon, one of my artist heroes. I'd never heard of him before but I was mightily impressed.

I didn't get any good photos of D'Israeli. When I first met him I misunderstood and thought he was "Matt Brooker, who works with D'Israeli." It turns out he's "Matt Brooker, who goes by the alias D'Israeli." He showed me some of his recent work. It's truly amazing. It kills me that this stuff isn't getting distributed in the US. He blogs a clearer impression of the Avilés jornada than I do.

I was carrying my old Canon G2 with me. It's big, it's clunky and it takes about 2 seconds to shoot after you press the button. I have lots of out of focus shots 2 seconds after something interesting happened. I'm buying a newer faster higher ISO camera for the French trip. Something that'll fit in me pocket. Expect better photos of my next trip.

On a totally different subject, you no longer have to pay to read Paul Krugman columns. The NY Times used to charge extra to read their columnists. That scheme is dead. The best things are once again free!

Paul pretty much thinks what I'd think if I had time to follow the economy and politics from a macroeconomic perspective, I had an economics Ph.D., and about +30 IQ. He recognized Bush's obsequious dishonesty back in 2000. He just read the policies and saw that the numbers didn't add up. If only most US journalists would put in that much effort,

Gene

Sketches

I returned from the XII Jornadas del Cómic in Avilés on Sunday. I hadn't been to a foreign convention since 2001 and I'd almost forgotten how nice they can be. I spent most of my time hanging out with cool artists and con volunteers eating and drinking. Convention time was spent in a medieval plaza making free sketches for whoever wanted one. The fans and organizers would get me drinks if I needed one. As cool as the location was the people make the con.

I won't name off everyone at the table ('cuz I didn't learn the names of the con organizers who don't speak fluent English). But there's Mike Gaydos, Angel Medina (my Chicago homey), Carmen (who is mighty like She-Hulk!!!), German (pronounced Herr Mon), George Perez, Alex Maleev (you'll never prove I stole your cow lighter), and Jorge.

Instead of boring you with tales of how Diego twice beat Esad Ribic at drinking contests or the truly twisted jokes of Marc Andreyko I'm going to show off some con sketches I drew and scanned from San Diego and Avilés. Before I do that, Marc has a really comfy lap. If you get a chance to sit on his lap, do!

This is my only color sketch of the year, for the winner of the Friends of Lulu silent auction.

The following were all done for Spanish con volunteers:

Toybox is kinda popular in Spain!

After I scanned this one Diego translated the dialog I provided in to Spanish. It's something along the lines of "I'm not drunk, I'm just big boned!"
This last one was done for two fans who took me and Angel to their home and taught me to make proper tortilla (Spanish potato omelet).

And to finish off, George Perez posing next to a giant copy of Crisis on Infinite Earths:

Gene