Wordless Wednesday featuring a Lego Squid

Emerald City 2013 Scheduling News

Emerald City Comic Con is less than a week away!

Gabriel and I will be holding down
Table K-04 Friday through Sunday.

We'll also be signing at the
Dark Horse booth Sunday at 1:30

You can catch our panel too, where we'll be talking Star Wars in Comics with Brian Wood in
Hall B (608-610) Sunday at 12:10

Gabriel still has room for a couple of commissions but slots are filling up fast. If you want one, email him at gabrielhardman@gmail.com or contact him on twitter.

Hope to see you in Seattle!

Emerald City Comic Con - One Week and Counting

I can't believe another year has passed, but it must have because it's just about time for the Emerald City Comic Con again.

Gabriel and I will be at
Table K-04 
for the entire weekend of March 1st - 3rd at the Seattle Convention Center. We'll have copies of our books and Gabriel will be doing sketches. If you'd like to pre-order one you can contact him at gabrielhardman@gmail.com

Curious about prices? Here's his breakdown:
$125 for 1 character 9x12 inked
$200 for 2 characters 9x12 inked
$60 for headshot 9x12 inked.




Seattle's a great city full of great books and great food. Is it any wonder that it has a great comic book convention too? 

Hope to see you there!

Stuff is Happening in March!

Fun fact: Bechko rhymes with "echo", really!

Leap Day is over, so it must be March already. Wasn't it just New Year's?

Anyway, March is a month of much Apes madness. There's hardly a week when Gabriel and I won't be somewhere talking or signing something related to EXILE ON THE PLANET OF THE APES.

Where, when, why? Read on, and all shall be reveled.

First up, we'll be at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on March 4th for a mini comic book convention. We'll have copies of HEATHENTOWN and BETRAYAL OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, and Gabriel will be doing sketches ($125 for one character fully inked, $250 for two characters, or $60 for a head sketch) Click here for more details about the show.

Marc Laming sure draws a nice ape!

On March 14th we'll be at Collector's Paradise in Pasadena for a release signing. That's the day EXILE ON THE PLANET OF THE APES #1 will hit stores, of course! We'll be signing copies of EXILE and of whatever else anyone wants our signature on, and Gabriel will be doing free quick sketches. You can read more about it here.

Next up is Wondercon in Anaheim the weekend of March 16th. We'll be sharing a table there with the incomparable Matt Maxwell, proprietor of Highway 62 Press. Gabriel will be selling sketches here as well.

And then it's back to Seattle for the Emerald City Comic Con the weekend of March 29th. We'll be at table F-22 in Artist Alley. More about this show as it gets closer...

So that's our March. Four different cons/signings, a new miniseries, and fitting in work on our not-yet-announced sci-fi creator-owned project. The only thing I forgot to schedule is time to sleep!

Emerald City, 2011! The Wrap-up

Squid sculpture, spotted in the wild

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not too quick out of the gate with this report from ECCC 2011. It was a couple of weeks ago now, a lifetime, in Con terms. Even C2E2 has come and gone since then!

However, I have a good excuse. I have, in fact, been working. Yes, working at my day job feeding animals, playing with parrots, and raking up bunny poop. But, also writing. For pay! Much as I love this blog, the pay for writing it is rather... Nonexistent. So,  keep your eyes peeled for some fresh non-bloggery coming soon to an anthology near you.

Me, in an actual trench coat!

I love visiting Seattle at any time, and not coincidently the Emerald City Comicon is something I look forward to all year. We came into town a day early and were met with rain. Which was fine with me... It meant I could wear actual chilly weather gear. Our first stop was, of course, The Elliot Bay Book Company. Words can not express how much I love that place. It was about to move the last time we were there so it was a great relief to learn that its new digs are just as cool as the old ones. And the coffee is even better! Luckily we just about sold out of copies of Heathentown at the Con. If we hadn't I don't know how I would have fit all my new books into my luggage. 

We also had time to visit the Seattle Art Museum this trip, which was a lot of fun. Bet you didn't know that there's a whole case or tiny frog sculptures hidden in one corner upstairs. That alone made it worth the trip.

Best costumes. Ever.

This was the first year that ECCC was three days long instead of two, so we didn't know what to expect on the first day. Turns out that attendance was terrific. Our table was in a great place too. Our row was full of talent: Chris Samnee, Jeff Parker, Tom Fowler, Steve Lieber... The list goes on. Gabriel was kept busy with sketches all weekend, but managed to find the time to buy some original art. And some folks even brought us dessert! A full box of cookies, some candy, and coffee all the way from Hawaii. How's that for a warm welcome? I was also happy to meet Kyle Latino and Shane White in person. Kyle and I sat next to each other for most of the weekend, which worked out great since he didn't seem to mind my endless blather about Doctor Who. And that brings me to the most amazing thing: a woman dressed as the TARDIS. I almost knocked Evan Shaner flat while attempting to get a photo of her.

So, I would say the weekend was a success. It resulted in new reading material, a bit of writing work, and a picture of a blue-haird girl dressed as my favorite fictional time machine. We also spent some time hanging out with Paul Tobin and Colleen Cover, the creators behind one of the projects I'm most excited about this year, Gingerbread Girl. If you haven't already, you really should check it out. It's strange and wonderful and completely unexpected. Colleen was even nice enough to do a sketch of one of my favorite characters from their book, Pidgy. Can't wait for ECCC 2012!

Emerald City, 2011!

Has it really been a whole year since the Emerald City Comicon, where you can see great art and the Space Needle?

I'm not complaining though. Gabriel and I love Seattle, so we're really happy to be back in the Emerald City next week! We'll be at Table C-07, selling copies of Heathentown, meeting tons of cool comics folks, and Gabriel will be doing sketches.

Want an original Gabriel Hardman sketch for yourself? He's not taking pre-orders this year, but you can get on his list at the con. The price list is as follows:

9x12 single character pen and ink: $75

9x12 two characters pen and ink: $125

Hope to see you there! The con is three days long this year, so take a moment to stop by and say hello. And yes, we are happy to accept donations of those fabulous chocolate covered cherry things they sell in the Pacific northwest. How nice of you to ask!

Emerald City Comic Con, the Wrap-Up

After experiencing my very first Emerald City Comic Con I have only one thing to say: fantastic!

Truly, this is the way a con should be. And I'm not just saying that because we sold out of our graphic novel Heathentown. I'm saying it because ECCC is all about the comics. There were tons of interesting creators to meet, interesting fans to talk to, and nice people in cool hats with great hair. Pacific Northwest Comics Community, I have to admit to being a little bedazzled. I know my name was spelled wrong on the banner attached to our table, but everyone was so sweet about everything I couldn't hold a grudge.

Gabriel was kept very busy signing his page in Monsters and Dames, the ECCC limited edition art book which was being sold to benefit a children's hospital. He also did a ton of sketches. I love this one in particular:

It was great to spend time with some of the creators from Periscope Studios in Portland, including Jeff Parker, Colleen Coover, Paul Tobin, and Jeremy Barlow. I'm still plowing my way through all the books we bought in Seattle, but allow me to recommend the trade of Mysterius the Unfathomable written by Jeff with art by Tom Fowler. You won't be disappointed!

I was also amazed to meet several people who admit to reading this very blog! Sure, I love writing it, but what a thrill to know that someone is actually reading the darn thing. So a big thank you to everyone out there who does, especially Sigrid Ellis, a fellow blogger over at Fantastic Fangirls who was the first person at the show to mention it to me and an all around nice person.

We managed to see a little of Seattle too, including an expensive dip into Elliot Bay Books, my favorite North American book shop, and a tour of the famous underground city. Here's a view of one of those strange glass sections of sidewalk from below.

I can't even complain about our hotel. I mean, look at this view!

In short, we had a great time and we're already planning our next trip to the Emerald City in 2011 when the show is rumored to be three days long. Hear that, ECCC? You have a whole year to learn how to spell my name!