Anime Evolution

Comic-Con is barely behind us, but there's no time for a breather... Anime Evolution is almost here! It starts on Friday, August 13th... just a little over a week away. The folks at AE -- still the only large-scale comic-related convention in Vancouver -- have been kind enough to have me as a guest again this year, not to mention our friends from Wasted Talent and Loading Ready Run. And that means good times for all concerned. You don't even have to like anime! (Although if you do, that's probably a bonus!)

As usual, I'll be at a table in the Artist Alley, which is once again in the Student Union Building of UBC. I'll be bringing a really broad assortment of shirts, prints, and buttons... and yes, also plenty of copies of the new book, which I will be happy to sign and draw all over.

(But fret not, non-Vancouverites -- signed and illustrated copies of the book are also available in the Topatoco store!)

-Sam Logan

Ninja Mafia Services: Assassination Free For 13 Months

Renaldo's commercial was a lot of fun to assemble! I'm sorry I don't have even the slightest degree of skill necessary to create an actual video of it. But maybe it's just as well... Renaldo's voice overs would probably be much less intense in real life than they are in our collective imaginations! (WHO DO YOU CALL?!?)

Thanks all the folks who have been sending in emails and tweets full of nice words about their copies of the new book! Man, I am glad you're as happy as I am with how it turned out. It is a wonderful thing to have an audience that enjoys my stories enough to want a copy of them on their bookshelves, and we worked extra hard to make that copy as slick-looking as possible. (And like most black and white comics, Sam and Fuzzy really does look it's best in print!)

-Sam Logan

Sam and Fuzzy Q & A: Unarmed Edition
Got a question you want answered? Just drop me an email with "Q & A" in the subject line!

"How did Mr. X reattach his arm? He is clearly folding his arms in this comic and that takes a minimum of two arms. Or is that a robotic arm, like Aaron's robotic hand?" -Jake

Boy, did I get a lot of emails about this one! It was a mistake, I'm afraid, pure and simple. I just haven't decided what to do about it yet! Will I just go back and edit the erroneous arm out of that comic? Or will I incorporate Mr. X's new arm into the plot, and use it as the springboard for a giant, multi-year storyline? Only time will tell!

"Is this latest "Are Very Famous" storyline still a part of "Fix Your Problem"? Or have you just not updated the Archive page yet? Will the next printed book be Fix Your Problem 2? " -Duncan

Sam and Fuzzy Are Very Famous is the name of our current volume, and of the eventual "volume 2" print collection. I have just been lazy about updating my archive page, which is in need of some serious rejiggering!

"A question I have always wondered about comics: When drawing a comic with multiple dialog boxes in the frame, to which dialog box do the characters react? " -Daniel

Time in comics is a strange and lucid thing, Daniel. An individual panel may actually depict several distinct moments in time simultaneously!

Here's a famous (and extreme) example from Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics:

Even though it's only one panel, it depicts several actions -- from the flash of the camera to the check of the chess game -- that occurred at completely different times! A comic panel is not like a still from a film... in a given frame, different characters could be drawn to reflect a totally different dialogue box or action from the other characters in the same panel. Isn't that weird? Comics are weird!

If you're interested in this stuff, definitely check out Understanding Comics. There is a whole chapter about time in comics that totally blew my eleven-year-old mind.

That's a wrap for this week! See you on Monday.

-Sam Logan