SALABRATION celebration this past weekend at GEEKS

This past Saturday night at GEEKS Comics I was part of the Cartoonista contingent participating in SALABRATION.

This may have been the event that's had the most Cartoonistas in attendance (9 total). The usual camaraderie and happy hijinx were on full display! Here's the proof:

Jose Cabrera, creator of the CRYING MACHO MAN webcomic, demonstrates the upcoming Olympic sport, power cartooning!


Lounging around and talking shop (or are they planning to break away and form a rival Cartoonista group??) are Mr. Geo Brawn (top left), Luis Escobar (top right), Grasiela Rodriguez (bottom left) and Jose.


From left to right: Michael Aushenker, Jose, me and Jim Lujan. Michael and Jose will be having a two-man art show/book signing at GEEKS in the Fall, to coincide with a revamped CARTOON FLOPHOUSE brand.

Michael and me throwing out some Dr. Fate-style mystic energy. Michael and I were discussing Dr. Fate's recent appearance on SMALLVILLE, and browsed some Dr. Fate comics at the shop.


Grasiela Rodriguez, the Queen of the Cartoonistas, and the equally royal Hortencia Aguirre, wife of Cartoonista Raul Aguirre. Hortencia is an artist in her own right, and she's been nice enough to feed our hungry maws numerous times with her exquisite cooking.

Luis Escobar doodles inside the front window display at GEEKS. Think of Amsterdam's Red Light District, but with cartoonists and sanitized!

And sure to be a valuable artifact one day, Jimmy sparked the idea for a group jam session. Besides a plethora of Cartoonistas, we had some special guests contribute to the drawing, such as Steve Sievers and my ol' pal Lalo Alcaraz (LA CUCARACHA).


A long-time fan of mine happened to be walking past Geeks with his girlfriend when he noticed all the commotion inside. His name's Jason and I first met him back in 1998 when he made a beeline to my table in the Small Press area of the San Diego Comic-Con. He pulled his backpack off his back, pulling out a comic book and told me "I was hoping you'd be here!" and asked me to sign my then-recent EL MUERTO comic book, the photo-copied first edition. That moment had always meant a lot to me as a creator, because as a fan myself I had attended plenty of conventions where I was always hoping that one of my favorite artists would be in attendance.

At the time we met back in 19989, Jason was a teenaged kid, and to think all these years later, he's all grown-up and I'm still making comics! He picked up all my latest books and the DVD, and I even gave him one of the live art pieces I did that night.

He's had his Muerto skull tattoo for about 10 years now! Back in 2006, I had invited Jason and his girlfriend to an early screening of the EL MUERTO movie, and I was glad to be able to do that for them. It's so great to have long-time fans like that!

As the SALABRATION was in fact a little celebratory event to commemorate GEEKS owner Sal's birthday, Raul generously created this wonderful painting as an unexpected but supremely appreciated gift:

To say that Sal was impressed and flabbergasted to accept it would be a corker of an understatement! Raul really put a lot into this, and it really summed up the evening for everyone.



By 12:30am, everyone had left. Sal couldn't have been happier. All of us Cartoonistas had a wonderful time, and so did the folks who stopped by to join in the fun. Over the last several years, either solo or with the Cartoonistas, I have done some truly memorable events with Sal. He hosted the Q&A for the EL MUERTO screening during the Whittier Film Festival, my nephew and I had a two-man art show, I've conducted my "DIY Comics:The Secrets of Self-Publishing" seminar there (and in fact will be doing another one this coming Saturday). It's so nice to be able to have a 'home' store that you can partner with for events like this, and make a good friend in the process.

Thanks Sal, and Happy Birthday!

The great line-up of talent that night: (Top row, left to right) John Narcomey, Geo Brawn, Javier Hernandez, Luis Escobar,(Middle row, left to right) Raul Aguirre, Grasiela Rodriguez, Rene (guest for the evening), Jose Cabrera, (Bottom row, left to right) Michael Aushenker and Jim Lujan.

All photos courtesy Jim Lujan Photography, LLC!

CARTOONISTAS Assemble!!

Saturday night's Cartoonistas meeting (actually, party!) was just what the doctor ordered after a rather sobering post I made earlier that day.

This momentous event was hosted by Cartoonista RAUL AGUIRRE JR. Yep kids, that's right, the host of the very lively MAN VS. ART podcast!



That's Señor Aguirre, in the red shoes, sitting comfortably under one of his lovely paintings. Raul is in fact such a whirlwind of artistic energy that my camera can only capture him as a blur even as he's sitting still!!

Raul and his lovely wife Hortencia were more than generous to host us at their wonderful home, which seems more like an art gallery and working studio space. Surrounded by all kinds of artwork, you really get a feeling for the love this couple has for art.

And another thing you get at Casa Aguirre is food. Lots of great tasting food!




Hortencia told us she was up til 2:00 AM earlier that day prepping all the food! Her homemade chicken parmesan pasta was especially exquisite, as was the one with ground beef. Cartoonista Grasiela Rodriguez, who by the way is one of the super troopers of the group, enjoyed one of Hortencias homemade brownies.


(You can see a bit of the dispenser in the foreground that was filled with several gallons of Hortencia's homemade horchata!! Man was that delicious!!)

It's a Cartoonista tradition to eat and eat along with all the art that gets created. Although that evening, even though we brought our sketchbooks, some of us didn't crack them open (I'm one of the guilty ones). What we did do was talk about comic artist's Neal Adams 'Expanding Earth Theory', Frank Miller's fall from grace (although some of us are hoping he actually starts making great comics again!!) and why the Godfather films are so &*^%$* great! I also shared with the folks why I first saw the EXORCIST on a sunny Saturday afternoon with all the living rooms curtains open (and yeah, I was in my 20s!!).

Some important business was conducted. We crowned two new artists into the Cartoonista fold.

. The man in the middle is Geo Brawn IV, comic book creator and artist, and to his left is an animator and cartoonist who came to us very highly recommended by Raul Agurrie, Mr. Luis Escobar.

I had actually met Geo on a few previous occasions, and took a liking to his get-up-and-go attitude. Luis I had never met, but found him to be very approachable and I think he'll be a great addition for us. Glad to have you two gents aboard.

Here's Co-Founder Jim Lujan looking satisfied with the festivities.



When Jimmy approached me about the idea of Co-founding the Cartoonistas with him, I'm not sure either of us truly expected how enriching this would be for us. Certainly I've made some new friends and associates in the group. And all the artists over the last two years have shared great experiences with one another. The live art shows we perform, many for young audiences, have been the things we're most proud of, and pretty much all the Cartoonistas feel the same way. Jim and I have talked about continuing to make the Cartoonista brand even better, and working alongside all our talented members, I think we're heading that way.

Another highlight for me last night was receiving a very special gift from Hortencia:




She made me a trio of sugar skulls, customized for El Muerto! I was floored by this wonderful surprise. Her creative talents, and generosity, are not to be overlooked. Not only are these sugar skulls labor and time intensive (made from scratch, naturally) but what a great idea! She truly earned my deepest gratitude, and I was flattered to have received these.



It's gonna be hard to top this Cartoonista get-together, but we like a good challenge!