Folks, in what is the stupidest mistake I've ever made on this blog, I deleted my Pt. 1 report of my trip to San Francisco for the opening of my art show. Yes, I'm exceedingly pissed off about it. But, here's my attempt to recreate the post. So very sorry about that.... PT. 2 continues afterwards.
The opening for my solo art show, "COMIC POP: Art by Javier Hernandez" was on Saturday, April 3. Of course, as luck would have it, there was plenty happening that weekend that turned this not only in a cross-platform promotional event, but an amazingly exciting vacation as well.
Not only was my art show opening that weekend, but Wondercon was also happening at the same time. Plus the fact that it was Easter only added to all the hoopla.
This show came about rather fortuitously. My friend Ricardo Padilla, who I first met when I was exhibiting at APE (Alternative Press Expo) about 6 years ago, came to my table at APE back in the Fall of '09. He told he needed to curate a show as part of his final for his Master's degree, so I boldly told him to pick me as his subject! He was going to ask me anyway, but this should demonstrate to all artists that one should never hesitate to nudge fate whenever needed.
Ricardo picked the location, the Encantada Gallery of Fine Arts, and thus started the months of prep for the show. By a great coincidence, my friend and fellow cartoonist Michael Aushenker was also planning to visit San Francisco that same weekend, so we decided to carpool and save on gas and double up on the fun factor. Michael and I have been traveling together to conventions for about 10 years, and each time has been a memorable experience. You can read about Mikey's work, and his blog post about this trip, over at his blog, CARTOON FLOPHOUSE.
Michael Aushenker, me and a load of bull about an hour outside of San Francisco.
Upon arriving in San Francisco, I checked into my hotel, while Michael went across the Golden Gate Bridge to stay at his friend's home for the duration. The hotel, provided courtesy of my wonderful curator Ricardo Padilla, was a quaint little place, complete with a shared kitchen serving continental breakfast.
My cozy little room...
The following day, Thursday, brought a full day of work. Ricardo picked me up that morning and drove me over to the Encantada Gallery to meet the owner, Mia Gonzalez, and drop off all my artwork. While Mia hung the show, Ricardo took me for some sightseeing and artist/curator talk. He also took me to several of the comic shops, bookstores and cafes where he had left our show postcards. One of the place that he talked to about promoting our show was the Cartoon Art Museum, the West Coast's premiere institution for the preservation and exhibitions of the comic and cartoon arts.
Me, proud as a poppa, with my COMIC POP artwork hanging in the lobby of the Cartoon Art Museum.
One of the great things about Ricardo networking with the CAM was bringing my work to their attention. They liked what they saw and invited me to join them at their booth at Wondercon on Friday if I was available. I hadn't actually been to Wondercon in about 10 years, so I was more than happy to return, and especially at the beckoning of the Museum!
Friday came quickly, and after being dropped off at the Moscone Center, I made my way to the Cartoon Art Museum booth. For a two hour period, I drew sketches on behalf of the Museum for people who donated money, and also sold my comics, including my brand new sketchbook, THE COMIC POP SKETCHBOOK.
A long-time fan of mine, Alejandro, posing with a drawing I made of Rom, SpaceKnight!
Me, in my natural state, selling comics! (And, I might add, DVDs and sketchbooks!)
While at the booth, I got to meet the acting director of the Cartoon Art Museum, Summerlea Kashar, a most gracious host.
Among the people I ran into at the Con was Jason Martin, my great friend from Portland.
Jason is the creator and publisher of SUPER REAL and PULP GIRLS, and he's a pretty well-traveled conventioneer. We met years ago while we were both exhibiting at San Diego Comic Con and he and his wife are kind enough to host me when I travel up to the lovely town of Portland. As a way of showing thanks, I sent them a painting last Christmas I made of their cute little chihuahua Choco. Jason actually suggested I put the painting in my art show so he brought it down with him and gave it to me at the show.
Now ain't that Choco a cute little pup? The painting ain't too shabby either!
Another highlight for me was meeting Blair Kitchen of THE POSSUM. Blair's the writer and artist of the book, and we have known each other for a few years now. I even interviewed once on a podcast I used to host, but this was the first time we met. Blair's brother Mike also makes his own comics, SPY GUY. After the show, I had dinner with the Bros. Kitchen at a nearby Whole Foods. I didn't know they had a deli in there, and boy, they make some great sandwiches there!
Blair (L), me and Mike. FYI: The Kitchen Bros. have a teeny, tiny cameo in the spoof SUPERHERO MOVIE!
As much fun as I had at Wondercon, the real dance was yet to come on Saturday! Showtime at the Encantada Gallery. All the details in PT. 2!
My premiere podcast for PLANET COMIC BOOK RADIO went off with flying colors! The show went live this past tuesday, Nov. 20 at 5 pm Pacific Time and is now available at PerspectiveRadio.Com Just click the link with the PCBR logo and you can listen to my inaugural interview with Jason Martin, a Portland, Oregon area artist whose self-published book, SUPER REAL, is a fun romp through the world of reality TV via a superhero group book.
Jason and I have been good friends since we met a few years ago at Comic Con San Diego, and he's a very savy individual who's worked hard on his comic book, so I thought he would be a great guest to debut the show with. And judging by how fast our 45 minutes whizzed by, I'd say he was a great choice! Thanks Jason!
Jason also contributed a very stylish pin-up to the Galeria Del Muerto gallery on the EL MUERTO/THE DEAD ONE DVD! Here it is:
The show runs an hour, so for the first 15 minutes I pretty much just introduced myself to my audience. Comic creator, filmmaker, and now radio host! To think all this happened because I got off my butt and created my own comic years ago. Is a radio show a natural progression from making comics? Maybe not. But radio, like comics, and film, is an outlet for expression. The EL MUERTO film came about because of a one-in-a-million shot (or series of shots). But I was ready to move on it. Same with this radio show. Check my previous post here to see how this radio show came about
So before the show, Renato Aguirre, one of the show's producers (me being the other!) and I were running a quick tutorial on running the board. This is a small, independent, DYI outfit, so you, as the host, pretty much have the controls to everything. Pressing the all-mighty BROADCAST button and controlling the songs and station I.D. tags! Everthing. Renato had given me a rundown last week, but it never hurts to 'make sure'! So the next thing I know it's 3 minutes to 5 pm! We pop on a song to lead into the show, then I have to hit the station I.D. blurb, followed by what I hope becomes my theme song, DAZE OF THE DEAD by Richard Odie and Johhny Franco.
FYI: Franco is an old friend of mine from way back. In fact, in 1983/84, while I was in High School, he opened up the first comic book shop in Whittier. Years later when I published my first EL MUERTO comic in zine form, he wrote a song inspired by the title of the origin story, DAZE OF THE DEAD! We ended up releasing it as a CD single limited to 102 signed and numbered copies. Playing it as the opening theme for my new radio show just seemed like a great place to reintroduce it to the public.
As DAZE OF THE DEAD is playing, we place the call to Jason and SHAZAM, we have Jason on the air soon as the song ends. Smooth.... Well, okay, I think in my opening, I may have stumbled over a word or two, but considering this is podcast live, I think I did okay. Once I got into the interview with Jason, I felt completely at ease. Granted, he's a friend of mine, but talking to another person about comics is not something that I have to force myself to do! Next thing I know, I'm getting the signal from Renato that we have only 8 minutes left. I was genuinely surprised that the time went so quick. I found a good spot to wrap up the interview then signed off by playing another song, "SENOR HERNANDEZ: WAY OF THE COMICS LONER" by Dr. T and The Sea Lions with Rabies! That piece was recently written by a friend of mine who's been a member of my El Muerto Message Board for a couple of years. I think it's a great little song and if you listen to the lyrics, a little too close to the mark!
All in all, a very successful launch. The folks at PerspectiveRadio.Com were very happy with it, Jason was a great guest, and I really had a great time. Very much looking forward to continuing with more guests and more shows.
Continuing my coverage of San Diego Comic Con 2007 ( Pt. 1 can be found here )...
Friday night's EL MUERTO screening may have been the big highlight of the weekend, but it was by no means the only fun to be had. Saturday was a day filled with catching up with more friends and really just enjoying the show from the point of view of a fan, not just an associate producer of a comic book movie.
Speaking of promoting movies, I think the 'buzz booth' of this years Con was the Weinstein Company's stunt to promote GRINDHOUSE. Here's a one-legged model dressed up as Cherry Darling! Now that's exploitation!!
Not to be outdown, I was lucky enough to stroll pass this lovely lady. Miss Jessica Rabbit. Remember, she's not bad, she's just drawn that way!
My friend Will Caulfield and his son Nicholas came down to the show on saturday.
I've known Will some 22 years. He's a trusted friend and he actually gave me my start in a graphics art career. I was in college at the time, not really sure what direction I had wanted to pursue as far as art. He hired me to work part-time at the screenprinting shop where he worked at (he was the Art Director) and eventually I moved to full time. All the skills I learned their absolutely helped me later when I began to publish my own comic book. It was at that job where I actually first learned about computer graphic design. Some years later Will and his wife had their son, and Will left his position to raise Nicholas at home. I assumed the position of Art Director and a few years later, when we experienced a growth period, I was able to hire him back! So we have a long history of working side by side as well as becoming each other's boss over the years! A few years ago Will decided to create his own comic book ( THE ADVENTURES OF BAT BAT ) and he's attended a few shows with me as an exhibitor. He told me that I and my friends had inspired him with our own creations. And he tells me that his son Nicholas wants to create his own comic book! The two of them are hoping to attend Comic Con next year as exhibitors. That's a heck of a lot of circles being completed!
Another good friend of mine exhibiting this year was Jason Martin. His full-color independent comic book series SUPER REAL has recieved a lot of favorable notices. Jason's probably the saviest guy I know, as far as us self-publishing cartoonists, who uses the internet to his full advantage as far as advertising and networking. He'll use a nice signature banner on various message boards he visits, for example, in order to drive traffic to his site. He and I met a few years ago in the Small Press area at Comic Con and hit it off really good. He's actually contributed to the El Muerto DVD release, but I'll have to talk about that in another post!
By the way, Jason's got a very good blog where he in fact has his own Comic Con report with lots and lots of cool pics of the various booths and fans in costumes. Check it out right here!
Comic conventions are about two things when you're self-publishing: Selling comics and befriending other cartoonists! Here's Jose Cabrera, creator of the online strip CRYING MACHO MAN, and his lovely wife Naomi.
I met them about a year ago at APE (Alternative Press Expo in San Fransisco). They live in LA but so far we haven't had a chance to get together locally! We always hook up at some show or another. You'd be surprised how often that happens! Jose recently published a tradepaperback collection of his strip and asked me to write him a blurb, which is on the back of the book. He's got the blurb on his website if you want to read it. And while you're there, check out his comics and order his book!
Speaking of being all macho and stuff...here's me and my girlfriend Bernyce. Often we wandered the floor together, but sometimes we'd go our own ways. There's only so much old-school, geeky superhero nonsense she can take! Although, she does have her own brand of comic book nuttiness she enjoys. We actually do have a lot of the same tastes in comics and art, but we also have enough differences to keep the two of us out of each others hair once in a while!
Wandering the floor of the convention is always interesting because you never know what neat little book you're going to find or who you're going to run into. One such encounter was bumping into cartoonist and radio host, Lalo Alcaraz. His strip LA CUCARACHA is nationally syndicated and he's been a strong supporter of my work over the years and a good friend. He was on a couple of panels invovling cartoon strips this past weekend.
If friday's highlight was the movie screening, then saturday's highlight was the annual Mexican dinner in Old Town San Diego me and my friend Michael Aushenker started several years ago. To this day, believe it or not, I never remember the name of the restaraunt nor can I ever give anyone decent directions on how to get there! But every year we gather a bunch of friends and fellow cartoonists and take the trolley down to Old Town and enjoy a feast of good food and strawberry margaritas.
Me and my co-Mayor of Margaritaville, Michael Aushenker!
That Old Town dinner is always a great way to cap off a busy day at the Con. Regardless if I'm exhibiting there or just enjoying the Con as a guest, I hope this annual tradition continues for a very long time.
My next and final post about Comic Con 2007 will cover my sunday at the show. See you then......
