Oh The Places You'll Go - On Catching Up

Fuck me.  It's been a crazy couple of months.  Let's do the recap really quick for y'all. Superman/Batman #85 came out last month to great fan fare, with #86 out this month, and then #87 out next month, which means I'm writing the last issue of volume 1 of the series!  Interview with me on that all here: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=32480

The reason it's the last issue?  DC is relaunching their entire superhero universe, and have turned over the old House of Mystery series I, Vampire to yours truly.  So, starting in September, you get me writing monthly grotesqueries with a little bit of love thrown in for fun.  Interview on that here:  http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=32788

Also in September, I'm doing a one shot for Marvel featuring their brand new character The Monkey King.  It's me doing my best Tarantino by way of Miike.  Hope you check that out, too.

Then, in October, I'm launching a superhero ongoing series from Image Comics with artist Brent Peeples, alongside friends and collaborators Matthew Waite, Mirka Andolfo, Troy Peteri, and Rob Levin (with assists by Tony Fleecs, Kody Chamberlain and Phil Hester) called the LAST OF THE GREATS. More on that in interview form here: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=33156 and you can check out the fledgling website here: http://www.thelastofthegreats.com.

Also of note, TUMOR was nominated for both an EISNER and a HARVEY for Best Collected Edition, and, ECHOES was nominated for HARVEY's for Best New Series, Best Single Issue, and, blushing, Best Writer.  Thank you guys so much for voting and supporting the book.

ECHOES will be out in a colletible (and beautiful) hardcover edition in August, and we're doing our best to do a limited edition for Comic-Con in a couple of weeks.

I'll get a post up soon with where and when you can find me at San Diego Comic-Con, and then, hopefully I'll be doing Baltimore Con for the Harvey's, if I can get the logistics all figured out.

And, now that I'm in a good schedule again, I'm hoping to bring back my writing columns here.  In the meantime, you can check out my (slightly behind) column over on iFanboy here: http://www.ifanboy.com/content/articles/Indie_Comics__A_Call_To_Arms

Alright, more to come, thanks for sticking around!

Busy Busy - Appearances Galore!

The next few weeks will be chock full of appearances for me. So, y'know, come say hello. Appearances as follow:

April 23rd - Long Beach Comic Con - Fan Expo - 11am - TOP COW NOIR - Alongside Filip Sablik and Marc Bernardin - Afterwards, you'll likely find me with artist Tony Fleecs shaking hands and kissing babies.

April 27th - Brave New World Comics - 5pm - 9pm - ECHOES #5 Release Signing

April 29th - May 1st - Anaheim Comic-Con - Artist Alley Table - Come Find Me!

May 7th - Collector's Paradise - 11am - 2:30pm - SIGNING

May 7th - Meltdown Comics - 4:00pm - CHAMBERLAIN/FIALKOV - Graphic Noir Panel

Shoplifting

"Writing is like shoplifting.  You're constantly trying to get away with bigger and bigger things and not get caught." I spent about 14 hours total in the car this weekend with ace writer/editor Rob Levin (http://theroblevin.wordpress.com/) talking about, well, that.  Rob and I have been working together for around five years now.  He was the guy who brought me into Top Cow, editing both Cyblade and Alibi, and then came on board TUMOR when it became clear we needed a grown up involved to get the book done.

The conversation we had was about pushing yourself, and how easy it is not to.  How every project needs to push off from where you left off, and you need constantly be challenging yourself.  But, it also comes from a sense of self-loathing.  At almost every minute when I'm writing (or immediately after when I've submitted my script to the editor or the artist or my friends for notes and thoughts) is asking whether I get away with what I'm doing.  If the constructed reality of the story stands up to scrutiny because, y'see, I see the stitches.  I see the places where I took shortcuts, got lazy, forced it out, left it to fix 'later' etc.  I did something that I find morally wrong from a creative stand point.  And the feedback?  That tells you if you make it past mall security or get tackled and beat up in the back hallways.

But, with that, comes something else.  So, if you constantly feel like you made it by some miraculous twist of fate, how in god's name do you sell yourself or your work?  Well, that's the other thing that's important.  Compartmentalizing.  When I'm sitting here alone, writing, and listening to the Pixies, I hate myself and every word I ever wrote.  When I tweet or do interviews or go to shows all of that HAS TO go away.  I go from hating myself to being Mr. I Can Get It Done.  You have to instill confidence in your editors and fans equally.  You need to show off that you know what you're doing and that you're going to do an amazing job.

Now, if you actually BELIEVE that, there might be a problem.  There's very little more terrifying than being told, "Great, get scripting."  Because you just started all over again, back at the beginning and facing off with trying to get that hardcover past that tall nerdy guy with bad skin and a B. Dalton Booksellers tie standing by the door.

Maybe that's just me, though.

WONDERCON

Hey folks, I'll be at Wondercon in San Francisco this weekend on Saturday and Sunday.  I'm making limited appearances.  I'll be signing at: IMAGE COMICS - Saturday 2pm - 3pm

ARCHAIA - Saturday 3pm - 4pm

And that's it!  But, my beloved collaborators RAHSAN EKEDAL and TONY FLEECS will both be there all weekend long at their respective artist alley tables, where if you stop by, you might just find me hanging out. More info on the show at http://www.comic-con.org See you this weekend!

j.

www.thefialkov.com

Harvey Awards Voting Closes Tomorrow

Hey folks, If you happen to enjoy my books and are also an active member of the comic book industry, you're eligible to nominate my books for the Harvey Awards.

To make things easy, I even prepared a pre-filled ballot with all of my books that are eligible.  You can download that here:  http://thefialkov.com/Downloads/FIALKOV-Harvey_2011.txt

Instructions for what to do with the ballot once completed are on the doc.

Thanks so much for taking the time!

j.

Seven Days - On What I Wrote This Week

This is not to brag.  This is not to boast.  This is not because I like peanut butter on my breakfast toast, as the Sugarhill Gang once said. In the past week I have written:

Two Treatments in the 3 to 5 page range

Two Twenty Page Comic Book Scripts

One Character Bio Sheet

One 2nd Draft of a Twenty Page Comic Book Script

One Boilerplate Contract for a new Creator Owned Series

Two Essays (Three, counting this one) for my various blogs

Plus, spent the afternoon on Saturday on the crime comics panel, and still managed to work in a family day and two days of daddy/baby time.  Oh, yeah, I've also seen this week's new Brave and the Bold cartoon.

Being a freelancer writer is a delight.  Honestly, it's a lot of fun, you get paid to do what you'd probably do for free, and you get to do it all from more or less wherever you'd like. But...

It's a lot of work.  This was a highly productive week, but, it's also how just about every week has to be in order to actually make a living doing what I do.  That means whether I have paid work or am doing it all for free, whether I'm sick or don't get to sleep because the baby is teething, or the nanny calls in sick.

It's extremely easy to fall into the trap of the X-Box or the Satellite Dish.  They both sit there just spewing things to do.  But, if you put it all down (or, y'know, limit your playing of Stacked to only three hours per week), and really put your nose to the grind stone, you can do it.  You can make a living, you can do what you love.

The trick is to make sure you still love it once you're done.

You Got Lucky, Babe - On Breaking In

9 years ago, I started my journey in comics.  I mean, sure, I spent every free minute from the time I was old enough to push REC on my Fisher-Price tape recorder telling stories and getting ready for that, but, really, resolutely, nine years ago I decided this is what I wanted to do, and, we the aid of some truly wonderful people who had my back, I started on my journey. And now, nine years later,  I find myself having just come from a panel talking about how I broke in, and how i got where I am, and realized that, frankly, it's all just luck.

Somehow, I found my first patron (and amazing friend) in Chris Arundel (better known to those of you following along at home as the Publisher at Hoarse and Buggy Productions), and, from there, I've been lucky enough to find a string of people either smart or foolish enough to take chances on me.

That being said, I made a lot of bad decisions, things that I lay awake thinking about, and wish I could go back in time and fix them.  I've lost everything including friends, money, and joy from those bad decisions.  But, very few of them have had long term consequences on me.  That's luck, too.  Those bad decisions, in fact, led me down paths that gave me bigger and better opportunities.

ALl of that being said, I've also worked my balls off.  Years of killing myself on scripts and marketing and printers and fighting with publishers and going to cons and pitching my ass off in meetings and driving three hours to get to a meeting that doesn't happen because the guy decided to leave for his private island a few hours early.

For the first five years, I worked full time while pulling more than another forty hours a week in the PM to keep books on time and coming out and, theoretically, awesome.  For the next four, I've struggled to balance paying the bills with creating art that I love and cherish all while building a family and a social life and all the things I gave up in the first five to get here.

And now, I've got some amazing things coming up later this year.  Not just some amazing creator owned, in which I'm working with some of my favorite people on earth, but, opportunities to deliver mainstream books that are built entirely on the strength of my voice and what I've proven over the years.

But even that, while, sure, all that hard work certainly paid off, it really just came down to a couple of people picking my book out of a pile and giving it a looksie.

Everything I have is that same luck.  Hell, had I not logged into my online dating account one last time, I never would've met the most wonderful woman I've ever had the pleasure of knowing, nor gotten to have a kid more amazing that I could've ever imagined.

So, look, ultimately the point to all of this is that as unfortunate as it is, no matter how hard you work or how long you toil, sometimes, it just comes down to that flip of a coin.  And that sucks.

Unless, that is, you happen to be me.

NYCC & ECHOES!

Hey folks,

First off, I've got a brand new book coming down the pike, this time with the amazing Rahsan Ekedal (http://www.rahsanekedal.com/).  It's a suspense horror book called ECHOES published by Top Cow (http://www.topcow.com).

The first issue is a part of their First Look trade which is in stores this month, and then Issue 1 will drop in December.  Issue 1 is available for pre-order right now.  Just head to your local comic shop and tell them you want to order the whole series.  All five issues are complete, and the book will be released on time and quickly!

We also have a production blog at http://www.echoesthecomic.com and a Twitter @echoescomic

If you're a journo or want to lend a quote to the PR of the book, just drop me a line and I'll see about getting you a PDF of the whole thing!

Also, this coming weekend I'll be at the New York Comic Con at the Javitz Center in New York City.  I'm coming in for a huge announcement involving MTV Geek (http://geek.mtv.com) and some old and new books of mine.  I'll also be doing brief signings for Archaia and Top Cow.  Schedule as follows:

Friday - 3pm - Archaia Booth - Signing Tumor

Saturday - 11am - MTV Geek Panel

Saturday - 1:15 - Top Cow Panel

Saturday - 2:30 - Top Cow Booth - Signing Top Cow First Look (Echoes #1)

So, please, check out Echoes, and NYC folk, I'll see you this weekend!

San Diego Comic Con Cometh!

Hey folks!Next week brings us the annual monstrosity of awesomeness that is San Diego Comic-Con. As per usual, I'll be there, signing, talking, and meeting-ing.

Excitingly, I'll also be premiering a brand new book from Top Cow Productions with my Cleaners co-creator Rahsan Ekedal! The book is... well, not announced yet, but, there's a sneaky sneak peek right here: http://www.comicvine.com/news/top-cow-gets-ready-for-sdcc/141666/

Come by the Top Cow booth (#2629) and pick it up. It's a huge value ( i really wish I could explain that, but, it's a con exclusive announcement!) and I'm immensely proud of the work Rahsan and I have done. The book is a black and white horror/thriller, perfect for fans of both Rahsan and my other work. I really hope you get a chance to check it out!

Of course, I'll be signing copies of that book as well as the recently released TUMOR. My schedule for the weekend is as follows.

Thursday TUMOR Signing - Archaia Comics - Booth 2635 - 11am till 1:30pm TOP COW Signing - Top Cow Productions - Booth 2629 - 5:30pm till 6:30pm

Friday TUMOR Signing - Archaia Comics - Booth 2635 - 2pm - 3:30pm TOP COW Signing - Top Cow Productions -Booth 2629 - 4:30pm - 5:30pm

Saturday TUMOR Signing - Archaia Comics - Booth 2635 - 11:30am - 1:00pm TOP COW Panel - Room 9 - 1:30pm - 2:30pm TOP COW Signing - Top Cow Productions - Booth 2629 - 2:30 - 3:00pm Digital Comics Panel - Room 3 - 4:00pm - 5:00pm (Featuring R. Stevens, Dylan Meconic, and Robert Berry)

Sunday TUMOR Signing - Archaia Comics - Booth 2635 - 11:00am - 1:00pm TOP COW Signing - Top Cow Productions - Booth 2629 - 2:00pm - 3:00pm

The Top Cow and Archaia booths are right next to each other, so, if you're looking for me at one and don't see me, try the other one!

I'm really excited both about the new book and getting a chance to show Tumor off to all of you, so, please come on by!

See you in San Diego!

j. www.thefialkov.com

TUMOR IN STORES NOW AND RELEASE PARTIES!

Hey gang,After much waiting, TUMOR will be available from your local comic book shop this coming Wednesday the 9th. To find your nearest comic shop visit http://comicshoplocator.com/ and ask them for TUMOR from Archaia Comics. if they didn't already order it, they should be able to order it from Diamond, no problem.

Also, to celebrate, I'm doing a couple of events on Wednesday. First off, at Collector's Paradise in Winnetka. I'll be there from 12 till 2pm, and you can find out more info here: http://comicsandcards.net/wordpress/2010/06/tumor-hc-release-signing-this-wednesday/

Then, at 7pm, come and join me at Meltdown Comics in Hollywood for a release party and signing. There will be beer, food, and much celebrating. More info on that event here: http://www.meltcomics.com/blog/2010/06/01/store-signing-josh-fialkov-thursday-june-3rd-7pm-8pm/

If you run a shop in L.A. and would like me to swing by and sign copies, just drop me a line, and I'll see what to do. If you're a journo interested in promoting the book, same thing.

And please, if you're a fan of what Noel and I do, let people know about the book and the events. Independent comics rely entirely on word of mouth and recommendations, so, every good word helps.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be slowly disappearing as Christina and I will be welcoming our first child into the world, so, in case I don't get to say it, thank you all for the support and love the past year.

See you next week!

j.

www.thefialkov.com

Pasadena Rockin' Comic Con

Hey folks,I'll be appearing this weekend at the Pasadena Rockin' Comic Con with copies of Tumor for sale. I'll be set up in Artist Alley, either on my own or with Tony Fleecs.

Also appearing are cool folk like Batton Lash, Bernie Wrightson, and Stan Lee. So, you may be asking yourself, what makes this show "Rockin'"? Well, that would be that its also a music festival, headlined by those princes of New Wave Flock of Seagulls.

It's a truly weird weekend, so, go check out their site, and make sure you come by and say Hullo!

http://rockincomiccon.com/

See you there!

j. www.thefialkov.com

I Talk About Digital Comics and Such...

Over at Broken Frontier's new Digital Magazine (also available on iPad) called The Frontiersman. They do a great job with the format of the magazine, and, seem to have a good head on their shoulders about the point of the mag. It's free, has advertising inside, and it drives traffic to their website (which also has ads.) They want people reading the mag, because they want people coming to their site. It's an attainable goal, especially with the great design and delivery method. Anyways, go see, it's right on the front page. http://www.brokenfrontier.com

Free Comic Book Day 2010!

Hey folks,Tomorrow is that most beloved of nerd holidays known as Free Comic Book Day. That means I'll be out and about signing books. I'm just hitting one shop tomorrow, as opposed to last year's round robin. This year you'll find me at the much beloved Comic Bug in Manhattan Beach, CA.

I'll be there with my Tumor/Alibi/Cyblade editor (and writer extraordinaire) Rob Levin, and Rahsan (Cleaners, Crazies, Creepy, Echoes) Ekedal. We should arrive around 11am and stick around till at least 3pm.

More info on their shop here: http://thecomicbug.com/

And, if you're not in the area, but still want the free comics, go to http://comicshoplocator.com/ to find your nearest shop.

Hopefully, I should have word on the release of Tumor in the next few days, so keep your eyes on your inbox, or follow me on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/joshfialkov for more info.

See you on the flip side.

j. http://www.thefialkov.com

Comics Advocacy

Not a lot of people read anymore. Even fewer people read comics. Independent comics? Even less. Estimates had the complete comic market (meaning people who go to a local comic shop) somewhere around 350k a few years ago. Then, if you look at the percentages of market via Diamond, you realize that just about every publisher not named Marvel or DC combined barely equals one of those two companies sales. In other words, not a lot of people.

That puts you in a peculiar position as a comics fan, and as an independent comics fan specifically. You more or less have to shout from rooftops about every book you love. And that's fucking exhausting.

When I first started in comics, I came to it from this idea of being an advocate. I would scream and shout and harangue people to read the really cool drastically under ordered books that I was a fan of. Hell, I even did it as a weekly columnist for Broken Frontier.

Then, I transitioned to being a publisher and creator. Say what you will about my business, the one thing we did right was get the word out. But, it didn't translate into sales. Probably my favorite stat is that while Elk's Run was busy getting an A review from Entertainment Weekly it was barely selling 900 copies per issue.

I'm not what you'd call a positive person. I'm ultra-critical, to a fault, and, as anyone who's ever spent more than a few minutes with me knows you say the magic words and I turn into a pit bull of rage and anger. But, when it comes to comics advocacy in a public setting, I just can't do that. Instead of dwelling on whatever multi-part crossover is irritatingly selling thousands of times more than any of my books do, I instead scream the praises of Jeff Lemire's Sweet Tooth, Moon and Ba's Daytrippers, Mark Waid's Brave and the Bold, Darwyn Cooke's Parker novels, etc.

So, look, the point of this ramble is that it breaks my heart to see reviewers and readers harp on books they don't like, reviewing each individual part of a 200 issue crossover rather than saying, "Fuck it, let's read something new."

With TUMOR on it's way to stores in the next few weeks, this idea of comics advocacy is high in my mind. I've had dozens of people come back after reading the digital version or the advance copies from C2E2 tell me how much they love the book, and, I tell each of them the same thing. If you love it, go online. Twitter it, Facebook it. Go to Goodreads and write a review. Amazon reviews. Write it up on your blog.

You have to assume that if you like this book you're the only person in the world with the ability to get your friends and family to read it, because frankly, you are.

So, rather than griping about which Marvel characters are getting their minds wiped or which DC character is rising from the dead, tell people about your favorite independent comic.

Especially if it's Tumor.

LA Times Festival of Books!

Hey folks,Just a quick word. I'll be signing on Saturday at the Archaia booth at the LA Times Festival of Books at UCLA. This is a free book festival that is an amazing way to spend an afternoon. If you live in L.A. and have never gone, you're missing out.

I'll have copies of Tumor on hand (including a few of the hand numbered ones, I believe), and, depending on the parking situation, I may even bring some of my other stuff.

I'll be signing from 11am (I would guess I'd be there for about two hours total) at the Archaia Booth (#756) which I believe is in the Hero Complex Pavilion.

And, as previously mentioned, today is the last day for the Harvey Nominations. You can find out what I'm eligible for and how to nominate Tumor at this link: http://www.thefialkov.com/?p=2127

See you this weekend!

j. www.thefialkov.com

Harvey Awards Nominations

Hey folks,The nominating process for the Harvey Awards wraps up tomorrow, and I wanted to make my plea for you to consider nominating my work this year. The Harvey Award nominations are done entirely by the comics industry, rather than the fans, so, if you work in comics at all you are eligible to nominate.

You can download the form here: http://www.harveyawards.org/

Should you deem us worthy, we're eligible in the following categories:

BEST WRITER - Joshua Hale Fialkov, Tumor BEST ARTIST - Noel Tuazon, Tumor BEST LETTERING - Comicraft, Tumor BEST ONLINE COMICS WORK - Tumor (www.tumorthecomic.com) BEST NEW SERIES - Tumor BEST LIMITED OR CONTINUING SERIES - Tumor

The whole process only takes a few minutes, and it would be greatly appreciated by all of us here at TumorHQ.

Thanks for taking the time.

j.

C2E2 AND TUMOR!!!

Hey folks,I'm wrapping up my work and getting ready to head out to Chicago for C2E2 in the morning. For those who don't know, this is the show by the guys who do NYCC, which is an amazingly good time every year, so I have very high hopes. More info on the show here: http://www.c2e2.com/

I'm especially excited as, after much delay, there will be copies of the TUMOR Hardcover available for purchase all weekend! There's a limited supply of these advance copies, and I aim to sell all of them! My schedule's below, and I hope to see you all there.

FRIDAY APRIL 16th - 4:30pm Archaia Comics - Booth 545 5:30pm Top Cow Productions - Booth 551

SATURDAY APRIL 17th - 10:30am Top Cow Productions - Booth 551 11:30am Archaia Comics - Booth 545 1:45 Archaia Comics Panel - Room E351 Following the panel, I'll be hanging around the Archaia booth signing books in an unofficial capacity.

SUNDAY APRIL 18th - 10:30am Top Cow Productions -Booth 551 1:00pm Archaia Comics - Booth 545

Of course, if you're looking for me to sign anything or just to say hi, you can track my whereabouts via twitter (http://www.twitter.com/joshfialkov).

Here's to the start of another amazing con season!

j. www.thefialkov.com

Catching Up

Sigh. I apologize for disappearing into Twitter.  It's tough, because it's so much easier to jot down thoughts than it is to write something substantial.  So, here's quick recap of what's what in the land of Fialkov.

Tumor - huge production and printing problems have knee-capped the book.  We're hoping to see it released sometime next month, which, considering Noel, Rob, and I turned in a final version sometime in October is a bit horrifying.  I wish there was something I could do to get it out, but, alas, it's been out of my hands for quite a while, and there's not much I can do about it.  In the meantime, I hope you're following Noel's new blog at http://www.noeltuazon.com.

Fialkov/Ekedal Book - Rahsan and I have a new book that's compeltely written and about 2/5ths drawn. It'll be released/announced by Top Cow, hopefully later this year. It's a serial killer book, and in a lot of ways, I feel like it's a spiritual sequel to Tumor, although, technically, it's set in the same world as Elk's Run. This is not noticeable by anybody but me. Yet. Follow Rahsan's amazing work at both his portfolio site and his blog. Rahsan, you'll remember, drew The Cleaners from Dark Horse which had my name on it despite my not working on it that much at all. He also drew The Crazies issue that I wrote that came out last month.

Fialkov/Fleecs Book - Coming 2010/2011 from Oni Press. This is a Sci-Fi Comedy that's sort of a cross between what the amazing Mr. Fleecs does and what Kody and I do on Punks. It'll hopefully wind up being one of those manga style long form series that everybody goes all ga-ga for. It's been a blast collaborating with Tony on it, and I think that really comes through in the script and art.

Fialkov/Tuazon Book - It looks like Noel and I may try to raise some money to do our third book via Kickstarter. I have a couple of projects in mind, including the long gestating Three Rivers, a non-zombie zombie book, or possibly a Y.A. horror/adventure book I've been working on. More to come.

Upcoming Appearances: This weekend I'll be at Wondercon, signing at Top Cow from 12-2 on Saturday and the early afternoon on Sunday. I'll also be spending time at Rahsan's table in Artist Alley. I'll also be at the kickass Isotope Party Saturday night.

Following that, it looks like I'll be at C2E2 in Chicago, theoretically with advance copies of Tumor on hand. Will confirm once we're a little closer. Then, of course, you'll be able to find me at San Diego Comic Con, and, in October, at Long Beach Comic Con.

Life Changing Stuff: For those who don't follow me on Twitter or Facebook, Christina and I are having a baby girl. She's due in June, and we couldn't be more excited. There'll be more on her pretty soon.

And that's that. I'm hoping to start posting and talking at length about what I'm working on and what's going on in my life a bit more, and I apologize for the absenteeism.

Comics Activism Now!

Hey folks, I suppose that headline should be 'self-serving Comics Activism now.'

Here's the thing. For YEARS, I've had people tell me how much they hate the lack of diversity in comics. Of course, I correct them, and tell them that there's no medium on earth with as wide a range of amazing works in a plethora of genres (I mean, there's a whole subdivision of manga devoted to cooking adventure stories.)

The thing is that these books just aren't ordered enough. The lions share of books ordered in the direct market are from the top two publishers, and you can't fault retailers for that. It's a tough economy, and they need to know that every single book they order has the best chance possible to sell.

But, with comics you actually have the ability to make a difference. If you let your retailer know about the books that aren't from the big boys, but are interesting to you, then there's a good chance that they'll actually take a chance, because if you like something then, the idea goes, your friends who shop with you may like it too. If you take the time to just Tweet to your friends about a book you enjoyed that's available, they can place their order, and if they enjoy it, they tell their friends. We're a word of mouth industry, and I think a lot of us forget that sometimes.

When I do a book like Tumor, I'm doing it for free. I spent a good chunk of a year working on it because I believe in it, and it's my art. Fortunately, I've been able to make my art my full time job for a long time now. But, the challenges of the market remain, and without the orders it becomes very difficult for me to convince publishers to take another chance on my weird, arty genre comics.

So please, I know that if you're a member of this list it's because you've enjoyed something that I've written. Or you're a glutton for punishment. Either or. So, if you've enjoyed anything I've ever written, I'm pretty sure you'll like Tumor as I've been told it's the best book I've ever done.

Still not sure? You can read ALL of the book for free over at http://www.tumorthecomic.com

But I bet you HATE those Flash comic viewers, don't you? Well, howsabout this. You can read the first half of the book for free in downloadable PDF format here.

If you like it, please, twitter it, facebook it, e-mail it, show it to your friends, print out copies to give to your retailer.

Not sure how to pre-order your comics? Well, you take the form right here:

Print it out, and take it to your local retailer (which you can find here: http://comicshoplocator.com/) and ask them to pre-order the book. That's it.

No comic shops nearby? The book is also available from Amazon.com here

Alright, let's say you've read the book and don't know why you should pay 15 bucks for a beautifully designed hard cover version. Well, there's the beautiful introduction by crime fiction writer extraordinaire Duane Swierczynski, an original and exclusive short story about Frank and Polish's first meetings, a long form essay on Los Angeles and it's relationship to the book, an exclusive gallery of concept art, and much, much more. It's 225 pages, approximately, for only fifteen bucks! Talk about your value!

So, thanks for reading, and please, if you like the book, don't make it a secret. Scream from the rooftops, and let people know that you want something different from everything else on the shelf.

Thanks everybody,

j.

www.thefialkov.com

www.tumorthecomic.com

Long Beach Comic Con is Upon Us

Hey folks,I'll be heading out to the inaugural Long Beach Comic Con (http://longbeachcomiccon.com/) this weekend, and I've got a few signings, and a couple of panels. Nothing debuting at the show, but, I'll probably have Punks and assorted other books on hand, so come track me down if you need anything.

Schedule as follows:

Friday - 6:00 - 7:00 pm - Signing - Top Cow Saturday - 2:00 - 3:00 pm - Signing - Top COw Sunday - 12:00 - 12:45 pm - Panel - Story and Character Sunday - 1:00 - 1:45 pm - Panel - Digital Comics Room B

I'll most likely be in the general vicinity of the good folk at Archaia for the bulk of the show, so, feel free to stop by. I'm the stocky guy with the awesome shirts.

And seeing as I'm not really pimping anything, allow me to point you in the direction of my good buddy Tony Fleecs who's selling some kickass prints made special for the show. Find out more here: http://tonyfleecs.blogspot.com/2009/09/first-annual-long-beach-comic-con-this.html

See y'all at the show!

j. www.thefialkov.com www.tumorthecomic.com