This Tuesday, November 17th, I’ll be on hand at Quimby’s Bookstore for the Pinstriped Bloodbath release party. Pinstriped Bloodbath is an anthology of gangland violence by Chicago area cartoonists. The stories in the book are inspired or based on real stores of Chicago crime from the 20′s and 30′s, and I provided a three page strip that fits in quite nicely.
The book was conceived and assembled by Jeff Zwirek, and as you can tell by the photos, he pulled out all the stops. This is definitely one high class, mega minicomic. The event is slated to begin at 7pm, so stop on by to say hi and pick up this gem for your cartoon collection.
Now that convention season is over I’m left with a bunch of Neil Jam Icons in need of a happy home. Before I go through the trouble of listing each one individually in my Etsy shop, I figured I’d just let you know about them here. These original art pieces feature a cornucopia of pop culture figures each depicted in the trademark Neil Jam style. They are made with ink and markers on bristol board and come in ready-to-display frames. The majority of these pieces are 2.5″x3.5,” though there are some that are 2.5″x3.”
The going rate on these is $12 for each piece, as well as additional shipping costs, and I’m usually willing to make deals for anyone interested in multiple pieces. And I suppose if you have a character in mind that you don’t see here I might very well be able to craft that up for you as well. Just email me to let me know if any of these strike your fancy or if you have any questions — neil (at) neiljam.com
Pikachu, Boba Fett, Superman, Dr. Mario, Princess Peach
Green Lantern, Winnie the Pooh, Spawn, Daredevil, Madman
Spider-Man, Sonic, The Spirit
Diehard, Katamari Damacy, Human Torch, Hawkman
Flash, Joker (regular), Joker (Heath Ledger), Captain America
Invincible, Yoda, Shadowhawk, Savage Dragon
Link, Jar Jar Binks, Tony the Tiger, Fire Mario, Sonic
Iron Man, Wolverine, Hulk, Ninja Turtle, Mister Miracle
For a good ol’ fashioned comics fan, there can’t be any show better than SPX. The sheer amount of consistently high quality stuff on display from table to table boggles the mind. And unless I am crazy, it looked better this year than ever before.
And of course, there was a nook of Neil Jam stuff nestled in there among it all. I had all the usual stuff with me. In many respects this was a typical SPX– Great comics, great creators, great fans, and just a fun vibe all around. There are too many people to thank individually, so I’ll just have to send a shout out to the Neil Jam Nation as a whole. Thanks for the good time!
SPX 2009 fun fact: Did you know that on Sunday, the second day of the show, the temperature in the room was at frigid levels for the entire day? In a highly unprecedented move, the organizers cranked the AC so that this SPX would in fact be remembered forever as “Cold Con 2009.” Actually, I don’t know why it was so darn cold in there… But it was very strange!
Bonus SPX stuff: I took a bunch more photos, so head over to my Flickr gallery to check ‘em out.
This weekend, September 26-27, I’ll be in Bethesda, MD exhibiting at the Small Press Expo, or as all the cool kids like to call it, SPX.
I’ll have with me a selection of books, including the recently released big collection, and probably a newish mini of sorts as well. And of course, I’ll have a truckload of Neil Jam Icons mini artwork on hand, ’cause it wouldn’t really be a convention without them, now would it?
I’ll be sharing space with my pal Justin Madson. As you can see from the map, we’ll be situated all the way in the back corner of the room, taking up table A6 and half of A7. Being in the back corner of the room is bad in the sense that it is in the back corner of the room, but it is good in the sense that it should be easy to remember where we are– in the back corner of the room. So I don’t want to hear any excuses about not being able to find us!
It should be a good time. There will be a lot of good work on display in that room. If you are a comics fan and are anywhere near the area, you owe it to yourself to stop by. Tell ‘em Neil Jam sent ya!
This weekend, September 18-20, I’ll be exhibiting at Reactor, an anime convention in the Chicago area. I’ll have all the usual stuff with me (books, art, etc), so if you’re into that stuff come say hi. I’ve never been to this show before. That, coupled with my limited knowledge of the world of anime, has me a bit wary of it all, but I’m sure everything will turn out fine. The weekend after that I’ll be on hand at SPX, but I’ll talk more about that as we get closer to it.
The Neil Jam Book is now officially for sale. Hooray! It’s available for purchase in a completely reconfigured storefront along with the rest of the Neil Jam catalog. As an added bonus I will be happy to personally draw something special in each and every copy. So what’re you waitin’ for? Get to shoppin’!
Now that I have recovered from the long weekend that was Chicago Comic-Con I’m ready to tell you all about it. In short, It went pretty well! The show itself has been in a downward spiral of sorts for the last few years, with fewer and fewer crowd pleasing comics centric displays and happenings each year. While that surely disappointed attendees, I’m thinking it probably helped give a boost to artist alley, as there was plenty of comics stuff going on in there. I was actually able to make this my most successful show of all time– imagine that!
I had one of the most elaborate displays that I’ve ever had at a convention on my table. The new Neil Jam book made its official debut at the show, but it was the stepchild on a table jam packed full of glorious mini framed Neil Jam Icons! The artwork was by far the hit of the show. I lovingly refer to those things as “nerd crack,” and I am an unabashed dealer. Big shout out to anyone who picked up some books or artwork. Y’all definitely made the whole weekend worthwhile.
I took a bunch of photos which can be seen here in my flickr gallery. Now that the con is over I’ll have a chance to do some maintenance around the website. Look for the new book to be made available later in the week. And while I was able to unload a lot of artwork at the con, I still have plenty left (I brought an obscene amount with me), so I may be making some of that available as well sometime in the near future. Thanks again everyone!
The Chicago Comic-Con (formerly known as Wizard World Chicago) is coming up this weekend (August 6-9), and as usual, I’ll be on hand with plenty of the two Neil Jam staples: books and artwork.
In the books department, I’ll have with me brand new copies of the hot-off-the-presses Neil Jam collection. I suppose they’ll be making their official debut at the show. I’ll also be bringing along the individual minicomic issues, though at this point I’m not sure how or even if I’ll be displaying those, as there’ll be lots of stuff taking up room on the table. So if you’re interested in the single issues and you don’t see ‘em, just ask.
As for all that other stuff taking up all the room on the table, well you know it isn’t really a convention without a healthy dose of everybody’s favorite: Neil Jam Icons!
These fun little framed original art pieces feature a cornucopia of pop culture personalities, each depicted in the trademark Neil Jam style. I’ll have lots of these to choose from.
My table will be situated right in the heart of Artist Alley. Since this is a pretty big show with a pretty big Artist Alley, I’m actually planning on tying some balloons to the table (no joke) to make it easier to find and make your way back to throughout the weekend. I suppose it may look a little tacky, but hey, a Neil Jam’s gotta do what a Neil Jam’s gotta do.
So if you’re in the neighborhood definitely stop by and say hi. It can be a pretty grueling show, and seeing some happy faces will surely give me that extra boost to keep going strong throughout the weekend. If you’re not going to the show but still wanna know a little of what’s going on, following me on twitter might be a good idea. I’ll do my best to tweet along the way. Thanks everyone!
I got the first shipment of Neil Jam books. You wouldn’t believe how nervous I was while opening up the boxes– fearful of anything and everything that could’ve gone wrong with them. But it was all for naught! The books appear to be in tip top shape! Not too shabby, y’all!
Say hello to the Neil Jam book! Titled simply Neil Jam, this compilation has been a long time coming and should prove to be worth the wait. At 104 pages, this book compiles the perfect selection of shorts to indoctrinate anybody knee deep in the wonderful world that is Neil Jam.
This is no mere slapdash collection of comics. Only the best strips from the recent minicomics made the cut. Some strips went straight into the book “as is,” while others were completely redrawn or reformatted to give the book that extra something special. But it doesn’t end there, as this compilation is rounded out with some appropriately placed all new material which helps make the whole of the book much greater than the sum of its parts.
Does that whet your appetite? I hope so. Copies of Neil Jam will be made available on the website in early August, at which point there will be a storefront set up with plenty of previews and pics and even more info. Word up!
