BotCon online registration finally went up today at about 4:30.  So, hey.  Congratulations, everybody! You're out $300, just like you always wanted.

A week ago I asked about me maybe going to TFCon.  Well, here's an alternate idea.  I went to Canada's GIJoe convention last year, and they want me back!  As a guest again!  And it's two weeks later in the same town (Toronto). Would that be amenable?  It's a smaller show, but a fun one.  I would love to go back.

(Remember to vote for Dinobot.)

WildPig II is live! Come see me.

Wherever I am.

While the masses get increasingly restless as BotCon is roughly one month away with no preregistration yet, we do get some raw meat thrown down to us.  A few days ago we got to see Clench!  He's Onslaught with a new head, in sparkly dark blue and bright pink.  This means he's awesome.

We also got to see this year's convention shirt, which glows in black light.  I've sworn off black BotCon shirts, since I just have too damn many, but I probably can't resist a G2 blacklight shirt.  I mean, c'mon.

What we don't get is BotCon preregistration three months ago.

I'm gettin' up early today for my trip to WildPig II in New Jersey.  Guess who I'm road-tripping with?  Why, none other than Randy Milholland, because I'm pretty much on his way from Texas, so why not?We're gonna pile up in his truck and godspeed ourselves to Springfield.

We may headbang.

Hey, you folks near New York City!  Did you know that to the west, just over the river, there's this other state?  And right there, in this mystical land called "New Jersey," is the humble town of Springfield.  It may or may  not neighbor Shelbyville, but it is going to be host to WildPig II.  And I'm going to be there on Saturday and Sunday.

And not just me!  My webcomics brethren Randy Milholland (Something*Positive), Danielle Corsetto (Girls with Slingshots), and the illustrious Box Brown will also be there.  That's like three awesome people plus me!

I'll be there with my usual stuff:  Comics, posters, stickers, prints, magnets, sketches!  You should come see me and my buddies.  I'm excited!  I'm excited to be in friggin' NEW JERSEY.  Randy Milholland is driving TWENTY-FIVE HOURS from TEXAS to be in NEW JERSEY.  So you know this is serious.

Hey, everyone, I'm back!  Penguicon was great!  My next con is in two weeks in New Jersey, at WildPig with Randy Milholland (Something*Positive), Daniel Corsetto (Girls With Slingshots) and others!  Mark your calendars.

Check me out in my mini-booth, looking like I've just gotten up and eaten 30 bagels.  How do I find the time to both collect toys and eat so much?  Hmm.

The "Relationshipocalypse" storyline is over, and I hope everyone enjoyed it!  Lord, I love writing Amber and Mike like nothing else, and from the things people were telling me at Penguicon, I'm not alone in being enthralled by their twisted little romance.

Here's the way April 9th's comic originally ended.  I thought Amber'd been a little too naked recently at her expense, so I redrew the last panel at a different angle.  Also, I figgered it'd be funnier if we didn't actually see her and Mike in the act.  The mind can come up with way more compromising positions than my PG-13(ish) strip is allowed to portray, so...

Plus I got that extra little punchline!

Two advance copies of Shortpacked! Book 3 (preorder it now!) arrived via FedEx this morning for me.  Like, they were sent from Hong Kong yesterday, and now they're here.  I know we have, y'know, jet planes and what have you, but that still seems magically fast.

The books are beautiful, as always!

I'm told that the rest of the books are going on the boat next week and they'll arrive over here near the first week of June.  ... and if you recall my history, they'll spend the next 2-3 weeks in customs.  It's going to happen.  Let's just resign ourselves to the inevitable.

This morning I'm on the road at 8am to get my ass to Troy, Michigan, by noon.  Penguicon is this weekend, and I'll be at Howard Tayler's table.  Look for the two guys in brightly-colored Hawaiian shirts.  One, a successful breadwinner.  The other, an awkward manchild.  Randy Millholland (Something*Positive) will also be there, and he's written a very informative comic strip about it.

There's been a dearth of toy talk from me recently, but only because I gots no new toys to talk about!  It's a very dead period for me, apparently.  There's gonna be some new Transformers soon, right?  Some G.I. Joes?  Oh, lord, please, yes.

Just because I'm not gabbing about toys doesn't mean I'm not keeping myself busy.  This weekend I'm going up to Troy, Michigan, for Penguicon.  Really, I'm just helping out Howard Tayler (Schlock Mercenary) and his wife at their table.  They're Distinguished Guests at the convention, and so they both have panels they gotta be on, and thus need a dude to hold down the fort.  In exchange for helping them out, I get a corner to do my thing.

It's been a while since Howard and I have tangoed, so I'm looking forward to it.  There's the usual ice-breaking "your mom" joke, followed by the usual "my mother is already passed away" retort, followed by my usual awkward silence...

Why does Howard tolerate me again?

Also, I'll get to see my favorite highway signage in all the land, Big Beaver Road, Exit 69.  Oh, how I've missed you.

And here's the last of my (published) pictures.  That's right!   There are photos worse than the ones from yesterday with all the mouth-pooping.

(They were blurry or boring.)

Argh.  Well, first, let me address everyone's missing weekend comics.  I had a Joyce & Walky! done days ago, but for some reason the old FTP wasn't working (J&W! is still at the old server) and I couldn't get that fixed before I left.  And I planned to draw TNI's strip at C2E2, but then I forgot about it.  D'oh.  Anyway, I'm a loser, and you'll have your comics when I get home and things are resolved and/or drawn.

Some of these images are kind of gross.  Three of them, in fact.  They are mere links, because, you know. (You may recall that Jeph Jacques and I have a "feud."  In fact, you obviously do recall, because you guys keep asking us to act on it in ways such as this.)   I recommend not clicking on the links that sound Not Safe For Work, because they undoubtedly are.

I'm asked to draw myself pooping in Jeph Jacques mouth.  Of course I'll draw that.

Same person got another book.  So this is Batman pooping in Commissioner Gordon's mouth, because why the hell not.

And Jeph responds.

Yay, I remembered to bring my camera cord back with me.  And my camera!  (That also helps.)  So have some pix.

Saturday's stuff I'll put up tomorrow!  Think of today as Friday night, but 24 hours later because I was stupid.

Sneak preview: KFC Double Down.  Mouth-pooping.