A couple of things I've failed to write about because I suck. I've done a couple more flyers for local punk shows at the Bristol Grind House, one for Slug Guts last month and one for the Eeries, who are playing tomorrow.

Sterlin, the guy who talks these awesome bands into coming to our small town, as well as printing zines under the name of Pizza Flag (he has a Big Cartel page set up now, go order some cool stuff!) is also a part of a local group of stand-up comedians known as Beat About. I've been going out and watching them do their thing quite a bit, and with their Tumblr, they're trying to not only promote themselves, but promote other weird local stuff that many people here in Bristol wouldn't really be aware of.

One of the members actually interviewed me! You can read it here. I rambled about inspiration, Altered States, giant monsters, and some other stuff.

I wanted to write a bit about these guys because what they're doing is kind of a big deal to me, and I'm proud to be involved in my own little way. Bristol is a small town known primarily for two things: NASCAR and the Rhythm & Roots festival. I mean, it's also the birthplace of country music, but it's not really known for that and aside from Rhythm & Roots, the only other thing we have to offer is a tiny museum in the Bristol Mall, woo. There's not much to offer downtown: a good comic shop, a few places to drink, and more antique stores than probably necessary. It's seen a boost in activity lately, especially this year, but it's still kind of small and sleepy and won't be shaking off its reputation any time soon.
 

But what the Beat About guys are doing is hopefully making a difference. Between the open mic nights, Bring Your Own Vinyl nights at the Acoustic Alehouse (which I haven't been to yet), and the punk shows at the Grind House, things are picking up. I'd like to say Bristol is starting to show a little of its weird side. I'm thrilled to be able to watch it happen, moving back here after three grueling years in Johnson City, I was worried there'd be nothing here for me, and I'm so glad that's not the case. I also enjoy being able to make little contributions, doing art and stuff for Sterlin's zines and posters for the shows. 

I think this kind of thing is what just about every small town needs, a little...I don't want to say counter-culture, but people teaming up to bring something DIFFERENT to the public. To stand out. Sterlin and Beat About are proving that there's more to Bristol than just bluegrass music, and I really hope these guys get noticed by more and more people. I'm doing what I can to help and support them.

Oh, also! I finished drawing chapter 5 of Other Sleep today. FINALLY. My drawing arm is screaming in glorious agony. I'll have it finished and online this month, so look forward to that!

[Brett]

I feel like I open every one of these posts by saying the same thing, but: I've been busy lately. Not just with work, but with other things. Like the sudden development of a social life, which is kind of awesome and terrifying at once. 

So chapter 4 of Other Sleep is finally online! I put it up last week! You should go read it! It's um, a bit different from the others, a little weird, but still alright.

And I made this:
Yep, my good buddy, Pizza Flag editor, and stand-up comedian Sterlin has convinced another punk band to come play in Bristol, and once again I put a flyer together for them! This one was all digital, starting with a photograph I took of my teeth. I'm pretty damn happy with it, it's quite a bit different from other stuff I do.

And here's the cover I designed for Eye Alive 2, also from Pizza Flag:
I'm really proud of this dude, completely tokusatsu. I had bought a recent issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland that was ALL ABOUT giant monster movies and TV shows from Japan, so that was my big inspiration.

...If you haven't noticed, I LOVE giant monsters...

Saturday was a big day for Bristol, with a band I have never heard of called Mumford and Sons playing that night and a bunch of other bands and things going on downtown. I got invited to hang out at Mountain Empire Comics and sell my comics. Once more, I was teamed up with my partner in crime, Dionysus Metalcult. In his words, we're like a Spider-man/Dr. Strange team-up from the 80's, and that's quite appropriate. There were a LOT of people out and about all day, but unfortunately not many of them were big on our weird self-published comics. Nevertheless, a good time was had, despite a total lack of funnel cake.

Seriously man, it's not a festival if there isn't funnel cake. What the hell?

That's all for now. I did a weird illustration for Eye Alive 2, but I won't be posting it just yet. Now I must dive back into Other Sleep and get to work on chapter 5, yeah?

I leave you now with a photo of me with a bow in my hair, for no reason:
 

[Brett]

Rob-Con was a pretty big success yesterday. I'm not sure where to begin.

After a week of little sleep and much preparation, I got to Viking Hall with all of my books and stuff at 8:30ish. I was thrilled that I would once more be sitting with the baddest 'stache in the east, Dionysis Metalcult. We kicked ass at Free Comic Book Day, so getting to hang with him again was a blast. It was a tad slow going at first, but before long we had our first, glorious customer:
Things stayed quite a bit busy after that, and I never got to leave my table for long. I'm a little disappointed in that, because I didn't get to buy anything or talk to any of the other artists like Matt Smith and Kaysha Siemens. At the same time though, I'm blown away by the number of comics I got rid of. I haven't had the chance to sit down and figure out how much I sold, but I gotta say, the boxes I was carrying them in were noticeably lighter when I was leaving at the end of the day. Seems both issues of Burst Reach were what I sold the most of, but I could be wrong. I also gave away Pizza Flag zines with any purchase, and before long I was completely out of copies of Eye Alive. The second volume should be out next month, which...have I posted the cover for that on here yet? I don't remember. I'll uh, look into that later! I still need to figure out what I want to do for the inside too.

I wish I had a picture of this one copy of Eye Alive that I signed. I butchered my grammar by writing "this is the most books I've ever signed," then quickly marked through "this is" and replaced it with "these are." I was in this weird, bewildered daze all day, this being my first real con experience behind a table, so I kept doing stupid things like that. It was a huge turnout, and there was this infectious energy in the air, like this perpetual buzz. It was overwhelming, but just so awesome.

I also drew a pretty kickass Tin Man:
Another guy got me to draw some woman from the original Star Trek series, with this weird bee hive haircut? I didn't get to take a picture of it because I'm stupid.

But yes! It was a blast! And I think I did pretty good! And I got interviewed by some guy! So that MIGHT be online at some point. Maybe. I dunno.

Afterwards, my friend David and I decided to hit the lake, and it was majestic.
All in all, it was a day of good things. I was stupidly sore and tired at the end of the day, to the point where my comprehension of the English language was breaking down severely.

I can't wait to get to do it all again, I hope next year's Rob-Con will be even BIGGER.

Now, back to work. Gotta hurry up and finish chapter 4 of Other Sleep!

[Brett]