In Good Company...

I love taking pictures of my book in stores. This picture is from House of Secrets in Burbank, which is my usual Wednesday comic-book lunch-date with my fellow comic book nerds.

I couldn't be happier to be stuck between the biography of Milton Caniff and a book of "stacked" pin-up ladies. And to be a shelf above Batman and Bone aint bad either.

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Review #1

My very first review comes from an old friend, Rich Coffee. Years ago, when I first moved to L.A., my friend Greg and I dove into the local punk-rock scene. It wasn't long before we saw The Excessories and became friends with Rich and his wife/singer Melanie. They became good friends, our favorite local band and our guides through the L.A. music scene- intoducing us to lots of bands and people and venues that became our nightly outings. Rich & Mel were like my punk-rock-big-brother-and-sister... They helped make my first few years in L.A. a lot of fun. I might not have been able to enjoy Al's Bar for the last 3 years it was open if I hadn't met Mel & Rich (who, along with their other band The Black Widows, were the last band to storm the stage on it's closing night and rock the place as everyone literally tore the place apart). Not long after the closing of Al's, The Excessories called it quits and Rich & Mel moved to Vegas. Mel runs the Neon Museum, and Rich has a couple of great blogs: the rock 'n' roll review site Rants 'n' Raves and his politically minded The End of the World.

Sidenote: Rich, also an avid fan of comics, and I would often suffer the embarrassment of "twinkies" when we would both accidentally show up at a club wearing the same Captain America t-shirt.

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The Blot Press Release

Painter and cartoonist Tom Neely's first graphic novel, "The Blot," is like a sad song that breaks your heart while reminding you of life's beauty.

“The Blot" follows a nameless everyman who, while dealing with the fallout from a doomed relationship, is stalked by a mysterious black splotch. As the story unfolds, this shape-shifting blot appears as a harmless cloud of ink, a faceless demon, a source of strength and an inescapable darkness, testing our character in a new way
with each metamorphosis.

With a drawing style resembling the 1930s newspaper comic strips of E.C. Segar and Floyd Gottfredson, and a surrealistic sensibility inspired by painter René Magritte, Neely eschews traditional, representational comic storytelling and finds innovative new ways to tell an ultimately human story about love and loss.

"The Blot" and its characters are an outgrowth of the work Neely has done in his paintings, illustrations and animation over the past several years. He currently lives in Los Angeles, where he works as a freelance animator and illustrator. He earned an M.F.A. in painting from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2000 and has exhibited his paintings in multiple galleries throughout San Francisco, and L.A. Neely's illustrations have been featured in dozens of magazines and literary journals and have been featured in the 2005, 2006 and 2007 American Illustration annuals. His comics have appeared in the Graphic Classics anthologies, Expo 2003, Grind, Scram, Kitchen Sink
and Nickelodeon Magazines.

192 Pages, Black & White and Color, Paperback, $14.95 (US)
ISBN: 978-0-9742715-8-3
Available now from I Will Destroy You
P.O. Box 39963, Los Angeles, CA 90039
www.iwilldestroyyou.com

Book Release and Signing
July 20th, 2007 at Secret Headquarters Comic Shop
3817 W. Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

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THEY'RE HERE!!!

MY BOOK HAS ARRIVED!!!
The Boxes were inspected by my intern, Barky, and everything is fine. Boy, are there a lot of 'em- 3 palletes worth... 142 boxes that need to be crammed into every available space in my house... I gotta start selling these things or else start making furniture out of the boxes.

All that's left is to wrap the belly-band aroud each one as I go:



I must say, it looks beautiful! I couldn't be prouder of this book. I've read through it twice, and I have no complaints (although I found 2 mistakes that I doubt anyone else will notice).

You can order them now from iwilldestroyyou.com. Just go to the "comics" section of the site and click where it says "order now". That will take you to Paypal where you can send your payment. If you don't want to do paypal, e-mail me and we can work out another payment solution.

If you want me to sign it to you and maybe doodle something in there, send me an e-mail telling me what you want.

They aren't in stores yet, but hopefully will be soon.

I'll be having a book release party on July 20th at Secret Headquarters in L.A.

Then I'll be debuting them at the San Diego Comic Convention, July 26th thru 29th. More details about those events coming soon.

Now, what are you waiting for? ORDER MY BOOK NOW!!!

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It's Coming... (part 2)

I just got word from the printer that the books are being shipped to me today!

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Big News from the Big Island!

Anna and I went to Hawaii's Big Island last week. We had the most amazing time of our lives there.

I was so overwhelmed by nature, the experience and everything, that I proposed. And she said yes!

WE'RE ENGAGED!!!

So, to celebrate, we poked hot lava with a big stick!

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