I have to say this was the most fun I've ever had at the San Diego Comic Convention. It was also the most exhausting running my own booth with the help of my fellow Igloo Tornados.
I debuted "The Blot" there and was very happy to find it well received by many people. This year, I felt like a real cartoonist with my first graphic novel. I sold a lot of copies and signed nearly every one of them. I met some new people and had a lot of fun hanging out with all my cartoonist friends.
I got a few pictures of people in costumes posing with my book:
Power Girl
Tobias Fünke from Arrested Development
Rorschach
And I got a lot of great new books:
This year, I was really happy to see a lot of "comic books" from artists I like, rather than "graphic novels." The photo above includes: Joe Matt's Spent, James Sturm's America, Jermy Tindler is an Asshole, Porcelain Skinned Dandy & Homicide Detective by David King, Black Ghost Apple Factory by Jermy Tindler, Injury by Ted May and friends, 1-800-MICE by Matthew Thurber, Cat Suit by Steve Lafler, Edison Steelhead's Lost Portfolio by Renée French, Reich by Elijah Brubaker, Green Grass anthology, Reporter #6 by Dylan Williams, Exit Wounds by Rutu Modan, Incredible Change-bots by Jeffrey Brown, Watching Days Become Years #4 by Jeff Levine, Suicide Girls Magazine #1, Fox Bunny Funny by Andy Hartzell, Aviary by Jamie Tanner, Love Eats Brains by Dash Shaw, a stack of awesome horror comics from the '50s and '60s, and a nice Squid and Whale shirt by Josh Frankel.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Comicon was awesome!
Another review of "The Blot"
Brian Heater over at
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
2 more reviews...
Here's a couple of good, short reviews of The Blot that I just saw today:
A nice short review from Book By It's Cover:
And about halfway down the page you'll find a quickie on Bookgasm:
I Will Destroy You & Igloo Tornado at San Diego Comic Con!
We just stapled all our minis last night and I'm surprised at all we have:
10 different mini-zines and mini-comics.
3.5* different t-shirts in a rainbow of colors
4 limited edition giclée prints
1
"Lace Lock Losers" B&W with hand-printed covers
"Now or Later Loser" in Full Color with hand-printed covers
Or buy the special packet of both and get a 3rd mini "Loser"
(kinda like those porno three packs you get at truckstops)
"Loser Goes First" T-shirt
and his beautiful giclée print "Tete-a-tete"
The soon to be controversial "Fat Elvis" in which he has recontextualized artwork from the old south with some jokes by a famous comedian.
"The Only One There Could Ever Be"- a book of illustrated poetry
inspired by the Highlander series of movies by Jihanian
(illustrations by other members of the Igloo).
"Ordinary Fieldbook"- this is gonna be the best mini of the convention! A beautiful full color sketchbook.
Chock-full of monster battles and grocery lists,
if you've never seen Levon's sketchbooks, you've been missing out!
"Cat & Demon" Igloo Tornado t-shirt
His debut graphic novel "The Blot"
"S'supermini"- a mini comic of super-hero gag cartoons
"I'm Depressed"- the unauthorized garfield comic
3 new giclée limited edition prints of his paintings:
"The Blot" t-shirts
The infamous "Henry & Glenn 4-Ever #1" returns!
But wait, there's a new one: "Henry & Glenn 4-Ever #2" with special guest stars Hall & Oates as their new neighbors!
"Hall & Oates" t-shirts!
There may also be some original artwork for sale.
We'll be joining
Sunday, July 22, 2007
The Blot reviewed at Jog the Blog!
Wow! I just got a
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Book Release party was a big success!
Last night's book release party at 
You can see
Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate with me!
Friday, July 20, 2007
Fuck Harry Potter!!!
COME TO MY BOOK RELEASE PARTY INSTEAD!!!
It's at:
Tonight, I want to see more people than this at 
Monday, July 16, 2007
Book Release Party!!!
I'm extremely happy to announce my first Book Release Party for my first graphic novel "The Blot."
It will be this Friday, July 20th at
Please come out and help me celebrate a year's worth of hard work in getting this book done. If the book isn't enough to get you out of the house- there will also be beer.
I also have new limited edition giclée prints of these 3 paintings that will be available for sale:
And
So, come on out, have a beer, buy my book, make me sign it... or just come say "hi."
The Blot by Tom Neely
Book Release and Signing Party
3817 W. Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
Friday, July 20th 8-10 pm
For those of you not in the L.A. area, I will be at the following comics festivals with my book:
San Diego Comic Con July 25-29 at the I Will Destroy You/Sparkplug Comic Book booth
Toronto Comic Arts Festival August 18th & 19th at the Sparkplug Comic Book booth
Small Press Expo in Bethesda Maryland October 13th & 14th at the Sparkplug Comic Book booth
I hope to see you all soon.
If you can't make it to any of those events, you can always order "The Blot" from my site:
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Process: Group Show at Gallrey Nucleus
I have two pieces in this group show at
Here are my pieces for the show (sorry though the scans are a little washed out): 
The show also includes my pal, and fellow
Thursday, July 05, 2007
When Whaleboy Met Ahab!
My good pal,
He also made toys of Whaleboy, and there's a release party for them tonight at
There will also be a show of various artists doing pieces of Whaleboy art. That's my drawing (above) of when Whaleboy met Ahab.
Go check 'em out at
Monday, July 02, 2007
Spotted this on Spot the Frog
This reminds me that there is another ink blot strip drawn by Winsor McCay. I believe it was from a Rarebit Fiend in which a man is annoyed by an onslought of dripped ink from the cartoonist's brush. I've always loved McCay, but had never seen that strip until I saw the original artwork in the Masters of American Comics exhibit at the Hammer Museum in L.A. last year. It was not a direct influence on my book (I'd already completed the first chapter of The Blot before I saw this McCay strip) but his Little Nemo comics have always been a big inspiration to me.
*Note: Years later, I felt bad about stealing the porn, so, my friend (a cohort in the crime) and I went back one day and left $50 on the cash register when the vendor wasn't looking.
