The highly anticipated new book, YOU SO LOCO, is on sale NOW at Crying Macho Man! This second collection is chock full of All New Laugh-Out-Loud cartoons with a foreword by Michael Aushenker, creator of Cartoon Flophouse and in his own right, a Laugh-Out-Loud cartoonist.
What a blast to see all the kiddies and grown ups in line to get their free comics. My pals Javier and Michael were surprised to see how many people showed up to the event. Michael recalled "Man...this is crazy, last year we had only a few people come and now the line is through the door!" Javier was also flabbergasted bringing his collection of Kirby to read 'when things got slow.' Not the case my friends. Maybe the fever for comics coincided with the opening of IRON MAN and everyone was just fresh off the high they got from the movie, who knows. But what I do know is that I did not stop drawing for the 4 hours I was there.
Mikey is 'touched' by a spider!!! Owners Jun Goeku and MIke Wellmanwere the most gracious of hosts, making sure the featured comic artists were well fed and watered.
The artists were well represented with the likes of JAVIER HERNANDEZ showing off his new Demolition Dove character as well as his blockbuster El Muerto. MICHAEL AUSHENKER and RAFAEL NAVARRO were up to 'some good', toting their collaboration on the new Pokey book slated to come out this summer. Michael handed out hundreds of free Pokey and Gumby buttons and collectibles to young and old fans. Two tables down, MIKE MIGNOLA of Hellboy fame was touting his involvement in the new Hellboy movie coming out this summer. TED SEKO, creator of ATTACK OF THE SUPERMONSTERS and BILLY COLE was drawing up a storm for the kiddies.
Rafael Navarro and Robbie Martinez in action.
I don't usually draw super hero characters, but I relented and added my brand of humor to them:
After a great and humorous filled afternoon, we were hungry and ended up at a local pizza joint which had some dee-licious food. Here's a pict of the gang:
From left to right: Jerry Boyd, Me, Michael Aushenker, Bernyce Talley and Javier Hernandez.
Hello Everyone, A few things I want to share this week.
INDEPENDENCE The web offers me the freedom and independence of sharing my cartoons without the censorship of a corporate syndicate looking over my shoulder. I like to call it web-syndication which basically means I plug my cartoons to other websites and email my mailing list (like this one). And my marketing and solicitation are very grass roots and organic. By that I mean I collect emails at conventions or get people to subscribe through my website. I do not and will never buy or sell email lists (I find that to be creepy).
HARD DRIVE CRASH This week unfortunately my hard drive crashed and I lost most of my email contacts (1000+) . You're on this list because I had backed up your email on paper (thank god). So what I'm asking is if you know of anyone who might like to subscribe to my cartoons please send them my way. I've got to rebuild and forge ahead from this minor set back. So thank you.
THANK YOUS Being an avid web surfer myself, I understand the you have a lot to see on the web and the emails can be overwhelming, so I appreciate your tolerance and patronage. Thank you.
Jose was born and raised in New York City in the upper part of Manhattan. His community was predominately Dominican and throughout his early school years he was surrounded by friends who loved to draw. His love for art got him accepted to La Guardia H.S. of Music and Art near Lincoln Center were he was exposed to the world of fine art.
After graduating from High School, he went to Baltimore and attended the Maryland Institute College of Art. He studied everything from photography to environmental design and got a huge spoonful of Art History. Some of his influences include Henry Moore, Amedeo Modigliani, Lucian Freud, Giacometti, Paul Rand, Ansel Adams, Robert Mapplethorpe, Andy Warhol, R. Crumb, John Romita Jr., Sal Buscema, John Byrne, Jack Davis and the list goes on. This gave him the inspiration and the cojones to create Crying Macho Man.