No Snake!

I went over to see my pal, Budd Root today. First of all, I needed to drop off a copy of my novel WORKING CLASS HERO for him and his wife, Leslie. Budd wrote the intro which almost makes it sound like I'm some kind of superhero myself (or maybe a super-villain).

In addition, I was there to help him capture a large Rat snake that he spotted going into the storage building in his back yard. We weren't going to hurt the snake, just relocate it to a place where Budd's wife wouldn't encounter it.

As it turned out, the snake was gone. It had moved on to some other location where the hunting was better. But I did get to hand Budd his copy of my novel, and I got to see the cover art for his next CAVEWOMAN comic. All in all, a pretty cool day.

King Budd! Lord of his own brand of Skull Island!

The cover to the new reprint edition of CAVEWOMAN.

And WORKING CLASS HERO, my new novel introduction by Budd Root.

Release Day!

The Kindle version is live. Print version to follow. Introduction by Budd Root!

The general population refers to them as “Odds”, people who suffer from AOHD (Adult Onset Hyper-Development Disorder). Such people wake up one day to find that they’re suddenly super-human. They can do things like leap tall buildings. Lift bulldozers over their heads. Read minds. Throw fireballs. Melt steel with a thought. Fly at supersonic speeds, and so on. And what happens? Uncle Sam makes them sign up with the Feds and punch a clock. Or else.

Now, for the first time, we get the real deal, the true story. Told from the inside. WORKING CLASS HERO: The Autobiography of Billy B., a Hyper Human.

WORKING CLASS HERO. From Severed Press.

Dinosaurs and Cheesecake!

As we continue to tinker on the final details of the trip to Glacier National Park, we are getting news of a severe forest fire there. It's not in part of the Park where we'll be staying, but troubling to hear about it. The latest I've heard from a friend in that area is that the Park is getting torrential rains which will hopefully kill of the blaze.

Yesterday I went to hang out with my pal, Budd Root, who is famous for creating, writing, and illustrating the popular comic book title CAVEWOMAN. He was busy producing pen and ink illustrations for clients, but we were able to talk and brainstorm on a project we want to do together. Details as they come.

Good ol' Budd at work.

Dinosaurs and Cheesecake!

Charlotte Comic Con

I went to the twice-a-year Charlotte Comic Con today. I always have a good time there, but I rarely sell any of my books there these days. But I keep going because I have a good time and like meeting up with my comic book artist pals.

Getting my stuff set up with Cavewoman creator Budd Root.

At the artist alley with Buddy Prince and Andy Smith (no relation).

The place was packed.

There is now a separate room for toy dealers.

Don't ask, because I have absolutely no idea.

Charlotte Comicon

I went to attend the local Charlotte Comicon today. I'm usually a guest there and I always get a kick out of attending. Lots of old comic books for me to look at, professional comic artists and writers to meet, and cosplay people to look at!

Today was typical for the show run by Dave Hinson and Rick Fortenberry: non-stop fun!

Early set-up. Only a few dealers and artist folk had arrived.

Artists and dealers begin to fill up the room.

One of my favorite people! Budd Root: creator of CAVEWOMAN!

Andy Smith, well-known professional inker at Marvel Comics.

My favorite back-issue dealer, Earl Shaw of Georgia.

Costumed cuties!

I ran into an old pal, Sean Conley. It was great to see him after a number of years.

Klingons and Budd

Now that takes GUTS! My old pal Budd Root whispering sweet nothings into the ear of a Klingon lass while her significant other stands to his right. Brass cajones like cannonballs.

Charlotte ComiCon

Last Sunday I went to Rick and Dave's one-day Charlotte ComiCon. This place is where I get my back-issue fix. I always walk out of there with lots of old comics and a lighter wallet. What can I say? It's a great show, so plan to attend if you're in the area.

Opening time at 10:00 am. There was quite a line!

From left to right: Andy Smith (Marvel comics artist--no relation), Budd--Cavewoman--Root, James R. Smith hisownself, and Brad Parton.

Guy behind the table is my main back issue pusher man, Earl Shaw.

Lovely retro-style model Vera Van Munster and her husband...um...Mr. Munster.

Who ya gonna call?

Comic book artist Al Bigley has a discussion with tattoo artist and painter Elf.

Great Show

As usual, Dave and Rick did a great job putting on a fun comic show. Spent time with my pals Budd Root, Andy Smith (the comic book artists, not my son), Eric & Royce Thrower, and I bought some neat old comics and sold a decent amount of my novels and did an online interview. All in all the day was a lot of fun and I had a great time!

The show was pretty darned crowded for most of the day.

Star Wars fans!

Being interviewed for online magazine.

Star Trek fan!

Another Star Wars fan! Cool!

The World Often Sucks

Yesterday I was supposed to attend a Halloween party at the home of my friend Budd Root. Been planning this for weeks.

The world did not cooperate.

First thing that happened was that when I got in to work I was forced to work overtime. This sucks, since I'm not on the overtime desired list, but as I can be forced to do this, well, I didn't have a choice if I want to keep my job.

So I get off work two hours later than usual.

Get home to find Carole sick. I volunteer to stay home but she sends me on to Budd's telling me that she can call if she needs me.

Finally get washed up and head to the local grocery for beer and munchies. Had to wait in line for five minutes while someone went to find two pennies for the customer in front of me. Get my purchase and head to the truck and get on the road to Budd's.

After two miles of driving I notice traffic is slowing. Then it stops completely.

Ahead, there are sirens and flashing lights and all of the signs of a really bad accident. Weirdly, the way to Budd's is along a main artery and to get there via any other route is long and circuitous. At any rate, I'm stuck in a line of chrome that won't move, so I don't have any options.

Finally, after twenty minutes I'm able to creep up to an intersection where traffic is also jammed, but I'm able to make a right turn. By this time I'm three hours late to the party and realize that getting there will require at least 45 minutes of driving.

Fuck it. I call Budd to cancel and go home to take care of Carole.

Some days it doesn't pay to try to make any plans at all.

Sorry, Budd!

On the upside, I surprised myself by knocking out 2,000 words on my young adult project. Now I need to send it on to my agent so that he can tell me if I'm on the right track as far as style.

Budd Root's Crib

I've known several comic book artists in my day. Most of them are very decent people. Some of them are exceedingly cool. But the nicest of the bunch has been Budd Root, creator of Cavewoman.


Today (07-22-2009)I was able to go to visit Budd and hang out with him for about four or five hours after he'd returned from his favorite comic book shop with a load of new books. We sat and talked about the current state of comic books and movies as we always do, and even delved a bit into politics. Budd and I have similar political attitudes, so that part of the conversation was pretty boring.

Bob: "Yeah, ****** **** sucks ass."

Budd: "Yes, I agree. ****** **** does suck ass."

As usual, Budd showed me tons of new comics to keep me appraised of the goings-on in today's comic book industry. I got to read THE INCREDIBLE HULK #600. Just like ****** **** it sucked ass. Not sure what Budd thought of it.

One of the best things about visiting Budd is getting to see new pages of CAVEWOMAN in the midst of being illustrated. Since the book features loads of well-endowed cuties, that's always a pleasure.


But another nice thing about the garage studio is that it's packed with ultra-cool stuff. Things that a person fed on Famous Monsters of Filmland Magazines and stop-motion animated movies find irresistible. I could just sit around the collection and pick through it for hours on end. And there are all kinds of models and toys and fantastic knick-knacks lying about. It's a visual and tactile wonderland of toys.

As you can see, there's a pattern evolving...

Monster mags, toys, King Kong,

comely babes, and movie toys.

Budd: "Ugo and Dave are wankers."

Part of a page from the CAVEWOMAN issue on which Budd is currently working. (I got to see them, and you didn't. Nyah.)

Comic Books and Sech-like

I went to a comic book convention today. As a guest. I sold several hardback copies of my novel, THE FLOCK. And I had a really, really good time hanging out with other creative folk and talking to people, some of whom I hadn't seen in years. It was a lot of fun. I only bought one old comic book--an Amazing Spider-Man #39. I know I said I would never buy one that was out of Steve Ditko's run on the book...but since it was one of the major books of my childhood, I bought one anyway.

Here are a few shots from the show. More later.

Man, it is TOUGH being a Storm Trooper. Achtung, baby!

Who knew Storm Troopers were comic book nerds?!

Budd Root, creator of CAVEWOMAN, gives his highest recommendation to THE FLOCK, and thinks that Bob Smith, author of THE FLOCK is one of the world's finest living authors (if not, indeed, THE world's finest living author).

This was Budd's work space for the day. You HAVE to trust the impressions of a man whose work station is covered with ultra-cool dinosaurs.

KICK-ASS!

I've been away from the comic book industry for some years. Although I still have a few friends who work in various aspects of that industry, I don't know much about it anymore. It's literally been about ten years since I've picked up a current comic book new off the rack and read it.

One reason for this is that the industry is dominated by the superhero genre. That's fine that there's a superhero genre, but for almost every single comic book published to be about superheroes is actually kind of creepy when you stop to think about it. Imagine if you walked into a Borders Books or a Barnes & Noble Bookstore or your public library and 95% of all of the books in them were about superheroes. That's what walking into a comic book shop is like.

So I've tended to stay away from such shops, only occasionally attending a small comic convention run by friends. I haven't cared to read most new comics because...well, what else can you do with superheroes that hasn't already been done? Alan Moore and Frank Miller did the whole revisionist superhero and everyone who followed them pounded that idea into the ground. The whole scene just got so terribly stale. I turned my back on it.

Today, I was a guest at the Charlotte Comicon that's run by two friends. I like going because I meet up with people I haven't seen in a while and I get to buy some back issues for my nostalgic Steve Ditko collection. But today, my pal Budd Root, who writes and illustrates CAVEWOMAN showed me a comic book called KICK ASS! (explanation point included).

I never thought that I'd say this, but I found a superhero comic that was actually fun to read. Without spoiling too much, it's about a kid who lives in the "real" world. That is, a world in which superheroes are just in comic books and movies. A world in which there aren't really any superheroes. You know...a world just like this one.

This fifteen-year-old kid makes himself a costume, works out, eats right and then decides to go "on patrol". Again...without giving away too much, he gets his ass kicked. He gets knifed. He gets run over by a large sedan. He ends up in the hospital with life-threatening injuries and has to undergo months of physical rehabilitation.

Sounds pretty grim and final. But actually the book is extremely funny. Funny to the point that I was sitting in the middle of the convention hall laughing my ass off. I couldn't help myself. The dialogue was spot on. Very realistic and very funny in the way that only logic can be when it's faced with insanity.

If you're a comic book fan disillusioned with comics, then take a look at KICK-ASS!. If you're not a comic fan, I still think you'll get a tremendous amount of pleasure out of reading KICK-ASS!.

And, yes, it's going to be a movie. Nicolas Cage is going to be in it. He plays a guy called BIG DADDY. I won't explain that. You'll have to read the comic. Mark Millar (writer, creator) and John Romita Jr (artist) have really delivered the goods!

Charlotte Comicon

ZOWIE!!

Four color magnificence!

I attended a local comic convention run by two guys I've known for a long time, Dave Hinson and Rick Fortenberry. (I'm not sure if Dave is related to Unknown Hinson.)

I had a good time today, even though I didn't sell a single copy of my novel, THE FLOCK. I did manage to spend too much money filling in some gaps in my Steve Ditko Spider-Man comic book collection. The nostalgia fever still rages in my breast. (Beware the nostalgia bug. ) It was an interesting show, with all sorts of cool stuff to buy and many dealers hawking their wares. I was reminded of my days as a seller of collectibles, and I miss those days not at all, even if I have rediscovered a love of all things four-color.

Illustrator Al Bigley setting up his booth.

The muli-talented Andy Smith at work on a sketch.

Budd Root, creator of Cavewoman, taking a cigarette break.

The aisles got crowded.

Some kind of Star Wars character.

"Bruce. Either you tell Robin about us, or I will!"

Budd, taking a cigarette break.

A Star Wars character walking away from me.

Waiting in line outside the restroom.

Budd, taking a cigarette break.