Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!  Eat lots!!

BEST.........BATMAN MOVIE...............EVER!!!


That is all. 

Well it's that time of year again!  Time for everyone's favorite local Comic Book Convention, The Pittsburgh ComiCon, on  April 25th thru the 27th.

I'll be helping man the booth of my good pal Shawn Atkins of Workshop 13 showcase his work Saturday and Sunday of the show. 

So, if you're in the area, stop on by and say "hello".  You'll be glad you did!

On Thursday, February 7th my Grandmother, Annie Catherine Fronzoli, passed away from complications from a broken hip and the development of Cancer. 

She was 92 years old.

We shared a driveway so she was literally "right next door" my entire life.  She could quilt with both hands tied behind her back and blindfolded.  I'll always remember her sitting in the back bedroom of her house, which she converted into a sewing room, with this ancient wooden loom, sewing her latest creation listening to Jeopardy & Wheel of Fortune on this tiny black and white TV.  She could play some Wheel of Fortune, I've told her on many occasions she should have been a contestant.  She'd give ole Sajak a run for his money:)

I know the Fronzoli Clan is pretty large, but I didn't know just how big it was until at the viewing I read that in her 92 years she's experienced:

6 children, 11 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren and 11 great-great-grandchildren!

That's alotta family!!

A lot of family, extended family and friends showed up for the Funeral on Monday.  I was a pallbearer, like I was for my Grandfather 16 years ago.

She was in a lot of pain towards the end.  She's definately in a better place.

I love you Grandma.

 

 

 

So I work at a bookstore on the South Side right, I got into work today around 1 o'clock.  I saw a guy walking around the first floor wondering around clearly searching for something.  He stopped me to ask where he could find a particular book.  I took him upstairs, found the book for him and returned to the first floor registers and began to rang him up, we chit-chatted a little about how none of his friends could find this book up in Canada where he's from.

Who was this mysterious customer you ask?  Well it was none other than...

Pittsburgh Penguins star SIDNEY CROSBY!!!  I'm serious.

 

 

Just wanted to wish everyone a Safe and Happy Holiday!  Take care everybody!!

Okay, Here's the finished logo design!

 

What do you think??

So today I can no longer call myself a "twenty something".  Yep, I'm 30, the big Three-Oh!!  Now, I know it isn't so bad, it's not like I'm turning 90 or anything.

They say, whoever "they" are, that the 30's are the new 20's.  So I got that going for me at least. 

I'll be celebrating tonight at a local hang-out with some of the best friends a guy could have!  Not a bad start to a new year.....not bad at all!

 

 

After four months of crashing in other peoples houses I'm now finally going to be moving into my own place. 

I am now a resident of the Royal Windsor building in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh!  It actually sounds a lot cooler than it is, it's actually an efficiency and not some swank penthouse a name like "Royal Windsor" would imply.

 

This year's Pittsburgh Comicon could best be summed up as:

BEST CON EVER!

My good friend Dirk Tiede, creator of the supernatural Police Thriller Paradigm Shift made the 8 hour drive from Chicago to experience not only his first East Coast Convention but also his first visit to the Steel City EVER!

The weekend went great!  Dirk sold a lot of his first two graphic novels as well as getting a commission for some original art.  We boothed next to some great people who also had some well done comics to offer.

One of the best parts of the Con was attending the after parties in the Penthouse of the Radisson Hotel, or "Bar Con" as many people call it.  That's when the real networking begins, plus the free booze doesn't hurt either:)  Dirk and I met a lot of  great local and East Coast creators and much debauchery ensued.

Dirk even lent his singing talents to help raise money for charity when he sang a duet with Uber Comics reporter extrordinaire Jen Contino of The Pulse.  I'll never listen to "Love Shack" by the B52's the same way again:)

The guys from Digital Pimp were in attendance this year and I made sure to stop by and pick up some sweet merchandise.  Their T-shirts for their comic "Turtle vs. Bunny" were selling like hotcakes and I lucked out to get the last of the Turtle Shirts--Take a look!

Dirk and I were also invited out to Primanti Bros with Shawn and Stephanie of Angry Gnome Comics.  Dirk's first Primanti Sandwich experience, hey when in Pittsburgh right?  It was there that we met the guys from the Comic Geek Speak Podcast.  Dirk even got interviewed on Sunday for the Pittsburgh Con podcast!

It was a great time and I can't thank Dirk enough for making the trip and letting me help run his table for the weekend.  I'm glad his first East Coast Con was a success.

I just can't wait for next year.