Month: March 2018

 

Hey, I had such an amazing time at An Unlikely Story Bookstore & Cafe Friday night.  Bookstore owner Jeff Kinney (superstar author of Diary of a Wimpy Kid) invited me over to give a presentation and sign some books, and I was so thrilled, and touched, at the love-fest it became for Tom the Dancing Bug and The EMU Club Adventures.

 

About 200 people were in attendance, and it was a crazy fun group even though some were grownups.

 

Jeff is a fascinating guy; with all the success he's had, he's kind, generous, unaffected, and utterly accessible, walking through his store giving kids high-fives and joking around with them.

 

I love his books, and they're very important to me and my family, so getting to know him was really an honor.

 

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My presentation about cartooning and my kids' books was a blast, but the fun really started when Jeff joined me on stage and we started riffing and kidding around.

 

Anyway, my heartfelt thanks to everyone who came, to the staff at An Unlikely Story, and to Jeff, for an incredible evening.

 

Here's are some video clips:

 

Jeff talking about the EMU Club Adventures (watch me get verklempt)

 

 

Jeff and me playing a game with the audience, in which they suggest mystery titles by supplying an adjective and a noun

 

 

Me talking about the EMU Club Adventures

 

 

And here's the whole thing!  FUN!

 

 

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When I sent out the comic to the INNER HIVE yesterday, I included this concern:

 

"I hope readers don't misinterpret this as insensitive to the unemployed, or to families going through economic hardship.  It's not really about the families but about misguided, poorly-thought-out protectionist, backwards policies.  The plight of the families caught at the intersection of changing global economic forces and technology is very real, and must be dealt with by all of us."

 

I parodied the journalistic trope of a news story's focus on coal families and communities to highlight this issue, but I certainly don't mean for this cardboard story to make light of people going through this.  (Note that in the final panel it's revealed that the whole dramatic presentation was funded by a VHS manufacturer in support of Trump.)  A fuller, balanced account of my views (and not a satirical cartoon) would include an argument that we have an obligation to help and support people going through the economic turmoil caused by seismic global and technological shifts.