STILL WITH US?

Wow. It's JUNE! And my last update was in frickin' January. I must be like the guy from VG Cats, only without any noticeable talent!

What can I say except I'm sorry. Really REALLY sorry. The world got in the way, but in a GOOD way, you know? I've been trying this new medication that made me completely moody and angry and about useless to everyone I knew...including you guys who actually come here and read Thugs! Both of you! I talked with my Doc and said there has to be something better, and so we're trying something else, and it actually makes me MORE focused...in a Henry Rollins kind of way. My wife says I've gotten my funny back. So good for all around.

And just in time for Comic-Con! Well, the PHOENIX Comicon at any rate. Flint and I set up our first table and man we couldn't be happier with how things went. We made enough to buy our table for next year, plus some extra spending cash. I got a cool Todd Nyauk sketch of Kyle Rayner for my Green Lantern sketchbook, a page of art from the ol' Crossgen series The First, and another page from The Authority by Joel Lopez. To be honest I had not heard of him but he did an absolutely gorgeous page of The Engineer that I had to have. I'll be reading more of his stuff now for sure.

Thanks to everyone who came to visit us at our table. We'll try to make ourselves more visible next time (we were kind of buried in between two other really talented artists which is a mixed blessing...while they're waiting to talk to them they look at YOUR stuff, so if you're smart you can hawk your wares!)

- Al 6/7/10 (June...I can't believe it's been five months!

ISSUE 3 of THUGS is OUT NOW!!!

You'll be able to get it soon at INDYPLANET but for now that link will only hook you up with issues 1 and 2! You can also go HERE and pick up my book DEDLOCK. It's a love story for a Supervillain. Hopefully we'll have links to issue 3 and other goodies very soon.

To those of you who bought the book, and enjoyed it, a hearty thank you. Feel free to drop us a line at thugs@thugsonline.com to let us know what you think.

- Al

WHAT I'M READING RIGHT NOW:

Picked up a TON of trades over the past month - lots more Exiles (old AND new), some She-Hulk, and both volumes of the Infinity Crusade. I've really gone in for Marvel Cosmic lately.

- Al

WHAT I'M LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW:

One of my all-time favorite artists, Joan Armatrading, has a CD out called This Charming Life. The great thing about Joan is no two albums sound alike and they're ALL awesome. This time around she decided to plug in her guitar and hearken back to some of the more rock-oriented sounds she did in the 80s. Since Sleight of Hand and The Shouting Stage are two of my favorite albums of hers, I couldn't be happier.

- Al

WHAT I'M PLAYING RIGHT NOW:

Still playing Rune Factory. That's the real joy of a Harvest Moon game...by its very nature you HAVE to play it over a long period of time, and I'm saving a ton on games I'm not bothering to buy as a result.

- Al