I haven't shilled this yet! Still time to order, and I have a big story in The Escapist volume 8. I'll put some preview stuff up soon too.

From off the streets of Cleveland comes fan-favorite writer Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, Runaways) and critically acclaimed artists Philip Bond (Vinarama, Vertigo Pop) and Eduardo Barreto (Mr. Machine Gunl) to kick off the anthology's first multi-part story! Meet Maxwell Roth and Case Weaver, latter-day versions of Joe Kavalier and Sam Clay, as they set out to make the Master of Elusion a sensation once again in "The Escapists”!
Next, on his way home from an extended stay at a Cleveland hospital, our man Harvey Pekar encounters…The Escapist?! The team-up you thought you'd never see, illustrated by Dean Haspiel (The Quitter). Also in this issue, award-winning creator Andi Watson (Skeleton Key, Geisha) and Eisner Award nominated Jeff Parker (The Interman)!

With cover art by Brian Bolland, you won't want to miss this eclectic eighth installment of the multiple award-winning quarterly anthology!

• Harvey Award and Eisner Award-winner, Best Anthology!

• Harvey Award-winner, Best New Series!

Since I ran Lieber's touching and crafty bio piece from Portland Monthly, it's only right that I should run my unclever puff piece as well. How Do You Get To Portland got approved quickly because it was exactly the kind of "aren't we great, la-la-la," inoffensive strip that regionally-named magazines love to use. The first rough comic I gave them was much better and more telling of the city, but it was rejected. If I can find a copy of that one, I'll put it here someday. Still, I got paid to cartoon about my family and claim that I hang with Bigfoot, so it was a great assignment for me.

After my father died, I couldn't stop thinking about a comicstrip my friend Steve Lieber did just months earlier. It's the same subject, as his dad had just died. And it hits the same sore point that I now have, that my dad never got to come out and visit my life for a bit. Steve did this personal piece for Portland Monthly magazine, and frankly it's some of his most impressive cartooning. The narrative tool of negative imagery he uses here is something that only comics can do. I'm actually going to run the whole strip over at the Mercury Studio blog, so people won't be confused and think it's mine. I would be very proud of it if it were, though.

I'm back from North Carolina and my duties there, so blogging can resume again. It was a grueling month mentally and physically. The humidity was worse than I remember in recent history. I'll probably be posting about my Dad pretty soon, using the therapeutic purge that a weblog offers. At the moment I'm still bewildered to be back, Portland looks new to me again. The picture above is from a site I just found called portlandground.com. Photographer Miles Hochstein focuses on things that generally feel like the way I see this town, it's a good place to get a sense of this area. I'm pretty tired of the look of my own blog though, I think it's to move some furniture around here and make something more functional. Maybe my ol' chocolate-sellin', web-designin' pal Steven Gettis will help. I just did a little revamp on the Mercury Studio site yesterday, mostly to make it prettier and ride the coattails of the seven coolest astronauts ever. Thanks to those of you who still check in even when I'm missing in action.

Or is it neither? This one stings because I really wanted to go to that show this year. After this, I should be back on the circuit, talking endlessly about myself just like you expect. If you just now heard about INTERMAN and wanted a copy, my studio mate Steve Lieber will be there with some, and he'll draw in it for you. He's in Hall B, table 1886, whereever that is. I don't remember no Hall B. He's half his past size now, so really keep your eyes peeled. Regular posting will resume soon.