I always mean to do these in a timely fashion, but…

• Between me and Fantagraphics, we sold every copy of Set to Sea in the room. At leat 75% of them passed through my hands and received a fairly elaborate sketch. At the end of the day, my sketchin’ hand was weak and trembling.

• Sketching at shows goes against every single grain of my OCD nature (improper tools; little time; no corrections possible and done right on the book; sent off without documentation) but that the more I do it the more I successfully squelch those misgivings.

• I missed getting a copy of Aaron Renier’s “Walker Bean!” He apparently brought about a dozen copies which he sold out of in the walk from the elevator to the convention floor. I did get Kevin Huizenga’s “The Wild Kingdom” and Vanessa Davis’s “Make Me a Woman,” which are both quite lovely. I wonder if Vanessa is poised to make some kind of crossover into a more mainstream book market? “Make Me…” wouldn’t look out of place in a Barnes & Noble display island. I traded with my pal Nate Neal for a copy of his massive “Sanctuary” book, a dense and dark pit of a comic.

• If you’re the kind of person who’s too embarrassed to ask how much a beer at the hotel bar is beforehand, it’s about $7. There’s a liquor store a couple blocks away. The guy working there was really friendly, and opened the store for us even though we were a few minutes past closing. He even made recommendations about the specific ABVs of various malt liquors.

• At these comics shows, I feel like I’ve been sorta-introduced to approximately half of the people in the room, and remember approximately 1/100ths of their names. I get in the mode where I’m just smiling and nodding at anyone who glances in my direction. I usually remain in this mode for several days after I get back home.

more to come…

There’s still some space for YOUR CAT in my little project! If you’d like to see him/her illustrated! Email me a not-too-big pic at drew (at) drewweing (dot) com!

I’ve got a comic in the current issue of the Oxford American. It’s about Life in 2050. For some strange reason, it’s printed a little small, though still readable.

I just mailed off a huge stack of Set to Sea original art, so if you ordered some, please keep an eye on your mailbox! It’s headed all over the world: New York, Oregon, Virginia, Canada, England, Belgium, Italy, Sweden, Australia. It’ll never be gathered together in one spot again! A strange thought.

And that’s probably all from me until next week, because I’ll be off in Bethesda for SPX! Here’s my schedule again. Stop on by.

Hey, do YOU have a cat/cats? Would you like to see YOUR CAT incorporated into a thing I’m doing? A drawing thing?

Then send me a picture of your cat! Email low-res type images (please no huge files) to drew (at) drewweing (dot) com! I’ll try to use as many as I can, but no guarantees past the first 50 or so!

• Over at the Comics Journal, Rob Clough had some kind words for Set to Sea. One thing he noted: “It’s odd to think of Drew Weing’s Set To Sea as his debut graphic novel, given that he’s been steadily cartooning for nearly a decade.” Oy, it’s true. I realized a couple days ago that I’ve been going to SPX for 10 years now (it would be my 10th time if they hadn’t cancelled the whole show in 2001) Time to pick up the pace.
• Athen’s Next to Last Fest (with ESG and Van Dyke Parks!) is happening next month, and it looks like some of the beasties I drew a while back have taken up residence over at their website!
• The english version of the interview I did for that Italian comics blog is now online.

• Don’t forget that Set to Sea will only be online in its entirety until Friday!
• Ditto, if you’re interested in original art from Set to Sea, a lot of good pieces remain.

Besides that… the Small Press Expo is coming up this weekend! Here’s my schedule:

Friday
Most of the day: I’ll be driving up with my pals Joey Weiser, Michele Chidester, and Rich Tommasso!
7-9pm: I’ll be at the Atomic Books pre-SPX party! I guess I’m supposed to be getting a Nerdlinger Award there as well! We’ll see.
Saturday:
I’ll be at table H-1 (in the front of the room to the right).
1-3 pm: I’ll be signing at the Fantagraphics booth
5 pm: I’ll be in a panel discussion, “Comics for Younger Readers,” with Aaron Renier, Raina Telgameir, and cartooning duo Metaphrog, moderated by Johanna Draper Carlson. It’s at the Brookside Conference Room.
9 pm: I’ll be presenting the “Outstanding Minicomics” Ignatz award to one of 5 talented cartoonists.
After that: I’ll be getting drunk.

Sunday:
I’ll still be at table H-1, probably slightly hung over.
2-3 pm: I’ll be signing at the Fantagraphics booth.

I’m honestly surprised and really pleased by how many folks have picked up a piece of Set to Sea original art! Interestingly, it’s been the more quiet, wordless panels that have been going first. By the way, if you purchase more than one piece, Paypal’s going to automatically charge you for shipping for each different panel. But I’ll refund any extra shipping charges “manually,” since I can send them in the same package.

I was interviewed by Nicola D’Agostino for an Italian comics blog. Many people don’t realize that I speak fluent Italian! This is because I don’t. Thanks to Nicola both for the interview and the translation. The English version should be online soon, I’ll link to it.

Set to Sea got its first relatively mixed review! I think Collins is off here – misreading the last third of the book as an unmitigated victory lap, especially. But the book will have to stand on its own.

If you missed it on Friday, Set to Sea is now finished! Five long years come to an end. You can read the complete story from beginning to end here, until September 10th. Please forward along to your friends, acquaintances, enemies. After Sept 10, the complete story will only be available in book form. You should buy one! You should buy two.

A couple people have asked if I’m selling the original artwork for Set to Sea. After nervous feet-shufflings, I decided that I am, starting today! So, if you’re interested, please click on over to check it out. I’m an overprotective type, and I still feel very attached to these little scraps of paper I spent so many hours on – it was hard to make the call to let it all go, so I hope it all ends up in good hands. Obviously, there’s only one of each page, so once it’s gone, it’s gone. I’ll be adding more of both my and Eleanor’s originals to that page in the future.

I’ll be at the upcoming Small Press Expo with copies of the Set to Sea book, all my in-print minicomics, and big portfolios of original art. I’ve never sold original art at a show before, but if you want to buy a specific piece of artwork now and pick it up in person at the festival, please drop me a line (shop (at) drewweing.com) letting me know not to mail it off to you! Unfortunately, I can’t reserve any pieces till they’ve been paid for, so if you want a specific panel, you should grab it now!

This is the last panel of Set to Sea. I want to thank all the readers who stuck around for the 5 years it took to complete! It took a long time, but I’ve gotten nothing but support along the way. And of course, many thanks to my lovely wife, Eleanor, who helped and encouraged me from day 1.

If you enjoyed the story, please consider purchasing the book (from Fantagraphics Books, or from Amazon,) or telling a friend. The first panel is located here: http://bit.ly/18Wy9q if you want to link to the beginning.

The entire story will remain online until September 10th.

(The Set to Sea book is out now!)

One more.

(The Set to Sea book is out now!)

One day to go. And as you might guess from the numbering, there will be two panels tomorrow.