It's Indy Comic Book Week... Day!

It's finally here! Indy Comic Book Week! No Spider-Man, no Batman, no Avengers, no X-Men... just good, old-fashioned, homegrown independent comics as far as the eye can see! Okay, so there's that one issue of Blackest Night. But still, this week belongs to the Indy's! Including MY very first nationally distributed comic book collecting my 24 hour comic trilogy, God of Rock. It's a crazy, caffeine-and-cigarrette-fueled tale about Pan, the God of Rock and his battle against the evil forces of Anti-Rock, who are out to destroy rock-n-roll and enslave the world. Check out a preview of the book at TFAW. You can snag a copy of God of Rock at one of the following retailers:

Titan Comics in Dallas, Texas

Zeus Comics and Collectibles in Dallas, Texas

Heroplex Comics and Games in North Richland Hills, Texas

Speeding Bullet Comics in Norman, Oklahoma

SpazDog Comics in Phoenix, Arizona

Source Comics and Games in Falcon Heights, Minnesota

Pulp Nouveau Comix in Canandaigua, New York

Midtown Comics in New York, New York

Phantom of the Attic in Pittsburgh, PA

Things From Another World Online Store

Other awesome ICBW comics to be on the look out for include Matthew Warlick's Senryu, Jake Ekiss' Solomon Azua and David Hopkins' One Night Stand (which is apparently available at just about every comic store ever). There will be signings and events all over, it's like a nerd holiday. Here's where a few of my fellow ICBW collaborators and good buddies will be today:

David Hopkins will be at Golden Apple Comics in Los Angeles, CA

Joe Eisma will be at Keith's Comics in Dallas, TX

Jake Ekiss will be at Titan Comics in Dallas, TX

Matthew Warlick will be at Madness Games & Comics in Plano, TX

I was planning to be at Titan Comics with Jake today but a combination of work and debilatating illness kept me from being able to go. But that's not going to stop me from heading straight to the comic book store when I get off work! So come on, it's Wednesday and there's absolutely no reason you shouldn't be at your local comic book store checking out all of the awesome independent comics hitting the new week rack! And in the immortal words of renowned film critic Jay Sherman, "Buy my book! Buy my book! Buy my book!"

Just Remember, My Promises Mean Nothing

I really should say thanks to everyone who was part of Stumblebum Studios over the years. Stumblebum was awesome because you guys ARE awesome, simple as that. My love to everyone involved who did such amazing stuff for the website, the books, at conventions and appearances and on those nights of endless folding and stapling and folding and stapling and folding and stapling, ad infinitum.

Here's to you Drew Clements, Katie Cook, Josh Dahl, David DeGrand, A.C. Hall, Bryan Hester, Josh Hinkle, David Hopkins, Neal Langham, Chris Medellin, Sam Milligan, Dana Place, Barry Rodges, Dave Sherrill, Cal Slayton, Kevin Steele, Brian Warthen, Ryan Wilcox and Aaron Wilson. To me you'll always be 'Bums.

A big thank you to everyone who wrote reviews for us, everyone were kind enough to do interviews, everyone who visited the site (accidently or on purpose), everyone who bought our books, every store that carried our books, everyone who ever supported us and even those who sometimes didn't. Thanks for being a part of it. You're all honorary 'Bums.

And last but not least, here's to my mom, Debbie Milligan. She was the webmaster of Stumblebum Studios from the beginning and she put in a hell of a lot of work to make sure the website worked, looked awesome and got updated every week. I don't think it would have been possible without her. And she did it all for free. I'm sorry mom... I'm a terrible son. I love you.

I'm sure I've forgotten some folks. If I did forget you please feel free to hate me forever.

Also, I promise to update this blog much more frequently than I have in the past. Which was pretty much never. Cross my heart.

The New Stumblebum Studios... Again

Welcome to the homebase of the New Stumblebum Studios! Which is really just me, Paul Milligan, and my art (and whatever other rambling nonsense I decide to post here... you'll see).

Stumblebum Studios was formed in 2004 by me, A.C. Hall, Dana Place and Kevin Steele as a way to promote our creative endeavors. Over the next few years we self-published close to a dozen different comics (including four huge and awesome anthologies), recruited even more wonderfully artistic friends, began a weekly e-zine with articles and reviews covering all forms of entertainment and made a bit of a name for ourselves on the Texas con circuit. And then one day it all just kind of came to an end. With a whimper, rather than a bang.

See, just before the end we went through a massive reorganization. We invited a whole bunch of new talent to join the team, revamped our website and were getting primed for the next big step. Except we never really took it. We just sort of floundered with no real plan or direction to follow. I blame myself for that... I was so caught up with reinventing our look and our roster that it never really occurred to me that, hey maybe we should have some goals too. And slowly but surely we drifted apart until there wasn't really a Stumblebum Studios anymore, just a website that promised news that was never to come.

And for the most part I think we were cool with that, because most of us had become too busy to notice anyway. I like to think it was because the plan worked. That the original goal of showcasing our talent and getting our names out there was fulfilled. We were busy. We had projects. It was time to move on. We just didn't want to say goodbye is all. So much so that for years afterward Dana and I would constantly talk about what to do with Stumblebum. But it never materialized into anything. And so Stumblebum continued to sit quitely in it's little corner of the web, like a kid that not only gets picked last for dodgeball but when he is picked is done so grudglingly and is quickly knocked out of the game by his own teammates. Probably a red-headed kid.

But then people were constantly telling me, "You need to get a website." "You need to have more presence online." "You should do something with the Stumblebum name." "You smell. Take a shower." And so I took a shower and I thought, I used to have a website, didn't I? An awesome one? One that people really loved? What the hell ever happened to it?

Well you're looking at it. Yeah I know, it's just me this time and I was never really the best part of Stumblebum to begin with, but a world without Stumblebum Studios in it... is that a world you really want to live in? I'm doing this for you, see? Enjoy my art and make the world a better place! Stumblebum is back, baby! This time for good. (Or at least until the computers become intelligent, revolt and we end up in a never-ending war with the machines for the future of the planet. They have robots that eat corpses to power themselves for God's sake! It's true! We're all doomed!)