The SEVENTH book in the Bret Blackberg and Fifty State Tour collection is complete! For those not in the know, each chapter of this exercise/marathon is being completed as a 24 Hour Comic. Each state will get its own chapter, which means the final product will be 1200 pages of adventure, romance, betrayal, and beer. Unfortunately, I failed to post the Hawaii chapter earlier this week, as I had some other priorities. Anyhow, I once again completed it around 3:30 AM which seems to be the norm now. I could have finished early, but I didn’t, because I ended up playing with my cat for about 45 minutes (she is soooo cute sometimes!)

To begin, I started the day at the Big Time Attic studio on Saturday, June 11th around 10 AM along with proprietor Kevin Cannon. Next Ryan Dow, the aforementioned Danno Klonowski, Lupi Miguinti, and Britt Hammerberg all showed up.

Kevin had a party that he had to run to, so around 7 PM I moved the lonely party (it was just me) to my messy home (too much construction going on to invite anyone over without being embarrassed).

Of course, some tweeting/Facebooking was going on. You can search on Twitter for the hashtag #24×50 to see what we had to say.

The next chapter will be entitled “Something in Oregon.” I am planning on completing it during the 24 Hour Comic Day event in Minneapolis at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts. Want more details? Go here.

Of course, this event will be competing with Sarah Morean’s housewarming party, which I am really bummed about, because Sarah is AWESOME and I really want to go! Sorry Sarah, I gotsta stick to my schedule. Depending on when I finish, I might be able to stop by. Are you going to be partying until 4 AM?

Meanwhile, I am still trying to finish my other book, “Swerved,” formerly “Hijinks,” in time for MIX. It has been a process that has taken WAAAY too long.

As always you can purchase my books at my Big Cartel shop. Which is located .

ANYWAY, I think you should take the time to catch up on the Blackberg story please purchase the first six stories (and subsequently help me out with my home remodel) .

OR, you can read them for free at the following links:

Somewhere in Montana

Meanwhile in Wyoming

Elsewhere in Utah

Subsequently in Idaho

Capriciously in Washington

Somehow in Alaska

Then click on the graphic all the way at the top to read Also in Hawaii.

Hey folks, I am going to be doing yet another 24 Hour Comic this weekend. It will be seventh installment of the Bret Blackberg and the Fifty State Tour saga. This time around our lackadaisical non-adventuring adventurer travels to Hawaii. In the spirit of the 24 Hour Comic, I’m not sure what is going to happen. Hopefully it will be funny, enjoyable, and most importantly coherent.

If you want to watch me suffer through this process, I will be starting the day at Diamond’s Coffee Shoppe in Nordeast Minneapolis on Saturday, August 27th around 10 AM and lasting until about 9 PM, after that I generally go home and weep while I draw alone. I will have copies of Bret Blackberg and the Fifty State Tour: Volume One for perusal and purchase - they are $12 each.

If you can’t make the event, or don’t want to, you can always check out progress and live tweeting on Twitter by following the #24×50 hashtag.

Below is the cover for the trade paperback Bret Blackberg and the Fifty State Tour: Volume One. This book will feature the first six adventures of Bret Blackberg and is accompanied by a flattering introduction by Danno Klonowski. After completing the first three books in this collection, Danno challenged me to take on the task of completing one 24 Hour Comic for each of the fifty states in the union. I took him up on it and have been cranking out one 24 Hour Comic every two months ever since.

Stay tuned on where and when you can get a copy of this collection.

My SIXTH 24 Hour Comic is DONE! The Bret Blackberg 50 State Tour continued this weekend and this time I took a bit longer than usual and finished on Sunday, June 12th around 3:30 AM. As mentioned before, this whole comic stems from a challenge issued by Danno Klonowski. In the end, I will have completed FIFTY 24 Hour comics. A whole 1200 pages of the begruding adventures of Bret Blackberg and company.

To begin, I started the day out at Diamonds Coffee Shoppe on Saturday, June 11th around 10 AM. Kevin Cannon showed up about a half hour in and scared the crap out of me. He then wished me good tidings and went back to the Big Time Attic studio to work. Later, he would join me and continue his work on a pretty sweet looking map, which I’m sure he will go into more detail on the Big Time Attic blog once it’s completed.

Britt Hammerberg and Ryan Dow were the next two to arrive. Britt, the trooper that she is, stayed with me until Diamond’s closed, which was around 9 PMish. While Britt worked on her comics, I noticed that she quite possibly has some of the tightest pencils I have ever seen. That’s probably why her work always looks so polished…maybe I should try that, hmmm? Lastly, about and hour or so before Britt and I left Diamond’s a wonderful surprise showed up, Athena Currier!!! I also took a gander at Athena’s brush work, which was….AMAZING! I would, selfishly, like to see more of her brush work.

Athena, Kevin, and Britt would later move their party over to Pracna for happy hour. I wish I could have come out, but instead I moved my project over to mi casa, where I set up a makeshift comics studio in my wife’s office.

Of course, some tweeting/Facebooking was going on. You can search on Twitter for the hashtag #24×50 to find out about my process and “The Sneezing Guy.”

Also, I have some good news to report on the book front. The first six chapters of Bret Blackberg and the Fifty State Tour will be collected into a trade paperback coming this July. I am also hoping to make it available for digital download. Unfortuantely, that means I will also be charging for these six chapters in July. Sad, I know.

My other book, “Hijinks” (which is undergoing yet another name change), should be completed and ready for purchase in time for MIX. Yay! I’m so happy to be getting this book done, as I think I am finally, artistically, ready to start working on a book about my epilepsy.

As always you can purchase my books at my Big Cartel shop. Which is located

ANYWAY, I think you should take the time to catch up on the Blackberg story while it’s still free. Here are the other chapters:

Somewhere in Montana

Meanwhile in Wyoming

Elsewhere in Utah

Subsequently in Idaho

Capriciously in Washington

Then click on the graphic below to read Somehow in Alaska.

Hey everyone, posting here has been scarce, to say the least. We are still in the process of getting the studio fixed from the flood. In the meantime, I took a picture with my phone of a piece I had been working on for the last month. There are still some things I’d like to do with it before I make it available as a print or as the cover of the first collected edition.

Oh yeah, concerning the collected editions. There are going to be a total of nine trade paperbacks. Once completed I have big plans for a box set, if there is any interest with a whole bunch of other goodies.

I finished my fifth 24 Hour Comic of the Bret Blackberg 50 State Tour on Sunday, April 17th around 2 AM. This whole comics stems from a challenge issued by Danno Klonowski. I started yestserday out at Diamonds Coffee Shoppe with fellow cartoonists Kevin Cannon , Britt Hammerberg, Ryan Dow, Lupi Miguniti, and the aforementioned Danno Klonowski. Also, Ted Anderson made an appearance, but I was too far into “the zone” to talk to him. Sorry buddy!

There was plenty of tweeting on the event, mostly by myself. If you’re curious you can search on Twitter for the hashtag #24×50.

It may be smart to catch up on the story, if you aren’t already familiar. Especially, since there are callbacks from the previous books. Here are the other four chapters:

Somewhere in Montana

Meanwhile in Wyoming

Elsewhere in Utah

Subsequently in Idaho

Then click on the graphic below to read Capriciously in Washington.

The trip to C2E2 was a success! In fact, I’m kinda missing the hustle and bustle right now. Sure the car ride isn’t pleasant (about seven hours), but I’ve done longer rides with less of a positive outcome in the past.

Now, when I say it was a success, I mean it on multiple levels. We moved 30 copies of Super Maxi-Pad Girl #1, which isn’t bad for a self-publisher at a large convention, and approximately 45 to 50 books total. All of our Super Maxi-Pad Girl plush toys had sold out. We will be creating more, but for the time being, we’re out! It was the first time that I came back from a convention and was able to collapse a box for the ride home. Pretty sweet.

Also, fun times were had with some great people. On Friday, I hung out with Ryan Browne and met a whole load of his friends at the Top Shelf party. Saturday was pretty low key, as AJ and myself went out to dinner and subsequently got stuck in a gang neighborhood with Zander Cannon, Gene Ha, Stuart Moore, and Jim Chadwick. Sunday we had dinner with Zander and then played board games with awesome Oni Press people such as Jill Beaton, Cory Casoni, and James Lucas Jones, among others.

Lastly, we received a couple of reviews. First, there was this long article from Bleeding Cool. We also received a nice little mention from Chicago Now.

All-in-all, I’m glad we went. Here’s looking forward to more conventions this year. SpringCon is just around the corner!

I created this comic for the Lutefisk Sushi D collection where 120 or so copies of the mini-comic ended up. I created a handful more and finally got rid of the last one this weekend at C2E2. So, I’ve now collected it here for the enjoyment of everyone else. By the way, this is based on a true experience. Click on each image to bigify!

Here it is! I finished my fourth 24 Hour Comic last night. Last year I was challenged by Danno Klonowski to continue the adventures of Bret Blackberg for each of the fifty states of the union. The day started out at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts with me ignoring most of my cartooning pals at the Open Studio (sorry everyone, but a job needed to be done!) Then, last night, with Danno and Britt Hammerberg hanging out with me until the wee hours of the morning, I finished up the latest chapter of the Bret Blackberg saga, “Subsequently in Idaho.” You can check out our stupid Tweets by checking out the hashtag #24×50.

Before reading the newest story, you may want to catch up on the previous three chapters:

Somewhere in Montana

Meanwhile in Wyoming

Elsewhere in Utah

Then click on the graphic below to read “Subsequently in Idaho.”

Hey everyone. Long time no blog post. Sorry, I’ve been busy working on Super Maxi-Pad Girl #4, which will be heading to the printer today! It will debut at the C2E2 convention in Chicago from March 18th - 20th.

This issue was plotted by Danno Klonowski, the art and writing was done by Daniel Olson, and the editing and research role was taken up by AJ Niehaus.

Here is a sneak peek of the cover. (Note: there is a typo on this cover that, fortunately, was caught by AJ and has already been corrected.)