New book – Mary America

 

She’s the first girl prez of the US and I drew her. I didn’t create her though – that was author Carole Marsh. Find out more about this series for 7-12 year olds here.

ApPEELing review

A nice review of my “ApPEELing” book from Allan Holtz over at Stripper’s Guide which brings up a common problem with reading strips in book form. (Solution: Keep it in the bathroom.)

“Bo Nanas, which ran in newspapers from 2003-2007, had a pretty devoted fan-base, but I gather the strip failed to displace enough Peanuts reruns and computer-generated Shoes to keep Kovaleski stocked up with beer and India ink.

Bo Nanas is a monkey living a surprisingly average life in a city. Though Bo is a well-grounded fellow (for a monkey) he seems to attract weirdos and oddballs, and they always want to tell him just what exactly makes them weird. Bo listens politely and then makes a comment. This is the typical plot of the strip. When read one per day, Bo Nanas is a joy. The deadpan Bo is unfailingly amusing, not to mention sly, intelligent and erudite. What works well in a daily dose, however, works less well in a reprint book where we can get caught in the rhythm of this dance. After reading a half-dozen or so pages the gags become like those divisions in a concrete paved highway, the monotonous clunks barely noticed after driving for awhile. If you’re the type of reader who can read a page or two and then put the book down for awhile, I highly recommend it. If, on the other hand, you usually read a reprint book from front to back at a sitting or two, you’ll come away with little appreciation for Kovaleski’s creation, and that would be a shame. Read the book but savor it slowly for the full impact.”

HOLIDAY SALE – 30% off all Bo Nanas books

Got people on your gift list that you have no idea what to get? Why not give the gift of monkey? Both Bo Nanas books are 30% off until December 31, 2009 …and are signed with a sketch, too. Click here. (Payment is by PayPal, then 30% will be refunded. Please contact me about shipping outside the US.)

An honor to be nominated…

Surprise, surprise. Just found out this morning that two of my books (APPEELING: The Best of Bo Nanas and Jack N. Box) are finalists for the SPACE prize. (Who knew you got presents on Columbus Day?)

(Wait a sec. SPACE is based in Columbus, OH. Now I understand how the universe works.)

My travels – Part 1 – MoCCA

Man, have I been traveling a ton this last month. As a matter of fact, I was on the road (or in the air, or on train tracks, or sleeping on an air mattress at a friend’s apartment) for 15 out of 19 days. Just too much. I’m happy to be home till Comic Con.

In order, these were the events I went to: The National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben Weekend, Book Expo and MoCCA. Since MoCCA is the most recent (two weeks ago), I’ll hit that first and the others (hopefully) next week. (Yep, I’m not very timely and thus a bad, bad blogger.)

I mooched a place to stay off of my friends Bob (professionally known as “R.”) Sikoryak and Kriota Willberg. Bob is quite well-known in the “alternative comics scene” and it was fun to tag along with him and experience an area of comics I don’t know nearly enough about.

And now the bullet points:

• MoCCA moved from the Puck Building to the Amory on Lexington. It’s big joint where you could systematically see every table but, man, was it hot.

• Got to sit near my friend Marek Bennett who just put out a new book on a Xeric grant. A “block” away way was Brendan Burford whose newest edition of “Syncopated” was just published by Villard Press. Marek, Brendan and I all play ukulele (me just barely). Brendan even had his with him. It seems to be a popular instrument among cartoonists, which leads me to…

• Sunday night’s “Comic Strip Serenade” at a joint out in Brooklyn. Put together by a couple of comics historians, it was a performance of early 20th century sheet music inspired by comic strips like Pogo, Barney Google, The Gumps and Krazy Kat. And, my oh my, were there are a lot of ukes involved. As a matter of fact, the last piece was music that was an integral part of a comic strip called “Them Days Are Gone Forever” and featured not one, not two, not three, but four, count ’em, four ukuleles!

• And a big shout out to Gocomics.com reader Dorian, who I’ve christened the “MoCCA Weekend’s #1 Bo Nanas fan” for coming to the show to see me. (I am always shocked and amazed when anyone comes specifically to see me at these things, such is my humbleness and meager level of fame.). She was kind enough to pick up a Bo book and the new Great Scott book. Unfortunately I’d forgotten to bring Bo buttons with me so I mailed her one with a sketch as a “thank you.”

I’ll be at MoCCA

Sure, I got back from NYC just about 45 minutes ago (or so it seems) and I ‘ll back this weekend for MoCCA – Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art Festival. (According to the poster above, we’ll all be sharing space with various sea creatures.) I’ll be at table 230 with various books – Bo Nanas, Jack N. Box, and my new Great Scott one (which I’ll have for purchase online when I get back…I promise.)

My new book

Yep, I gotta new book…and I’ll be premiering it at MoCCA this weekend. (If you can’t make it, fear not, I’ll be posting a special price just for you next week.)

“Great Scott: A Day in the Life” is a graphic novelette about a dog who becomes the nanny/cook/housekeeper/whatever when his family gets too busy. It’s as if the “Brady Bunch” had a canine Alice.

SPACE recap Part 2

Pat Lewis

(I’m going to do my SPACE recap in random posts throughout the next few days, as well as show art from some of the cool people I met there. Please click on it and visit their websites.)

Saturday morning starts with my bad back fighting me. I get moving enough but only after quality time with a hot bath and a muscle stim device. (Not at the same time, though.)

After driving to the SPACE place I get my books into the joint via a New York grocery/laundry cart. (It is an item I have never seen in “the wild.” My wife had one from her Brooklyn days.) It is cool candy apple red but has no steering capabilities whatsoever. Gotta point it where you want to go the first time or you’re out of luck.

I get set up…and then my memory starts to embarrass me. I meet my next-door neighbor Marek Bennett. The thing is, I’ve met him before at MoCCA. At least, that’s what he tells me. When he mentions that he had a beard at the time, the rusty tumblers of my brain fall into place. Same thing happens in almost the same way with neighbor-down-the-way Pat Lewis. (It was SPX instead of MoCCA, and there was no facial hair involved.)

It’s slow early on so we’re all “preaching to the choir” (in other words, it’s mostly exhibitors looking at each other’s stuff). One guy brings over a “Monkey Meets World” book that he carted with him just to have me sign. I’m truly touched. Another person bring a “Stormfeld” book I was in (edited by the late great Wes Alexander). A couple of people (well, two) read Bo online and bought my books, which made me feel great….

…until I walked into the panel room.

Next time: There’s quite an echo in this here panel room….panel room……panel room……..panel room……

Free Comic Book Day

Wondering where I’ll be on Free Comic Book Day? Wonder no more. I’ll be at Comix Connection in York, PA. I’ll have Bo Nanas and Jack N. Box comics to sell and, in the spirit of the day, I’ll be giving out signed Bo “prints.”

Is this agreat holiday or what?

Memory is the first thing to go

Remember back here when I mentioned that my niece Brittney, when she was about 5, provided this quote I used on the back cover of “APPEELING?”

“My Uncle John draws pictures and then you laugh.”
– BRITTNEY, niece

As I said, she’s now 19.

I saw her at Christmas, gave her a copy of the book, had her turn it over and read the quote…she had no recollection of saying that.

(The above panel with Brittney of the Squirrel Scouts is from the very last Bo Nanas strip. You can see the final week of Bo here.)