Stan examines his lunch

Putting up that drawing I did for the "Art of Usagi Yojimbo Book" the other day reminded me of one of the fun times that I had with Stan Sakai, and this photo in particular.


I took this at a small restaurant in Bethesda, Maryland, when Stan and I were attending the SPX (Small Press Expo) in 2000 -- a really excellent show just bursting with energy and creativity. I had been to it the previous year, and I'd never before seen so many small press and independent comics creators and publishers in one place. It was really quite inspiring. I got to meet several Xeric grant winners who were there promoting their books, which was very nice. As I recall, Scott McCloud was there too, and I always like getting to see and talk with him.

One day Stan and I walked around the neighborhood next to the hotel we were staying in, looking for a place to eat, and found this funky little place with a few small tables outside (always my favored place to eat if the weather is good). As I recall, I thought the waiter looked like a young Jack Kirby. They had an amazing "golden gazpacho", which I got and thoroughly enjoyed.

I couldn't tell you what it is that Stan is about to eat here, but if I'm remembering correctly, he enjoyed his meal too. (I have found that Stan is quite the adventurous eater... probably a good thing, with all of the traveling that he does.) I just love the way he's giving it the "once-over" in this photo. -- PL

"Blast From The Past" R.I.P.

I may as well face facts -- I think my old "Blast From The Past" (http://www.planetracers.com/blast/prblastarchive.html) section at the "Planet Racers" website is pretty much dead. I had a lot of fun with it, and I'll probably leave it up as an archive, but this blog thing is SO much easier and more enjoyable.

I hadn't yet run out of things to post at that site, so I'll probably end up eventually putting the remainder of the "BftP" items on this blog. -- PL

Happy Happy Tric

Here's yet another in my series of fun Sculpey gifts (notice a theme emerging?). Can you guess who did this one?




That's right -- it's the amazing Ryan Brown! Doesn't this thing look like it just popped out of a bubble-gum vending machine in Japan? -- PL

Big (little) Blue

Here's another one of those cool Sculpey gifts, a sweet l'il blue Triceratops. Can you guess from the style who the sculptor is?






That's right -- it IS the one and only Jim Lawson! -- PL

Parker and Louis

I don't intend to turn this into "DogBlog", but there was enough positive reaction to my earlier post about little puppy Parker for me to want to follow up with one of my favorite photos:



For those of you who wanted to see what Parker looks like now, here he is. The little white blob is also my daughter's dog -- a Maltese which she named Louis. In this photo, Louis has only been with us for about a week, and already he is boldly playing with Parker, who is about five times as big as he is. I have to give props to Parker for being very patient with the little beast.

One of the reasons I like this photo is that it kind of looks like Louis is whispering something into Parker's ear -- something surprising, to judge by Parker's reaction! -- PL

Puppy Parker

I ran across this cute photo today -- it's from 2002. The cuddly puppy in the photo, snoozing on the floor of my office at Mirage, is our dog Parker. (Actually, I guess he's technically my daughter's dog -- she convinced us to get him, and named him as well... after "Peter Parker", Spider-Man's alter ego.) I think this must have been only a couple of weeks after we picked him up from a local animal shelter. He's a lot bigger now, but still lovable. -- PL

P.S. As I was looking at this photo a bit closer, I kept seeing these little specks of blue on the carpet. I didn't know what they were at first, but when I zoomed in on the photo in Photoshop, it suddenly became clear, and what a blast from the past! Those little blue specks are actually blue plastic balls which at one time liberally littered the halls of the artists' side of the building, residue from our many manic "airsoft gun" battles. What a trip that was! I think some of the wooden door frames still bear tiny dimples from multiple hits.

I still chuckle when I remember Jim Lawson crafting a protective helmet out of a colander... effective, but pretty wacky-looking!

Reading bunny

Years ago, inspired by my friends who made me all those cool Sculpey sculpture gifts, I tried my hand at it a few times. One of those few was this birthday gift for my wife, who is a writer. (She also likes bunnies.) -- PL