christ, i love it here. breakfast today on rue dante, which i’ve been to more than once, but is always amazing… it’s a street that’s almost entirely composed of comic shops. walked past notre dame, which was full of pilots and airline personnel… think it must’ve been a service for the air france plane that went down.

walked around in the latin quarter yesterday… near the old arkham store, near where i used to stay. tried and failed to find a place i used to get baguettes, but found anna ku, a pitbull who watches over a bar down the street. annu ku’s old now, face covered in white. introduced anna ku to kristyn, they’re now fast friends. i doubt the dog remembers me, but she nuzzled my leg all the same.

dinner tonight with some friends, lunch now, then i’ve gotta get some work done. finishing escape #4 and a dialogue pass on escape #3 for DC, then i start new books for marvel and another company i can’t name yet.

i miss you terribly.

crazy couple weeks… a great release party in NY (featuring jackson publick, cliff chiang, brian wood, andy macdonald, alex maleev, juan doe, nikki cook, becky cloonan and more…), a great signing in LA (featuring dan panosian and giant barrels of coffee), and in 2 weeks i’ll be signing at my favorite store in paris.

TUESDAY, JUNE 9TH 2009
signing at ARKHAM
7 RUE BROCA, 75005
PARIS
TEL. 01 43 37 25 33

ladies and gentlemen, i am pleased as hell to announce the forthcoming new york release party for viking at a gorgeous new brooklyn retail location, BERGEN STREET COMICS. the event will be friday the 15th of may and will feature a number of all-star comicbook-making guests. come one, come all.

VIKING RELEASE PARTY, FRIDAY MAY 15TH 7PM
BERGEN STREET COMICS
470 BERGEN STREET
BROOKLYN, NY
718-230-5600

seriously- take a look at this place:

i’ll be signing this saturday april 25th at both comics, cards and collectibles in baltimore and laughing ogre in lansdowne, va. here’s the press release:

Baltimore, MD and Lansdowne, VA – April 22, 2009 – In support of his new book, Viking, a Golden Age-size painted book from Image Comics, Ivan Brandon will be making several appearances on Saturday, April 25th in the Baltimore/Washington area. Shipping to stores on Wednesday, April 22nd, the $2.99 title is already sold out.

From 12pm to 3pm, Ivan will be at Cards, Comics and Collectibles in Reisterstown, MD, featuring a sale on trade paperbacks and hardcover books — 50% off all day

From 4pm-7pm, Ivan will be signing at the Laughing Ogre Lansdowne Shopping Center location. The store will offer 50% off a second trade paperback of equal or lesser value when you buy any trade paperback.

Ivan Brandon is also known for writing other comics titles like NYC Mech and Cross Bronx.

Cards, Comics & Collectibles
100 A Chartley Drive
Reisterstown, MD 21136
410-526-7410

Laughing Ogre Comics
Lansdowne Shopping Center
19340 Promenade Drive
Lansdowne, VA 20176
703-437-9530

there was an error in the diamond solicitations for issue 2 of viking, which was listed as a black and white book… which it is NOT. it is the same oversized, spotgloss painterly format as issue 1… take a look:

recently marked a year since i came back from south america. a strange year that’s lead to an even stranger year i’m wading ankle-deep into. headed to orlando this weekend for the FX international convention and then miami next week, during which time VIKING will be arriving in stores. the 2nd printing is evaporating quickly, and while there are lots of copies and you should be able to find one, if for whatever reason you aren’t able to get a copy next week, i’d recommend you make sure to lay claim to one with your local shop before they’re all gone.

next weekend, i’ll be doing a couple signings in the northeast US, i’ll be sure and post those here.

in the meantime, here’s me yammering endlessly to john siuntres on the latest wordballoon podcast.

it’s been a strange bunch of days.

about a week ago, image comics brought a single advanced copy of viking #1 to the retailers present at the COMICSPRO event in memphis. on the next business day, we were sold out of our entire print run at the distributor level, well before the book reaches stores, well before almost anyone has seen the thing.

no one at image can remember anything like this happening in the past. books sell out, but almost never BEFORE they hit. the day or so after, we put together a plan to get another printing out to anyone who wants one. it required some maneuvering and some advice from the retail community, but here it is.

to be absolutely clear: THE BOOK IS NOT SOLD OUT IN STORES. hell, it’s not IN the stores yet, and whatever your local shop ordered is still on its way to them. grab a copy on april 22nd. what the above means is that all the copies we printed are spoken for… there were no more copies to order, when your shop sells out. hopefully the 2nd printing helps with that. the diamond order code for the 2nd printing is FEB098570

it’s been a crazy week, a week none of us expected. i’ll be in portland in seattle this weekend with a couple copies you can look at.

i hope you like it.

but some of them are great.

this one arrived at the image offices just now. the part of vanna white is played by image pr guru joe keatinge.

the project we worked on for celebrity apprentice/zappos ended up winning in the boardroom last weekend.

for anyone who’s curious, the credits for the finished art shown on the episode are as follows:

editor/consultant: me
art: paul azaceta
colorist: matt wilson
letterer: kristyn ferretti

i signed an NDA, but this clip may or may not feature me, paul azaceta, joan rivers, t-boz, etc… listening to a focus group of NYC’s finest comic nerds.