UPDATE!!: CHANGING OF THE SEASONS

UPDATE #2: Booth # 310 ( IMAGE ) is where i will be found at the con!  Except on saturday and sunday, I will be doing signings from 1-3 both days at the CBLDF booth! See you there.

UPDATE:  I will be appearing at The Emerald City Comic Con NEXT WEEKEND (before Heroes Con in June.) This was added to my schedule due to an EXCLUSIVE ANNOUNCEMENT that will be made there! I will be splitting my time between the CBLDF booth, and the IMAGE booth. with surprise goodies, and I will be sketching.

Hi guys.

I want to talk about Con-Sketches. Ive done them all of my 23 years in Comics when I attend Conventions, but I think Im gonna change up. There is soooo much going right now on Twitter, message boards and the like concerning creators rights, creator owned properties, the BIG 2 going corporate, etc.... So being involved in some of that, I have had to assess my role in things and adjust my operating procedures as Ive had to do many times over the years.

My next Con is gonna be the 30th anniversary of the HEROES CONVENTION! So starting then, I am gonna stop taking commissions for copyrighted, company owned characters. I will still sketch, but just my characters, public domain, and the characters I have permission to use( from their respective creators ). This may seem to come outta nowhere, but it isnt that at all. The industry is changing FAST. By that I mean redifining Rights, Clearly defining copyright Law, and the opportunities afforded creators to create and publish their properties is shrinking. Not to say the Industry is hurting, because I dont think it is. Just changing. For the good, and the bad. So as a player you have to adapt. So thats what Im doing. I wanna avoid problems with any of the afore mentioned publishers, and continue to make great Comics. I dont wanna deal with the "possible" hassle of stepping on toes, and crossing legal lines. Safer than sorry. If I dont involve myself in things that could entangle me in unpleasant events, then those things wont come to pass.

I just wanna make Comics. Good ones. Enjoying the process as it happens and I dont wanna deal with crap that might happen. After I saw Sean G. Murphy declare that he was doing this, AND reading and keeping up with all the current and past drama in the press over too many Creators, and properties embroiled in legal battles and money, and given my current direction( toward personal work that I own ) it made sense.

Also, my run as Cover Artist on the currently running SHADE mini series at DC will mark  the closure of work for hire cover gigs for the foreseeable future so that I can concentrate fully on all the Creator Owned properties I am currently writing and drawing.

This isnt a Fuck you, to the BIG 2. Its just me taking stock of what I really want to do, and embracing the opportunities that have come my way to see these Projects happen. Its that simple.

So I hope you will come along with me and be kind enough to check out what Im doing. Its what I feel I have been working toward for years, adding pieces to the complex puzzle of Publishing in comcs and showing the readership what I have. Thanks so much to everyone who has followed my work, bought my books, my art and have supported me through everything I have done. The best is yet to come. I promise.

TONY