Deep breath aaaaand...

First of all, congratulations to me, this is my 250th blogger post. Hip hip...!

I've spent every single spare second of the past week and a half replying to emails from kind-hearted, encouraging souls that read my Mom's story (originally in the Akron Beacon Journal, but now syndicated to several national newspapers) and decided to drop me a line. Each and every note was appreciated and, for the many many more who have written to Mom to lend support and encouragement... she thanks you as well. Unfortunately, she's been so flooded with mail that she's thusfar been unable to reply to everyone, but rest assured she reads them all.

A common question I was emailed was, "so what happened? How is she doing?" I've only read the online version of the story, but I'm guessing early installments weren't entirely clear about the fact that the story was a continuing narrative that ran throughout the week. The Beacon (at Ohio.com) has done a great job of compiling all the articles, photos, audio, video, and reader responses in one handy spot. In case you haven't seen it...

Click here for an index of Mom's story.

(By the way, if you're not registered at Ohio.com, go ahead and give them your email address to sign up. No fees or obligations and the work that went into this story alone makes it well worth it.)

Hats off to Kim Hone-McMahan, who did the story. For the last six months or so, Kim has been absolutely tireless in getting the facts straight. From comprehensive discussions with Mom, to interviews with neighbors, witnesses, officials, doctors, nurses, me, my sisters... pretty much anyone and everyone that could shed any sort of light on the events of and following July 10, 2004... to examinations of records, 911 calls and pertinent medical information... Kim married herself to the Becky Slabaugh story. A really incredible job. Thanks, Kim.

And Paul Tople's no slouch behind the lens, either.

But who knew the piece would even inspire a minor controversy? I don't know what to say, man. All I can really offer is... our family never stopped to worry about how palatable the story was for public consumption while we were, you know, living it. To everyone whose breakfast was ruined by the pictures of my mom on the ventilator, rest assured she's been given a stern talking-to and she promises to look far fresher from here on out. Deepest apologies.

(In all sincerity, though, our family didn't choose the photos that were included, we just gave the Beacon everything we had and left it to their discretion. Too much for a front page or for children? Yeah, maybe, maybe not, I don't know. Again, it's hard to be objective when you lived it. The Beacon did their best to be honest and sensitive, which is much more than any of us could say for Inside Edition.)

Anyhow, to everyone who wrote to me and has yet to receive a reply... you will. Promise. Thanks for your prayers and/or encouragement.

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And speaking of Mom, it seems that pigs are indeed flying and Hell is indeed freezing because, lo and behold, she has a blog of her own now (though she prefers to call it a journal).

Stop by and say hello.

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Enough of all that.

Last weekend was my annual pilgrimage to Mecca, San Diego's Comic-Con International. Great time, as always. Kind of like your wedding: all sorts of people that you never get to see, all under one roof at the same time, forcing you to scramble to get all your hello's in at once.

I don't really have the time or energy for a blow-by-blow, but a few highlights:

Cool comics people I met for the first time -

Geof Darrow - Artist extraordinaire and conceptual designer for The Matrix movies. Nice guy. Strange. His originals are astonishing. When I met him, he was harassing some fan for harassing him.

James Kochalka - Cartoonist of "American Elf" fame. A really approachable, intelligent guy. Weird. Talented.

Jeffrey Brown - who drew "Clumsy" and "Bighead" among others. He does these sensitive, autobio comics that are more than a little addicting. Before I knew it, I was confronting him about his coming across as "needy" in his work. I asked him if his dad ever told him to buck up and get over himself. He said no. What am I, a jerk?

Scott Kollins - hot superhero artist of the moment. He seemed pleased when I asked him intelligent questions about his style.

David Mack - Easily the nicest guy I met all weekend. Writer/artist of Kabuki, I told him how much I liked his stuff and bought a book from him. Before I knew it, he was autographing an armload of new comics and giving them to me for free, just because. I really, really like this guy. He's in it for the art and the fans.

Adrian Tomine - Surprisingly friendly for someone with such intense and intelligent comics.

Nat Gertler - Publisher of the 24 Hr.Comics anthologies. Nice fellow. "Hi," I said, "my name's Jeremy. I did the 24 hr. comic with audio commentary that--" "Oh, Jeremy Bear, sure!" He assured me once again that my comic really was very close to being accepted and I assured him that I really wasn't sweating it. Poor guy. You could tell it really does rip his heart out a bit that he can't publish everyone.

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It was also great to shoot the bull with Eric Shanower, Matt Fraction, Kyle Baker, Gary Martin, Steve Rude and others.

Met up with Rich Stahnke, who is, without a doubt, the coolest comics friend I have. Nobody has given me more solid encouragement than Rich and I really should be drawing the comic we've been talking about right now, rather than typing into this silly blog.

Also talked Jesse Hamm, who never ceases to amaze. Apparently, Jesse's just been signed by one of the big guys to do art chores on a major book from a major publisher (as in, the most major comics publisher there is. Think hard). When I asked him if he could talk about it, he grinned and told me he couldn't, as if he'd waited his whole life to be able to have a non-disclosure-level comics project. Congratu-friggin-lations, Jesse. Awesome.

Bumped into Scott Chernoff of Channel 101 fame. Pretty cool cat who's possibly one of the funniest guys on the planet. I managed to harass him while he was eating. Timing!

Comic-Con is nuts. Bumped into a guy, only to turn around to discover it was Matt Groening (and if you don't know who he is, I'm afraid you've come to the wrong website). Saw Michael Chabon buying a hamburger. Marlon Wayans walking the floor. Mike Mignola chatting up a fan. Scott McCloud buying a stack of mini comics.

God, I love Comic-Con.

Oh, and before I forget:

Discovery of Comic-Con 2005 -

AdHouse Books. These guys are fantastic. What a publisher. I'd barely heard of them before, but I've never seen a publisher with such commitment to quality print production in their comics. 4-color, spot colors, metalic inks, die-cuts, perfect binding... okay, probably doesn't mean much to those who've never worked in printing before... but, man, that's a lot of expense for an indy comic publisher. Their quality is impeccable. I bought an anthology from them that used, no lie, no less than 8 different inks. These guys mean business. Gorgeous stuff.

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Outside the con, though, I had a really lovely time with Chad, Drew and Drew's brother, Jeff. Yeah, so I drank a little too much Friday night and ended up spewing on Saturday morning. Sue me. It's San Diego, live a little!

Stayed the night with Drew's parents on Coronado island, which was beautiful. Lovely people. Must remember to send them a thank-you.

All in all, a great trip.

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Actually, I have a lot yet to cover, but I'm tired of typing. Suffice it to say, my month-of-July revels haven't yet ended, as I'm attending my second Beck concert in LA on Saturday. Excited doesn't begin to describe.

Okay, that's enough for now.

If you really want more, I've just discovered that Honus has a blog now too, so go look at it and don't forget to leave lots of comments with dirty words in them.

Serves him right for neglecting to mention his blog to me, the bum.

Blog #250... out!

posted by Jeremy Bear 9:37 PM

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