Tomorrow President Obama will address our children and students will be encouraged to write his inspirational sayings on sticky notes and homemade  posters. My daughter’s class loves the Chairman President so much that they couldn’t wait to get right to work on their posters.

Here’s a glimpse of what they’re working on:

Carlos, age 7

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On August 19th, President Obama conducted an Internet conference to draw support from faith leaders for his health care package. He used explicit, religious language to engage the audience, ”I know there’s been a lot of misinformation in this debate. And there are some folks out here who are, frankly, bearing false witness.”

“Thou shalt not bear false witness…” Sounds familiar. That would be one of the Ten Commandments liberal judges say cannot be posted in public schools, or on government monuments because that would be an establishment of religion by the US Government.

Here’s the President of this pluralist, secular, democracy paraphrasing Cain and Abel found in the book of Genesis: “…what I consider to be a core ethical and moral obligation that we look out for one another, that I am my brother’s keeper and I am my sister’s keeper.” (more…)

I don’t recall liking much of Nora Ephron’s work other than “When Harry Met Sally.” In fact, if I knew she made “Julie and Julia,” I probably would have avoided it, since “Sleepless in Seattle” and “You’ve Got Mail” just kind of mash together in my mind. But “Julie and Julia” is more than good: it’s brilliant cinema.

The first thing that grabbed me was the character work. The hero, Julia Powell (her real life blog is here) is a foodie blogger played by Amy Adams. I’m used to watching Amy Adams over my kid’s shoulder in “Enchanted,” which plays in our house on continual loop. I didn’t know Amy knew how to turn down the volume and play a “plain-Jane, yet interesting”… but she’s awesome. This isn’t her usual glowing, perky role where she turns it on like a fire-hose. And she doesn’t turn invisible like when she played a piece of cardboard in “Doubt.” (more…)

Sitting at home with another Comic-Con behind us I look over my box of comics and deposited business cards sprawled across the floor like a Trick or Treater dumping his hoard after a busy Halloween night. This convention represents the week that Hollywood took over the event.

Many comic creators dreaded the move-in of the film and video-game industry. The center of the convention center is year-by-year sprouting more and more fancy studio spaces as evidenced by towering signs and a hogging of square footage. Meanwhile, fledgling artists with books under arm can barely afford their tables though there’s still a four-year waiting list to get booth space. With maximum occupancy filled by both exhibitors and attendees only one thing can happen…prices will go up. It’s the law of supply and demand. (more…)

Another great day of selling books, meeting fans, I sold out of my posters and blah blah blah. Tonight I’m officially burnt. Don’t worry, that’s part of the Con too. Sundays are notorious for hosting crowds of The Living Dead staggering around on fumes from media overload. At least tonight I’ll be in bed by 11, which will give me just enough sleep to push me through the final day.

I got a boost when half way through the day Jon Heder and Dan Heder came by my booth. Jon was wearing a Dan costume and Dan came as Jon. I loaded them up with books and Jon told me about his new series he’ll be doing for Comedy Central and Dan is doing CG pre-viz work on a Gore Verbinsky project.

I keep bumping into one of my favorite artists, Eric Powell, who is a great artist and a good family man. He’s living the dream with his “Goon” comic book being developed into a CG animated feature by David Fincher. (more…)

Today the costumed conventioneers started showing up, but it’s not as big as the big event. The Saturday night costume contest that brings out a freak show of innovation and geekdom. I don’t know why but there are always a lot more Boba Fett costumes than Darth Vaders. Perhaps because the isolated nature of grown men who would wear a costume gravitate toward the go-it-alone ethic of a bounty hunter.

In a convention first, I ended up in a meeting at the Warner Brothers booth where I pitched a prime time TV show. The best thing about the convention is that instead of me having to scatter fifty meetings across the year to catch up on the usual folks to whom I pitch, they’re all in one room. Okay, it’s a big room, but somehow we’re managing to find each other.

At the Gotham Group/Darkhorse lunch party I met pals from Sony animation, Disney, Tyler Perry’s company, Warner Brothers, Dreamworks and Universal. Now we’re talking convenient, we got em’ all in a 30′ x 30′ room. I made my way through the mosh pit in front of the bar and ended up having three beers. They were free, and I left pretty wobbly. A few hours later I met with some executives from an unnamed family entertainment company that also has a theme park and rhymes with Schmalt Schmisney where they bought me two more drinks. So now I’m returning to my booth hammered. (more…)

Today I got to meet the grown son of the man who gave me my first entertainment job in 1991. He said he was a big fan of Earthworm Jim and I told him there would be a very good chance my most famous character wouldn’t have existed without his dad.

Twenty years ago a retired lady bumped into me while I was in line to see “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” when she said, “Oh, you like to draw? You should come to the San Diego Comic Con. Here’s two free passes.” She came to my booth today and I gave her a big hug.

I had over ten young industry professionals who work in comics, animation and video games and tell me that they decided to learn to draw because they liked my work. An incredible 25-year-old Russian kid said that he was raised on a pirate version of my game, “The Neverhood,” I did with Dreamworks in the mid ’90s. I looked at his comic pages and he could draw better than I could. I drew a character for him and he gave up a tear. (more…)

Well, there you have it. I made my first big mistake of parking at the mall for Comi-Con and after having drinks with my “Ghostopolis” editor I discovered I racked up a parking bill for 54 dollars. That’s because I’m too cheap to pay the surrounding lot fees of 20 bucks. Sometimes it pays to not be so cheap, crafty or to read the small print on the parking sign.

Doug TenNapel (L) and fan at Comic-Con 2009

I got to meet my pals who come back to my booth every year and it’s always a special time to go face to face with my graphic-novel audience. I also do portfolio reviews of folks who are just starting to break into the world of comics. I love seeing good art, clear lay out and epic story-telling from 24 year olds. 24 year olds who can draw circles around me. 24 years who aren’t half way to dead like me. 24 year olds who, ah, heck I hate 24 year olds.

While I got soaked on mall parking it was nothing like what I paid to take my family of six to Legoland. “Wow, 20,000 blocks to make THAT!” is about all one can say during a trip to Legoland. (more…)

What does Voltron, Gumby, “Gods of War III” and Bone have in common? Nothing and everything. This is the great cultural collision that occurs at the San Diego Comic-con. I moved into my booth as all of the exhibitors to the world’s most popular cultural event prepares to overwhelm, nay, smother an unsuspecting public when the doors open.

The last ten or so years has seen a deliberate migration of Hollywood into what used to be a convention to celebrate just comics. A general sense of grumbling can be heard from the true comic fans who resent the beautiful rich crowd carpet-bagging onto Will Eisner’s turf. But what many don’t realize is that this has contributed to the mainstreaming of comics into the rest of culture. With entertainment’s money comes stability of the comics medium, a broadening of a market, more books sold, artists, writers, publishers and bookstores able to stay alive a little longer this is good for our tribe. (more…)

I’ve packed my car with books and posters to sell at the San Diego Comic-Con. As a comic-creator this is a mandatory part of the business that’s both fun and productive. It’s our journey to Mecca without all that obnoxious stoning and calls to the end of Israel.

In case you’ve been in an Afghanistan cave for the last thirty years, comics are big business. Comics to film projects are in demand at least partially because of the pre-visualization aspect of the medium. Fantasy is an expensive and risky genre and comics offer the cheapest glimpse into the depiction of on-screen events before one dime is spent on production.

Though the medium is gaining visibility, comics aren’t new. They’re simply words combined with pictures that communicate a sequence of events. They’re actually very similar to the silent film where an actor speaks, then his words appear onscreen to read. We’re Chaplin like that. But my favorite part of the medium is due to it’s power, and I love me some power.

What took James Cameron 200 million dollars to communicate on film with “Titanic” or his up-and-coming “Avatar” one could do for 20k in comics. You don’t get the sound, movement or music but the actual story, lighting, acting, character development the logos could be depicted by one man on the cheap. Can’t get your “Star Wars” made for 150 million? With a small group comprised of one writer, one artist and one colorist, we could depict events from the desserts of Uncle Owen’s vaporator farm to the Death Star without resorting to overseas funding. That’s power. (more…)

A new Gallup poll shows that married people are more likely to be Republicans than Democrats. The propensity for marriage among Republicans was the same regardless of race or age groups. So this is my formal call to all single Democrats who want to get married; it’s time to change your party affiliation or you’ll go through life alone, or worse, with some flaky narcissist with commitment issues.

We all pretty much know that most Democrats can’t be trusted and that’s reflected in this marriage poll. It’s not that Democrat women are ugly, because we’ve seen too many cute ones out there. The men aren’t hideous either, unless you think a soft, effeminate man hen-pecked his whole life by his domineering mother is hideous. The main reason people don’t get married is out of a fear of divorce– a fear of a breaking of vows. And Democrats talk with their feet when it comes to making commitments with those who philosophically have no grounding to keep any commitment. Did Obama shut down Gitmo? Will he get health reform finished before August recess? Is he going to cut taxes for most Americans? (more…)

Certain phrases come to mind when I think about the military: Our boys, our men and women in uniform, our guys. The key being the word “our.” They represent us in uniform, or to be more specific, they represent me.

I can’t fight because I have a different job to do as an American citizen. But my rights, my personal property, my family and my life are all fought for by proxy… our guys.

When I see any military person of any age I tell them, “Thank you for your service.” Recently, I’ve had a few ex-military friends try to dismiss my gratitude by expressing their own regret for having joined, “Don’t thank me. I’m not for these wars. I just joined to get a free ride to college.” I still thank them, because they did their time. That’s their neck on the line, riding in a helicopter in Afghanistan in my place. (more…)

It’s hard to put into words what my father means to me. He’s old school. So writing some emotional, eloquent, diatribe to his greatness would likely embarrass him more than it would pay tribute. There is an art form to the minimalist compliment among men that I’m still trying to master. My favorite scene in “It’s A Wonderful Life” is when George Bailey sits at the table with his father and can’t put into words how he feels about his old man, “You want a shock, Pop? I think you’re a great guy.”

Part of what I love about my father is how he is a vessel that carries the good things from the past into the future. His generation may have brought some bad things along with them too, but we don’t mourn or fear the passing of bad things. It’s the good things that I fear are leaving us, and our society no longer produces men like Lincoln, Johnny Cash or even my dad. That’s what a father is, a vessel that ushers greatness into the next generation. Dads bring great things from the old school to the new school. (more…)

So much was said of Obama during the election, and for all of the promises of healing America’s divide, reaching across the aisle with a new kind of politics, creating new jobs and improving on “the failed policies of the last 8 years” I don’t see anything getting better.

The shame for Bush’s whatever-he-did-every-day was palpable by the left. Ask your favorite lefty what Bush did right and they’ll likely only talk about his help with the Africa AIDS epidemic, and even then it was probably just to look good to all of those voters who are Africans with AIDS. They were ashamed of his Texas-ness, his swagger and for the first time we declared that “go-it-alone” wasn’t an American quality. Somehow, Kim Jong-il would be better under Obama. We would talk together, and he would listen. But Kim Jong-Ronery has upped his missile launches since Bush left office. (more…)

Global Warming is not melting the continental ice cap. Come to find out there’s some shrinkage on the west side, but it’s more than made up by the glacial growth on the east side.

But the business of Big Green is already at hand. As the prophet Al Gore said, “The debate is over.” We’ve already pegged the death of the polar bear on the automobile. Public schools are showing children photos of these cute, cuddly, white bears clinging to shrunken ice floes.

Now we get to choose which side of Antarctica to believe in. Are you an optimist or a pessimist? Half full or half empty? Eeyore or Tigger? (more…)

I’ve never been to a protest. I hate protesters because they seem to be professional bitchers. They’re quick to complain and jump to picket signs and screaming at the drop of a hat.  I once had lunch on a sidewalk cafe as a bunch of war protesters sat two tables away from us.  I wouldn’t want my kids near that protest because the teens were screaming so loud and some were covered in fake blood, carrying signs with Bush super imposed with Hitler. Their chants included saying “fuck” a lot. Apparently, daddy’s private school money didn’t pay for an etiquette workshop.

But on Tea Party Day, no freaks show up. Because the issue isn’t about complaining that an untraditional group can’t get married. It’s not about opposing a war that some people approve and others don’t. It’s about being over-taxed to fund bail outs and expand government to exert control over the citizens. Who, besides this administration isn’t for that? (more…)

I had the opportunity to see Christopher Hitchens debate Dr. William Lane Craig on the topic “Does God Exist?” at BIOLA University. The gymnasium was packed with 3,000 people, most of whom were Christians but some non-believers made a showing. Without the home court advantage, you might think Hitchens would be the Lion cast into Daniel’s Den. Surely the reciprocal of the secular university would happen; he’d get pies thrown at him, and he would be regularly booed, shouted down and mocked. Hardly.

Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens is a kind of celebrity, even among Christians because he is an interesting character. If anything, he was warmly embraced by a crowd who generally disagreed with him even as he hurled the worst insults at God, which we consider the holiest, highest being imaginable. This is the demonstration of class and restraint I’ve noticed from a conservative Christian culture that has a much better record of tolerance than the liberal non-Christian culture. (more…)

I’m not a big Global Citizen. I’m not proud of how the world conducts itself, it has a terrible history and there’s nothing great about humanity other than we have a great Creator. Mankind’s achievement is only consistent in how spotty it is. Intelligence has only made us immoral with more knowledge. Technology has brought us ways to destroy more lives and project more misery with less effort and more efficiency.

Individual countries pale compared to America. So contrast my relative shame as a global citizen with my pride, excitement and honor of being a member of the United States of America. Our country is the best. I’d say that we’re not perfect, but I hate opening any kind of door for the America haters to drive their Prius through. We have good standards, fund charities around the world and have left more of our bodies in the graveyards of other countries to defend and expand liberty than any other country in the history of the world. Our economy is the singularity of the Big Bang from which prosperity flows to the rest of the world. (more…)

I wish I could say I was shocked to discover that Health and Human Services cabinet nominee Kathleen Sebelius is a tax cheat. I’m not moronic or Democrat enough to call this administration a “culture of corruption,” I’ll leave that to smaller minds buried beneath tighter stretched faces. But now we can add Sebilius to a pile of tax-cheating nominees that include; Daschle, Geithner, Nancy Killefer and Hilda Solis.

Kathleen Sebelius didn’t admit to cheating, she claimed that they were “unintentional errors.” I have reason to suspect cheating when all of these unintentional errors just happen to go in one direction. None of these Democrat nominees unintentionally overpay taxes or claim too little on their charitable donations. Like Franken vs. Coleman, the errors always seem to go one way. (more…)