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…)