On May 22, 10 am to 6 pm, I’m going to be appearing at the Summit City Comic con.  Drop by my table, introduce yourselves, and complete your “Johnny Saturn” collection.  Also appearing at the same con is my very good friend and ace artist, Paul McCall, artist on “League of Analogues.”

I’ve got twelve pages in the “IWG Presents: Welcome to Indiana, a Comic Anthology,” and I’m great company with some very talented local cartoonists.

If you are going to buy something at Amazon.com, please use our Amazon advertisement to connect with the books and products you want.  It doesn’t cost you anything, but we get a commission on all goods purchased that originated in this link.

I would like to draw your attention to a new link under “Friends of Johnny Saturn,” Brat-halla, written by my old friend Jeffery Stevenson.  Once, many a moon ago, Jeff and I collaborated on a story that appeared in “Digital Webbing Presents” no. 6, and we’ve kept up with each other through the years.  I can state, without reservation, that “Brat-halla” is an outstanding comic.  Please check it out and add it to your reading list.

I’d also like to share some truly special news with you—this Tuesday is my and Benita’s 25th wedding anniversary!  A quarter of a century… Wow.  Time flies when you are having fun!

As 2008 winds down, and Benita and I make big plans for Johnny Saturn in 2009, I think it’s worthwhile to review our year.  In many regards, this year was huge for us.  In other regards, it was a “rebuilding” year.

The biggest event of our year was the publication of our graphic novel, “Johnny Saturn: Synns of the Father.”  It was very heady for us as the book’s listing came up on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com, and numerous other websites.  Later on, we also published “Johnny Saturn” no. 6, and the “Johnny Saturn Pinup Gallery.”  This latter was particularly satisfying, because artists from all over the planet contributed pinups.

Next up for us was building of the current johnnysaturn.com site.  Prior to this, Johnny Saturn was distributed among Graphic Smash, Webcomicsnation, Comic Genesis, and Drunk Duck, while the blog was located on Myspace.  We had pretty much maxed out the scattershot approach, and now it was time to consolidate.  In June, we discontinued or downgraded all those other sites and established a WordPress-based, Comicpress run site to be our hub.  This was a titanic undertaking, one that involved reformatting all the old strips, learning new skills, and eventually even changing web hosts.

The third biggest coup for the year, and arguable more important than the first, was placing twice in the Webcomic Readers Choice Awards, winning first place for Antagonist of the Year (Dr. Synn), and third place for protagonist of the year (Johnny Saturn).  Many benefits issued from this honor, including the friendship of Phil Hofer, aka Frumph, of the Frumph Webcomic List.

After that, the comic collective Palace in the Sky asked us to join, and we happily did so.  This collective is primarily made up of high quality fantasy comics, but Johnny Saturn, while not a traditional swords & horses fantasy, came to fit in quite well in their lineup.  Palace in the Sky continues to be one of our big referrers, and we are proud to be associated with them.

Also of note, 2008 saw Benita and I interviewed on a Podcast for the first time, and our friendship with Chuck Moore of Comic Related.  I had one article in Sketch Magazine this year, and have submitted two more.  Benita and I joined the Indy Webcomics Group, a local collective of cartoonists who have garnered national attention.

All in all, this was a year to remember!

Lots of interesting stuff going on.

First up, today is my birthday.  I was born on an American Air force base forty-four years ago in Seville, Spain.  I’m not sad to see another year come and go, because my forties have been the best decade of my life.

Next up, I changed my old Myspace page into a satellite Johnny Saturn site.  I was more than pleasantly surprised at how flexible Myspace has become!  It was quite fun to format this page!  Through the magic of RSS, the comic strip and the blog will appear on Myspace as it updates, but if the reader wants to see the full-size comic or the comic’s archives, he need only click on the image there and be transported to this site.

http://www.myspace.com/scott_story

It should be noted that we have similar RSS feeds to Comixtalk, Xaviar Xerexes’ excellent webcomic site.

http://comixtalk.com/

Tomorrow, I plan to spend some time filling out the Zen Cart Johnny Saturn Store.  The video tutorials have been excellent, so I should be well on my way to establishing this new hub of Johnny Saturn swag!  If you want to see Zen Cart in action, please visit Comics2Games new site.

http://bluelinepro.com/storecomics2/

Finally, I would like to draw your attention to the Amazon.com “I recommend” link in the right column.  It’s not too late to order a copy or two of “Johnny Saturn: Synns of the Father” for Christmas!

Scott.