Yuko Ota's Blog, page 66
February 7, 2012
Convention schedule!
Lucky Penny: Page 2! If you're just now coming aboard, here's the context.
We're doing some conventions this year! Several in the coming months, including our first ever West Coast shows!
Wondercon in Anaheim, CA - March 16-18
Emerald City ComiCon in Seattle, WA - March 30-31, April 1
MoCCA in New York, NY - April 28-29
TCAF in Toronto, Canada - May 5-6
So that's exciting! Hope you can catch us at one of them. We'll be doing more shows later in the year as well - we'll update as the info comes in. Some other news:
Johnny Wander V2 Special Editions with Yuko's sketches in them will be available till the end of the week - then I think it's time to give Yuko a breather so we can catch up on getting those shipped. They'll come back eventually, but if you want them sooner rather than later I suggest getting your order in by Friday!
The Benign Kingdom Kickstarter is going swimmingly! An update to come this this week, I think. Oh, and Yuko posted her quadrant of the reward poster to her Tumblr:
JW:V1 is currently available at Midtown Comics at a 25% discount! We'll be doing a book club event at the end of the month, a Q&A probably.
I think that's it! Catch you on Thursday!
February 2, 2012
February's experiment: Lucky Penny!
Hey guys! I mentioned this the last time, but for the month of February we'll be posting an excerpt from the book we're doing with Oni Press. The book is about an unlucky girl trying to figure stuff out. I wrote it with you guys and girls in mind - the humor is pretty similar to Johnny Wander. We're eager to share our work with you, and this will allow us to really dig into the project and bring the completed story to a release date more quickly. Hope you like it!
Besides that here are the other things going on:
Volume 1 is 25% off at Midtown Comics in Manhattan! We're featured in their Book Club for February, and we'll be doing some sort of Q&A at the end of the month. You can also check out their Facebook group for the event.
Benign Kingdom is our joint publishing venture with a couple of other folks - we are printing a set of deluxe art books! 4 individual art books that are collected in a hardcover version. The Kickstarter is ongoing, and you'll get them at a discount compared to the cost after we get them printed.
You can pick up both books at Bergen Street Comics! Volumes 1 and 2, there for the taking. Some of Yuko's originals are also framed and hanging on the walls of the store (for sale!), it is pretty neat.
Special Editions are available online!
That's all for us! Catch you next week!
January 31, 2012
Johnny Wander Vol. 1 @ Midtown Comics! And February experiment.
That guy is amazing.
First things first: we're going to try an experiment in February. We've mentioned in the past that we're doing a book with Oni Press - for the month of February we're going to post an excerpt from the book! We're pretty excited to share it with you guys and we hope you like it. This will also allow us to spend some time working exclusively on the Oni book, which means we can hopefully share the finished story with you ahead of schedule!
Cool news - Johnny Wander Vol. 1 is a Featured Trade at Midtown Comics in Manhattan! It's being offered as part of the Midtown Monthly Book Club - that means they're selling it for 25% off cover price for the month of February - a good deal! It also means that we'll be doing some sort of Midtown Book Club Q & A and chat with readers at the end of February - if you missed us at Bergen St. Comics you can certainly catch us here! I'll share more specific dates and information as I get it in.
Secondly, WHOA! We are totally blown away by the success of the Kickstarter! Because it went so well we're upgrading the treatments for the cover - improved color treatment and gold foil stamping! There's still time to get an early order in, too - the price of the individual art books will be higher once they're printed so now is a good time to get it at a discount if you're interested.
That's all for us! Catch you Thursday!
January 26, 2012
Benign Kingdom Art Book!
I'll just leave that comic there ...
Just a reminder, Special Editions of volume 2 are now up in the store! That means a signed bookplate, a sketch by Yuko, and a sticker. Check it out!
I'm excited to finally be able to talk about Benign Kingdom! Here's a video explaining what the deal is:
 
Here's a clip from the Kickstarter:
Benign Kingdom is a creator-owned publishing project designed to showcase the art of independent comic creators. This project will fund the printing of four 32-page art books, by webcomic artists Yuko Ota ( Johnny Wander ), Evan Dahm ( Rice Boy ), Becky Dreistadt ( Tiny Kitten Teeth ), and KC Green ( Gunshow ). These books will include some of the best work each of us have done over the past couple of years, outside of our comics. There will also be one hardcover book, including the full contents of all four individual art books.
Take a look at the Kickstarter here and donate if you're interested! We are sparing no expense in making sure these books look extra sexy, and I am really excited about them. Help us make it happen!
See you next week!
January 24, 2012
Volume 2 Special Editions now on sale!
Times Square can be a nightmare sometimes! There are just a lot of people. So many. Oh man. I have to charge my coping meter before heading into Times Square, but at least it's not as bad as IKEA.
JWV2: Escape to New York Special Editions are on sale! That includes a signed bookplate sticker, a sketch from Yuko, and a sticker. We're shipping them out as fast as we can so you should receive your copy quickly!
Also we'll be announcing an exciting project tomorrow on Twitter (Ananth, Yuko), and we'll post a bigger follow-up about it with Thursday's update! So keep an eye out for that! We'll catch you then!
January 19, 2012
Volume 2 Special Editions are in the store!
More coffee talk. I tried to warn her! But no, it just kept happening.
Volume 2 Special Editions are now available! We've also got Volume 1 Special Editions back in stock! Have at them! We'll also be incuding flyers from the release party (they look like the poster) for as long as we have them!
Also, Yuko's newest Exquisite Beast will go up at midnight.
That's all for us! See you next Tuesday!
January 18, 2012
SOPA/PIPA
Hi there! Here is the deal: we are not blacked out for SOPA/PIPA because we've been blacked out with work for the past couple of weeks ... no time to do anything fancy. That being said, go to reddit and take a look.
These bills threaten the way of life for entrepeneurs like myself and authors of other comics on the web. I don't really have time to say more, but that being said, these folks have strong opinions on the subject and know what they're talking about:
If you have time and agree with the notion, contact your rep and let them know you don't support SOPA and PIPA. Thanks!
Back to work!
January 17, 2012
Thanks for coming to the release party!
Yuko drew one badass mermaid! I love it, this mermaid is tough. Yuko drew this for the Scurvy Dogs Kickstarter.
You guys are CRAZY! The release party at Bergen Street Comics was packed to the gills, we were totally blown away. The windows of the shop fogged up. The live reading of John Advice was a lot of fun, and we couldn't get a video but we got a lot of pictures courtesy of John Kelly. Here's a few:
A shot of the very handsome Bergen St. Comics
Audience shot during the John Advice reading
(That's us!)
Anyway, I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank Tucker, Amy and Tom at Bergen Street Comics for hosting the party, John and Conrad for helping to come out and entertain you guys, Lela for baking all the food (150 cookies, 80 cucumber sandwiches!), all our pals for joining us there, and you, dear reader! Without you we could not have pulled it off (even those of you there in spirit). Thanks!
Special editions of volume 2 will most likely go up on Thursday! Keep an eye out, hopefully we will be able to prep in time. See you then!
January 12, 2012
Volume 2 Release Party Tomorrow!
The hat was pretty cute but if looks could kill that lady would have murdered everyone on the block. Probably lost a bet!
Tomorrow is the Volume 2 release party at Bergen Street Comics! John and Conrad will be joining us, and John will be doing a live reading of John Advice! We'll have food provided by Lela, drinks provided by the nice folks at Bergen Street, and we'll bring books and prints with us (e-mail us ahead of time and we'll try to bring some shirts and totes if you specify what size you'd like!). If you want Yuko to doodle something in a book, feel free to ask! Come hang out, we'll have a good time! (Hopefully by then we won't be so nervous!)
See you there!
January 10, 2012
Release Party!
Cricket's got a lot of names, some of which are not appropriate for print! Naught cats have a lot of names like that. You guys and gals have any good nicknames for your pets? That's a dumb question, I bet you do.
Our handsome release poster on the front door of Bergen St. Comics (and actually, Yuko has some work in that book on the right side of the photo)! There's now a post on Bergen Street's site about the release party. It's this Friday at 8 PM, bring your friends! Lela is making some cookies and maybe some little sandwiches, we'll have copies of our book, and we'll be a doing a live reading of John Advice with John and Conrad! It should be a good time.
Also, I'd mentioned Exquisite Beast last week - there are some new posts for you to look at! Check it out!
That's all for us! See you Thursday - and Friday! Take it easy!
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