Last weekend we had a great time Staple! in Austin, Texas. This weekend, we’ll have a great time in Seattle at Emerald City Comicon. The weekend after that, we unplug all communication devices and sleep, so if you want to see us upright, stop by booth 808 at the Washington State Convention Center.

Since I acknowledged our love of Austin and of Staple! in last week’s strip, I thought I’d acknowledge our love of Seattle and the ECCC in this week’s. One of our favorite spots in the Emerald City is the Fremont Troll, and since he was a monster, it was a no-brainer to incorporate him into the Little Vampire universe.

I apologize for the lack of color, but having two conventions in a row that require us to board an airplane left me no time to whip out the Photoshop and give everyone the chance to taste the rainbow. I also apologize for the lack of a Staple! con report. We had a great time and got to hang with great people, but it’s just too much awesome to write about right now. I’ll be doing a Staple!/ECCC mash-up next week.

After I sleep.

It’s convention season again, and the first stop on our whirlwind tour of places we can afford to get to is Staple! in Austin, Texas. We’ll be at table 3 in the auditorium this Saturday, March 6. We’d love to see all our Texas peeps, so come pay us a visit.

This week’s comic is a modified version of the art I did for this year’s Staple! program book. It’s a sequel, of sorts, to last year’s program book art, which was modified to become one of our most successful prints.

Cowboy Little Vampires made me think of our buds at Zombie Ranch. No idea why.

UberLunatics Barbara, Elijah, and Lucas Bixby are raising money for the American Cancer Society by participating in the Relay for Life. This means a lot to me personally since my dad is a cancer survivor, and my cat is currently fighting cancer. You can help me tell cancer to “suck it!” by making a donation at the following sites:

Barbara’s page

Elijah’s page

Lucas’s page

If you make a donation, send me an e-mail. The Little Vampires do love kind big people.

What is the secret appeal of the Zamboni? It is a Zen machine, so soothing to watch, so graceful as it smoothes the ice. It is beautiful in its simplicity. It has but one purpose, and it fulfills that purpose without complaint. Perhaps that is the secret of its appeal.

Or maybe it’s just a machine with an awesomely funny name.

Our convention season began at the Long Beach ComicCon Comic Expo this past weekend, and it began with finger lickin’ awesomeness!  UberLunatic Laura made the convention complete by getting us coffee, upgrading her status to UberLunatic and Minion in Good Standing. We got to see Ruben of Penny Comics fame for the first time in years! He still has great hair, and still has a great comic. We met a lot of cool new people, and it looks like we made a lot of cool new fans. And to add to the awesomeness, our table was next to David Malki’s, creator of WonderMark. We’re fans of his. Like fanboy/fangirl fans. We tried our hardest, but we think our conversations with him were still a bit too much like Chris Farley interviewing Paul McCartney.

“Do you remember . . . that time in WonderMark, you were like . . . like . . . umm, in the comic, like from here on out I’m a stove cat? You remember that? Yeah. That was awesome.”

We were kind of like that.

I’ll leave you with a wee bit of mirth from UberLunatic Brianna, who sent me this picture of a Little Vampire showing his joy about what she had found at the grocery store.

You can get your own Little Vampire at the Lunasea Studios store!

Wolfie loves extreme sports, so it’s natural for him to represent the Lycans in snowboarding. The Little Vampires are always looking for ways to fly, which is why they love the ski jump. Frank and Elsa are the only two Olympians representing the Reanimated, and they’re expected to medal in ice dancing (even though Frank’s style is considered a bit stiff). The Zombie team is expected to win the gold in hockey, but they also have a strong curling team (despite the frequent loss of limbs).

I love the Olympics, and couldn’t resist honoring the spirit of the games in my own strange way.

I also love birthdays! Mine is Thursday, February 18th. Want to get me a present? Then show the Little Vampires comic to someone who’s never seen it. That’s better than cake, baby!

At long last, convention season is beginning for us. Matt the Cat has been fighting his cancer tooth and claw, and is at the point where he can be left with the vet for a few days while we travel. And we're at the point where we can leave him without getting all weepy.

So here's our appearance calendar for the next few months. Come see us at these great events! If we're not coming to your neck of the woods, let us know about your favorite conventions or book fairs. If we can, we'll be there.

The Little Vampires love the Little Vampire Girls. They love their friends. And they love office supplies.

I love all you crazy people that have helped make the Little Vampires a success. And I love you a lot more than a red stapler. Which is saying a lot.

When The Cat isn’t in the mood to bap the Little Vampires into the air and give them the sensation of flight, The Dog is more than happy to oblige them. The Dog is, unfortunately, easily distracted by the outdoors, and toys, the air . . .

I attended my first writer’s conference this weekend, in the hopes of learning about getting wider distribution for the Little Vampires books. I did indeed learn a lot about the current publishing world. I learned about the likes and dislikes of some potential agents, and I learned how to write a great query letter. I never did learn what all those different cheeses were at one of the mixers, but I can live with that.

Have to give a shout-out to two wonderful fellow creative types that I met. Jessica Simon, author of From Ice to Ashes, and C. Edward Sellner of Visionary Comics were kind enough to share their table with me at the Mystery Cheese Mixer. Go check out their work!

The Little Vampires dream of flying fiercely, of swooping down on silent wings upon unsuspecting blood oranges, and of doing menacing loop-de-loops. Unfortunately for them, their wings are as useful for flight as a waffle iron is good for fighting wrinkles in your pants.

Some Little Vampires managed to turn into bats once. A run-in with a fly swatter discouraged them from trying that again. But that incident did not quell their desire to become airborne, so they constantly seek ways to defy gravity. Even if those ways involve pestering The Cat more than usual.

I spent a good part of my life in Kentucky. I miss the people there, I miss the beauty of the landscape, and I miss Waffle House.

In that order.

This week’s comic is full of multiple shout-outs.

I’m excited about the upcoming Winter Olympics, so a shout-out to all those amazing athletes. What Olympic sports would you like to see the Little Vampires and their friends attempting? Besides curling. I’ve already called curling, that most under-appreciated of sports. There will be curling in the Little Vampire’s future, oh yes.

Shout-out to Phil and Margaret, because it was during a dinner conversation with them that the idea of zombie hockey first came up.

Shout-out to Alina Pete of Weregeek, whose characters I’ve Little Monsterized with as much monstery love as I could muster. And shout-out to Daniel M. Davis and the world of Monster Commute. I didn’t have to Monsterize his characters ’cause they’re already monsters.

And a final shout-out to all the zombie fans who I’ve come to know and love in my travels to conventions. Vampires and zombies can get along in a spirit of love and friendship and blood and brains.