This weekend is the New York Comic Con, the east coast’s biggest pop culture event! Sunday is their official KIDS DAY, where anyone under 12 gets in free! There will be lots of great activities and workshops and even a musical based on the Amelia Rules graphic novels!

Lunchbox creators, Dave Roman and Ryan Sias will be found in the artist alley/small press area so be sure to stop by and say hi!

Dave will also be on a couple of kid-friendly panels…

NICK MAG PRESENTS…AVATAR COMICS & FANDOM SPOTLIGHT
Friday at 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM in ROOM 1E08
-Nickelodeon Magazine gives a behind-the-scenes look at comics produced for Avatar: The Last Airbender and spotlights all the creativity surrounding the fandom for the popular show. There will lots of audience participation, trivia-bending, and prizes for the best cosplayers! We’ll also be showing an amazing collection of AMV’s, and a special puppet surprise! Featuring: Johane Matte aka Rufftoon (storyboard artist), Dave Roman (comics editor), and Alison Wilgus (comics writer).

FLIGHT EXPLORER - A CONVERSATION WITH KAZU KIBUISHI AND CREATORS
Sunday 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM in Kids, Teen Room 1E08
-Flight Explorer, a spin-off of the award-winning Flight graphic novel anthology series, features fun characters and stories that appeal to young readers and parents who want to introduce their children to graphic novels. Join Flight and Flight Explorer editor Kazu Kibuishi and Flight contributors Amy Kim Ganter (who drew the Zuko/Mai Avatar comic), Johane Matte (Rufftoon!), Phil Craven, Jake Parker, Kean Soo, and Dave Roman for their take on the amazing world of Flight Explorer and all-ages comics!

NICK MAG PRESENTS…GAG CARTOONS & FUNNY DRAWINGS
Sunday 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Kids Room 2D02-03
Nickelodeon Magazine editor. Chris Duffy walks you through the stages of making hilarious cartoon drawings. Learn tips for brainstorming ideas, drawing funny scenes and coming up with the clever captions guaranteed to make your friends shoot milk through their nose. Featuring gag cartoonists Karen Sneider, Gary Fields, Alec Longstreth, Feggo and more!

NICK MAG PRESENTS…3-D COMIC CAROUSEL
Sunday 3:00 PM-4:00 PM in room 1E09
-A series of cartoon slide shows presented by an array of comic strip makers, performers, and other characters. Plenty of gags, goofiness, audience participation and 3-D action! Definitely for kids and alternative-comics-loving adults. Featuring: R. Sikoryak (Drawn and Quarterly), Sam Henderson (Magic Whistle), Kim Deitch (Alias the Cat), Michael Kupperman (Tales Designed To Thrizzle), and Karen Sneider (Pony Up!)

Saturday, April 12th at Jim Hanley’s Universe in NYC…
It’s Kids’ Day! from 10AM - 6PM
An extravaganza of comics, cookies, and creativity.
Special guests Nick Bertozzi, Frank Cammuso, George
O’Connor, Kevin Pyle, Aaron Renier, Misako Rocks!, Dave Roman,
Raina Telgemeier, Sara Varon, Fred Van Lente, and MC, Josh
Elder.

With live drawing, readings, activities, and the world premier
of the Scooby Doo Opera, there’s something for kids of every age,
and a cookie to finish the day off with.

For those of you enjoying the current ASH story that’s taken over Cow & Buffalo this past month, I’ve collected the whole arc into a mini comic that will be available at the Orlando Megacon this weekend, March 7th-9th. The twelve page story serves as an addendum to Adventures in Sandwich Making so, if you were a fan of that book, this is a must read. I’ll also have Cow & Buffalo books, magnets, stickers, window clings and a whole slew of other fun stuff while I’m there. Just look for the life-sized C&B stand-ups in Artist Alley!

For those of you who are not enjoying the current storyline starring Cow and Buffalo’s pet cat, then you must be dog-lovers or something. But don’t worry. The time-displaced feline’s adventure concludes this Sunday- after which we return to regular scheduled ridiculousness with your two favorite bovines (and friends).

For all you webcomics creators out there, I’m posting up a couple little Photoshop tutorials this week with my Zip and Li’l Bit comics. If you have your own comic, or are thinking about creating your own comic, these could probably help (unless you’re really, really smart).

One of the freelance job I’ve been working on for a while just went online!
Funbrain playground!
It’s a series of mini games. I helped concept and create the games. My favorites are
Pickle pop, frost bite, desert dive, Simon sees! But they are all great! I enjoy playing them all. They are SUPER simple, but tons of fun!!

Enjoy
Ryan Sias
Silent Kimbly

I thought I’d let everyone know I’ve got some cool products fro sale!
The warm and soft Tenderness winter hat!
A tinkerbell t-shirt (even in kid sizes)
And a new print of my ferryboat comic!
So come to Kimbly shop and check out all the fun stuff!

After invading countless comics and internet sites across the internet, Cow has finally found his way back to his own comic today. And he couldn’t have blinked back a moment too soon. This week’s extra super, quindruple-sized Cow & Buffalo strip marks the end of a story-arc that started waaaay back in September of 2006. Consisting of sixty-four strips as well as Cow’s recent out-of-strip experiences, this is a story that might be fun to sit down and read from start to finish (now that we all know it really does come to a close). See how it all began right here!

As for JourneyCow, the complete list of all the comics Cow teleported into can be viewed here. But don’t be surprised if you still see some residual teleporting from Cow in the next few days (I really can’t explain how these teleporter-majigs work). The CowTracker will continue to stay up until we can be sure Cow has permanently fixated himself back into his own comic.

After over three months of hiatus, as creator Tyler Martin took some time off with his new baby and a move, Wally & Osborne are back with new comic updates. Yay!

If you were a regular reader or are new to Wally & Osborne, now’s a good time to head on over to Antarctica and get in on the fun with a polar bear and a penguin.

I’m super excited about the New York Anime Festival this weekend!

Organized by the same folks who put on the NY Comic Con, this should be a really huge event!

I’ll have a table in the Artist Alley area with my friends, The Comics Bakery, selling a huge assortment of mini-comics, graphic novels, t-shirts, buttons, and wizard rock CDs!

I’ll also be hosting a panel:

Avatar : The Last Airbender - Comics & Magazines
Friday December 7th from 4 PM - 5 PM
Hosted by Nickelodeon Magazine editor, Dave Roman.
Featuring Avatar magazine contributors Alison Wilgus and Tina Lam.
Anime Panel Room (1A06)

A behind-the-scenes look at the various stages of making the Avatar comics that appeared in the official Avatar magazines, as well as the mini-comics packaged with the single disk DVDs. From story pitches to script revisions, and creating final art for print, this is a chance to find out what goes into making a great comic, and what editors actually do all day! BONUS FUN: There will be trivia-bending competition live on stage! Prizes will be won! Cosplaying encouraged!

Another panel that might be worth checking out:

Del Rey & Marvel Comics
Sunday, Dec 9th at 3 PM - 4 PM
Join Del Rey Manga and Marvel Comics for a special announcement!
Manga Panel Room (1A24)

Should be cool!

Some of you here on Lunchbox Funnies might have noticed that Cow, the lovable yet intelligently disabled better half of Cow & Buffalo, has been popping up in few places outside his usual six panel confines. That’s because on November 18th, 2007, Cow transported himself right out of his own comic. Now he’s out there on the web, not so desperately trying to make his way back to his pet brontosaurus, Bronto, who he forgetfully left up in the clouds.

Mike Maihack, Cow’s creator, recently caught up with himself to get the lowdown on what JourneyCow is all about:

Mike: So, where’d you come up with the idea for JourneyCow?

Mike: Uh.. in my car.

M: Hmmm… interesting. I heard you don’t like bananas.

M: I don’t! What a disgusting fruit.

M: Back to JourneyCow…

M: Ah, yes.

M: So Cow transported himself right out of your comic? How’d you let that happen?

M: Well, I can’t watch those guys 24/7. I should have known giving Cow a teleporter was a bad idea. I guess I learned my lesson (laughs).

M: It seems Cow’s been spotted in quite a few other webcomics out there already, including fellow Lunchbox comics Silent Kimbly and Zip and Li’l Bit. Do you anticipate Cow traveling around quite a bit before he finds his way back to your comic?

M: Yes, yes. I’m so glad that artists like Ryan and Trade have been such terribly good sports about the whole ordeal. It must be quite frustrating to have my idiotic character zapping in and disrupting their daily routines. But, I don’t know. I hope he makes it back. Right now it’s just Buffalo and Cabbie running the show which doesn’t make for a whole lot of interesting dialog. But Cow’s, I don’t know…. is brainless too strong a word? I’m not sure he’ll make it back on his own…

M: Are you keeping track of all of Cow’s appearances?

M: Yes! I have a CowTracker on the comic website keeping tabs on all of the places he’s been. Maybe if some sort of pattern develops we can figure out a way to get him home.

M: Wouldn’t CowSpotter have been a better name? Cause you know, cows have spots?

M: … Yes.

M: If you could have any superpower, what kind of superpower would you have?

M: Oh, that’s easy. The ability to communicate with underwater sea creatures. There’s just limitless possibilities there.

M: I knew you’d say that. Anything else you want readers to know about JourneyCow?

M: Yeah. If anyone out there sees Cow in their comic or anyone else’s comic, make sure to let me know. I’d very much like to have the oblivious oaf back.

(Mike Maihack is a reporter for no one and can often find himself receiving strange looks from squirrels.)