Not only do I want to wish Johnny Hart and Gahan Wilson each a happy birthday—but apparently my wall does, too!

As I read on various comics-related sites of the shared birthdays (though not shared birth years) of the two men, I realized that there was a party going on for them right here in my office.

Hanging over the door is this B.C. strip which originally ran June 26, 1973, and which Hart gave me either that year or the year after. We met at the annual Reuben Awards weekend run by the National Cartoonist Society where I had been a guest of Bill Kresse. Hart sent me this strip a few weeks later.

He didn’t know me save from our brief conversation, yet I don’t believe he could have given me a B.C. installment better suited to my personality had he known me for years. Give it a few clicks to bring it to a readable size and those who know me will see what I mean.

Unfortunately, Hart passed in 2007. Had he lived, he would have been 79 today.

Luckily, Gahan Wilson is still with us. He turned 80 today. (more…)

As I wrote earlier, I attended SPX (the Small Press Expo) on Saturday, September 26. Sure, I wanted to see the artists and their newest mini-comics, but the most important thing I wanted to do that day was hear “Gahan Wilson in the Spotlight.” I recorded his hour-long talk, which means that now you can hear it, too!

It’s audio only, so you’ll miss out on the rubber-faced cartoonist’s body language as he hams it up, but I think you’ll find the sound of the master’s voice worthwhile all by itself. I snapped the photo below while he was speaking. If anyone out there knows how to make his lips move like Clutch Cargo, feel free!

I’m just back home from the Small Press Expo, during which I attended three presentations, made multiple circuits of the dealers’ room, and bought a bunch of fun minicomics. Now I’m too tired to tell you any of the details.

This picture will have to stand in for those, at least for tonight. That’s me with one of my idols, Gahan Wilson, after I’d shown him a picture on my iPhone of how I’d framed an original of his I’d purchased from him a couple of years ago at the World Horror Convention in Toronto.

As for any other reporting from the front lines of SPX, that will just have to wait until tomorrow …