Washington-ians! Seattle-ites! People of the Northwest in general! Big reminder that this weekend is Emerald City Comic-Con (Sat, 10-6; Sun 10-5)!

Emerald City has quickly become my favorite convention, because A.) There are tons of Sheldon readers in and around Seattle, B.) The convention itself is super fun, C.) This particular con' will be the first time my friends and "How To Make Webcomics" co-authors will be in one booth, signing together, and D.) We'll be giving a featured talk, also called "How To Make Webcomics," at the show.

It really is going to be a great time. If you can make it, don't miss it! I'll be giving out free sketches to Sheldonistas of all shapes and sizes (There were lots of kids, last time I went to Seattle — which was very fun)...and I'll be chattin' and givin' out the Commemorative, Limited Edition, 2008 Emerald City Comic-Con High Fives (Note: Only bringing 65. Get yours quickly, while supplies last).

Also, to say "thank you" to all the Sheldon readers who do make it out, all Sheldon Original Strips will be $25 off the normal price at the show. So if you've had your eye on a specific strip, now's your chance to snag it! Just e-mail me to make sure I bring your favorite.

Thanks! See you there!

Sheldonista George B. sent me an interesting read on "squee" that I thought I'd share....

Hey man. I don't know if you've ever talked about this, but I always think about it, and today was so perfect I just had to comment on it.

Squee, and the way you use it in the strips, is the ultimate word. It's like Dude. You can say it millions of ways and they all mean something different. Sometimes whole paragraphs with a single Squee.

I am not sure how much you plan this, or if it just happens, but I LOVE Flaco SO much because of this. What I mean is how whenever Flaco comments on something, there's a duality that is so cool....one part is whatever you intended the "squee" to be which the reader can kind of gather from the context, but the BEST part is deciding what WE think he is saying. I'm sure you have something in mind specifically but today, for instance, I heard "word" when Flaco said "squee."

Anyhow...not sure any of that made sense, but that is the secret sauce in what makes Flaco so cool!

A thought occurred to me, today, and I'm curious to see if there's a Sheldonista out there who knows this, off-hand: What was the first strip that showed Arthur sitting on the lamp?

I'm kinda curious to see how long that's been going on. If no one knows, I may just use the varying archive search features and see if I can figure it out. But I'm guessing there's an Arthur fan out there who know this.

If you're a Sheldonista who picked up a book or t-shirt from the Sheldon Store in 2006 or 2007, you know that I like to give out free desktop wallpapers... as a small "thank you" from me to you. A thank you, because it's your financial support that keeps Sheldon going as a free, daily strip (...and keeps the lights on 'round these parts).

But it looks like everyone who purchased something in the first months of 2008 didn't get the link to the free wallpapers. Which is a total bummer.

Anyway, I just now fixed the link hiccup... So if you were one of those folks that made a purchase but didn't get a free wallpaper, just send me an e-mail from the address used in your Sheldon purchase...and I'll send you the wallpaper link! Thanks!

I get it. Cuteness sells.

Cuteness triggers all sorts of basic, human parenting instincts and emotional responses that no logical brain can fully ignore...resulting in a higher possibility of an emotionally based purchase the next time you're in the store.

I get it. I understand it. And I see it comin' a mile away.

But dang it! Dang this commercial! I can not resist its charms! I'm singing this dang thing constantly. A capella style, Gregorian-monk style, George Clinton Parliament style. It's ridiculous. This commercial has wedded itself to my deepest synapses.

The ad team that came up with this thing should all be getting Mazda Miatas for Christmas bonuses.

Hey-o! Back to our regularly scheduled programming of all-Sheldon, all-the-time!

As I plunk myself back down in front of my drawing desk, I have to admit it's a wonderful thing. And a necessary thing! There are lots of projects to get to work on. Here are a few of the ones I'll be talking more about in the days ahead:

1.) The next "Sheldon" book cover should be done in a week or two, and will be fun to share with you... as it's a slightly different approach than past books. So keep an eye out for that.

2.) We'll be doing our first Sheldon poster, based on this strip, after many, many requests from Sheldonistas. I'm going to be reworking it, to make it more... "posterly".

3.) Emerald City Comic-Con is coming up, May 10-11th, in Seattle. I am so dang excited for that show, and to meet all the Sheldonistas that have dropped me a line saying they're coming. And just a reminder: All original art will be $25-off at the Emerald City show, so if you had your eye on one strip...drop me a line to make sure I bring it.

4.) And don't think I've forgotten about the tagline contest we had a few weeks back! As you can imagine, (new) life took over recent events...but we're going to be circling back around on the tagline in the days and weeks ahead. :)

5.) Also! I've successfully recorded the creation of a Sheldon strip using multiple cameras...but man-oh-man, I have, like, zero time to learn how to edit it up using iMovie (Which, admittedly, is super easy to learn to use.) So, while the *film* is ready, the *editing* might take me a while to get to. But I will get to it, eventually, I promise!

I think we saved one of the best Guest Artists strips for last with today's entry. Look at that artwork! Paul Southworth's "Sheldon" strip is just beautiful — as is all Paul's work.

Paul, as I'm sure you know, is the stylistic genius behind the daily strip, Ugly Hill. And like I was mentioning with Paul Taylor the other day, Paul Southworth has one of those artistic styles that I wish I could just soak up by osmosis. He's got so much dang skill, darn it. So much!

Do yourself a favor and dive into Paul's lush artistry over at Ugly Hill, and please make sure you drop him a note to thank him for today's awesomeness!

And *I'd* like to thank all our Guest Artists, again, for giving me the gift of time with my newborn baby. It was a precious, wonderful thing. And I have to say, having never had Guest Artists in all of "Sheldon's" history, I really, really enjoyed it. It was fun seeing the strip interpreted and reimagined in different ways and in different styles. I hope you enjoyed it, too.

And now that the week is past, let me know what you thought of the whole Guest Artist week, in general. Is this something we should do every few years...or is once-a-decade enough?

First things first: Wes Molebash's awesome strip, today, is based upon THIS absolutely brilliant YouTube video, which I'm sure you've seen. (And if you haven't, go watch it now, then re-read the strip.) I absolutely love how Wes even mimicked the physical nuances: Look at Flaco's fingers around the cup in panel 2. That's brilliant subtlety, right there. He captures the feel of it so perfectly.

Wes creates the fantastic strip You'll Have That — which is one of those strips I wish *I* had created. In fact, my cartooning friends Kris and Scott are always suggesting I start a second, semi-autobiographical strip about my wife and I...but I always think "Wes is already doing it — and he's doing it better than I could ever do it." :)

So please check out Wes' work if you haven't dived in yet, and please make sure you drop him a note to thank him for today's awesomeness!

Little fun fact: One of the big reasons "Sheldon" exists online is because of today's Guest Artist, Steve Troop.

Back in 1998, when I was in grad school in England studying WWII cartoon propaganda and working at the British Cartoon Archive, I was putting together my first 50 or so "Sheldon" strips. My intention was to submit them to syndicates when I got home...but somehow, somewhere, I stumbled upon Steve's comic strip online, at Melonpool.

Now, you have to understand: For me, this was so inventive and awesome. It was the first time I had ever seen a comic strip online. It had never even occurred to me to do it. But once I saw Steve doing it, I had to give it a try! So I sorta-kinda taught myself to scan, sorta-kinda taught myself to use MSPaint or Photoshop 2.0 or whatever it was I using back then... and got my first overly-pixelated gifs up online!

(Super-duper fun fact: The first Sheldon Website in 1998 was at http://www.ukc.ac.uk/djk3 — a site for which I've never been able to find an archive or duplicate of. So here's a fun offer: If you can find an archived page from that first Website — and trust me, it'll be tricky to find — I'll give you a free Sheldon original of your choice!)

Anywho, in one of those kismetic, "What a small world we live in" moments, Steve and I now live about 1/2 of a mile apart from each other, and meet up for pancake-fueled shop talk every now and again. So please don't forget: If you enjoyed today's strip, drop Steve a note to thank him for today's awesomeness!