Miker's Blog

How I spent the end of my Summer vacation

2011-10-02T13:03:00.000-04:00

Hello! It's been a while since I've updated. September was an insane month. Here's how it went down, er up. You get the idea.First of all, to the dude who purchased from us at Detroit Fanfare... You left some items behind (that you paid for in full) and we feel terrible about it! So please email me at: mikerroll@gmail.com with a list of the items you purchased, amount, and where you are from, because those are the only details that we remember. Ok on with the show! Detroit Fanfare was awesome! We had a great time, Jon and I shared space with our friends Joe Foo and Justin Castaneda, we hosted Justin & Nicole and we all ate too much at a local all you can eat sushi bar. It was awesome. The show awesomeness started with us being placed next to Ethan Nicolle artist of Axe Cop who was as you would expect, a very cool dude. This show had eveyone! Kevin Eastman of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fame was there. Ryan Lee was there too and I got a nifty sketchbook with niftier sketch from him too. Was good to see you again, been too long. Also was the first purchaser of Dedford Tales by Brandon! Williams & Ray Goode and Scott Hall's Rubber Teets. The show space was huge! Finally we can say we did a comicbook show in Detroit! Thanks to Tony, Dennis & Gary for putting on such a great show, we are looking forward to the next one!

Apooka at the Zombie Slumber Party also debuted at Detroit Fanfare! This one was down to the wire but we made it.

SPXPO was also yet another great show. Very busy and full of cool stuff. We shared space with Joe Foo (our 3rd SPX together!), Justin Castaneda and Kelly Tierney.

Disney World! Spent a week in (hot) sunny Florida! It was awesome! Finally... as a few of you know out there I've recently became engaged!And that's about it. Now back to work... Promise more activity on here in the future. +Miker

Kids Read Comics 2011! The kids ARE all right!

2011-06-19T22:25:00.005-04:00

Howdy all! We had a great time at Kids Read Comics this weekend, thanks to all who stopped by to say "hi!" Special thanks to Tina and Joe Foo for being super fine tablemates and thanks to Dan, Dan, Edith and Jerzy for all of your hospitality and hard work. It was a wonderful event and we were lucky to have some nice Summer weather. "Fishing for Comics," "Quick Draw" and a sketch I did for Brandon were some of many highlights from this weekend. It was a real blast to be around such creative writers and artists.

Taking a break from cons until September when we hit the road for SPXPO and the Detroit Fanfare after that. Next stop for us is the Train Festival 2011 in Rock Island, IL where the hard cover version of The Trains of Christmas children's book will debut!

Stay tuned, more to come! There may even be an Apooka update in the near future!

Motor City Day 3

2011-05-15T23:33:00.003-04:00

WOW this show went by fast! Special thanks to the Tower of Desmond for coming in to help us today! I did one commission today (Batgirl) but didn't get chance to shoot it. So instead we've got some nice pix of the table, new banner stand, and a rabid Apooka fan! Thanks for stopping by Ashley! Thank you to everyone else who came by and thanks for all the wonderful comments, I don't know what else to say, I'm actually kind of speechless.

Ok, next stop is Kids Read Comics in Chelsea, MI June 18 and 19. This is a FREE event and if you've got little ones we strongly urge you to please come on down! Please tell your friends too! We'll be there with workshops and some cool giveaways as well. So hope to see you there!

The table! With banner stand!
Apooka fan Ashley
Myth Busters Approved!

Motor City Comic Con Day 2!

2011-05-14T23:28:00.006-04:00

Thank you to everyone who stopped by today, we greatly appreciate it! We finally got the banner stand up and going today which was a good thing since it place was PACKED and it helped people find us. Got a couple things up for today. We reprinted Apooka The World's Most Adorable Zombie (Book 1) with a sleek new cover, there's also an updated "the end"/last page with new art. Only 2 sketches to share from today's action but they are "keepers." An Apooka in a book which we sketched in our first Motor City Comic Con three years ago! Special thanks to Lee for your Dex Starr request, we're still enjoying the Dex sketch Justin Castaneda did at C2E2. Day 3 starts at 10AM, we're at table 2053 and witness the Tower of Desmond! Hope to see you there!

Apooka Reprint Cover
Apooka sketch
Dex Starr sketch

Motor City Comic Con

2011-05-14T01:01:00.005-04:00

Well day one of Motor City Comic Con is in the books. Pretty good crowd for a Friday. Thanks to everyone who stopped by! Come visit Joe Foo and myself at Table 2053. Here's some sketches I did at the show, apologies in advance for the poor iphone camera quality.

Supergirl
Niko Fett (Hopefully I spelled that correct)
Han Solo taking out the trash
Hula Apooka!

Happy Mother's Day / Post FREE Comic Book Day / Pre Motor City Comic Con

2011-05-08T11:24:00.009-04:00

Apooka's excited. Aren't you?!

Happy Mother's Day to all you motha's out there! Kids, show your mother some respect today and everyday!

Hope everybody got their free comics yesterday! We had a great time at Green Brain Comics yesterday. Thanks Dan and Katie for having us, you certainly know how to throw a great party, I'm still not sure what was in that bottled beverage you gave me. I was fortunate enough to share FCBD table space with artists Jerzy Drozd, Mark Rudolph, Christian Slade and Jesse Rubenfeld. Real nice group of people, heck, even that Jerzy guy! Just kiddin' Jerz, keep up the great work! And thank you to Nancy for the nice plaques, we loved em!

Finally, Motor City Comic Con is next weekend. Yeah I know that came up fast. So if you're in the neigborhood please stop by and say "hi" to myself and Joe Foo. We look forward to it! I'm not sure where exactly we will be, we don't have the floorplan yet. Hopefully we'll get that up in the next post. Hope everybody has a great week and Happy Mother's Day!

Joe Foo's cool poster for Motor City Comic Con!

FREE Comic Day 2011

2011-04-30T23:13:00.012-04:00

Apooka Free Comic Cover

Hey all, Free Comic Book Day is Saturday, May 7th, 2011. Jon Hickey and I will be at Green Brain Comics Free Comic Book Day! We're really excited and we've also put together a special free Apooka comic for the day! Please stop by and say "hi" if you are in neighborhood. A few copies will also be available at Comic City and at Vault of Midnight.

And since you've been good kiddies here's a little something extra for you... Sculpts courtesy of Morgan Eagleton!

An Apooka Army!

MoCCA Late Post

2011-04-08T12:08:00.002-04:00

Hey all. Sorry for the late post on this. I'm not able to make the trip this weekend but Apooka will be appearing at MoCCA this weekend with my friend Kelly Tierney at B20! If you're in the neighborhood please stop by and say hi.

Post C2E2

2011-03-21T22:17:00.008-04:00

Thanks to eveyone who came by our table at C2E2. I had a wonderful time sharing a table once again with Justin Castaneda and meeting cool new people like David Hillman, eating Gino's East pizza, those crazy kids who will now be known as "The Them." I'm pretty exhausted and still trying to take it all. I made a ton of sketches (the most I've ever done for a con) and worked on our upcoming Apooka Free Comic Day book. In the meanwhile I've got some pics to share. Sorry for the rough pics, all I had was my iphone camera. Hope you enjoy and thanks again to all who stopped by!

C2E2

2011-02-19T18:19:00.003-05:00

Well it's official. In less than a month Apooka and I are headed off to C2E2 sharing a table I5 in Artist Alley with good pal Justin Castaneda! Can't wait, this will be great!

MSU Comics Forum

2011-01-20T15:09:00.003-05:00

I'll be at MSU Comics Forum this Saturday. Should be a good time. If you're from the neighborhood you should stop on by!

Apooka likes to visit Santa at the mall...

2010-12-25T09:55:00.004-05:00

Have a safe and Merry Christmas everybody!

Happy Turkey Day!

2010-11-25T11:04:00.003-05:00

Happy Turkey Day! Here's a couple of sketches I did during a recent Draw Sucka! There's a bonus belated Halloween sketch in there too. Let's eat!

Belated Thanks!

2010-11-11T08:22:00.007-05:00

A belated thanks to everyone who visited at Detroit Fanfare! It was a blast! Some news! Apooka books are now available at all the Comic City stores and at Vault of Midnight in Ann Arbor. Jon and I may be doing a signing in the near future at another local favorite. Details to come. I've also finally gotten my DeviantArt going so if you're around for that please check it out! Hope all is well oh and Happy Veteran's Day to all the veterans out there!

Detroit Fanfare

2010-10-30T22:23:00.006-04:00

Hey All! Sorry haven't posted it's been a busy month (more on that in a moment). I'm sharing table 85 with Justin Castaneda at Detroit Fanfare this weekend! So if you're in the neighborhood please stop by and say hi! The big news is that the Apooka sequel "Apooka the World's Most Adorable Zombie Goes to the Park" is debuting this weekend. Hot off the presses and assembled at the show! We're not afraid to get dirty in the trenches. If you can't make it to the show we'll have some available for sale at the Apooka store soon.

Post SPXPO 2010

2010-09-17T17:54:00.005-04:00

SPXPO 2010 has come and gone! Already? Wow. SPX is like X-Mas. You spend what seems like forever getting ready for it, getting ready for things to give away and the anticipation for all the cool things you will receive. Then it's over and you start preparing for the next one.

I had a fantastic time at this years show. It was great to see all the old faces from last year and meet some cool new faces. Unfortunately I only took one photo during the show of myself (with fake beard) and Marianne, (of the wildly entertaining Lumberjack book/fake beard fame, see last years SPXPO). I'll be posting some of the cool things I picked up since there's too much to mention at this time.

SPX 2010

2010-09-09T16:07:00.004-04:00

Howdy all! I can't believe SPX is almost here! Just wanted to let you know I'll be with Apooka at SPX in section Section G9 – 10B. If you're in the neighborhood, please stop by and say hi!

Chicago Comic Con 2010

2010-08-24T19:07:00.005-04:00

Had a great time at Chicago Comic Con this weekend. Thank you to all the awesome people who picked up a drawing, print, or a copy of Apooka, The World's Most Adorable Zombie! It was great to meet all of you! It was a full weekend of hanging out with Joe Foo, eating Chicago style pizza, lots of Subway sandwiches, meeting cool people like Little Brass Bird, Mike Boldt, Mike White, and even a slightly strange autograph encounter with James Marsters.

Skatedeck

2010-04-26T17:06:00.004-04:00

Just a quick update. Just did a skate deck for Vault of Midnight in Ann Arbor. The show's opening is: May 15th, 2010.

An Update!

2010-04-17T11:12:00.005-04:00

I haven't updated in a long long while. I've been ridiculously busy lately. Not sure doing what, I don't feel like I've accomplished much lately. I feel like I'm in the some rut and then I get out only to get into another rut again. I will be at SPACE in Columbus, OH April 24th-25th with my partner in crime Joe Foo. I can't wait, it's hard to sleep at night I'm so excited. Here's some new art, an Apooka illustration and a painting from a book I worked on with my dad, The Trains of Christmas. Hope you enjoy!

Happy Halloween Everybody!

2009-10-31T18:57:00.002-04:00

Halloween is probably my favorite holiday. I love all the leaves, pumpkins, creepy trees and colors. I love all the crazy costumes, and you get to see people's creative side too. Happy Halloween everybody!

10.15.09 Black Lotus Trip

2009-10-16T08:20:00.004-04:00

Excited to be back at Draw!Sucka again. Helps me unwind. Just a pair of sketches this week from Black Lotus. Hope you enjoy!

Back to Draw! Sucka Draw!

2009-10-07T07:57:00.004-04:00

FINALLY returned to Draw! Sucka Draw! after a months absence and here are some sketches from that night. It was great to be back.

SPX 2009

2009-09-28T16:51:00.007-04:00

I just want to say "thank you" to all you cool SPX folk who attended the show! It was a great show. I had a lot of fun, met some really cool people and I even sold out one of my books! I also want to say a special "thank you" to my partner in crime, Joe Foo. http://desmondscomic.com/ You're the best! Patty too! Another "thank you" to Robert Ullman (check out his cool stuff!) http://ullman.lurid.com/ for tuning us into the French Paper Company http://www.frenchpaper.com/Index.asp

Without you we would've looked pretty lame. And many many thanks to Jon for that wonderful inspiring script and to Tina for being my inspiration.

It was an epic journey of flying from Michigan to Washington DC then driving to Bethesda and back but I hope to be back again at it next year!

Draw Sucka Pirate Spring CleARRRning

2008-04-06T18:42:00.003-04:00

G'aarrr He be some drawin' from Draw Sucka a couple weeks ago. Participants included; myself, Jong Mee + Tyler. Big fun! Enjoy or yee be walkin' the plank. G'arr :P

a blog about nothing

2008-01-22T21:16:00.001-05:00

I've decided to not make this a blog about nothing. So without further ado here's some sketches from this past Saturday's Sketchcrawl!