The other night I had a decent talk with my old man about the recent BS bail-out proposal that little-boy-Bush and his Amazing Fiends are attempting to rush through congress—a subject that is on most American’s minds at the moment, and sending ripples throughout the rest of the world as well, given our delicately woven global economy.

I’m not going to blather on about how insidious such a proposal is or point out all the myriad factors why passing such a measure would likely result in greater harm than good, for I’m sure you’ve been inundated with such arguments already and—hopefully—are discussing the matter with your friends and family as this debacle unfolds. What I’m doing is simply delivering a gentle nudge out there for those who may not be informed to look into it and get educated, and to offer at least a simple course of action if you’d like to have at least some voice in this matter.

Please, if you will, take a second to visit http://www.votenobailout.org/ —organized by the fine folks behind the movement to impeach Bush—and write a quick, online email to your representatives to oppose this blatant act of short-sighted, greed-driven insult and injury to the citizens and infrastructure of this nation.

Will your voice make a difference? Who the hell knows, these days…but one thing’s for sure, doing nothing almost guarantees the bullies will take your milk money every chance they get. Or, As Edmund Burke more eloquently put it,

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

One last quote I will leave you with, which seems particularly relevant given the issue, is from President Thomas Jefferson:

“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.”

Thank you, and goodnight.

E!

P.S. – For those of you less aware of how the banking industry has corrupted and sold out the citizens of this country, I urge you to watch Aaron Russo’s film, America: Freedom To Fascism, which pretty much explains the whole deal. The main site for the film is http://www.freedomtofascism.com; the full film is available for online viewing via http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1656880303867390173.

Be prepared to have a fire lit under your ass.

My thanks to Nate Mezel, owner and operator of Hero Quest Comics and Games in Howell for hosting my first book signing a couple weeks back. The signing went fairly well—a number of people I’d not seen in years came by to show their support and a good handful of new people stopped to grab a book because they’d heard about it through the LCP and WHMI.

I also got an extra-special surprise visit from fellow comic creator Ryan Claytor
(http://www.elephanteater.com), who just moved to Lansing from California . I’d met him at a book signing of his own a few weeks back, so he decided to return the favor. Of course, I completely forgot to get a photo with him. Doh!

If you weren’t able to stop by but still wanted to get a book, Hero Quest still has some, so stop on in—I’m sure Nate would love to see some new faces.

I’m working on getting more signing setup for October— go here for a list of dates .

I’ll be participating in 24 Hour Comics Day at Clem’s Collectibles in Lansing with a growing list of other local artists on Saturday, October 18^th, starting at 10am and going till 10am on Sunday.

For those not familiar with the event, the idea goes like this: die-hard comic artists spend 24 hours making an original, 24 page comic from scratch, with no pre-planning. And let me be clear-each person is creating their own comic, as opposed to creating one as a team…so, yes…it’s a grueling process not intended for the faint of heart.

This will be my first go at it…so I’m sure I’m up for quite a challenge.

I’ll also be doing a book signing at Clem’s on the 29^th of October, so keep both those dates in mind if you’d like to stop by and see me in Action!

Retail locations selling the Archetypal Images Sponsorship Special comic:

Hero Quest – Howell

Vault of Midnight – Ann Arbor

Lansing & E. Lansing
21^st Century Comics & Games

Capital City Collectibles

Clem’s Collectibles

Fortress Comics & Games

Just 4 Fun Hobbies & Comics

It was recommended to me that I get some brief, 1-2 line quotes from people who have read the Sponsorship Special to get their impressions of it and me, as something I could use to help with further promoting the book and seeking additional sponsorship. When you have a spare moment, if you could compose a few thoughts and either email them to me or post them directly in this blog it would be a huge help.

Thanks!

Tis the hurricane season, and as usual a lot of people have been beset with the trial of flooding and entropic winds…yet life slogs on. Once this mess is cleaned up the world will still be filled with famine, gorged with greed, drunk on debauchery and stained with blood…and while I don’t mean to sound pessimistic I do mean to remind us all to be grateful for the blessings we do have and to be charitable where we can to help balance out such pain and madness.

It’s all too easy to go on about our days in blissful detachment when the $#@! is hitting someone else’s fan, and then bitch up a storm of our own when the slightest inconvenience comes our way…but if we can turn that around and become more mindful and compassionate to the needs of those around us, maybe we can improve our nature and actually learn to be humane humans.

I don’t mean to get preachy, here…merely striving to remind us of some thoughts I think are important…encouraging everyone to say an extra prayer for someone in need (assuming that’s your thing)…and, if you can, take some extra action to help someone out today. Chances are they’ll be glad you did…and the next time any of us need a hand ourselves, we may be more likely to get it.

E!

The story, printed in today’s edition of the Livingston County Press (Monday) was originally meant to come out last Friday to help promote the book release party, but maybe this works even better, since now it’s putting more focus on the book signing I’ll be doing next Wednesday (17^th) at Hero Quest Comics & Games in Howell.

If you aren’t in the area or can’t get your hands on a copy you can read the article online.

If that link doesn’t work, try this one.

The best part (or probably the worst, in my mom’s case) is they brought up my last major newsworthy story from a few years back—the one that landed me in front of the Livingston County judicial system for my impropriety in paying a traffic ticket. Oh, those were the days.

I got a good chuckle out of it when they asked me about it during the interview to make sure I was the same Eric Wilmoth that wrote profanity on the check I paid the fine with—I just didn’t realize they’d mention it in the article. I swear, that event is like my days selling Cutco—they’ll both probably haunt me till the end of my days. Hopefully, though, people will start associating me with my work rather than such silly trivialities as those.

Whew! Saturday was quite a whirlwind. I had a million last-minute preparations setting up the show—which led to a slightly-delayed start—but with the aid of my mother and some dear friends we managed to pull off a pretty decent presentation which culminated in a several-hour long celebration with a good crowd who came out to show their support.

Banner moment

To all of you who were able to attend, I cannot thank you enough. Special thanks must go out to my Aunt Joann and her family for traveling five hours one-way, as well as Jessica, Jeff, Elliot & Mari—and especially my parents—for their assistance in helping me prepare for, set up and manage the event.

Setting up

I’d been running off very little sleep through the last week and foolishly left planning my presentation speech to the last minute, so my apologies for any long-winded ramblings. Though public speaking may not be my strong suit I have had my share of past speaking experiences, so I know I could have spent half as much time talking and still have had room to touch on several more vital thoughts that my sleep deprived brain failed to recall. I should be getting the video from Jeff sometime this week and I’m already cringing at reliving the experience.

Jeff, my illustrious filmographer

Fortunately most everyone there was already familiar with my particular brand of madness, so it probably went relatively unnoticed…or seemed to be easily forgiven, at the very least. After a nice round of applause I kicked into gear with exchanging books, stickers and art prints for donations and did pretty well—but like I stated at the party, it’s not about the money as much as it is about the means to convey the message.

Sponsorship Special

From here my next step is a book signing next week in Howell, along with getting the book out to local comic shops and setting up some more book signings. I’ll also be sending a stack of them out to a list of VIP’s who I think the book will resonate with and who will make great industry contacts, if nothing else.

At home at work

Beyond that…well, it’s looking more and more likely that I’ll be attending SCAD this spring, and in the meantime I’ll be prepping my portfolio for that, looking for some freelance work and hyping this Sponsorship Proposal every which way I can think of.

My loyal subjects! I kid, I kid...

Again, my extreme gratitude goes out to everyone who picked up a book, especially those of you who gave above and beyond to help me afford more time to keep working on this dream. Times are tough all around, so your gift says a lot about your spirit and your faith in me—I swear to put it to good use.

My best to you all,

E!

Mingling

P.S. – as lame as this is, in all the hullaballoo of the party I failed to keep track of who donated what amounts the other night—except for those of you who donated by check. If you gifted above and beyond the book and any prints you may have picked up, please send me a quick email reminding me what you gave so I may give you the proper thanks you deserve.

The proud father

My first official engagement following the book release party will be at Hero Quest comics & games, next Wednesday. I’ll be there all day to promote and ‘sell’ the book. If you missed the book release party this would be a great opportunity to see what the buzz is all about!

When
Wednesday September 17^th, 11am till 8pm (open till close), which is new comic book delivery day

Where
Hero Quest Comics & Games
2608 E. Grand River Ave. Howell, MI 48843/
517-540-9790
http://www.heroquestcomics.com

I’m rockin’ out on this final day before the book release, pulling all sorts of last-minute tricks out of my hat.

For those of you in the Lansing area there should be an article in the State News today, as well as some blurbs in the City Pulse and Noise—though I haven’t confirmed all this yet.

For those of you who are interested, here’s a link to download that interview WHMI did with me that aired last Sunday. There’s another person interviewed before me; my interview starts about 18 minutes in.

Ok—that’s it for now. Hope to see a ton of you there tomorrow!

E!

P.S. – again, here’s the link to the info on where the event is being held