IN PRODUCTION...

SIGNING NUMBER 2, MAY 18TH

SIGNING NUMBER ONE, MAY 12TH

Josep M. Berenguer 1944-2012

I was very sad to hear of the passing of José María Berenguer Sánchez, founder of Ediciones La Cupula, one of Spain's greatest publishing houses (of the world's greatest cartoonists!). If you all remember, I wrote briefly of our meeting at the Angoulême festival in 2011. Sadly, that would be our first and ONLY meeting. He was a very interesting, funny and warm guy. We discussed publishing Pete And Miriam and my plans to do a series of books under the Sam Hill title as well. He had some great stories to tell of his early days (1979-) as a publisher of mature comics for Spain and about his adventures hanging out with U.S. comics luminaries of the sixties like Gilbert Shelton and Kim Deitch. He definitely made me feel very welcome at Angoulême and we joked around quite a bit as we constantly ran into one another, going from bar to bar along the Rue Genéve and Rue Du Chat. I was looking forward to seeing him year after year at that show, which is how I feel when I meet someone and they can make me feel so at home in such a short time. Everywhere I bumped into him he'd be there with a very warm smile that would melt the bitter cold and snowfall during that cold comic con season. I had no clue that he had been battling cancer for a long time. I will miss talking with him about comics' heyday and working with someone who instantly made me feel like a friend, not just a client. R.I.P. Señor Sáchez.

THINGS SEEM TO BE TURNING AROUND...

Well, PETE AND MIRIAM BOOK ONE is out in comic shops right now and so far it seems to be on a lot of people's favories lists! Maybe more people will come around to liking these characters and stop hating my P & M work, eh? That would be nice. Check out these rave recommendations:

http://stumptowntradereview.com/2012/04/indie-comic-review-pete-and-miriam/

 http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2012/04/food-or-comics-pete-and-mirliton/