Hey, if any of you BOTistas and BOTistos are looking for something to do this upcoming Memorial Day weekend and live near Phoenix, Arizona, come on down to the Phoenix Comicon for some awesome geekery starting this Thursday, May 24th! I’ll be there at the BOTbooth (#709) selling an assortment of BOTmerch, including new posters, tees and BOTtons! It’s also possible that I’ll have the new printing of JEFBOT VOL.1_All Dysfunctions Normal, which completely sold out at Emerald City Comicon, but due to some shenanigans at the press, I’m not holding my breath. I’ll keep you guys posted, though.

Anyway, in addition to the lure of the BOTbooth, a huge assortment of artists, writers and celebrities will be at the convention this year, including some of my favorites: Wil Wheaton, Jim Cheung, Steve Rude, Brent Spiner, Erin Grey, Dina Meyer, Jamie Bamber, Brett Booth, Whilce Portacio, William Shatner… the list goes on.

So come on down! As usual, I’ll have some special mini BOTtons for JEFbot readers only. So if you come to the booth, say hi and let me know you’re a BOTfan and you’ll get a free, commemorative BOTton! While supplies last, of course.

Here’s the info:
PHOENIX COMICON
Phoenix Convention Center Hyatt Regency
Phoenix, Arizona
May 24 – 27 (Thursday thru Sunday)
BOOTH #709

Just wanted to let you guys know there won’t be a Friday strip as I’m in Seattle at the moment for the Emerald City Comicon! The ECCC was my absolute favorite con last year (and my first one as an exhibitor, as some of you may remember) and after visiting the exhibition hall last night, I have no doubt this year will be even better! Firstly, I’m right next to Danielle Corsetto (Girls With Slingshots) and R.K. Milholland (Something Positive) which is all kinds of awesome. Secondly, I’m in a great area on the show floor, so I should be getting a ton of traffic. And thirdly, and maybe most importantly, I know what I’m doing this year. Last year I just got a booth, packed up my stuff and hoped for the best, and it somehow, against all odds, turned out incredibly. With a few conventions under my belt now, and a stronger grasp on what to do and how to do it, I can only imagine this year’s con will make last year’s seem tame in comparison!

As you can probably tell, I’m pretty psyched for this convention, and can’t wait to meet those of you who are able to make it to Seattle. As always, I’ve made a commemorative BOTton that I’m giving to readers who come by the BOTbooth to say hi. Come get ‘em before they’re gone!

Speaking of gone, I need to get showered and down to the convention center soon. I’m still waiting on a big package I shipped from L.A. earlier this week that hasn’t arrived yet, and am starting to get nervous. Bye! I’ll be tweeting from the con here.

EMERALD CITY COMICON
Washington State Convention Center
Seattle, Washington
March 30 – April 1 (Friday thru Sunday)
BOOTH #311

UPDATE: WonderCon 2012′s a thing of the past now, but a big thanks to everybody who came by the BOTbooth!
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Hey, folks! My first convention of 2012 starts today with WonderCon in Anaheim, CA! Come over to the BOTbooth for a free sketch and commemorative BOTton (while supplies last) for JEFbot readers! Should be a great convention with tons of awesome artists, writers and celebrities. And I’ll be debuting some new merch, including a new t-shirt and BOTton, so come on down, check ‘em out and say hi! Sorry ’bout the lack of a Friday strip but I’ve been bogged down getting ready for the convention. I’ll be tweeting from Anaheim all weekend, so check that out, and expect a new strip next week! Here’s the info:

WonderCon 2012
March 16-18
Anaheim Convention Center
800 West Katella Avenue
Anaheim, CA 92802
www.comic-con.org/wc

I know the comic is sometimes late by several hours in some cases, or doesn’t end up getting posted until the next day in others, but this time I have a really, really good excuse (or really, really bad excuse, depending on the way you look at it): Many of you JEFbot readers may remember the “BOTmobile” – my Honda Civic Hatchback as seen in this strip – well, while driving home from work Monday night, my car’s temperature gauge suddenly went from “normal” to “screamingly hot” within what seemed like just a few seconds, and I was barely able to drift my vehicle off of busy Sunset Boulevard and onto a neighboring side street before coming to a dead stop, steam billowing out of my hood. After waiting for the car to cool off, I checked the radiator and engine to make sure they had the correct amount of fluids, which they did, but the car wouldn’t even begin to turn over, and I ended up having to gather all my things and walk home from Beverly Hills to West Hollywood (just a couple of miles, but it felt like more carrying a 17″ laptop and all my folders and paperwork from the office.) Needless to say, that kind of put a damper on getting home in time to finish drawing Tuesday’s strip, as it was pretty late by the time I was able to stumble through my door that night.

The next morning, I took the day off from work, got the car towed to my mechanic and then walked back the few miles to my apartment (I’ve gotten a lot of exercise in the past couple days) to anxiously wait for the diagnosis. When it came, it wasn’t good. Basically, something inside the engine had busted (duh) which resulted in a blown head gasket. Also, coolant from the radiator had somehow gotten inside the engine which was causing it to heat up almost instantly, as soon as the mechanic would start it. It seemed the only way to fix the car would be for the engine to be rebuilt, which would cost more than my poor BOTmobile was actually worth. In brief: the rest of the day was spent hoofing it back and forth from the auto shop getting all the stuff out of my car, making calls to figure out what I was going to do with the vehicle, finally getting the car donated and towed off, then researching online what kind of new car I could afford and where to get it.

As stressful as all this was, the experience could have been much worse. If my car had broken down at work (35 miles away), or a few minutes earlier as I was going over Coldwater Canyon instead of in Beverly Hills (recommended, if you’re going to be stuck), it could’ve been a nightmare. I’ve also been anticipating getting a new car over the past year or so (my car currently has over 300,000 miles on it), so I wasn’t completely unprepared. While I would’ve preferred to wait until later in the year to buy something new, I’m happy I was forced to do this now, rather than on the way, say, to a comic convention with all my JEFbot stuff in the car.

Anyway, just wanted to let you guys know why the strip isn’t up. I’ll keep you updated on the BOTmobile saga as it plays out, and if all goes well, I’ll be able to work on the strip today and get it posted later tonight. Thanks for your patience.

Between my computer failing, the website hack and now my eye being infected with something nasty - all within the past few weeks - I’m starting to wonder if the universe is conspiring against me putting out the JEFbot comic on time!

Here’s the story: I woke up on Saturday with a small irritation in my eye. Felt like an eyelash or some debris was stuck in it. Well, by Sunday that irritation had swollen up my eyelid to unnatural proportions (although it did look kinda cool) and I was starting to wonder if I had pink eye, as had happened a couple years back. By Monday I had WebMD’d the symptoms and diagnosed myself with a stye (or more specifically, an internal hordeolum which is more fun to say) which isn’t contagious, so I decided to just power through it and go to work, then come home and work on the strip. Bad idea. By the time I returned home from the office, the stye was pretty irritated and even more swollen, and after I had worked a few hours on the comic, it was downright pissed. Around 1:30am, when I began contemplating taking double shots of vodka to dull the pain, I decided it was time to give in and let my eye have some rest, which resulted in the non-comic you (don’t) see today.

So, big apologies. My eye looks a bit less swollen today, and I’m trying to keep it closed (the act of blinking seems to bother it further). If it gets worse, I suppose I’ll have to go to the doctor and have it checked out – something Mombot thinks I should have done 24-48 hours ago, no doubt. I’ll keep you guys posted but I don’t think it’s serious. Hoping I’ll be back to drawing by tonight or tomorrow, but a new strip might not be up until Thursday or Friday.

Sorry for the lack of a strip last Friday; I was giving myself Thursday off to enjoy Thanksgiving with my family, and had every intention of working on JEFbot the next day and posting the strip late. When I tried powering up my MacBook Pro Friday afternoon, however, I found that one of its internal fans had died during my turkey binge. I immediately called the closest Apple Store, and, after being on hold for quite some time (due, no doubt, to the Black Friday sales going on) I was told that I would need to make an appointment and drop my computer off, and might need to leave it with them for 2-3 weeks, possibly longer. Since I don’t have a back-up computer, I really needed a fix right away, so started calling computer shops around town to find the fan. I didn’t find a shop that had the correct part (and was open for business) until Saturday afternoon. So, after I procured the part, I ended up spending the rest of the afternoon taking apart my laptop and replacing the fan (with the help of an online video that I followed along with on my iPad.)

Anyway, this is all an extended way of saying that I wasn’t able to get to last Friday’s JEFbot, but, barring anything else unforeseen happening, this week’s strips (we’re back on a Tuesday/Friday schedule, remember) should be posted on time. Thanks for your patience.