Monstra Comic Con + NYCC

I've been going to the Monstra Animation Festival in Lisbon, Portugal for a number of years, and it's one of my favorite festivals.  There are many reasons for this - the people, the food, the beaches and the climate, plus I just love Portugal!  So when my contacts at Monstra invited me to their annual Comic Con, I had to say yes.

It was a very original set-up, compared to all the Comic-Cons here in the U.S. that take place in large convention centers or similar warehouse-like structures.  This event took place in an abandoned boatyard next to the ocean (where boatyards tend to be, I suppose).  The huge lot was covered with Astro Turf with about 20 super-large tents strategically placed around the area, and each tent was devoted to a different aspect of comics, or cosplay or feature films, etc.

I presented a screening of some of my new films, then did two autograph sessions.  Unfortunately I'm not that well known in Portugal - so I didn't get a big crowd like I might in France or Germany.  Yet I still had a ball, and to top it off, we had a large banquet with the vice-mayor of Lisbon, a very nice feast in a mountain-top palace.

And speaking of Comic-Cons, my appearance at the New York Comic Con is coming up, October 3-6, and this year I'll be found at the Javits Center in Artists Alley, Table D-13, so please come by and say hello.  You can check out my artwork from "Your Face", "Guard Dog", "The Simpsons" and more, plus books and DVDs and if you like, I'll be doing sketches and caricatures, and everyone who comes by can get a free sketch by me.

Satisfied customers from previous New York Comic-Cons!

And if that's not enough incentive to get you to Artists Alley, I'm offering for the first time anywhere my just-completed booklet of Bill Plympton's Twisted Sketches.  So you absolutely have to check that out!  I hope to see you there - and check out this week's (appropriate for Comic Con?) gag cartoon below.

--Bill P.