2009 was huge.

Peanizles launched it’s website in July and has faithfully posted comics every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the past six months. The website got a bit of a revamping in November. I attended my first convention in June, and had Chuck and Mingus littered across the table, with various comics and goodies. Which I then followed up in July by attending my first major convention: the San Diego Comic Con. I got to meet some of the greatest cartoonists in the business, and was thrilled by how supportive and encouraging and amazingly cool they all were (more on that to come). I wrote and illustrated five pages of Zombie goodness, for an anthology comic book in October.

And on a personal level I got engaged in December.

So, all in all, 2009 was a pretty satisfying year.

That’s a lot of pressure for a new year to try and compete with. But, looking ahead, I think that 2010 is up to the challenge. Look for 2010 to offer up some of the funniest and cutest cartoons to hit the web, right here at Peanizles.com. There will be a new Peanizles.com store, which will be featuring t-shirts, books, and pint glasses, among other goodies. ZombieBomb, will be hitting shelves at your local comic shop later in the year. And Skope Magazine and I have a few plans in the works for the next year.

Stick around. It’s going to be off the chain.

This year for Halloween, Melissa and I were down in Providence, Rhodes Island where we went to the Roger Williams Zoo and saw their collection of over 10,000 carved jack-o-lanterns.

We both had decided on spending the weekend in Providence to celebrate her birthday, and a few weeks before going we had heard about the pumpkin exhibit at the Zoo and thought that it would be something that we would both like, and that really would be more than appropriate away to celebrate Halloween. And let me tell you, if you haven’t seen it yet, you should definitely give it a go one of these days. There were pumpkins of every shape, size, and kind imaginable carved in some of the coolest ways possible. There were lit pumpkins on out on the water, twenty to thirty foot trees were covered with glowing carved pumpkins as if they were christmas lights strung across the branches, and there were pumpkins carved inside of other pumpkins.

Webcomic Planet is currently having their annual webcomic readers choice awards and that means here’s your chance, comic fans, to show your support and love for your, and my, favorite comic: Peanizles. Nominations are available for Art, Writing, and my favorite, New Comic, among others. So, head on over there before October 31st and vote.

Recently, I got an impromptu guest spot on the Comic Couch podcast. For those of you who don’t know, the Comic Couch is a podcast that hits the web directly from Larry’s Comics in Lowell, Massachusetts. Larry and the guys cover everything comic related, from books to movies, every week. And in episode 60, I take a seat and make a guest appearance and the guys take a break from zombie movies and comics, to talk a bit about Peanizles and upcoming projects and merchandise. But, be warned, the guys hold nothing back, including language. The podcast is also available every week on itunes. And if you’re in, or around Lowell, you need to hit Larry’s Comics.

There’s something about going back to school.

By the time Labor Day starts to come racing up the calendar, I was always a little bit excited to get back to school. It was a fresh new year, brand new classes, brand new teachers, and best of all I’d get to see my friends again everyday. That excitement would usually carry me through the first week, without any problem. By the second week I’d start to become less and less enchanted, and start marking the days on the calendar for the next day off of school (oh why couldn’t October 12th, and Columbus Day get here any faster!!). But those first few days were always magic.

And, now, as an adult, I love back-to-school time. I love it because, as a cartoonist, it’s just a virtual goldmine of material. There’s back-to-school shopping, new clothes, bus routes, getting back with your friends and talking about what you did or didn’t do over vacation, new teachers, it’s endless. So, enjoy today’s back-to-school comic, and have fun.

At least for the first few days.