I've also gotten a ton of email wishes and a few questions so I thought I'd take a minute to answer them here.
Q. Andy, what happened? I heard you got sick and it was serious but you're still blogging so everything must be okay, right?
A. Emergency gall bladder surgery and they got it out just as I was going into shock or it was about to burst or something. I had a fever of 106 and a heart rate of 167 so yes, I almost checked out. Luckily I had one of the greatest surgeons and the best hospitals in the world so they patched me up and sent me on my way.
Recovery has been slow, but I'm not a patient person.
The blog is written far in advance and scheduled, except for the majority of December when I'll be live blogging from Japan. So although I had a few rough days the blog kept on.
Q. Glad you're recovering, are you back to work?
A. I'm back about 60% and my clients have been great. I will be bringing my laptop to Japan and working thru my trip to get caught up.
Q. What's your latest project and are you teaching this winter?
A. DRACULAS ARMY is my latest book, it's available at booksellers worldwide and you can order it thru that link on the left. Next up I have five projects in the fire, and I'll announce them soon.
Teaching wise, I do an Emerson College online class on Illustrating the Graphic Novel and an old fashioned studio class at WAM ON graphic novels Monday night and a class on Marketing Yourself and your Work on Tuesday nights. I'll also be doing DIGIWAM on Thursday nights, which is my year long teen class at WAM.
Q. What comics do you read? Do you like Manga?
A. I'm currently reading Marvels WEREWOLF BY NIGHT from the 1970s and Gee Gee KITARO which is an outstanding Manga. For modern comics I like BPRD and THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGERS.
Q. DRACULA or FRANKENSTEIN?
A. While I like Dracula a lot I have to go with Frankenstein. I love all of his movies from Universal and my plan was to do a Frankenstein graphic novel as a follow up to Dracula but I abandoned the idea when my talented wife decided to do it. I refuse to compete with her.
Q. I see you like the SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN, I've just started watching it on COZI and I'm liking it. Any really great episodes?
A. I'm only a very casual fan, but I do dig the show. The Bigfoot episodes were really a riot, and the episode THE SEVEN MILLION DOLLAR MAN is well worth watching.
Q. So while you were laid up I hope you got time to watch some great movies, can you share any of what you watched?
A. Many many! I re watched KOLCHAK THE NIGHT STALKER, the whole tv series. I watched seasons 8 and 9 of THE OFFICE which I hadn't seen. King Kong (1933), The Nightmare Before Christmas, Bobs Burgers Seasons 1-3, a whole bunch of documentaries including Ken Burns Dust Bowl, the whole 70s run of COLUMBO, the Andy Griffith Show, a bunch of STAR TREK (original series) I'd never seen, Batman (1966h and a lot of old classics especially horror films.
Q. Do you have any tips for entertainment while you're working in the studio? I find music distracting, and I understand you watch movies.
A. I sometimes listen to Pandora because you pick a station and let it play. If I rely on my iTunes library I end up skipping songs or replaying songs. I also listen to old time radio and a few podcasts as well as Netflix on my iPad.
