One of the best things about the SDCC is the ability to not only find new reading materials, but also managing to strike up a conversation with a creator. With the recent explosion in attendance, this is a sort of benefit that’s been shoved a bit to the wayside, but that doesn’t mean it’s become completely impossible. A case in point this summer was my running across the booth for “The Amazing Joy Buzzards,” manned by writer Mark Smith and artist Dan Hipp. Smith was especially amiable, as we talked about comics, the show, toys - he said he’d love to get some AJB vinyl figures made up at some point - and just general bullshit.

Both Mark and Dan are majorly excited about the next volume of AJB that’s soon to be hitting the stores, and if it’s as solid as the first volume, they have good reason to be. I picked up the TPB week or so before the con and devoured it in one sitting. The wife made short work of it as soon as we got back home, thus justifying her purchase of 2 ridiculously underpriced pages of original art from the book. As good as the art looks printed, the originals are even more impressive.

So, yeah, I was gonna review the book, but let’s just leave at “I recommend “The Amazing Joy Buzzards” to anyone that likes the Dorkin/Mahfood school of comic bookery” and leave it at that. It’s good stuff, produced by some good folks who made an amazingly fun show just that much better.

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