Good Medicine

Last week I thought I'd kicked the dreaded cold/flu thing that seems to have plagued everyone I know. Then, on Wednesday night, it came back with a vengeance. To be honest, I'm pretty miserable right now, coughing up my lungs and aching with a bad sore throat. To compound matters, I've got the stress of falling behind on pretty much all of the varied projects I'm working on. It's been rough.

On the positive side, I logged in to my TOKYOPOP.COM Profile today, for the first time in a couple of months. I was pleased to receive a very nice "comment" from a guy I met briefly at Anime LA in January. I thought I'd post it here:

I had the privilege of meeting you in person and hear you talk about your manga in person at Anime LA... I didn't think much of your manga at the time.  I WAS DEAD WRONG.  I've read Naruto and One Piece which are some of the most successful mangas in the world and I think your manga is definitely as good as those two mangas I've mentioned.  I can't believe how funny it is like when Chet gets beaten up by Gina or how honest it can be like when Becky finally opens up to Chet.  The art is amazing and helps the story move and helps the humor as well.  I hope to one day meet you again and have you sign my copy of Battle of the Bands. --Mel Murph

That made my day. As it happens, just before I went to TOKYOPOP.COM, I was reading a much less flattering review of BOTB on the Barnes & Noble website (please ignore that one!). It bummed me out, so I was doubly pleased to get Mel's comment. It's nice to hear when someone "gets" what I was going for with that book. I will be honored to sign his book if we meet again.

Speaking of meeting people, it looks as though I will be flying to New York for the New York Comic-Con, from April 18-20. I'll be at the TOKYOPOP booth promoting both BOTB and my story in the new anthology book, Princess Ai: Rumors From The Other Side. If you plan to be there too, please come look for me!