A few years ago, Los Angeles-based comics artist Felipe Smith was one of many creators manning a table at San Diego Comic-Con. As fans walked through the aisles, Smith did his best to get comics lovers to stop a while to check out his fast food satire, M.B.Q. from TokyoPop.
In 2010, Smith returns to the San Diego Convention Center, this time with a credit to his name that few other artists can match: he lived in Japan, where he created and published a series that was published in one of the top seinen manga anthologies, Kodansha's Morning 2 magazine.
With Vertical debuting the first volume of Peepo Choo this month, Smith returns to the United States to make three scheduled appearances:
- San Diego: Saturday, July 24 at San Diego Comic-Con, Vertical's table #B02, from 2:00 - 3:00 pm (ticketed autograph session, limited to 100 tickets)
- Los Angeles: Monday, July 25 at Meltdown Comics in Hollywood, from 7:00 pm - closing?
- Baltimore: Saturday, July 31, at Otakon at the Baltimore Convention Center, place and time to be announced.
See more details about Smith's U.S. appearances on the Vertical blog and learn more about Peepo Choo too. Vertical will be publishing all three volumes of Peepo Choo: Volume 1 in July, Volume 2 in September 2010 and Volume 3 in December 2010.
If you're not familiar with Peepo Choo, then you're in for a wild ride. Peepo Choo follows the cross-cultural clashes that occur when a starry-eyed American otaku named Milton, a young Yakuza mobster with a taste for no-holds-barred gang-banger violence he sees in American movies, and a ruthless assassin nicknamed "Fate" cross paths in Tokyo. Smith also tosses in a busty teen model, a bullied schoolgirl, and a sex-crazed comic shop worker into the mix, and hits the "slice, dice and puree" button.
It's violent, sexy, crazy, over-the-top and totally original. Peepo Choo takes no prisoners as it makes fun of comic nerds, anime geeks, gangster wanna-be's and Japanese and American pop culture with manic, gory glee. Let's just say it's not rated "M" and wrapped in plastic for nothin' folks. I've been enjoying it a bunch -- look for my review of Peepo Choo later this week.
Don't miss your chance to meet Smith in person, and while you're at Vertical's table at Comic-Con, pick up your copies of current Vertical releases including Chi's Sweet Home, Twin Spica and much more.
Meltdown Comics is located at 7522 Sunset Boulevard, near Gardiner in Hollywood. They're open every day from 11:00 am to 9:00 pm, and on new comics day Wednesday, they're open from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm. Visit Meltdown's blog for more info about this event.
Just for fun, check out these videos of Smith in action in Japan - his video diary upon the release of Peepo Choo Volume 2, and his appearance on a Japanese game show for the release of Peepo Choo Volume 3.
Image credits: © Felipe Smith
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