Hey dudes and dudettes, Billy-Bud Shakespeare here, talkin' at ye from Al Gordon's virtual table hitherto at the celebriously cool Comicon.com.

Big Al wanted me to inform all you funnybook faithfuls that there is a brand-spankin' new and wildly wicked Comic Book WorkShop being offered in that famously foggy city by the bay, San Francisco.

Starting as of right this sec- actually this class has been pulse-poundingly proceeding since February of 2004 - der Al-Meister is coachin' a gloriously groovy, uncommonly cool ComicBook Workshop... And it's ongoing.

Start now and get immediately imbibed in the immaculately entertaining enterprise of cool-creation!!!

So if you're an artist, a writer, or just a frantic follower of this fanatically fun forum and you wanna get some incomparable instruction, serious inspiration and nifty insight into the art of producing a comic book, then THIS IS THE WORKSHOP FOR YOU.

The class will focus on all aspects of the cacophonous craft of producing a comic book, from a boring blank page to a completed cool comic book yarn. Big Al will take you from concept, character creation, development, basic writing elements and storytelling through sequential illustration and pretty much all aspects of the art and production.

So what are ye waitin' for? Drop us an email, or give us a call and we'll get yer azz all signed up.

Pre-enrollment is $175.00 for a month (4 classes), or $50.00 per session.

The Workshop has already started and is ongoing. You can join up at any time. Location in San Francisco.

Albabe is also available for one on one "Directed Studies" for students and us regular-type folks.

Call 415-957-1290

Or email Al at alangordon@mindspring.com for details.

And now a word from our sponsor... moi...

Greetings and Salutations ye guys, gals and various subjects of this digitally enhanced cyber-realm, and welcome to the absolute coolest comic-type place to hang on the web!!! I mean that, man. Really big congrats go out to Roarin' Rick and Smilin' Steve for comin' up with a seriously sensational, super-neat idea like this. Aw shucks, I can see those guys on the side-lines startin' to work up a good blush, so I'll cut the embarrassin' accolades and accreditation's and get on with the matters at hand. (' don't want to make Roarin' Mr. "R" blush, as he gets all soft and sentimental, and we all know he wants everyone to think of him as the tall-walkin', tough talkin', soap-box king.)

Okay, I know what thou art thinkin': "Who's the eloquently lout-like loud-mouth with the boisterously big opinions and the cool blond coif". I'm Billy Shakespeare, "Bud" to my friends, and I'm watchin' Al Gordon's table here at COMICON.com whilst Big Al is in the head. Actually, da Gorster's a little shy when it comes to yammerin' about his past endeavors (except of course that glimmering goddess-like groovy gal from the "Grand Canyon State") and since I'm not (shy that is), I'll be your guide and pontificate thy proliferation of introductions (? I gotta cut down on ye ol' java). Ready? Then hang on.

Al Gordon (as he is commonly known) has been doing that comic thing (thang) for lo these last twenty years, (which is actually older than my present gal friend) and has lent his Inker moniker to quite a few legendary-like titles in our fabulously fantastic, four-color universe: Spider-Man, Spider Woman, The Fantastic Four, The Justice League, The Legion of Super-Heroes, to name but an itty-bitty few. He also debuted his writing talents on that same Legion of Super-Heroes with kosmic Keith Giffen, moved on to writing and inking a Timber Wolf mini-series with jibin' Joe Phillips, and then up-shifted a boat-load of pulse-poundin' creative energy to his and jocular Jerry Ordway's Wickedly Wondrous creation... WildStar.

Al says that scribin' and inkin' WildStar was the way-coolest time he has ever spent in that muse-manic cacophony of creativity. Which sorta brings up a question Al and I get asked at just about every con we show our mugs at. "What the heck is going on with WildStar?" Good question. The sorry answer is that, a regular series is not affordable to do with the current market on life support. I know Al would love to do it, more than anything, after all, da Gordster says he was just gettin' his sea legs with this WildGuy when the comics industry took a flyin' nose dive. And in that dim light, this kaleidoscopicly crazy cyber-type comic-con is just what the physic ordered. So if you're interested we have a few groovy little goodies we'll be happy to part with if thou so desire. Check the side-bar for info on the WildStar Trade paperback, the four-ish mini series: WildStar: Sky Zero, and the first three issues of the regular WildStar series (with Chris "Madman" Marrinan penciling). If thou missed any of these pandemonius publications, this is the only place to procure them. They're in short supply so act fast.

Until most recently Big Al's been working with merry Alan (say no-) Moore, and Chris Sprouse, on a great book called Tom Strong, a sorta-symbolic, post-retro modern, semi-iconoclastic brand-new take on the SuperHero genre. Check it out at yer local comicbook type store.

And be sure to check out Erik Larsen's: SUPERMAN versus THE DRAGON prestige project. The Al-Osaurus did the super-fine Inking chores on it and both he and Erik think it's some of their coolest work together. Der Bud-Meister says it is infinitely fine and groovy!!!

Well, It's about time I stopped jawin' and got to work, so If you have a good time at this virginal, virtual-like, crazy web Con-glomeration, you might drop by and speaketh with Al Babe at one of the cool in-the-flesh-and-blood appearances he makes a few times a year at the local cons. And if there's anything we can do in this forum to make your stay a bit more fun, drop us an eMail and let us know...

...we'll see what we can come up with.