Yesterday was Free Comic Book Day, and because I was a good little artist and finished my book on time, I unchained myself from the desk and bolted for freedom; I wound up at Green Brain Comics in Dearborn.

Dan and Katie Merritt run the place, and they are the some of the best people going. The store was packed for most of the day — at closing, Dan reported that they had at least 900 people, and Katie announced that it had been their single highest grossing day in the 22-year history of the store. WOOT! I even brought along Zoë, who was on her best doggy behavior. She stayed in the car for most of the time, but whenever I let her out for a walk, or to visit, she charmed and impressed everyone she met. Go Zoë!

I was so glad that I had the chance to get out there; Scott McCloud and family were hanging out and signing books. The McClouds are really super people. Ivy and I got a chance to talk dogs and dog names, Winter was doing some great drawings and took photo reference of Zoë for upcoming art, and I think that Sky may have single-handedly convinced me to consider giving San Diego Comicon a try next year. Most of the Hamtramck crew was out in force; Suzanne Baumann, Michelangelo Cicerone and Matt Feazell were all there, handing out freebies and signing new books, along with some of the inZero crew (which stars the voice talents of Vögelein’s co-creator, Jeff Berndt , and the multiple talents of Vögelein supporter Mike Zawacki) and a bunch of other folks I don’t know. We talked and laughed and drank too much Jones soda and ate pizza and generally had a great time, and afterwards, a few of us met up with Sean and Sophia and walked over to LaShish for a bunch of really good food. Tons of fun, all around.

So by now I suppose you might be wondering about the title of this blog post. Well, you see, a couple weeks ago, it was looking like I was going to hit deadline, so I placed an ebay order and bought myself a brain-shaped jello mold, thinking I could make Dan and Katie their very own Green Brain. I figured that even if I didn’t get the book done on time and had to bail on FCBD, I could at least make one for the inevitable booksigning to come later. But things worked out, and on Friday afternoon, I followed the directions and made a beautiful lime-jello brain to bring with me. We actually have an honest-to-God penny candy store around the corner from our house, so I stopped over and got red licorice for the brainstem and a couple of googly jawbreakers for the eyes.

You should’ve seen Dan’s face. Awesome.

It’s a terrible shame that Paul had my camera with him in NYC… maybe someone will email me a picture so that I can show off. Anyway, up until closing, when Michelangelo finally got brave and tried some, Scott was the only one with enough intestinal fortitute to sample the jello — which I should add, did look pretty brainy and appropriately gross.

So now I can say, honestly, that Scott McCloud ate my brains.