Thien Pham was more into talking about the other artists at his table than his own work.
Actually, the table belonged to his wife, Lark Pien. Ms. Pien’s book, The Long Tail Kitty, was published by Blue Apple Books in 2009. Thien and Lark had been publishing the story as a mini-comic with hand silk screened covers for a few years before a publisher picked up a copy at a comic convention and the rest is history. I love these kind of comic book success stories, don’t you?
Thien, Lark, and Gene Yang, (American Born Chinese) the other person’s work at the table, have all gotten book deals from their mini-comics. Thien and Gene have a new book, Level Up, about video games and being adopted that they’re promoting this year.
Also to promote Level Up, they did a mini-comic called Legends of the Joystick, which is a behind-the-scenes look at superheroes growing up. Gene’s third book, Prime Baby, is nominated for an Eisner.
And because you can never start too early in comics, there were a few of Gene’s kids comics on the table.
Thien has been doing Small Press at CCSD for seven years. He’s always loved comics, he drew and copied them as a kid, and eventually graduated from the Academy of Art in San Francisco in 2000. When not making comics, Ben teaches art at Bishop O’Dell High School in Oakland California, where Gene teaches computer science.
See Comic Con 2011 for these artists:
Anson Jew (agoynamedjew.blogspot.com)
Ron Brown (freefallart.com)
Sabrina (sabrinabellydancer.com)
Ben Henderson (goldencrusader.com)
Steam Crow (steamcrow.com)
Kirstie Shepherd (curioandco.com)
Paul Roman Martinez (19xxad.com)
Ryan Claytor (elephanteater.com)
The Frantic Meerkat and The Mincing Mockingbird (mincingmockingbird.com and franticmeerkat.com)
Karen Knighton (birdenvy.com)
Mary Bellamy (marybellamy.com)
John L. Brooks II (11thhourbooks.net)
Mike Bocianowski (artistmb.com)
Anthony Hon (motenaicomics.blogspot.com)
Shannon Wheeler (www.tmcm.com/tmcm)
Brett Bean (2dbean.com)
Celine Chapus (purpletophat.com)
Amy Mebberson (mimisgrotto.com)
Sho Murase (shomurase.com)
Katie Cook (katiecandraw.com)
Cat Staggs (www.catstaggs.com)
Bryan “Kaiser” Tillman (dark-legacy.net)
Sze Jones (szejones.com)
Maddox (maddox.xmission.com)
Thien Pham (thienisawesome.blogspot.com)
Ben Costa (shilongpang.com)
Jeannie L.S. Galster (jeaniels.com)
Debbie Huey (bumperboy.net)