Brian Heater turns 30 years old today.

You know Brian Heater, our Editor in Chief. Among other things, he’s also the guy who writes about your shows, reviews your books, runs your festival programming, DJs your parties, tweets so you’ll laugh, asks about your legacy with comics, creates awesome podcasts you should hear — only awesome things, basically — and so much of what he puts into the world is free to enjoy.

He’s a pretty generous and amazing human being actually.

Awhile back, we briefly discussed a funny idea for a con sketchbook he had: Coin operated kiddie rides often found outside of supermarkets. I could see then that the idea had potential, certainly. Immediately it brought to mind creepy horses and cute spaceships.

It also got me thinking: Even if Brian was the kind of dude who would pass around a sketchbook at a con (not likely) he probably wouldn’t have time to shop it around, being busy 110% of the time with interviews and everything else. So here’s a small attempt to seed a sketchbook for him that may never get a chance to be complete.

I asked some of our favorite artists to contribute to this special surprise birthday post for Brian, and they delivered big time. Some drew their own version of these machines while others drew what I can only hope to assume are portraits of the man himself — plus inside jokes.

As the drawings rolled in, and after some reflection, kiddie rides to me felt like a weirdly perfectly idea to come along at just the right time for this purpose. As Tom Hart puts it in his gift to Brian, “ride the ride, pal!”

Brian’s next 30 years are sure to surprise and delight us all, so here’s to one of the nicest guys in comics: Happy Birthday, Brian Heater!

Box Brown:

Jordan Shiveley:

David Lloyd:

Nick Bertozzi:

Rick Parker:

Jeffrey Brown:

Edie Fake:

Lupi McGinty:

J.T. Yost:

Tom Hart:

Jamie Tanner:

– Sarah Morean

This footage comes from the Paranormal Activity in Comics panel conducted at the Minneapolis Indie Xpo on Saturday, August 21, 2010.

The Cross Hatch’s own Brian Heater led the discussion between Sarah Becan (The Ouija Interviews), Ed Choy Moorman (Ghost Comics), Tim Sievert (That Salty Air) and Will Duff (Ghostbustin’ 911).

Topics include ouija encounters, haunted apartments, Bigfoot and the rights of ghosts and zombies.

– Sarah Morean

[Above: With furry fury, Cerebus rides.  Below: News is gleaned by Cross Hatch spies.]

• The Beat checks in with the comics glitterati for its annual year end survey, this time in three parts: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3
• The former Blog@Newsarama crew, lead by J.K. Parkin, moves the party across town to their new CBR blog, Robot 6.
• Daily Cross Hatch maestro Brian Heater talks to Forbidden Planet about the best comics of 2008.
• Top Shelf’s Leigh Walton and Comic Foundry’s Laura Hudson launch the hubristic Cereblog, a dual critical analysis of Dave Sim’s Cerebus, issues 1-300.
• Relive the thrill of Obama’s win running up your leg again with a free 20-page excerpt from ’08, the campaign travelogue by Dan Goldman and New Republic editor Michael Crowley.

- Laura Hudson