San Diego Comic Con

Another San Diego Comic Con has come and gone, leaving me in a state of post-con withdrawal and well-earned exhaustion. This was probably my most enjoyable comic con to date, made so entirely by the people that I spent it with.

I roomed, as has become the tradition, with good friends John Picacio and Paul Cornell, two guys I can never see enough of. My plane Wednesday was late, but I got in just in time to make my dinner with editors Ann Sowards, Diana Gill and Ann Groell, illustrator John Picacio, and (unexpected arrival) author Paolo Bacigalupi (The Drowned Cities). io9's Charlie Jane Anders (no relation but one of my favorite people) and Annalee Newitz (also fav) dropped in at the end, making for a great night at Rocking Baja Lobster. Then it was off to the Grand Lobby Bar at the Hyatt, where I bumped into my friend Bill Willingham (Fables, Down the Mysterly River) and had drinks until late with Picacio and Paolo.

Thursday my dear friend Stephenson Crossley took the train down from LA, just for four hours, to hang. We paled around the con, the met up with Pierce Watters (Paizo), Michael Rowley (Ebury), and James Parker (Hastings) for dinner at JSix.  Great meal with great conversation with great people. Afterwards, we walked to Bootlegger for the Random House Party, which was the most comfortable location for a publishing party I've thus far attended in San Diego. Then back to the Grand Lobby Bar at the Hyatt, where Paul Cornell was nice enough to introduce John Picacio and I to some of the organizers from Convergence, a convention at which Picacio and I will both sit as Guest of Honor next year.

Friday started off with a breakfast with my buddy filmmaker Kenny Golde,  then a lunch with John Picacio and Matt Gagnon, Editor-in-Chief of BOOM! Studios. Matt and I share some authors in common and our jobs are remarkable similar across our related fields, so it's always fun to catch up with him. Afterwards I met up with Joseph Mallozzi (of Stargate fame, in town to sign his comic book, Dark Matter) and the lovely Akemi, then had drinks with Michael Alan Nelson (HEXED, Fall of Cthulhu). Midway through drinks, my friend James Waugh of Blizzard Entertainment showed up.

Then it was off to dinner at Searsucker with Joseph Mallozzi, Akemi, John Picacio and Marjorie M. Liu (Dirk & Steele, Astonishing X-Men), where Mallozzi had prairie oysters. I wasn't *afraid* to join him, as he implies on his blog; I just don't eat beef ! I was all set to dig in when I realized that a bull's testicles are still technically red meat.

Afterwards we all went to the Hilton where we met up with Night Shade Books’ Jeremy Lassen and others. But it was at the Hilton that I got to see the true and ugly cost of fame. Picacio and I were talking to George RR Martin, and I glanced down to look at my cell phone. I glanced back up, to find someone standing in front of me and moving their lips without making a sound. I wasn't sure what they were doing, and when I leaned forward, thinking I just couldn't hear them in all the ambient noise, they explained that "I'm just moving my lips so it will look like I am in the same conversation as George Martin." O-kaaaaay.

Saturday was a lunch with Marjorie M. Liu, more walking the floor with Mallozzi and Akemi, and then afternoon drinks with my good friends Miles Homes (lead designer with Gameloft) and Matt Wilson (Creative Director, Privateer Press). Drinks with Miles & Matt is an annual Comic Con tradition, now in its third year, and frankly, has come to be the cornerstone of my whole SDCC experience. Great guys who've become good friends. Oh, and Matt just wrote and directed his first short film, called Level 7.

Then it was dinner at Fleming's with some of my favorite artists: Todd Lockwood (and his wife), Stephan Martiniere (and his daughter and friend), John Picacio, and Dave Seeley (and his son), as well as with my friend Mike Colbert, who is releasing his first graphic novel soon. (It's called Crazy Mary - check it out!) Comic illustrator J.K. Woodward joined us later. Then it was off to the Westin for a last drink and then to bed.

If it sounds like San Diego Comic Con was just four days spent with a slew of people that I think are all great folk, that's because it was. 

San Diego Comic Con 2010

See? Na'Vi!

Last week was the San Diego Comic Con. I was there Thursday to Sunday morning, and had what was probably my best Comic Con experience ever. The con seemed more relaxed than previous, and less crowded (which might have been more to do with better crowd management than in previous years.) There did seem to be less costumes on the floor, and what there was seemed to emphasize classic characters over the latest films (Iron Man excepted, but a surprising lack of Na'vi). Generally, I just had an impression of less chaos. Which is interesting given that my schedule was packed.

I got in Thursday morning, and raced from the airport to hotel to registration to be on the io9 panel, "Sci-Fi that will change your life." (Discover reviews the panel here.) Reading very little outside my own slush pile, I mostly plugged Ian McDonald, then sat back and listened to the wealth of information from the other panelists. 

Really impressive Captain.

Then it was off to lunch with old friend John Picacio and new friend Jamil Moledina (of Electronic Arts). Really great conversation with them both, and Jamil is someone I hope to talk to a lot more in future. (Ironically, I hadn't recognized him when he stood up to ask a question at the io9 panel, but had marked the savvy guy in the audience as someone to speak to later. When I approached him, he informed me were were having lunch shortly. Doh!)

Then John and I were off to the Eos party, at the Se San Diego Hotel, to see my editor Diana Gill (for my co-edited anthology, Swords & Dark Magic). This was my one and only time to talk with Ann Vandermeer, there as a guest of the convention no less, and it was great to sit with her while drinking dark beer and eating chocolate truffles. Guillermo del Toro apparently made an appearance, but brief enough I missed it.

Three Bald Guys

That evening was an "artists' dinner" with Dave Seeley (and family), Lucas Graciano, EM Gist, John Picacio, Jeremy Cranford (art director for Blizzard) and others. After which I met up with China Mieville and Lev Grossman for a late night conversation (livened in the middle when Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders of io9 joined us for a bit). 

Then it was off to the Bayfront to hook up with Chris Roberson and his friends at DC Comics. Where I ran into Sean Williams, there to promote his next Star Wars hardcover.

Obligatory Slave Leia

Friday morning was a quick breakfast with longtime friend Paul Cornell and his wife Caroline Symcox. I was actually rooming with Paul, Caroline, and Picacio, but as Paul is a Doctor Who script writer and new writer on DC's Action Comics, his schedule was jam packed, and the only time I saw either of them was very late at night or early mornings.

Next was the panel "With Great Powers Come Great Stories," a panel about comic books in prose with contributors from my just-released Masked anthology, as well as Wildcards and other books. The panelists were myself, Chris Roberson, Matt Sturges, Jackie Kessler, Caitlin Kitteredge, Gini Koch, Caroline Spector, Kevin Andrew Murphy. Also from Masked, Paul Cornell, Daryl Gregory, and Bill Willingham all came, sat on the front row, and took turns joining in on the panel (much appreciated, guys). There is a brief summation of the panel here on Superhero Novels.

Obligatory Bat Pic

This was followed by a signing, a snack with Paizo's Pierce Waters, and then a lunch with John Picacio and Matt Gagnon, editor-in-chief of Boom! Studios. Lunch was mostly spent with Matt and I realizing we do the exact same job in sister industries, with some of the exact same people even. Loved meeting him and we could easily have talked all day if our schedules permitted.

But it was off to drinks and Bat-conversation with Jim Killen, and then another trip to the Bayfront, where I met more folks from Boom! and DC and hung out with old friends Michael Cobert and JF Lewis.

Masked signing at Mysterious Galaxy

Up early Saturday morning for an interview with Shaun Farrell of Adventures in SciFi Publishing fame, then a lunch with friend Morgan Burns, then a signing with Bill Willingham in support of both Swords & Dark Magic and Masked at the Mysterious Galaxy booth.  Touched that Alan Dean Foster came by to say hi, and that Patrick Rothfuss bought three copies of Masked (one for himself, two for charity). Great guys both.

Damn good people.

Then drinks with Matt Wilson (of Privateer Press) and videogame designer Miles Holmes (of Ubisoft). Fantastic conversation, punctuated by watching the restaurant host's reaction to two people at the bar who really should have gotten a room. 

Then it was dinner with Stephan Martiniere, his daughter, John Picacio, Dave Seeley, Jim Minz (Baen Books), David Weber, Jeremy Lassen (Night Shade) and Amelia Beamer. And back to the Bayfront.

An early morning breakfast with John Picacio and Annalee Newitz, and that was my con. I could easily have stayed another day and still not see everyone I wanted to, but I had a tremendous time with the people I did. You all rock.

You can't beat the classics.

Damn Dirty Apes!

Some news of great interest:

The first-ever original novel based on the classic POTA film series, Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes will hit both the direct market and major book and retail chains in spring 2010. BLAM! Ventures' Creative Director, Andrew E. C. Gaska, along with Editorial Coordinator Christian Berntsen and Developmental Director Erik Matthews, serve as the writing team for Conspiracy.

More than twenty artists are expected to offer their amazing talents to this project. The first on board are legendary artist Jim Steranko (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.), renowned book cover painter Ken Kelly (Conan, KISS), Joe Jusko (Savage Sword of Conan, Tarzan), Sanjulian (Errie, Vampirella) Mark Texiera (Ghost Rider, Wolverine), Leo Leibelman (Heavy Metal), Matt Busch (Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica), Brian Rood (Indiana Jones, Star Wars), Tom Scioli (Godland), David Hueso (G.I.Joe: Storm Shadow) and newcomers Dan Dussault (Critical Millennium) and Dirk Shearer (Mouse Templar).

Fans interested in getting a first peek at the novel's artwork can do so at this year's San Diego Comic Con International, to be held on July 22-26, 2009. BLAM! Ventures will display a gallery of images at booth #2547, as well as making available for sale limited-edition prints of two Conspiracy paintings, entitled Alpha and Omega (from artists Joe Jusko and Sanjulian, respectively), as Comic Con International exclusives. BLAM! will host artist signings and answer questions regarding the upcoming novel, in addition to giving away a limited number of special Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes promotional items, including character bio trading cards and replicas of Landon's dog tags.

Dave Seeley @ Comic Con

Dave Seeley wrote me to share this awesome freebie which he'll be giving out at the San Diego Comicon International this coming July 23-27. Stop by booth 4600 to pick one up.

The picture in the top left corner is from Andy Remic's War Machine, and is one of my favorite of his recent works. I got to see the original painting too, which is utterly awesome.

Anyway, stop by booth 4600 if you're there, and tell him "hi" from me.