The Whiteout trailer -- the official one! -- is now online. Those with interest, please examine below the cut.

( Whiteout trailer! )

And then there's this preview of Detective Comice #855, on sale a week from today. Spoiler warnings if you don't want the ending of #854 ruined!

SDCC starts in earnest for me tomorrow, with The Day from Hell. I am guaranteed to make only one of my scheduled events on time, that being the first one, the Superman panel with myself, James Robinson, Sterling Gates, Geoff Johns, Matt Idelson, and others, at 11:45 am, in room 6DE.

As others pointed out in my previous schedule post, I neglected to include A Darker Shade of Ink, discussing noir and crime comics, at 2pm tomorrow, in room 5AB. Thank you to those who pointed out the omission.

Let the wild rumpus begin!

Been nothing but busy. Too much to do, not enough time, blah-blah-blah, but hey, soon announcements will come and wrath will follow, and all will be right once more in the world. Galley pages for Walking Dead are almost completed, next come the ARCs, and then, I am told, April 28th sees the birth of a bouncing baby novel. Mark your calendars. Or don't. They're your calendars, after all.

It's freezing, literally, here in Portland today. Hovering in the mid-20s, and for those of you that scorn, I would simply remind you that this kind of thing is, ahem, unusual in our neck of the woods. The weather has forced Portland into a semi-carbonite freeze, ie, the schools have closed, so both kids home, which is really conducive to getting work done, let me tell you. We spent the weekend in LA, visiting Andrew and Xtie along with my brother, Nick. Snuck in an hour to meet up with Geoff to discuss upcoming plots, events, stories, and like entertainments. The heart of the trip was the DeFilippis-Weir tree-trimming where our children assisted in the decorating, a first for them, and a treat, what with our lack of treenesses. All sorts of drama getting back due to weather, only to discover we could've stayed an extra day and no harm done.

Irony.

Less ironic, my birthday present from my bride arrived a few days ago. One of these, made by the fine folks at Darkwood Armory, with a companion three quillon dagger.

Now I just need someone to fence with. Gombach, if you're reading this, that's me calling you out!

The problem with this con is that it get progressively harder to remember what you actually did over the course of the day as the show progresses. I'll try my best, here.

First "event" of the day was a signing at the Bantam Booth at 11 am. Gave away over 100 copies of Patriot Acts in under an hour. Ran out of books before we ran out of line, so I suppose that's a good thing, in a way. Ended up giving away the display copies, too. Lots of folks in the line who had copies of the other books, which is always gratifying; quite a few people who didn't know me from Adam, but liked the looks of a free hardcover. Can't say as I blamed them.

Headed over to Oni, met up with Andrew and Christie for a brief spell, along with Jen and Anissa Dorsey, who I haven't seen in ages, and who was, as always, a delight. Went from there to an interview with Comic Foundry on Stumptown. Very pleasant interview; less hyping the book than talking about its inspiration, and what Matthew Southworth and I are hoping to accomplish with the title.

Back to Oni for a signing, flanked by Lieber on the left and Southworth on the right. Kind of a rare treat, that, to be surrounded by that much talent, frankly. Steve's old hat at this, of course, but it was really cool to watch Southworth relaxing into this. Gave out several copies of the 8-pager, and a few of the posters. Sold books. Signed books. Talked about books. Much discussion about Whiteout, which now has an official release date of April 24th, 2009. There's even an official poster (which I cannot find anywhere online, and which I did not take a picture of, as it's hanging high above the WB pavilion).

Went from Oni to DC for another signing, sat for an hour, and then got out of there before the "surprise" appearance of some of the Watchmen cast turned the booth into a madhouse. Ducked out of the hall with editor (and pal) Michael Siglain, to discuss plans for an upcoming title that is yet to be announced (no, not that one, another one).

Followed the meeting up with the day's panel, where I was stopped at the door when I tried to enter the room because, apparently, I did not have a "panelist" tag on my badge, and the two volunteers vainly striving for crowd-control did not believe I was actually supposed to be on the panel.

(Is it just me, or is there a problem when the people manning the door at a DC panel at a comics convention don't know -- or can't be bothered to know -- who's supposed to be speaking and who isn't? Did a quick check of my fellow professionals' badges later, and discovered that none of them had a "panelist" tag, either. So really not sure what that was about.)

After a brief, and heated, exchange, I was allowed into the room. Panel was on Final Crisis. DiDio, Geoff Johns, JG Jones, Philip Tan, myself, Brad Meltzer, Grant Morrison, Peter Tomasi, Alex Sinclair, and editor Eddie Berganza. Full house for the panel, and a very good, very energetic crowd. Everyone was in rare form; Grant was particularly on. The exhange between him and the attendee in the excellent Orion costume was one for the books.

Panel ended at 7pm, and I left the hall for dinner. Had to skip the traditional meal with the folks from the Comic Bloc, so I could take Matthew Southworth and his fair lady, Michele, out for a meal to talk some shop. Finally got to see my wife again, along with Andrew and Christie.

You'd think that would do it, but you'd be wrong.

Finished dinner, went back to the room long enough to change shirts, then went to the DC/WB party. First time I'd ever attended. Jen and I stayed for about an hour. Saw some people up close that I'd only ever seen on the big screen (and Jen informs me that I almost kicked Samuel Jackson in the head, but more about that another time). Left the DC party for the Oni Press/UTA/EA party, which we'd also promised to attend. Saw no famous folks, but plenty of friends, including Antony Johnston and his fabulous bride Marcia, which, frankly, was much more my speed. Left around midnight, walked back to the hotel.

Wrote this. Will collapse shortly.

Schedule for Saturday

SIGNINGS

10:30 to 11:30 -- ONI PRESS (with Matthew Southworth, and, I believe, Steve Lieber); will be giving out copies of the Stumptown promotional "yellow pages" poster, as well as copies of the 8-pager.

11:30 to 12:30 -- DC COMICS

PANELS

12:45 -- DC UNIVERSE -- Room 6A.

5:00 -- ONI PRESS -- Room 3.

5:45 -- GAYS IN COMICS -- Room 6A.

For San Diego Comic Con International 2008.

(And by "The" I mean "My")

Panels:

Thursday, July 24th:
5:30 to 6:30 - Dark Castle: Rocknrolla (Whiteout will be discussed; the poster shall be unveiled, and a release date given). Hall H.
6:00 to 7:00 - DC Nation. Room 6A.

Friday, July 25th:
6:00 to 7:00 - Final Crisis Management. Room 6A.

Saturday, July 26th:
12:45 to 2:00 - DC: A Guide to Your Universe. Room 6B.
5:00 to 6:00 - Oni Press Panelmonium 2008! Room 3.
5:45 to 7:15 - Gays in Comics Panel: 21 and Legal! Room 6A.

Scheduled Signings

Thursday, July 24th:
3:00 to 4:30 - DC Comics Booth.

Friday, July 25th:
11:00 to 12:00 - Bantam Booth (we'll be giving out copies of Patriot Acts!)
1:30 to 2:50 - Oni Press Booth.
3:30 to 4:30 - DC Comics Booth.

Saturday, July 26th:
10:30 to 11:30 - Oni Press Booth.
11:30 to 12:30 - DC Comics Booth.

Sunday, July 27th:
10:00 to 11:30 - DC Comics Booth.




You will note that there are, already, several conflicts, mostly amongst panels. If you are looking for me in Location A and I am not there, the odds are very good that I'm en route from Location B, or trapped in Location C. I will be updating the blog at the show -- no, not from the floor, I'm not nearly obsessive enough to manage that -- and will note any changes in the schedule.

Couple other things to note. First, wherever and whenever I am signing, it's perfectly acceptable to bring works from other publishers that I've written for my signature. This may seem obvious to some of you, but I've met more than one person at a show who has feared causing offense by bringing, say, Oni books for me to sign while I'm sitting at DC, or copies of the novels, or whatever; don't be, it's not a problem.

Second, July 27th is Nicola Scott's birthday. If you see her, wish her a happy birthday. I want nothing so much as to see her unable to take a step in the convention hall without people wishing her the best of the day. *cackles gleefully*

Third, on Friday at 3:30, there's a spotlight panel on Geoff Johns. Geoff is not only incredibly talented, not only a good friend, and not only a terribly nice guy, but he's a wealth of information about the process of writing. I doubt I'll be able to attend myself, as I've a signing conflict, but if you do go, and you have questions for him, try asking him about writing, and not whether or not Wally is faster than Barry or whatnot. He is, most definitely, a writer people can learn quite a lot from.

Fourth, I'm trying to get a signing in with the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. In addition, the plan is to deliver both a signed copy of the new The Question: The Five Books of Blood hardcover, along with one of the only remaining copies of the Montoya Journal, to the fund for auction. Those of you hoping to hold a copy of the journal in your sweaty little palms, here's your chance!

Fifth, Matthew Southworth (and follow the link, by the way, and give Matthew's music a listen; I think it's quite good) and I will have some promotional material for Stumptown on hand at the show, in the form of an 8-page introductory short. As currently planned, some copies will come with bonus gimmick. Wait and see. There'll also be an -- in my opinion -- very cool promo poster at the booth, designed by mercuryeric and Matthew that is, in my opinion, a triumph of PI geekdom. I'm actually hoping we can run off a slew of them for sale.