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!

Starting at roughly 10 am and running until 5 or so, I'll be at Zeus Comics.

Been looking forward to this for a while, I have to admit. Visited the store yesterday, and it's a terrific space, one of the nicest I've been to, honestly -- up there with OCC, in my opinion. Never mind the fact that it's also the first "official" signing event surrounding the publication of Detective Comics #854.

Reviews of the book have been good, or so I'm told, and the feedback JH, Cully, and I have received is frankly overwhelming. I've said so before, but I'll say it again for good measure -- thank you to everyone who went out and snagged a copy and told their friends to snag a copy and so on and so forth.

That kind of push can make all the difference, and it is truly, and sincerely, appreciate by all of us.

Detective Comics #854, today.

Douglas Wolk likes the issue. This makes me happy.

John Siuntres and I had a long chat a couple weeks ago. We talked about many things comics. You can get the pocast from John's blog site or from Newsarama.

And, because I like you all so very much, ( I made you this. )

Detective Comics #854, featuring some red-haired chick and some other dame who's missing a face, this Wednesday.

Here's a little hype, courtesy of The Advocate.

Up at the DC Universe: The Source blog:

More Batwoman goodness!

And I got more Cully pages today! Suhweeeeeeeet.

( So sweet, I'm gonna sneak you all a teensy, tiny, peek (shhh! Don't tell ANYONE!!!) )

I finally, after several near-misses, got to meet with, and talk to, Blair Butler from G4's Fresh Ink at the New York Comic Con back near the beginning of the month. This was a big deal for me, because I genuinely like what she does, and the way she does it (and it doesn't hurt that she's been very generous to my work on more than one occasion).

We ended up doing an interview at the DC Booth, in front of God and Fandom, and she rather generously let me go on...and on...and on...and on, and not once did she tell me to shut up.

( This is me going on...and on...and on.... )

Considering that I was, I think her last or second-to-last interview of the day, and it was Saturday, and I expect she'd spent the majority of the day doing interviews and smiling at fans, she was exceptionally cool. Had a great time talking with her, and hope the opportunity will present itself again.

Work continues. Getting the scripts for Action Comics slowly off the hot-list and into their proper place in the schedule. Robinson and I have broken down SWONK #3, and should have that script completed in the next couple days. New issue of TEC due to Siglain on Friday. New script for Thing I Can't Talk About also due on Friday, but at least there's an artist for the project, now, which is very good news, as he is an exceptionally talented artist, and one I've wanted to work with for quite a while, now. Plans to discuss new Q&C novel with my agent tomorrow in preparation for writing the new Q&C novel which must be delivered to Bantam by September 1st (watch this space for signs of my head exploding, or alternately, for prolonged silence indicating that I'm too busy writing to post anything), and, oh yeah, there's all the other stuff people are waiting for.

The only viable solution I can conceive of at this point is to cut out sleeping all together.

I'll get back to you on how that's working out.

I'm fighting a cold this morning, and we're off to California to visit family in about five hours, so I shouldn't be devoting the time to this, because, frankly, it's not surprising that the mainstream media can't be bothered to do more than a quick Google image search and then raid Jeff Renaud's interview with me about Batwoman before posting their own - and I use the word advisedly - "stories" about the character.

Here's a crazy thought - how about doing actual, I dunno, fact-checking before spouting off about things you know nothing about? Too much effort? Yeah, I know, I'm busy, too.

But one thing keeps coming up again and again, pointed out most recently to me over at the Salon.com blog, in particular, this quote: "Now, show me a butch lesbian superhero who fights crime in practical shoes and I'd get excited."

Never mind the lazy and self-serving indictment of every comic book fan in the world with comments like "That sound you hear? Around the world little boys' heads are exploding."

I presume the author means comic book fans like this one.

Couple points.

Point 1: Renee Montoya.

Point 2: Look at the damn preview pages that were released. If those are stiletto heels then I'm Art Carney.

These people keep using the almost 3-year old one-shot design, and guess what? That's not the costume.

This is the costume, just a close-up of the relevant portion, but trust me, JH3 and I addressed this particular point immediately.

( Take a look. )

And yes, the whole design-sheet will be posted eventually.

I grew up on British comedies courtesy of PBS. And British scifi. And British mystery. And British drama.

I spent a lot of time with PBS.

Thus I derive a perverse satisfaction from being (mis)quoted by the BBC.

Edited to add:

And here's a larger story from the Independent.

I'm wondering who said the "socialite by night crime-fighter by later in the night" bit, because I have no memory of those words passing my lips. At all.

*shrug*

Those attending the New York Comic Con discovered a five-page preview of Detective Comics 854 at the back of their program guides. Others may have already discovered the same preview posted to Newsarama (it's the second preview, following the Flash: Rebirth preview in the flash viewer.

Which means finally - finally! - I can openly admit that yes, JH Williams III and I have been working on a Batwoman title for nearly two years.

And that is both a pleasure and a relief, if I may say so, because I've been wanting to share this for so long it's not funny. And as much as it's been hard for me to keep my tongue still on the subject, I think it's been infinitely harder for JH, all the more so because I believe, sincerely, that this is some of the best work I've ever done, and it's certainly the finest work I've ever had the pleasure of seeing from him.

Reposting the Newsarama preview here seems a little...redundant, but, that said, I'm going to do it anyway, but with a twist. Unlike Newsarama, I don't have a lettered copy to share -- only the colored pages.

But I do have the original script pages.

So, below the cut, you will find the first five pages, in order, with the corresponding script page after them. If you make with the clicky on the art, you get the big, pretty versions, where you can ooh and ahh over Dave Stewart's amazing color work, as well as JH's art.

( I hope you enjoy them. )

Because he started it.

Here we go....