"____ Montoya, DC Comics heroine known as the Question."

Okay.

That's cool.

Edited to add:

From the JimH Crossword Blog, 61 across.

So, Emerald City went very well, indeed. As always, a great show, lots of wonderful people, and a chance to reconnect with folks that I haven't seen in a while. The fans, as always, were uniformly pleasant and excited -- there seems to be a lot of anticipation for the "Gotham Central reunion" that'll be the four issues of Daredevil I'm doing with Ed and Michael.

On a business end it went well, too, though, again, I'm embargoed on what I can, and can't, talk about. Looks like a new project got locked down, which is good. Most likely that'll see print in early '09, maybe February. I have to admit that I'm getting a little frustrated about not being able to share the things I'm working on. Only a few more months until several of the cats I've been hoarding get to leave their respective bags.

Of the many highlights for me, though, was finally getting to meet Philip Tan in person. Up until now, we've been communicating on the phone and via email, so it was great to finally be face-to-face. He confirmed my worst suspicions: not only is he frighteningly talented, it turns out he's really, really, really nice. He's also incredibly enthusiastic, which is even better -- when the artist is charged up about the project, it's infectious. Philip was also kind enough to do the first sketch in my new "Question-themed" sketchbook. ( I think it came out pretty damn well. )

Saw Southworth and his terrific lady, Michelle. The Stumptown pages are really cooking. I feel bad for the workload we've put him under; you do work-for-hire, you're already dealing with established characters, for the most part, reference readily available. Matthew's got to invent everything from scratch, and especially with the first couple issues, that means designing and detailing not only the regular cast, but also all of the regular sets. He's got an attention to detail that's terrific, and that I think will serve the book very well, indeed. He, James Lucas, and I, got to talk a little bit, and we're pushing back the launch to October. Better that we have everything ready than to rush it, we agreed, and frankly, none of us wants the book coming out with the delays I caused on Queen & Country. Flip-side is that Matthew and I are going to try to work on an eight-pager for distribution at San Diego, along with some other promotional material.

And I got to see Lieber's art for issue one of Whiteout: Night, though only briefly. The irony in having to go to a con in Seattle to see what he's been working on didn't escape either of us, but we're both so damn busy here, we barely have a chance to connect. We've resolved to change that. So I suppose I ought to call him, huh? I'm always amazed looking at Steve's work; there's such an effortlessness to his detail and character, and I know he puts hours in to make it appear so, but the effect is striking.

I'm grinding away on three different scripts this week, trying to get them all squared away before returning to the novel. Had a come-to-Jesus with my editor and agent last week, after sending off the first 35K words or so, and my editor was effusive (though she's yet to receive pages from me an say "this is utter crap", so I take it with a grain of salt). Looks like we're on the right track. I'd rather have sent the whole manuscript, to be frank, but as I was toying with a somewhat radical (or at least, from Bantam's end, unexpected) change in style, both David and I felt Kate needed fair warning. Turns out it was a wise move, but she's for it, which makes moving forward easier. I'll resume the keyboard punching in earnest early next week, I suspect, once research for this new section is completed.

And now...work.

Which means this bitch of a ride is half over. It has not been a good week.

But the end of it will certainly be better than its start, for two immediate reasons.

First -- The last issue of The Crime Bible: The Five Books of Blood, "The Parable of the Faceless," comes out tomorrow. I'm very happy with the issue for a number of reasons, but in particular, Manuel Garcia did a fantastic job on the art, and where he was allowed to ink himself, the work is, in my opinion, outstanding. Timing on this is good, as I'm just about finished with the first issue of "the next thing" that the Question is appearing in, and the progression from CB into this new project is a good one.

And because I like the cover so much, I'm sharing it again:

So that's the first thing.

The second thing is that on Saturday myself, JVM, and Matthew Clark will be heading up to Lacey, WA, to join Eric Trautmann (mercuryeric and Brandon Jerwa (sd6) celebrate the grand opening of Olympic Cards and Comics' new home, which, conveniently, is just across the street from its old home. The new address is 4230 Pacific Avenue, in Lacey, just north of Olympia. Honestly, OCC is one of the best comic stores I've ever had the pleasure to spend inordinate amounts of money in, and if you're even remotely close to the area, I urge you to come by. We'll be signing, and I have it on reliable authority that there may be a grand-opening freebie for the first 100 or so who make it in. Ribbon cutting is scheduled for noon.

Edited to complete the list of those in attendance.