San Diego was big. I took this photo with my phone from a balcony window. This is just a tiny section of the floor.
My spotlight panel on Friday went well. I announced that I would not only write Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane in the near future, but I will also take the reins of Runaways once Joss Whedon has finished his run on the title. Click here to watch the Marvel news video. More on this one later.
I also promised to launch Motorgirl by the first of next year in her own series, and an online comic pairing Kixie the fairy with Lizzie the goth girl. All of these declarations were received with smiles and applause, so I feel confident about our plans.
On Sunday I participated in an Art Jam for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund that proved to be a lot of fun. Matt Wagner (Grendel), Jeff Smith (Bone, Captain Marvel, the new RASL), Jim Lee (AllStar Superman Batman) and myself sat on stage drawing sketch requests and took turns drawing on a projector so the audience could watch the work in progress. I began with a Supergirl sketch then asked for suggestions from the audience. There were two: Slave Leia from Star Wars and The Incredible Hulk. There was only time for one, so I went up to the projector and began drawing the Hulk in Slave Leia costume. This was met with quite a lot of enthusiasm from the crowd. I drew the Hulk reclining on a tropical beach with his chain bra and an umbrella drink, a twinkle in his eye. While drawing I informed the crowd of Hulk’s vacation and *ahem* private habits. Needless to say, sales on Hulk books should go through the roof now.
This was the 14th San Diego for me, 13th with Robyn. It was definitely our busiest show ever and the most fun. We saw many friends and familiar friendly faces. Highlights of the show included seeing the Stardust (loved it) sneak preview at the Horton Plaza Theater with Neil and Charles, catching Shannon Wheeler’s Too Much Coffee Man Opera (funny!) at The Horton Grand Theater and sailing with Charles Vess, Jeff Smith and our families on the Monday after the con. The indispensable Tom worked nonstop to keep our booth running in good order (Thanks Tom!) and for the first few days we were lucky enough to have Robyn’s sister Terry T. for a return visit to SD to help man the booth. Terry T. is very popular with San Diego fans and has her own following and network of friends who were very happy to see her return.
I did not do sketches at my booth, but I did several sketching and signing stints for charity. The CBLDF, Hero Initiative and Prism all hosted me at their booths and I drew whatever was requested for a donation to the funds. I don’t have scans of them, but a recent con sketch done under similar circumstances arrived by email today featuring Zatanna, the beautiful magician from DC Comics. Unfortunately a spell has gone wrong and she’s lost her top. Don’t you hate when that happens?
I also turned over a commission piece to it’s rightful owner at San Diego. The request was for a SiP movie poster. I paused on that one because if there was such a thing it would be a simple graphic like the cover to I Dream Of You… certainly not the busy piece of art you would expect to get for your money when you’ve paid $1,000 in advance and hoped for the best. But I knew what he meant and went with the spirit of the request— the old fashioned movie poster style— and not my Bauhaus preference. Here’s the final piece. I finished it after I had made the San Diego posters, otherwise I would have made this the poster, I liked it so much.
That’s it for tonight. Robyn and I got home late this afternoon and will be back at work in the morning. Thanks to all for a great San Diego.