Where I'll be at Comic-Con

I haven't posted much here over the past few months. Most of you know why. The fire, my kidney stone, not really knowing how to truly thank all of you for your absolutely humbling generosity in response to our (comparatively tiny) plight. Please do know that your heartwarming response to all of this has brought me to tears more than once over the past few months. I thank each and every one of you more than I can capably express, and those many of you who answered Mark Evanier's call to replace my fire-damaged books can expect a more personal thank you later this summer.

Anyway, on to why I'm posting here. My lovely wife has suggested quite vociferously that I let any of you who might by actually interested to know where I'll be at various times during comic-Con so you can come by, say hi, get books autographed, the usual. So, okay, here it goes as I know it to be true at this moment. I almost guarantee some things will change before the end of the week.

THURSDAY:

Now and then at the Bloodfire Studios booth (booth #1621), I will be on hand to sign copies of their new Kindergoth Special which I co-wrote with Bloodfire guru Lee Kohse. It's a fun and funny book, well worth your time. Stop by and check their list to find out when I'll be there, though I do promise to be there at some point all four days of the con.

Here's a peek at the cool cover...

FRIDAY:

So far nothing firm scheduled, but try me at the Bloodfire or DC booths. I'm certain to be at both during the day.

SATURDAY:

Okay, so here's the real killer day...

11:15AM (rm. 6BCF) I'll be kibbitzing during Mark Evanier's always-entertaining Quick Draw Panel, this year starring Sergio Aragones, Scott Shaw! and, for the first time, Disney legend and old friend Floyd Norman. You'll hate yourself if you miss it.

11:45AM (rm. 6DE) I'll be watching the Ben 10 panel like every other self-respecting animation fan. I'm not sure if I'll be on the panel or in the audience but, since I've written three upcoming episodes of the series, I'll definitely be there.

3PM (rm. 3) I'll be interviewing my old cohort Doug Moench, who's one of this year's special guests, on his lengthy and storied career. Tales will be told, secrets will be spilled, so be there.

4:45PM (rm. 6BCF) I'll be on the panel for the premiere preview screening of the new FOX series, the Human Target, based on my comic book series. I'll be sharing the stars with Executive Producers Jon Steinberg, Brad Kern, and Peter Johnson, as well as several of the cast members, including stars Mark Valley, Chi McBride and Jackie Earle Haley. We'll be taking your questions after the screening, so please have some ready. I've already seen the pilot and, trust me, it kicks the proverbial tush.

6PM (Autograph Area) I'll be at the FOX table with the aforementioned folks, signing autographs and spreading the good word.

SUNDAY:

Again, nothing firm so far, but check out the DC and Bloodfire booths as I suggested before.

Anyway, that's the schedule for the moment. If you're going to be at the Con, please track me down and say hi, and let me know you read this here blog.

And, once again, thanks for everything.

The Best There Is At What He Does...

For all the blatantly obvious reasons, I present to you the following...



Cool, huh?

Return of the Revenge of Shameless Self-Promotion

Well, having totally neglected to mention that I wrote the Origins & Omens back-up story in last week's Justice League of America #30 (still on sale in better comic book shops everywhere if you're quick enough and lucky enough), it behooves me to mention that this coming Wednesday, February 25th, DC in releasing a new Tales of the Green Lantern Corps trade paperback that will include the terrific 3-part miniseries I co-wrote all those many years ago with my old office mate Mike W. Barr. The art is by the always-amazing Joe Staton and it features a couple of villains who you really ought to know about going into this summer's big Blackest Night event. The book is filled out with a number of GLC tales by the likes of Todd Klein, Paul Kupperberg, and Watchmen's own Dave Gibbons, and is well worth your time and effort.

A word to the wise and all that.

Say What?

There's currently an article making the rounds over on the Yahoo! movies site called "10 Essential Facts About 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine'". You can check out the entire article by clicking here. The so-called "fact" that, frankly, makes me quite crazy, however, is "Fact" #2, which states:

Co-creator Len Wein's original idea was that the character was actually a wolverine cub that was mutated into human form. He also intended for Wolverine's signature claws to extend from his gloves, not from his body. But these ideas were dropped when new writer Chris Claremont took over the series.

Let me respond to this as emphatically as I possibly can.

Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! And...oh, yeah...WRONG!

Well, at least, in part.

While I readily admit that my original idea was for Wolvie's claws to extend from the backs of his gloves (I figured that since Adamantium is indestructible, telescoping claws no more than a molecule thick could fit into those casings in the backs of Adamantium gloves, which had then been covered in cloth. Dave and Chris definitely improved on that idea), I absolutely DID NOT ever intend to make Logan a mutated wolverine. I write stories about human beings, not evolved animals (with apologies for any story I may have written that involved the High Evolutionary). The mutated wolverine thing came about long after I was no longer involved with the book. I'm not certain if the idea was first suggested by Chris Claremont, the late much-missed Dave Cockrum, or John Byrne when he came aboard as artist, but it most certainly DID NOT start with me.

Just setting the record straight here. As far as I'm concerned, that idea is spinach, and I say to Hell with it.

New York State of Mind

Well, the lovely wife reminds me that I ought to let all and sundry know that I'm going to be one of the guests this coming weekend at the New York Comic-Con, to be held at the Jacob Javits Center in lively but frigid NYC. Rumor has it I'll be signing the new Flash Gordon 75th Anniversary Special from Ardden Publishing at their booth on Friday and Saturday, and signing my three latest books from DC (Final Crisis Secret Files, Superman/Batman Annual #3, JLA #29) among others, at the DC Booth at various times during the weekend. Beyond that, I'll be on a few panels (check schedule for details) and I'll be available at my own table most of the rest of the time to sign pretty much anything else you've got (within reason).

So come on by, say howdy, and let me know you heard about it all at this here blog. I'll be looking for you.

Ghost of Shameless Self-Promotion!

Been a while since we've posted here. Been lots of reasons. The cold of death that knocked us out for the first week-and-a-half of the year. Then the incredible trip to San Francisco that we just got back from and will blog about as soon as we finish the Flash Gordon and JLA scripts currently sitting boulder-like on our desk. But we did want to take a second to suggest you trot on down to your local comics shop today to pick up a pair of our newest efforts.

First, there is the Superman/Batman Annual #3, with the incredibly cool Bernie Wrightson cover depicted below.

The interiors are a knock-out job by the art team of Chris Batista on pencils and Mick Gray and Jack Jadson on inks. As you can tell from the above, the story is a whole new (and really twisted, if I do say so myself) take on the old Composite Superman character. Let me know what you think of it.

Also out today (or so I'm told) is Justice League of America #29, where I'm filling in for a month for the lovely and talented Dwayne McDuffie. I don't have a copy of that cover handy, but the issue is basically a reimagining and reintroduction to the old character Starbreaker. The art here is by ChrisCross and Rob Stull and it looks terrific.

As ever, if you pick 'em up, please do let me know what you thought of 'em.

And now, back to our regular deadline crunch!

'Tis the Season

From all of us and ours here at the little blog that might to all of you and yours, the very best of holiday seasons and the happiest of new years.

Got a feeling 2009 is gonna be the one to remember!

Oops.

Well, according to several knowledgeable faithful readers, the aforementioned Final Crisis Secret Files Special is now not shipping until next week.

So, in the immortal words of the late and much-lamented Emily Latella..."never mind."

I'll just have to remind you all again next week.

Oh, and one more question. Does anyone out there know why the cover image I uploaded for the issue appears to be in NEGATIVE?

Just asking.

Attack of the 50-Foot Shameless Self-Promotion!

If you're heading to your local comics shop tomorrow, Christmas Eve (and Lord knows you probably have nothing more important to do), why not check the racks for Final Crisis Secret Files #1 - The Origin of Libra, written by your humble blogger and illustrated by the talented Tony Shasteen. It's all behind this knockout cover by the extraordinary Frank Quitely...

It's my first regular writing gig for DC Comics in a number of years, but by no means my last. I've got a lot of stuff coming up over the next several months and I'll let you know about it as we get closer to the release dates. In the meanwhile, put something nice for yourself under the tree and pick up a copy of Secret Files. I promise you won't be disappointed.

Really?

What can I say? It's an honor just to be nominated...

Good-Bye, Old Girl

She was roughly about half the size of a Tribble when my lovely wife Christine brought her home from the breeder in February of 1995, a bouncing brown ball of fur that literally fit into the palm of my hand. She looked like an energetic bran muffin, so that's what we named her. Muffin J. Dog. Though she never did tell us what the J stood for.

She slept in bed with us almost from the start, generally curling up on the top of my head for the warmth generated there. When she was under a pound, it was cute. When she grew to over 80 pounds, it was pretty much life-threatening. Still, I could deny her nothing.

She was never much of a fetcher. She'd prefer to trot around the house carrying a stuffed fleece figure we called Fuzzbaby in her mouth. She was incredibly gentle with it. And with everyone and everything else she ever encountered in life. She wasn't a leash dog either. She didn't need one. When we went walking, she was always by my side. If she happened to bound on a few yards ahead, she'd always stop, look back over her shoulder and make certain I was still following. When I was in my office, writing, she would always be curled up on the carpet in the doorway, keeping a watchful eye to make certain she didn't lose sight of me. Every so often, someone would come to the front door to make a delivery and Muffin would wander outside. The delivery person would become flustered and advise me to grab my dog before she could run away. I always assured them there was nothing to worry about. That dog wasn't going anywhere.

As the years passed and we replaced our bedroom set, the bed became a little too high for old Muff to jump onto, so she'd spend the nights curled up on a big old dog bed set beside ours. She never wanted, asked for, or needed anything more than to be near us to make sure we were safe.

About a year and a half ago, Muffin started moaning one morning and seemed unable to rise from the kitchen floor. We rushed her to the vet, who checked her out and told us that she was suffering from an engorged spleen (whatever the hell that meant) and we had it surgically removed. Within a few days, she was back on her feet and happy again. A few months after that, she started having seizures. Again, we took her to the vet, who prescribed phenobarbitol to control the seizures, which promptly ceased.

But there was something different about poor Muffy after that. She would spend hours and hours pacing around the house in circles, clearly uncertain of where she was or what she was doing. Back to the vet, who told us that she was terribly arthritic and somewhat senile, so painkillers were added to the mix. A few months after that, the incontinence began.

But, through it all, we loved her. We scratched her graying head, patted her thinning tummy, tried to keep her as comfortable and as happy as we could.

About two weeks ago, the day came when Muffy suddenly couldn't get up on her hind legs anymore. I rushed her to the vet, thinking this was probably the end. But the vet said we could try one last thing. She prescribed a steroid called prednazone. Within hours, Muffy was back on her feet again and, wonder of wonders, no longer pacing around the house on a regular basis. Instead, she was back to lying wherever we were sitting, staying with us, protecting her family again. There was still the incontinence problem, but in the balance a minuscule price to pay.

Then, last night, out of nowhere, the seizures started again. And the hind legs failed. And the whimpering was heartbreaking. Today, Christine and I took her back to the vet for the final time, hoping for yet another miracle. But when she started seizing right there in the office, we knew our quota of miracles was finally used up. After weeping together uncontrollably for a few minutes, Chris and I made the only loving choice we could.

So I held her and looked into her sweet brown eyes and stroked her noble head and kissed her nose and told her how much we loved her and how we would always love her and how lucky we had been that she had chosen to be our dog and that it was finally okay to let go of the pain and the suffering and go into the light to play for awhile until the day we could get to see her again and, never one to disobey me, that's precisely what she did.

And now the best, most loving, most loyal dog I've ever known is gone, and the world is infinitely poorer for it and I feel like I've lost my best friend and I'll never be whole again.

So, if you'll all forgive me, I think I'm going to go and cry my eyes out for a good long while.

I expect I'll be doing a lot of that in the days and weeks to come.

What's the Word, Hummingbird?

This week, my dear buddies J. Keith Van Straaten and Jim Newman, the dynamic duo who have previously dazzled us all with their faithful and impossibly entertaining revival of the classic game show What's My Line? -- on which I was frequently fortunate enough to be a panelist and of which I've posted often here in the past -- are at it again. (And a quick claws up to anyone who can actually diagram that sentence.) This coming Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, November 17th, 19th and 20th, they are introducing their exciting new game show Word 1 to the world back at their usual stomping grounds, the Acme Comedy Theater, here in Los Angeles on La Brea Avenue a half-block south of Beverly Boulevard.

If you're able to come watch the wonderment unfold during any or all of the three nights, you might still be able to get tickets by clicking here. Truth to be told, they'd be cheap at twice the absurdly low price they're charging.

The celebrity contestants for the three nights include the always-entertaining Gary Anthony Williams (late of Boston Legal), the lovely and talented Suzy Nakamura (recently of Help Me Help You and Back to You) and Bil Dwyer (host of the latest GSN revival of I've Got a Secret). For both of you who care about such things, I'll be at the show on Wednesday, serving as a celebrity judge for the evening, so drop by and say hi. I'd eagerly be there in the audience the other two nights, but my stupid schedule was already booked up for both days with things I couldn't get out of, so I'll be trying to pack three nights of fun into one.

But, knowing what J. Keith and Jim have in store for us all, that shouldn't be hard.

Hope to see you there.