Comic Con - Wednesday Preview Night: The Show That Ate San Diego

Holy shit, man. Holy shit.

Comic Con International is here again, and I'm here with it. This time around I've got a professional badge, which is sort of like a license to kill, except not at all. It's more that I get in for free and can skip the long lines. I'm now the kind of person last year's me would have hated.

I'm going to go out on a (extremely sturdy) limb here and say that this year's attendance is enormously bigger than the last. I certainly don't remember this many people at Preview Night, and there were a shit-ton of people at Preview Night last year.

I hear whispered stories that Wednesday night used to be a quiet, genteel affair, attended only by the bored and completists. This year it was a hellish mosh pit of FREE FREE FREE showbags and posters and screaming, pushing people trying to grab 5 of everything.

There was a line 100 people deep for postcards and buttons at the DC booth. Just to pick them up. Postcards and buttons.

I almost died at the Warner Brothers booth while securing a bag with a picture of Wonder Woman on it. There was nothing in the bags, they're just bags, but people were crushing each other to get to them. The poor WB people were yelling for the crowd to remain calm. It was like the goddamn Fall of Berlin in there.

It made me a little bit sick for a little while. Then I remembered that Preview Night had shocked me last year, and I went on to have a really good show. And hey, if Comic Con's bloodthirsty consumerism doesn't make you throw up in your mouth a little, at least once, then you ain't human.

Besides, I bought my first comic book of the show -- the new volume of Elephantmen, signed by Richard Starkings! -- and I can't wait to read it. Comics are great. Comic Con is great. So long as I get to skip all the lines.

Now for the return of a now-annual tradition: the photographing of the daily swag. Here's Wednesday's haul:


Why yes, that Battlestar bag is awesome. Cool cover for this year's Event Guide, too.

And now, a picture of my satchel bag, new buttons on the right. I got a DC Nation, an Elephantmen, and a... Hang on. What's that?! Could it be?


It is. That, my friends, is a CAGES button. Limited run of 50. If you want one of your own, you'll have to bump into us at the con and ask us. Or we may be hanging out Friday or Saturday with the wonderful Eric Knisley over in the Small Press area.

Preview Night is over. On with the show!

CAGES Is Almost Upon Us

My first book CAGES is at the printers right now. Like, as we speak. This is fairly exciting.

It also means that I'm going to be very busy for the foreseeable future. The marketing blitzkrieg is already underway -- the official website's getting redesigned (ditto the Insomnia Publications site), press releases are being put out, and I'm sending digital review copies to those worthy reviewers and bloggers who want to write about it.

So... are you a comic book reviewer or blogger? Would you like a review copy of the book? Well, why didn't you say so? Just shoot me an email at the usual place, and I'll be happy to send you a copy.

For those of you going to the Bristol International Comics Expo in a few weeks, you'll even have a chance to pick up a special advance copy of the book. Just sidle over to the Insomnia Publications table and look for a Scottish bloke called Crawford. Tell him, in these exact words, "G'day from Xander". He'll know what to do.

Thirdly (!), some more exciting news about CAGES: Australian comics superstar Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night, Fell) will be providing us with a foreword for the book. He is a scholar and a gentleman.

And last but not least, I can announce that Insomnia will be attending San Diego Comic Con again this year. Okay, actually it's just me and Mel. But we'll have a table, and banners, and lovely comics to sell. Have you booked your accommodation yet?

Okay, I lied, there's one more thing: My writing partner and all-around great guy Josh Hechinger just did an excellent interview for Sequential Tart. I swear, I would have pointed you to this even if he hadn't given me a shout-out in the interview.

Awakening: A Comic You Should Buy

Allow me to indulge in some product pimpage here.

Awakening is a zombie horror comic written by Nick Tapalansky, with art by Alex Eckman-Lawn and lettering by Thomas Mauer. It was recently nominated for an Eagle Award. It's published by Archaia Studios, who are responsible for awesome comics such as Mouse Guard.

Also? Awakening is really good and you should buy it.

Full disclosure: I met Nick and Alex at San Diego Comic Con last year. They were extremely nice and professional guys, and I remember they complimented me on my shirt. (That's the way to go if you want to flatter me, really. I heart my t-shirt collection). Anyway, they pressed their book into my hands and sold me on it with a very enthusiastic pitch. Which is fortunate, because without that experience, I'm not sure I would ever have picked the book up. Another zombie comic, right?

Not really. Awakening's not a gorefest, and it's not exactly full of scares. Nor is it a winking post-ironic examination of the zombie trope, or whatever else the kids are reading these days.

Nope, it's a down and dirty detective story where the zombies barely get any screen time. They're really more like phantoms than traditional Romero-esque flesh-eaters, and when they appear at all, it often happens too fast for us to get a good look at them. Tapalansky subverts all the usual zombie cliches: Instead of attacking in packs, they work alone; instead of roaming mindlessly, they hide in the shadows and strike like hungry wolves. Heck, their victims don't even turn into zombies, and they even occasionally run away.

So the zombie stuff is really there to lend menace and atmosphere to the overarching detective/forensics story. Much like Ellis and Templesmith's Fell, we get the sense that the town in the story is physically sick, festering with an unseen evil. It's all very moody, meditative and grim. All of which is a pretty clever device, but it might not have worked so well were it not for Eckman-Lawn's frankly beautiful art.

I really don't know how to describe the art and do it justice. It's like Templesmith and McKean had a love-child. Scribbly lines, wild ink spatters and off-kilter photo-collage are the norm here, and while this sort of style is currently popular and much-copied, Eckman-Lawn seems to be approaching a real visual technique of his own. Characters fade in and out of silhouette; in and out of reality. They appear flat and vaporous in one panel and lavishly painted in the next. Swirling patterns and scraps of newsprint fade in and out of the pages, subtext literally rising to the surface.

And the double-page spreads: Just gorgeous. Ditto the covers and the pages with closeups of character faces. The latter often feature elaborate haloes of design elements around the characters' heads, like crazy sunbursts of emotion.

Basically, it's stylish, gorgeous to look at, and a creepy-fun read. Best of all, there's a hardcover collection coming out in June. And if you're not already convinced, well, go check it out for yourself at the official site. All you have to do is email Nick, and he'll send you issues 1-4 as ebooks for free. That, folks, is how you market a comic book.

Short Note

This is nerdy, but I had to put it out there: The best Bittorrent client I have ever used -- Deluge, previously Linux-only -- has now been released for Windows. It's an amazing program, and totally open source. It's like the Firefox of BT clients. If you haven't already noticed, I'm suggesting you download it.

Also: 1800 words to go before the finish line. Time to knuckle down.

Surprisingly Neat

Want to see something cool?

Look to the right, scroll down to the Search Me entry, and click the little 'Explore' button next to the word 'Lijit'.

How neat is that?

(For those who can't be bothered clicking, it's a fancy visual representation of blog connections -- friends, followers and fans.)

You can get Lijit for free, if you're so inclined. It's a nice little program.

Sequential <3

That thing in the title? It's a sequential heart. Get it?

I love comics, I really do. I'm writing chapter 3 of CAGES right now, and it's fun, fun, fun. Heroes get shot! Bad guys get eaten by monsters! Robot clones!

In honor of comics, here are some cool links:

Panel and Pixel, the spiritual successor of the Engine, opens to much fanfare and silliness.

Paul Pope's new book Pulphope is the best book about the creative process you'll read all year. Plus, it's unbelievably gorgeous. A bit like me.

This one's for all my friends who don't yet read comics: A link to a whole bunch of fantastic Issue Ones, free to read. I guarantee there's something in there for everybody. If you like crazy-explodey-action, click on Casanova. If you like crime-noir, try Fell. If you'd like to feel all indie and relevant, read Phonogram.

And now I'd better get back to that script...

Day One

The first real con day is over, and I'm starting to think this is the craziest thing I've ever done.

It's a rollercoaster ride, physically, mentally and emotionally. I can barely stomach eating any food, and despite sleeping only a handful of hours, I'm pretty wired most of the time. I think my body believes I'm in the middle of a battlefield somewhere, huddling in a bunker, awaiting death at any moment. This isn't far from the truth.

Saw my first panels yesterday. Mark Verheiden (nervous but knowledgeable) shared tips and anecdotes from the Battlestar Galactica writing room. Villard Books -- publishers of Flight and Elk's Run -- did a nice presentation. Kazu Kibuishi is extremely clever and profound in real life. And it cheered me to learn that Joshua Hale Fialkov is in reality a big dorky guy -- for some reason, I had imagined him as a too-cool indie-jerk.

I had other panels pencilled in, but decided to cancel them so I could spend more time walking the con floor. I was on fire, baby. My mojo was with me yesterday, and I must have spent several hours introducing myself to over 20 pros. By the end, it felt so natural I was chatting up people in lines and on the train.

It's a one-off thing, I'm sure. But who wants to be a chatty guy all the time, anyway?

Some people I met...

• Jason Aaron and Cameron Stewart. Expressed my admiration for The Other Side and discussed Viet Nam a bit.
• Becky Cloonan and Fabio Moon. Lovely folks. Becky is blonde in real life, and for some reason this surprised me.
• Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie. Jamie was very down-to-earth and seemed just as new to this whole con thing as I am. Kieron's a snappy dresser.
  
• Ivan Brandon and Mike Oeming. Got the new 24/7 volume, and confessed my love for Oeming's panel layouts in Cross Bronx.
• Jonathan Hickman. Was kind enough to read my samples and give advice right there at his booth. Tells me he only got into comics for the girls and the cocaine, but is yet to receive any of either.
• Andy McDonald, Ash Wood and Miles Gunter. Nice guys all.
• A bunch of other people at Oni, First Second and AiT.

Coolest of the bunch, however, were the guys manning the booth for a new self-published series called Age of Insects (http://ageofinsects.com/), who were running an amazing marketing campaign featuring posters, buttons, stickers, and live Madagascan Hissing Cockroaches (seriously) that would crawl up and down your arm. Met the artist, the writer and his wife -- great folks.

The only person I'm still dying to meet is Matt Fraction, and I hope to find him today.

But enough about comics. What about films? That's what Comic-Con's all about, right? Well, no. But I did attend the Paramount panel in Hall H, and I haven't seen crowds that big since the time I was in Italy and the Pope died.

Just to put things in perspective: Hall H seats 6000 people. That's not a typo, that's six thousand. The stage was so far away from me that the guests looked like tiny ants with tiny ant-microphones. Good thing there were 6 or so enormous TV screens hanging from the roof of the hall.

If you wanted to ask a question of someone on stage, you had to line up 20 minutes in advance at the question mic, where your question was screened by security. Then when the spotlight hit and the question mic went on, any ramblers or deviators were cut off with a kill-switch.

• First up was some awful-looking comedy by a SNL group. Even they weren't sure what they were doing at Comic Con.
• Neil Gaiman walked off-stage after presenting Stardust, only to walk back on to present Beowulf (which looks amazing).
• There was a special Indiana Jones 4 clip with Spielberg and the whole cast.
• Leonard Nimoy was a surprise walk-on during the Star Trek movie presentation.
• JJ Abrams must do a lot of crack.
• Judd Apatow video-presented Seth Rogen's new film, Drillbit Taylor.
• Biggest reaction of the day? Robert Downey Jr's Iron Man. The footage was great, the CG suit looks great, Downey Jr is perfect for the role, and Jon Favreau whipped the crowd into a frenzy with his presentation. Unfortunately, it seems to be about Iron Man killing brown-skinned terrorists for America, so fuck that. (However, there was a bit at the end with a flying Iron Man being chased by two fighter jets, perhaps indicating that he turns against the government. I sure hope so.)
  

Then I capped my day off in fine style at the star-studded (haha) Stardust premiere. There were at least 100 people in line outside the cinema, over an hour before the film started. 45 minutes before it started, they told everyone to go away because the theatre was full. I pulled out my Super-Special VIP ticket which I'd bought online the week before through Neil's blog, and they waved me through to the inside. I could feel the hating eyes of 100 desperate fans upon me, but I felt pretty good about it.

Inside, they gave me another ticket to get through security, who gave me another ticket to get into reserved seating, who asked for my original ticket. Then a stern man in a black uniform stood up front and told us that if we so much as checked our mobile phones during the show, the security men in nightvision goggles would have us up against the wall and shot.

The film, however, was fantastic -- in every sense of the word. It is unique. Princess Bride is the only frame of reference with which to compare it, but they're very different films. It worked on every level -- romance, action, comedy, witty dialogue. It will be either be a treasured cult classic or a big goddamn worldwide success, and I hope it's the latter.

See it. See it on opening night. In fact, if you're reading this and you know me in person, you better believe I'm going to drag you to it.

Some photos...



The line for the Paramount screening.



Inside the screening. That tiny brown bit is the stage.



Conan is apparently dyeing his hair blonde now.



The DC booth.



Stephen Notley, crazy artist extraordinaire.




Where can I get a tie like that?



These two pics are for Scotty...



Best mailbox ever?



My haul for the day. Most of this stuff was free. I only bought one of those four shirts, for example.

That's all folks. I gotta run to the Watchmen panel.

Xander Out.

Day Zero

• Last night, I attended Preview Night for 2 hours. It felt like 2 weeks. Apparently, in previous years Preview Night has been a quiet, casual affair, with a few hundred fans wandering around and peering politely at the booths while vendors set up. This year, it was a raving, screaming, elbows-in-the-face, free-giveaways-and-fabulous prizes nuthouse. Almost every company had creators in their booths, already doing signings. And I'm no good with numbers, but I'd say there were about ten gajillion people there.

• Within the first hour, apparently, someone died.

• I hear that the line this morning was already huge at 7.30am. The doors don't open 'til 10.

• The cafe in my hotel is reputed to be one of the best in town. At breakfast this morning my waitress presented me with a choice of bagels, omelettes, eggs, mash or pastries, and did I want cheese, tomatoes or fries with that, and would I like it with toast, muffins or cereal, and should the toast be white, rye or wholemeal? "That's a lot of choices," I said. "It's the American way," she replied.

• The Paramount booth last night was playing the Cloverfield trailer on repeat, on a dozen big screens. Today, JJ Abrams will announce the title.

• Part of Neil Gaiman's Beowulf screened last night. I didn't attend, but the brand-new trailer is sexy: http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/beowulf. I like the new plot point re: Grendel's mother granting Beowulf immortality.

• I have a super-exclusive VIP insider ticket to the premiere of Stardust tonight. Will tell you all about it tomorrow.

• I met Josh Dysart last night. He was funny and down-to-earth, and looked to be one of the few creators actually enjoying himself. I told him I loved his Conan series so much that I'd bought his Avril Lavigne book. He laughed and said "Thanks for taking one for the team!"

• I also met Eric Shanower. He was a scholar and a gentleman, not to mention immaculately-dressed. I don't know if this is breaking news, but he's planning to extend Age of Bronze even further, going from 7 volumes to 12. Considering he began the series 9 years ago and he's only up to Volume 3, I'm pretty sure that's what they call a 'life's work'.

• I met Stephen Notley of Popcap Games and Bob the Angry Flower fame (infamy?). He was just as pleasantly unhinged as you'd hope.

• I didn't exactly meet Warren Ellis. He just signed my books and said nothing, although that might have something to do with this: http://www.mailbucket.org/lastmillionmiles1-2722530.html.

Super Bonus Photo - Here's all the crap I managed to accumulate last night in only 2 hours...



I shudder to think how much I'll have to haul away by the end.