Like everyone else and their aunt I’m running around preparing for San Diego right now, so without further ado:
WASTELAND #19 (Diamond order code MAY084063) is scheduled to reach stores this week. This issue is Rain When I Die, and concludes the current story arc. Here’s the solicit text:
The battle is over! But with the Sand-Eaters defeated, Jakob faces a new dilemma—stay or leave? Meanwhile, as the council reels from the revelation of Mebsaa, a new plan for the city is hatched—and Golden Voice’s final quest for Sunner freedom may be its first victim…
(Note that, owing to San Diego, thebigwet.com won’t be updated until next week.)
Also due to Comic-Con, there’s of course no telling how many stores WASTELAND will actually reach this week—as I predicted, DEAD SPACE #5 wasn’t available everywhere on the 16th for the same reasons, but if your store missed out, you should be sorted this week instead.
As for San Diego Comic-Con itself, I’ll be there (along with more than 100,000 other people if reports are to be believed—yikes), merrily signing away. If you want to find me, check the bar here’s where I’ll be.
All Oni Press signings are with Christopher Mitten; all EA signings are with Ben Templesmith.
Thursday
12.00-1.20 - Oni Press, #1834
2.00-4.00 - EA, #5233
4.30-5.50 - Oni Press, #1834Friday
2.00-4.00 - EA, #5233
4.30-5.50 - Oni Press, #1834Saturday
10.30-11.50 - Oni Press, #1834
2.00-4.00 - EA, #5233
6.00-6.50 - Oni Press, #1834Ben and I will also be on Saturday’s DEAD SPACE panel, which starts at 5.00 in Room 2.
Sunday
3.00-4.20 - Oni Press, #1834
At the Oni booth we’ll be selling two brand new WASTELAND T-shirts and giving away some very cool button badges. As for DEAD SPACE, I’ll be amazed if there aren’t posters and the like available at the EA booth.
Also, do note that EA booth number; it’s way over the other end of the convention centre from the main comics booths, so get your walking boots on.
And that’s it from me until the con’s over. Hope to see you there.
DEAD SPACE #5 goes on sale this week, or so I’m told. To be honest, during the run-up to San Diego (and to a lesser extent the aftermath too), you can never be sure. But that’s what the shipping list says, so fingers crossed.
The Diamond order code for this issue is MAY082199, priced $2.99 US from all good comic stores. Here’s the solicit text:
The infection has begun! The colonists of Aegis VII begin a desperate fight for survival in the face of the necromorph onslaught, as the true scope of their fate becomes clear. Can anyone escape before the colony is overrun?
Can anyone indeed? You’ll have to wait till next month’s final issue to find out. But you can probably make an educated guess.
My San Diego schedule should be finalised within the next couple of days, and I’ll post it here when I have it. Don’t touch that dial/mouse/address bar.
As promised, the recording of the talk/Q&A I did at Travelling Man a couple of weeks ago is now available. Go to Podomatic, where you can listen online in a flash player, or download an MP3 directly (warning: contains occasional mild profanity). I believe Podomatic automatically add their stuff to iTunes, too, but if so it isn’t up there yet. I’ll post a link if/when it gets added there.
I wasn’t miked up—the recorder was simply an iPod on the table in front of me!—and it sounds like I’m talking inside a cardboard box, but it’s perfectly audible, and even picked up the audience questions surprisingly well.
The Thought Bubble guest sessions are picking up and they’re getting some interesting people in, so I hope they continue to record and upload them in the future. Cool stuff.
I’ve just been informed that Secret Identity’s listeners have voted for WASTELAND to be this year’s Summer Reading Project.
It’s an interactive thing: every week, starting from July 12th, Matt and Brian read and review one issue of the book. But they also encourage their listeners to do the same, and then everyone discusses it afterwards on their boards. They’ll be working their way up to #13, and if I have time I’ve agreed to answer any questions that come up about each issue. Should be pretty darn cool.
I also have a new date for that signing in Manchester—it’s been rescheduled for Saturday 2nd August, at 2pm. But I’ll post a fuller reminder about that closer to the time, because before then we have the behemoth of San Diego to slay…
Last night’s appearance at Travelling Man went well. The appalling weather unfortunately kept a few people away, but everyone that made it had a good time, and there were some great questions asked. Thanks to everyone who made it, and Travelling Man for being wonderful hosts.
The whole thing was recorded, too—they’re going to launch a podcast under the Thought Bubble name, and this will be the first release. When it’s up, I’ll link to it here so those of you who couldn’t make it (which includes everyone not in England, for a start) don’t miss out.
Along the same lines, I’ve also updated the For Writers page, adding a new original script (issue #9 of WASTELAND) and a section about backup and syncing habits. Both issues, especially syncing between multiple work machines, are things that I know many writers struggle with (let’s be honest, we’re often not the most tech-savvy people around). It’s taken me a long time to find a system that’s both simple and robust, so I hope it’s useful to some of you out there.
WASTELAND #18 goes on sale today in North America, tomorrow in Europe. (A little later than expected, thanks to a printer foul-up that meant the original run had to be pulped. Grrr.)
Anyway, this issue is Iron Horse/Born To Lose, which sees the current story arc racing towards its conclusion:
Jakob’s plan to deal with the Sand-Eaters gathers speed, and Skot slowly acclimatises to his newfound status. But as Golden Voice prepares to march an army of Sunners on the council building, someone else is way ahead of him—a Sand-Eater called Mebsaa…
The Diamond order code is APR084042, on sale from good comic stores everywhere. As always, thebigwet.com will also be updated today.
Finally, a quick reminder that tomorrow evening I’ll be at Travelling Man in Leeds for the Comics Masterclass session. See here for details.
2008 is the National Year of Reading here in Britain, and earlier in the year the government commissioned the School Library Association to produce a list of books specifically aimed at encouraging young boys to read (as in America, boys here lag quite a way behind girls in their reading habits and frequency).
Well, I’ve just discovered—by way of a short article about the report in last week’s TIMES—that the POINT BLANC graphic novel is on the list.
It’s categorised as “older primary” level, and is in some damn good company—Charlie Higson’s YOUNG BOND and Eoin Colfer’s ARTEMIS FOWL graphic novel, for example. You can see the specific listing here, or browse through the whole report online.
I’m dead chuffed about this. Not just because, hey, it’s one of my books, but also because this is another step in erasing the stigma that has traditionally surrounded comics for so long in this country. Onward and upward.
News on those two personal appearances I mentioned, then. Or one of them, anyway. Sort of. Read on:
In Leeds, I’ll be appearing at Travelling Man for their inaugural Comics Masterclass (part of their now-regular series of Comics Nights) and obviously mine will be about writing. It’ll mostly be an extended Q&A session, but don’t think that means it’ll be short on speechifying; anyone who saw me on the “indie vs mainstream” panel at the end of last year’s Thought Bubble knows I have a tendency to ramble at length, and I’m not short of an opinion or three.
It takes place next week on Thursday 26th June in the Travelling Man coffee bar (downstairs from the store), and is scheduled for 6.30-8.00pm. Though, given the aforementioned rambling tendency—not to mention that the place is fully licensed for booze—don’t be too surprised if we overrun just a little.
Full address and details are here. There’s no entry cost, but space is limited, so book to be sure of a place.
Meanwhile, I was also lined up to do a signing at Travelling Man’s Manchester store, but it was unfortunately flooded last week (is it possible to be fortunately flooded?) and they’re still cleaning it all up. So we’re going to reschedule that for a later date, probably some time around San Diego (which I’ll be attending, by the way).
Details, of both Manchester and SD, will of course be posted here closer to the time.
Secret Identity, one of the oldest comics podcasts on the scene and long-time supporters of WASTELAND, interviewed me last week, and the episode is now live.
Host Brian LeTendre and I talk about WASTELAND and post-apocalyptic conventions, DEAD SPACE and horror movies, a little about the WOLVERINE manga (which I still can’t actually talk about much yet) and generally have a good yak. It’s good stuff (and if you remember the first time they interviewed me back in 2006, this is miles better—we did it all over Skype, for one thing).
You can download the episode (and subscribe, which I heartily recommend) through iTunes, or download it directly from Podomatic.
DEAD SPACE #4 goes on sale this week. For those of you who’ve been clamouring “Get to the damn monsters already!”, well, you might want to read the solicitation text:
The planet cracker ship Ishimura arrives in orbit, bringing with it even more problems for a mining colony already rapidly descending into madness. And when the operation finally “pops the cork” on the planet, all hell breaks loose!
So there you go.
The Diamond order code for this issue is APR082194, $2.99 US from all good comic stores. Enjoy.
In other news, I’ll be making a couple of appearances at the end of this month, in Manchester and Leeds. More details closer to the time.
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