If you're looking for me in San Diego this week, here's where you'll find me. Come see for yourself how weird I look without the beard.

THURSDAY, July 21

1:00-1:45 pm – Signing at the Image Comics booth (#2729) with Jason Latour (ticketed, 3 item limit)

2:00-3:00 pm -- Image Comics panel, "Creating the Zeitgeist," Room 23ABC

Comics are more popular than ever, and it's all thanks to creators who are bringing their passions, interests, and original ideas to the medium. Chynna Clugston Flores (Blue Monday), Kieron Gillen (The Wicked + The Divine), Marjorie Liu (Monstress), and a few more surprise guests are making comics cooler, story by story.

4:00-5:00 pm – Spotlight on Jason Aaron panel, Room 25ABC

Comic-Con special guest and Eisner Award-nominated comics writer Jason Aaron (Star Wars, the Mighty Thor, Southern Bastards, Scalped) sits down for an open, unfiltered discussion of his work, the craft of writing and pretty much anything else you feel like asking about.

FRIDAY, July 22

12:30-1:30 pm – Marvel panel, "Marvel NOW: Divided We Stand," Room 5AB

With the effects of Civil War II being felt across the Marvel Universe, how will their heroes pick up the pieces and move on? Find out what's in store for Marvel NOW! this fall with editor-in-chief Axel Alonso and director of content & character development Sana Amanat, as well as Jason Aaron (Mighty Thor), Ryan North (Unbeatable Squirrel Girl), David Walker (Nighthawk), Jim Zub (Thunderbolts), and other Mighty Marvel guests.

2:00-2:45 pm – Signing at the Marvel booth

8:00 pm – Eisner Awards

The 28th annual Eisner Awards (the “Oscars” of the comics industry) honor comics creators and works in 31 categories. With special guest host John Barrowman (Arrow, Torchwood).

SATURDAY, July 23

11:00-11:45 am – Signing at the Marvel booth

1:00-1:45 pm – Signing at the Image Comics booth (#2729) with Jason Latour (ticketed, 3 item limit)

3:00-4:00 pm – Marvel panel, "Cup O' Joe," Room 6A

Here is your chance for a Q&A with Marvel's chief creative officer Joe Quesada and a no-holds-barred panel on everything Marvel. Got a question about a favorite hero? Want to hear the latest developments on Marvel's Star Wars or Marvel NOW! titles? This panel has you covered! Featuring VP of international development C. B. Cebulski and director of content & character development Sana Amanat, along with Jason Aaron (Star Wars, Doctor Strange), Kieron Gillen (Darth Vader), and other Mighty Marvel guests.

4:00-5:00 pm – "Vigilante Justice" panel, Room 29AB

Tales of regular people taking the law into their own hands have been a staple of comics from the beginning. Our favorite heroes are often driven to the edge, leaving the audience to simultaneously empathize with and reject their actions. Comic-Con special guests Jason Aaron (Southern Bastards), Rafael Albuquerque (Batgirl), Mike Baron (The Punisher), Paul Gulacy (Jonah Hex) and Hope Larson (Batgirl) discuss with moderator by Vince Hernandez (Aspen Comics) what it takes to really serve up vigilante justice!

I'll be at San Diego Comic Con this week, for the first time in four or five years, and this is where you can find me, when I'm not sleeping, eating or buying comics.

FRIDAY

12:45-1:45  MARVEL: AVENGERS NOW! panel, Room 6BCF

This is the Avengers like you’ve never seen then before!  Marvel is bringing its biggest creators and its best characters together for Avengers NOW!  Join Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso, Rick Remender (Avengers & X-Men: AXIS), Jason Aaron (Original Sin) and other guests as they dish on the evolution of Marvel’s most iconic characters! 

2:00-3:00  Signing at the Image Comics booth with Jason Latour *TICKETED*

*TICKETED* denotes signings will be ticketed. Tickets will be given out at the booth as soon as the convention floor opens. Tickets will be available for attendee badges only.  There will be a limit of a maximum of 5 items per person for ticketed signings.

4:00-5:00  Signing at the Marvel Comics booth


SATURDAY

10:00-11:00  Signing at the Image Comics booth with Jason Latour *TICKETED*

As for what else I'll be up to on Saturday, well, I'm afraid I can't say just yet. It's a suurrrrpriiiiise.


SUNDAY

10:00-11:00  Marvel Unlimited Plus Members Only Panel, in the Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel

Marvel Unlimited Plus members are invited to attend a special member only panel at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront hotel’s Indigo Ballroom! Join our emcee, the ever-lovin’, brown eyed Agent M, Ryan Penagos and a gaggle of outrageously talented creators including Jason Aaron, Simone Bianchi, Gerry Duggan and Todd Nauck for exclusive sneak peeks, reveals, a Q&A session and free stuff!*
*Available while supplies last.  Panel line-up subject to change.  Marvel Unlimited Plus membership does not guarantee entry.

1:00-2:00  Signing at the Marvel Comics booth

All week, while supplies last, there'll be Southern Bastards t-shirts available at the Image booth. This is the first time we're rolling these things out, so be the first kid on your block to wear your Bastard pride on your sleeve.

When you're a comic book creator, come time for San Diego Comic Con each year, you start getting tons of emails from people who all just assume you're going to be there.

This year I will not.

While I love the city of San Diego and while I've had some great times at the con in the past, the show is now so massive and busy and crazy that it can totally kick my ass and leave me a blubbering shell of a man by the time I make it back home. And it also eats up at least a full week of work-time, which I can't afford to do right now (though I admit that's not stopping me from attending a show in Spain in September. Aviles! Can't wait!). If you're a comic fan and you've never been to San Diego Comic Con before, I wholeheartedly encourage you to go. It is an overwhelming but exhilarating experience to suddenly find yourself part of what's basically a miniature city populated almost exclusively with people just like you.

Even though I'm not attending, I will still have a new project announced there, so be on the look-out for that, if you're the kind of person who looks out for that sort of thing. And as for what shows I will be attending this year, check the list to the right. Hope to see you at one or another.

Until then, I'll still be here, along the banks of the Big Muddy, drinking Dirty Bastards and trying to stay dry.

Founders Dirty Bastard Ale

View from the Town of Kansas Bridge of the swollen Missouri River

Thursday, July 23rd
11:00-12:00 – Signing at the DC/Vertigo booth
1:00-2:00 – Mondo Marvel Panel (Room 6DE)

Friday, July 24th
11:15-12:15 – X-Men Panel (Room 6DE)
1:00-2:00 – Signing at the Marvel Booth
3:00-4:00 – Signing at the DC/Vertigo booth
5:30-6:30 – Vertigo: View of the Future panel (Room 5AB)

Saturday, July 25th
10:15-11:15 – Signing at the Comic Relief booth
11:30-12:30 – Dark Reign Panel (Room 6A)
1:00-2:00 – Signing at the DC/Vertigo booth

Sunday, July 26th
12:30-1:30 – Signing at the DC/Vertigo booth
2:00-3:00 – Signing at the Marvel Booth

This was the busiest, craziest Comic-Con I've ever been to. I'm home now, but still recovering. Gotta get back to work. Let's talk later.

Wednesday, July 23:
6:00-7:00 – Signing at the Marvel booth

Thursday, July 24:
12:30-1:30 – Signing at the DC/Vertigo booth
1:45-2:45 – X-Men panel, Room 6B
4:45-5:45 – Mondo Marvel panel, Room 6A

Friday, July 25:
3:00-4:00 – Signing at the DC/Vertigo booth
4:30-5:30 – Vertigo: View of the Future panel, Room 5AB

Saturday, July 26:
11:00-12:00 – Signing with Cameron Stewart, Booth #2207
1:00-2:00 – Signing at the Marvel booth
4:30-5:30 – Secret Invasion panel, Room 6A
6:00-7:00 – Signing at the DC/Vertigo booth

Sunday, July 27:
Wondering the exhibit hall in a daze.

Come see me.

And when I'm on the mic, I rock the mic right, originally uploaded by Jason Aaron.

HIGHLIGHTS:
Running into Matt Fraction and Kelly Sue DeConnick at the airport and having someone to chat with on the plane.
Meeting Warren Ellis (eventhough he had no idea who the hell I was).
Meeting comedian Brian Posehn and finding out he’s a big fan of THE OTHER SIDE.
Making out with Rick Remender (he wishes).
The Lobster Sliders at Chive.
Meeting Ivan Brandon and getting a copy of 24seven Vol. 2 (which looks terrific).
Getting a custom-made Engine message board ID from Rantz Hoseley.
Getting lots of free shit (apparently when comic creators are alone, they GIVE things to each another).
Getting invited to a convention in Spain.
Getting writing and career advice from the always straight-shooting Brian Azzarello.
Seeing and chatting with almost everyone I wanted to see.
Attending the Eisners and having my nomination read by one of the dudes from “Reno 911.”
Seeing the one-legged lady at the GRINDHOUSE booth.

LOWLIGHTS:
Feeling a little like a creepy perv after taking photos of the one-legged lady at the GRINDHOUSE booth.
Losing at the Eisners (though it was to Paul Pope, who’s a genius and a rock star, so what are you gonna do?).
Failing miserably in my quest to meet Grant Morrison (and even missing all of his panels).
Failing even more miserably in my quest to make out with Rosario Dawson.
Forgetting to steal the SCALPED poster off the wall of DC’s Green Room.
It taking longer to clean up Jim Lee’s suite before a party than it took for the actual party to get shut down by security.

THINGS I HEARD PEOPLE SAY:
"Just write the fuckin’ Wolverine."
"Not bad for a pale face."
"There’s no such thing as a comic book emergency."
"I wanna know who the rat bastard was that called in the complaint."
"That’s gotta be what trench warfare smelled like."
"You know what doesn’t talk? A peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Go make me one."

It looks to be a busy week for me at the San Diego Comic-Con. Lots of signings, lots of meetings, lots of beer drinking, and the Eisners too. I'm really looking forward to the trip though, if for no other reason than to get out of this miserable Kansas heat. If you're there, be sure and say hi.


WEDNESDAY
5:30-7pm > Signing at the DC booth/Vertigo table

THURSDAY
1:30-3pm > Signing at the DC booth/Vertigo table
4:30-6pm > Signing at the DC booth/Vertigo table

FRIDAY
3-4:30pm > Signing at the DC booth/Vertigo table
4:30-5:30pm > PANEL – Vertigo Editorial Presentation (Room 5AB)

SATURDAY
11:30am-1pm > Signing at the DC booth/Vertigo table
4-5:30pm > Signing at the DC booth/Vertigo table

SUNDAY
10:30am-12:30pm > Signing at the DC booth/Vertigo table