All Along the Watchmen

Last night I guess some movie called Watchmen came out. You would have thought there would have been a couple of ads for it or something.

Anyway, all the way in Dallas, my good friend Jesse Jackson (no, not that one) attended a special premiere thrown by Keith's Comics. Keith does giveaways, and at Jesse's suggestion, I donated a bunch of copies of Love and Capes #8. (Gosh, the continued issue. What was I thinking? Heh heh.) In a bit of Karmic justice, Jesse won a copy of Watching the Watchmen that he and I were discussing just a couple of hours before. It's a great book, by the way. I have it myself.

Jesse was kind enough to send some snaps from the movie night. Click on any to embiggen.

I haven't seen the big movie myself, yet. Scheduling with the Usual Gang didn't work out, and while I seriously considered going to the midnight show alone and not saying anything, but it's always better to experience it with your friends. And so I wait.

But, just to publicly announce it to them, I can wait until Saturday tops to see the new Star Trek film when it comes out. There's a new trailer out, and hokey smokes do I want to see that.

Day two delayed

No update today. Con was slow but afterwardsvwas filled with fun, frivolity and Fantasia golf. More recounting when I get back home.

Just Don't Stand Between Me and a Microphone

Hey, there's another interview with me up on The Pulse. Here I was grilled by the lovely Jen Contino. Well, not so much grilled. Actually, it was very pleasant.

Anyway, interview here. Clickity click.

When the Free Comic Book Day Book is a Little Less Free

Taking a step back, here's the alternate cover for the retail version of Love and Capes #10. Because of the new Diamond minimums, these won't be available through the Previews catalog, but they will be available on the Love and Capes website the Monday after Free Comic Book Day. They will be available for direct order by comic shops, too. I'll post more information about it soon.

And More Love and Capes Valentiney Stuff

Did I mention it's Valentine's Day? Did you forget to get something for that special someone in your life? You know what he/she/it (we don't judge here) would love more than anything? To appear on the cover of Love and Capes!

I soft-announced it a couple of days ago, but here's the full release an information. If there are too many words, here's the short form: Send me some money and you'll be on the cover of the double-sized LNC#12, coming out in November/December, as part of the wedding congregation for Abby and Mark. Click here to sign up. The full release follows.

You are cordially invited…
to attend the wedding of Mark and Abby in Love and Capes #12.

You might not have been invited to Lois and Clark’s wedding. You probably couldn’t attend Peter and MJ’s wedding (and, if you did, you don’t remember it.). But you can be in attendance for the comic book wedding of the 21st century! The Crusader and Abby are getting married in Love and Capes #12, coming out in December 2009, and you could be there.

Tickets to this wedding are limited and seating is first come, first served. Cost is just $40 per couple or $25 per single. No "crashers" permitted. To be part of this special event, RSVP by sending a photo of yourself, along with your payment, and you will be drawn into the wedding scene cover of Love and Capes #12 and mentioned by name at the end of the book.

To commemorate this special event, and to show our appreciation for the fans of Love and Capes, artist Thom Zahler will be creating a special limited edition 11 x 17 print of the wedding cover. All "attendees" will be sent a signed and numbered print to commorate their attendance at this "super" celebration. Interested attendees can also look for Thom Zahler at MegaCon in Orlando, Florida on Feb. 27-Mar.1 or the Free Comic Book Day event May 2nd at Rogues Gallery Comics in Austin, Texas , where he’ll have his camera ready to snap your photo on site.

If response warrants, an alternate version of the cover illustration (featuring Mark in his tuxedo, rather than his Crusader uniform) will be created to handle the overflow crowd.

Please RSVP by May 25, 2009.

Is Love and Capes the Official Comic of Valentine's Day?

It's Valentine's Day, and I know what you want: More interviews with me. You can't get enough, can you, because I am apparently all over the place right now.

Over at Robot 6, which is an awesome site of awesomeness and you secretly hate yourself if you don't visit regularly, I'm interviewed by JK Parkin about Love and Capes. We cover things like the new Diamond minimums, Mark and Abby giving dating advice, my "process", such as it is, and more. Check it out here.

It's not a full interview or anything, but I am mentioned over at Whitney Matheson's online blog over at USA Today. Yes, that USA Today.

I'm also interviewed in something called "print" over at Comics Buyer's Guide. I did the interview a few weeks ago, so I honestly don't remember much of what I said. The CBG site is here, and the book is available at newsstands and such. Apparently the words "and the trade is published by the fine folks at IDW" didn't make the interview. So just print that sentence out, cut it out, and paste it in.

I was on the Dork Forest podcast, briefly. Hosted by Jackie Kashian, comedian (or is it comedienne, since I know it's not actress anymore... anyway, she's a funny person) has a podcast devoted to geekishness and such. Unfortunately, a technical glitch booted me from the call and we couldn't get back together. So, it's about ten minutes that ends as abruptly as No Country For Old Men.

John Siuntres, Chicago talk show host, interviewed me on the floor of the New York Comic-Con. John's always great to talk to, giving me the time of day long before I started Love and Capes. (I think it was 2:15pm, actually.) So, you can hear me babble about LNC here.

I've also mentioned the Raging Bullets podcast, I think, but let's mention it again given that this is a bag of listings. Sean's a great guy, and obviously a DC fan. It's great to chat with him.

FCBD09 Plans

I've teased this before, but I got the official okay to talk about it a couple days ago: For Free Comic Book Day 2009, I'll be at Rogues Gallery Comics in Austin, Texas. I've known owner Randy Lander for some time now, and am a huge fan of his Comics Pants podcast (along with the rest of the panteon). I've never been to Austin, but have heard nothing but good about it. I'm looking forward to being there for my third FCBD.

It's Only Six Months Away…

Love and Capes will again be part of Free Comic Book Day. Issue #10 will be available, completely free, on May 2nd. It's a brand-new, complete story. I think FCBD should be about actual stories, not just samplers, and I've never understood offering a book that you made people pay for three months ago as a free version. So, LNC#10 will be free.

Now, if you miss it, or don't have a comic shop near you, or they run out of the FCBD issue (as does happen), there will be a retail edition released shortly thereafter and available on the website. The only difference will be a variant cover. Otherwise, it's identical to the FCBD issue.

In the meantime, tell your comic shop you want them to make sure you get a copy of the FCBD issue. It's going to be a good one. I think it's my strongest free offering yet, and it'll surprise some people.

I'll announce later where I'll be for the day in question. I will be doing a signing at a comic shop somewhere, but I can't announce where yet. And, if you're a comic book shop and need some kind of love for that day, give me a shout and I'll see what I can do.

Jimmy quit, Joey got married

There's a line from the never-aired pilot Heat Vision and Jack, starring Jack Black as an astronaut who was exposed to inappropriate levels of solar radiation and became a super-genius in daylight, where he says "The human brain is like cookie dough." It expands when baked to fill the available space. Love and Capes is like that. With only two pages left, it's almost all I can think about. In fact, as I'm wiring this, loose pencils for page 23 are already on my drawing board.

Page 22 sets up the last sequence of the book, which takes place with Abby and Charlotte in Paris. It took a shower, a drive, and a cup of coffee, but once I hit the line "theraputic shopping", I think it fell together. Let's hope so.

It's a city of shadow, it's a city of crime

I found out earlier this week that reruns of the syndicated Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? are airing on the Game Show Network. Why is this important? Well, in April of 2003, I was on the show. It means that sometime, they'll be reairing my episode. I'm in reruns, baby!

Even though I was on the version with Meredith Viera, I think Regis Philbin was on my mind when I colored Mark's suit in page twenty. He's definitely wearing a Regis-inspired outfit. I haven't shown Mark working his civilian accounting job much in the run of the series (only twice, I think) so I wanted throw in a nod to the fact that Mark does work for a living. Plus, I'm experimenting with how grays print with a newly revised black-line printing technique. Anyway, I think it looks kind of cool.

Also on page twenty, Abby's new hire, Jason, shows up again. He's been dreadfully absent from the book since his introduction, and based on his first scene in this issue, I had to make sure he showed up to put a button on his mini-arc.