King Con was exactly what I’d hoped it would be: a low-key but busy show with a bright future.  Thanks to Regan and Mike for inviting me and thanks to everyone who showed up for my “spotlight panel.” And a quick shoutout to Will Dennis for making it far more painless than I’d feared! Hope to do this again next year!

Forget Michael Jackson — ‘cuz “This Is It”!  My last show for 2009 is the first ever KING CON right at home in Brooklyn this weekend. New York, and Brooklyn in particular, has always been a home to cartoonists and comics pros, so it’s great to see a show celebrate the local scene. And check out that guest list! There will also be a spotlight panel on me at 12pm on Sunday.  Come check it out!

Here’s my back cover illustration for Scarce Magazine #73, the long-running French fanzine. Editor Philippe Cordier interviewed me and Peter Milligan for a Human Target retrospective and kindly asked for a piece of art, so I repurposed this unseen 2009 San Diego sketch. The issue should be out next month, and there will be more info at Philippe’s blog. Well, more info if you can read French, that is.

Had a great time in Boston this past weekend, courtesy of Nick Kanieff, Colin Solan, and everyone else in the Boston Comic-Con crew. Thank you!  They are is growing by leaps and bounds, and I’m very excited for their next show in April 2010, with some guys named Jim Lee and Mike Mignola.

Thanks once again to Marc Nathan, Brad Tree, and the whole gang for putting on another fantastic show.  This year’s attendance was a record for them, and I think it’s a great sign of things to come.

“Dear Batman: We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in Bat-detention for whatever it is we did wrong, but we think you’re crazy for making us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us: in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is an archer, and a speedster, and a swimmer, a princess, and an acrobat. Does that answer your question? Sincerely yours, The Teen Titans.”

Thank you, John Hughes. Rest in peace.

Another great (and exhausting) year at San Diego!  Cheers to all my boothmates — they really rocked it and we’ll be back in full force in 2010. And special thanks to the ubercool Jerry Ma of Epic Props for hosting the Kelly Hu signing and for all his generosity (check out the link to see his line of snazzy t-shirts!).  And of course, thanks to everyone who came to the booth to say hello, buy some books, or get a sketch. You guys are the real reason Comic-Con is such a great experience and it’s your passion that makes the show what it is today.

Watch out, San Diego! We’re back, and this year we brought Becky Cloonan with us! We’ve got some great stuff — embroidered patches, screenprints, postcards and even a new sketchbook from Brian — and of course, we’ll be signing and taking commissions all week. Come find us at at BOOTH #1322 (and in the program book under Jill Thompson, Brian Wood, Cliff Chiang).

On Saturday, I’ll be signing with the one and only Kelly Hu at the Secret Identities/Epic Props Booth (#1735) from 2-4PM.  Get there early, ‘cuz it’s gonna be a mad house! We’ll have copies of the Secret Identities book and a special litho for Kelly and I to sign. I’ll also be signing at the DC booth on Thursday (4-5PM), Friday (4-5PM), and Saturday (12-1PM).  Holla!

UPDATE: We’ve expanded our booth!  Screw the economy! And (how cool is this?) now joining us are Vasilis Lolos,  Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba! So you now officially have no excuse not to drop by Booth #1320-1322.

This weekend is the first annual Asian American Comic Con! It’s this Saturday, July 11, 10:00am - 5:00pm at the brand-new Museum of Chinese in America in New York City. You can register here – but do so quickly, as there are only 250 tickets available. It’s a full day of programming, with panels, the presentation of the first Kiyama Award to the legendary Larry Hama, and even an artists alley! Ken Chen, of the Asian American Writers Workshop, describes it as “a mash-up of a fan convention, an Asian American Studies conference and a literary festival… a one-of-a-kind event that’ll put superhero comic artists, professors, and novelists at the same table to discuss how we read comics today.” Along with myself, there’s great list of guests, including:

Larry Hama (writer, G.I. Joe)

Bernard Chang (artist, Wonder Woman)

Derek Kirk Kim (artist, The Eternal Smile)

Greg Pak (writer, Incredible Hulk)

Khoi Pham (artist, Mighty Avengers)

Sean Chen (artist, Iron Man)

Christina Strain (colorist, Runaways)

Fred Chao (writer/artist, Johnny Hiro)

Christine Norrie (artist, Breaking Up)

Tak Toyoshima (writer/artist, Secret Asian Man)

Misako Rocks! (writer/artist, Biker Girl)

Kuo-Yu Liang (VP Sales & Marketing, Diamond Book Distributors)

Sharad Devarajan (CEO, Liquid Comics)

William F. Wu (writer, Hong on the Range)

The Editors of Secret Identities

Other special guests of the con will include: Ben Nugent, author, American Nerd; Hua Hsu, professor, Vassar College; Ed Lin, author of Waylaid and This Is a Bust; Monica Ferrell, author, The Answer Is Always Yes; Monica Youn, author, Ignatz (forthcoming); Vyshali Manivannan, author, Invictus; Paolo Javier, author, 60 lv Bo(e)mbs; Jennifer Lee, former editor, Marvel Comics and DC Comics; Kai-Ming Cha, comics and manga reporter, Publishers Weekly; Aimee Bahng, assistant professor, English, Dartmouth College; Ken Okabayashi, founder of Piggy Back Studios; Tyler Chin-Tanner, artist/writer, American Terrorist; Daniel Ketchum, editor, Marvel Comics; Karl Taro Greenfield, author, Speed Tribes; and Arune Singh, sales coordinator, Marvel Comics.

I’ll be participating in a “Visual Storytelling” panel in the morning, and will spend the rest of the day signing and sketching for fundraising at the Secret Identities table (or wherever I can find a seat!). Hope to see you there.

Loved all the sketch requests this year! Hope everyone had as great a time at Heroes as I did, and I’m really looking forward to next year — maybe I’ll get to hit Price’s Chicken Coop in 2010! Thanks to Shelton, Dusty, Doug, and everyone else for putting on such a great show.