The train ride home was wonderful. I love to take the train, and Andy says why better than I could.
I listened to my iPod, while I read three issues of PS238 (if you haven’t read it yet, RUN to your local comic shop and pick it up. It’s awesome), the newest PvP, and re-read one of my favorite stories of the last few years, The Red Star. I forgot how powerful The Red Star’s first few issues were . . . I’m glad I have it in Graphic novel form to carry around.
Graphic novels are great, because they’re more durable than traditional comics, so they can be read without damaging our precious first printings, heavy enough to be used as a weapon in dire circumstances, and their shiny covers can be used to reflect the sunlight and signal a plane, should the reader become lost or stranded.
While I was at Comic-Con, I reached the following conclusion: John and Judith Kovalic are two of the greatest people on this planet. Matter of fact, I would travel to pretty much any con that John’s going to be attending, just so I can hang out with them again.
And just because hanging with John and Judith wasn’t enough, I also got to spend quality time with Steve Jackson, and almost missed my train because I was geeking out with Scott Kurtz and Aaron Williams.
And just because that isn’t enough, I got to meet the guys from Penny Arcade.
And just because that isn’t enough, I just saw that I am in today’s Penny Arcade.
I’d better stop before I hit the top of this bell curve of coolness.

I’m in the train depot in San Diego, totally getting online through a WiFi hotspot that’s sponsored by bandwidthbay.org.
I think it’s beyond cool that I can sit here, and blog from my iBook!
Comic-con was really fun, but way too big. There was so much stuff to see, and so many people trying to see it, it’s all just a blur.
Oh! Know who I met today? Tiffany Taylor. Oh. My. God. She’s beautiful. And she took a picture with me.
I’m wearing my The Cheat shirt from Homestarrunner.com, and when I was walking around the con this morning, several people shouted “It’s The Cheat!!” to which I replied, “Hang on! We’re taking this baby to the moooon!!11!”
(Yes, just like On*Star, I pronounced the “11!” at the end of that sentence.)
Oh shit. My train is boarding right now. I gotta go!

Yesterday, I was on my very first author’s panel. I sat with *real* authors, who have written several books. I felt like I was playing dress-up, while I sat there with them, but I was surprised and validatied when I discovered that the way I approach writing was similar to the way they do.
The whole time I sat up there, I kept thinking to myself, “I can’t believe I get to sit here with these people!” and hoping tha tnobody noticed that “one of these things was not like the others” and that thing was me.
After the panel was done, I moved to the autograph area, where I signed copies of Dancing Barefoot for about 90 minutes. It was so cool!! There was a HUGE line of people, and everyone seemed very excited to read my book.
Something else happened yesterday that has never happened before: this guy had to pay us ten bucks, but only had a hundred. We didn’t have change yet, so I told him, “That’s okay, just get change somewhere and come back. I trust you.”
He thanked me, walked away, and never returned. It’s the first time I’ve ever been taken advantage of like that in my life.
I didn’t have time to check out the convention floor yesterday, but Anne is heading back up to Los Angeles today, and I’ll get to spend the day totally geeking out. Check the audioblog for geeky details.

Tomorrow morning, I head on down to San Diego for Comic-Con.
In years past, I’ve attended with the hopes of selling pictures and autographs, and taking home some desperately-needed bill paying money. I always tried to put the most positive face on it that I could, but the fact is, I was there as a has-been. That guy who “used to be” an actor. It was always humiliating and depressing for me to spend most of the day “under the sails.” I struggled to keep my chin up, and convince myself that I wasn’t a total loser.
Things have really changed in the last two years, though, and I’m giddy with excitement to attend this year.
This year, I get to attend as the author of Dancing Barefoot, the guy who runs this site, and Mrs. Wheaton’s Husband.
The super-cool people at Mysterious Galaxy have done some very cool things for me. Here’s my schedule this year, thanks to their extreme bad-assery:

Thursday
• 4 – 5:30pm Room 7B: From the Cradle to the Keyboard, Part I Authors discuss who they read in their youth, and how it influences their work today.
• 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm Signing in the Autograph Area in the Sails Pavilion.

Friday

• 12 Noon: Signing in the Mysterious Galaxy booth (#1846)

Saturday

• 11am: Signing in the Mysterious Galaxy booth (#1846)

At all the signings, I will have 8x10s, a very limited number of WWdN shirts, and of course, copies of Dancing Barefoot.
If you’re in Los Angeles this weekend, and you’re not able to make it down to Comic-Con, you must go see the show at my friends Sean and Caryn’s gallery:

We have an amazing opening scheduled for Saturday, July 19 by a Canadian duo, Kenn Sakurai (ESM Artificial ) and Dave O’Regan (Poplab). With an emphasis on text, this show of mass-produced and one-of-a-kind silk-screened pieces (postcards, posters, stickers) along with painted work will touch upon some of the best and the worst aspects of popular culture that often include models, cars, rock stars, song lyrics, the 80s, and television personalities. Their work also delves into other universal themes such as heartbreak and high school. ESM and Poplab utilize familiar images, subjects, and sayings that are always humorous, poignant, and thoughtful. “Modern Thought” opening reception is from 7-10pm at sixspace 549 west 23rd, LA 90027.

Finally, if you’re attending Comic-con, and you have a camera phone, you can contribute to the group Comic-Con photoblog project, by mailing any images you have to comic-con.2003-at-tamw.com. The subject is the title of the image, and the text is the description. Bonus points if we take a picture together and moblog it.
I’ll also be audioblogging from the show, so be sure to tune in!

I will do anything to be in this:

Watchmen Faithfully Adapted
Lloyd Levin, one of the producers of the upcoming sequel film Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, told SCI FI Wire that he is also producing a faithful film version of Alan Moore/Dave Gibbon’s seminal superhero graphic novel Watchmen, adapted by X-Men screenwriter David Hayter, who may also direct. “If you’re familiar with the graphic novel, it’s a great and challenging piece of work,” Levin said in an interview. “I think we have a screenplay now that is a faithful adaptation of the graphic novel and does it justice, written by David Hayter, who wrote the X-Men movies.”
Past efforts to adapt Watchmen for the movies-including one by producer Joel Silver, with Terry Gilliam directing-have stalled.
Levin-who is also producing Hellboy, based on Mike Mignola’s comic series-added, “I really love comics, but I also really love movies about interesting characters. So sometimes they come from comics, sometimes they come from books. I place no restrictions.” As for the current glut of comics-to-film, he said, “I think perhaps we’re in a time when there are a lot of filmmakers who were big, big fans of comic books [and who] are coming of age, and they’re more impassioned about telling those stories.” Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life, based on the Eidos video game series, opens July 25

Time to dig my Rorschach mask out of the garage, and start camping out on David Hayter’s lawn.
(thanks to Dave, who e-mailed me this information!)