So we’ve had the first day of the con. And I survived. That is all.

No, wait, there’s more. Bob and I slept in today,because we know this will be the last day we get to do that for a while. We bought some supplies at Ralph’s, went to Mission Beach for lunch, and picked up our friend Sandi at the airport. And then, before we knew it. It was Con Time.

Wednesday night is Preview Night here at the old show. It starts at 6:00 and ends at 9:00. Preview Night is now one of the thickest nights of the show. Other days have panels running that draw people upstairs. Why you’d rather look at Eliza Dushku than me, I can’t understand, but there you have it.

So it’s a lot of seeing people for the first time this weekend. It’s a lot of quick meetings, just a "Hi, we have to get together later" stuff. Even so, I did manage to find Andy Cosby from Boom Studios, who I met last year and talk to him for a bit. You may have heard that they’ve announced that they will be doing Muppets and Pixar comics. That’s just phenomenal.

One of the highlights of the still-young show was seeing my artwork plastered on the IDW booth. Somewhere on this page is a picture of the good-lookin’ booth, with my ugly mug in front of it. I got to meet Chris Ryall for the first time since we started working together and realizing who we each are. Wait, did I mention that IDW will be doing the Love and Capes trade, and that’s why I know him? Let me mention it again if I hadn’t.

Sales at the booth were pretty good. It’s the first day of the show, and everyopne’s still getting a feel for where everything is. I had several people come up and buy specific issues because they started reading last year and were now hooked. Someone even came up and raved about the book and, when I asked him if he needed anything, he said "No, I’ve already got them all." That’s the best non-sale I ever made.

I saw Charlotte Fullerton, Dwayne McDuffie, Eugene Son and his entire lovely family, which was a nice surprise. I didn’t know they were all coming even for Day Zero, and given that they were kind enough to house me during the Meetings last year, I have an especially warm place in my heart for them. And they’re just nive people, too.

When the show wrapped, Bill Williams, Randy Lander (of my favorite comics podcast, Comic Pants, and the Rogues Gallery shop in Austin) and Brad went out to dinner. Randy and I exchange e-mails, but we finally got to have a protracted in-person conversation which was great. At dinner, we were accosted by The Defuser and Mrs. The Defuser, another two of my favorite people.

Then Chip Moser from Boom, as well as Matt and Ian, whose last names I didn’t catch, joined us. They’re all stellar specimens of humanity. Intellegent, witty, and if I may say, handsome each and every one. Not that any of them check blogs for mentions of their names. No, such gods among men would never do such a thing.

At midnight, I came back to the room, feeling like it was 2am. I have to get up in six hours or so to start this all over again. The show is fun, and even based on today’s brief encounters, could spiral into more stuff. That’s what keeps me going.

Well, that and coffee, of which there will be much tomorrow.

Tomorrow the Con starts. Today, I did Not Much.

Bob and I drove Ingersoll the Younger to the airport and then headed down to San Diego. Well, Bob drove and I slept. But we were both in the car.

I hate Bob by the way. Why? Well, not only does he handle booking the hotel, not only does he get us a great rate, especially by Comic-Con standards, but then he books us a block from Ghiradelli!

I have few weaknesses. Coffee. Battlestar Galactica. Any female Joss Whedon casts in one of his projects. And above them all, chocolate. Especially Ghiradelli chocoolate. Specifically their peanut butter chocolate flavor, not that I stopped by the place on my way back to the hotel tonight. Heck, no.

I met up with Paul Merolle, he of the Toon Tumblers. And with his and Bob’s help, I hauled all my stuff into the convention center. And then I went to dinner with Bill Williams, Mark Buckingham, and Brad No Last Name. Okay, I just didn’t catch it. But I will tomorrow and I will post it then. Promise. Bill is the brains behind Lone Star Press, for whom I do a lot of work. It’s always good to see him in person.

Then later we met up with Bill Willingham, who does a little book called Fables. You may have heard of it.

Anyway, the show is half a day away from starting, and yet I’m already having good dinners and great conversations. And more than a few Coronas.

Tomorrow’s the last day I get to sleep in at all before the carnage begins, so I’m going to cut this now and get me some sleep. More tomorrow.

I’m officially out in California for Comic-Con. I’ve Twittered some of it, and from now until I return, my tweets and my blog posts will probably overlap. Can’t really help that, but if you’ve been following the Twitter feed, I can promise improved spelling and capitalization when they’re retold here.

My flight out was long and self-delayed. They oversold my original flight, and were asking for volunteers to take a later flight for a $250 travel voucher. I jumped on that. I fly enough that I know I can use it, and it’d delay me by three hours, so that’s roughly $83 an hour. I figured that was worth it. I even got a meal voucher, too.

Then my 8:45 flight became a 9:15 flight and then a 9:45 flight. By the time we left, around 10:00pm, I figure I was making $50 an hour. Still not bad, but not what I hoped for. I managed to sleep on the flight and catch the last Disney shuttle bus to the Disneyland Hotel where I’m typing this from.

I slept in far less than I expected to. Between sleeping on the flight and the bus, and the time zone change, I had about eight hours by the time 7:30 rolled around, so I headed over to Disneyland.

I haven’t been here since 2002, the year of the first Raider trade. This time I scored a parkhopper, so I could check out California Adventure, Disney’s other park. And I was doing it with Bob Ingersoll and his son, who’d been here for a couple of days already. They went over earlier than I got up.

The first ride I checked out was the new Finding Nemo ride, a retheming of the previous submarine ride. It was pretty cool. I remember being on the Florida sub ride when I was a scant four years old and liking it a lot. It was cool to be back. The Nemo stuff (and hidden Atlantis stuff) was fun to see.

Oddly enough, I ran into Gail Simone, writer of Wonder Woman (and man, or should I say WOman, is she doing some great stuff on that title) who was also doing the pre-Comic-Con Disney trip. She also had some kind things to say about Love and Capes, which I appreciate all to pieces.

Even at Disney, I’m networking. Makes the whole thing deductible, I figure. Right?

I rode a bunch of rides, some of which have been tweaked since the last time I was here. Jack Sparrow is now part of Pirates of the Carribbean. Space Mountain has a new track and new cars.

And I’d not been to Disney’s California Adventure before. It’s a smallish park, which, while fun, I wouldn’t pay full price for. It’s got that Disney Animal Kingdom vibe to it. Sure, it’s cool, but is it on a par with the Magic Kingdom? No.

Which isn’t to say that it doesn’t have it’s moments. The coaster is a lot of fun. It’s got a cool looking Ferris Wheel. And the Toy Story shooting gallery is a ton of fun. I beat Bob and his son handily in that one.

Unfortunately, when we did the similar Buzz Lightyear ride, the smaller Ingersoll did beat me by 10,000 points. We both beat Bob by something like a billion, though, so that was good. They take your photo and then e-mail it to you. You can see my oh-so-intense shooting face here.

We stayed a little past midnight, catching both Fantasmic, which wisely eliminated the show-stopping (in a bad way) Pocahontas number, as well as the main fireworks show. I even got to watch Tinkerbell fly to the castle, which I swear I’ve never seen before. I remember my first trip to Disney and the winds were too high or something and she didn’t fly that day. I think I’ve missed it for the thirty years since, too. It’s a little thing, I know, but still brought a smile to my face.

Doubly-oddly, I was called by ABC News which wanted me to record a video message about who I thought McCain’s running mate should be. I don’t know if I have the time, and I don’t know if I can get my iSight to do that. It could be kind of fun, so we’ll see how I feel in the morning.

Of course, I really don’t know who he should pick, either.

Okay, so I’ve had my day of play. Tomorrow, Bob’s son will head back to Ohio, and Bob and I will head to San Diego to set up the Love and Capes booth and get ready for the fun and frivolity that is Comic-Con.

Only a couple hours left and then I’ll be on my way to San Diego for Comic-Con.

Did I mention I’m going to Comic-Con International? I know I’ve said it before, but I want to make sure it’s high on the blog to remind you I’ll be at Booth #2000, splitting it with Toon Tumblers. I’ll have issues #1-7 of Love and Capes, both Powerful Women sketchbooks, t-shirts and pins. I’ll be doing commissions, signing anything you bring, and talking and chatting. Please come by.

San Diegos always a mixture of thrills and fears. It’s a bit of a crucible for where you are in the industry. It’s the show that’s so big that if you’re not there, some people wonder if you’re anywhere. And, it’s always a chore to get everything out there, get the booth set up and so on.

But…

I went out last year and directly from that show I wound up IDW doing the Love and Capes trade. I got my first meeting with Disney about getting one of my projects turned into a TV show. And I discussed doing some digital format versions of my projects, too.

The first of those three is fantastic. The other two, while they haven’t materialized (at least not yet), they are my first step into a much larger world. I’m expecting even more. Soon.

Like maybe this week. Let’s rock.

With just a couple days to spare, the second Powerful Women collection has arrived! I was blessed with some overruns, so I can send out the orders I’ve received before I leave, and still have the stock that I need to have. Yay, Jones Printing!

Don’t forget, the special goes away on Sunday, so be sure to order yours before the prices go up.

I’ll be a guest on Bob Frantz’s show, in the Stump the Panel segment that happens around 11:15. We’re going to be concentrating on Batman trivia.

In the words of the Black Knight, "None shall pass!"

So listen to WTAM-AM 1100 on Friday.

I just got confirmation that I will have the full assortment of Love and Capes collectors pins from Pop Culture Trading Pins. I’ll have a limited number, of course, but you’ll be able to drop by Booth #2000 and get the Crusader and Abby pin,the Darkblade pin, and the Amazonia pin (design reproduced here). I’ll post some photos of the originals when I get some.

Love and Capes has gotten another mention on a podcast. This time, it’s the Two-in-One Showcase. I’m mentioned fifty some minutes into the ‘cast, but give the whole thing a listen. There’s some great discussions on Batman, who I think may have a movie coming out this week.

Podcaster Blake mentions how his girlfriend Erin, to whom he’s introduced a bunch of comics, was the one who introduced him to LNC. Way to go Erin!

I did caricatures for the Malone Golf Tournament yesterday, which provides college scholarships to some deserving kids. It is uniformly a great event, and the kids are fantastic. The scholarship is through Cleveland Scholarship Foundation, which is a great organization with a stellar percentage-donation rating. I’m honored to work with them.

And, today, if you’re in Ohio, get thee to a Chipotle. All sales (not profits, but sales) up to $35,000 go to the Malone scholarship program. Big props to the Chip for that.

Jimmy Malone, of course, is part of the Lanigan and Malone morning radio show on WMJI-FM 105.7 here in Cleveland. Just figured if I was plugging stuff, might as well plug it all.

I’ve been posting Love and Capes covers for a while now, but I’ve never run into the situation I have on this cover: I can’t show it to you. Well, not completely. There’s a surprise guest-star in issue #9. As such, I can’t show you half the cover. That’s why the right side seems so empty here: I deleted the character that’s standing there. Now, if you buy #8, and I hope you will, you can see the full cover there. Now that I have a schedule locked down, I’m back to running ads for the next issue, complete with the next cover.

With issue #8 done aside from a rewrite here or there, one minor art correction, and the inevitable corrections from the Secret Society of Super-Reviewers. I’m in good shape for leaving for San Diego. It’ll be nice to not have this over my head while I’m there, and with that brainspace nice and clear, I should be able to get some good ideas for the new issue.

Issue eight will be in stores in October, and debuting at Mid-Ohio-Con.