Hellboy in the forest

Hellboy, 2018, ink on paper.
Private commission.

Hellboy

Hellboy, 2018, ink on paper.
Private commission.

Imaginary San Diego Comic Con

On Monday, we go to the airport in the middle of the afternoon, as most international flights leave at night. So, it's rush hour traffic for close to an hour to get to the airport.
We get there three hours before the flight. We don't like to take chances. We already lost a flight at LAX back to Brazil (or Houston or Dallas or Panama, I don't remember where the first layover was). We almost lost our flight to Angola, and had to carry our baggage with us inside the plane because check-in was already closed for twenty minutes. We eat some crappy airport food, because it's going to be around midnight by the time the flight attendants bring dinner to the passengers, and by that time we'll be starving even if we did eat at the airport, and the airport food will be as crappy as the one we had close to the gate.
We always bring something to read on the plane, and we might read a little of it, but inevitably we'll choose a movie, preferably a movie both of us have not seen (usually a super hero movie), and watch it while we eat the plane dinner. After the movie, we'll try to get some sleep, but if we struggle to find our way to slumberland, we'll choose another movie. Sometimes we can finish this second movie after we wake up at the crack of dawn when the flight attendants serve breakfast.
And then we land on Houston. Usually Houston, anyway. There are no straight flights from Brazil to San Diego, and we usually get better deals on our tickets going through Houston. We usually meet other brazilians on the same flight, also going to Comic Con. Once we met all of Jeff Smith's Cartoon Books crew coming from Columbus, meeting up with Terry Moore's Abstract Studio's crew on the gate so they could all go to San Diego together (Jeff and Terry weren't there, it was just their entourages).
We arrive in San Diego before lunch, sometimes just after regular breakfast hours in California, and we go to our hotel. We could easily have a second breakfast, but we try to remind ourselves we're not Hobbits.
It's Tuesday on the A.M, and we check in at the hotel.

Now what?
---

Tuesday is our free-pre-con-day, so we can take it easy and recover from the jet lag. With the four hour difference from São Paulo time, it's very easy to get up early in the morning while in San Diego, even with little sleep the night before, but we need this first day to be low key because our trip is long and before 10 pm on Tuesday we're already dead tired. We usually meet some friends for an early dinner (we're not the only international artists that arrive one day early to recover from jet lag, so there's always someone about, and our friends who work at many of the publishers arrive earlier to set up the publisher's booth on Mondays and Tuesdays), have some drinks at the hotel bar and crash at the room early.
Wednesday is when our job begins.
Before Comic Con became this crazy giant thing, we did all sorts of different things on Tuesdays. For some years, staying at the Hostel, we would hang around with foreigners from all over the world who came to San Diego because of the beaches and the weather. We would have to explain to them that we were there for this comic book convention that happened around the corner (the Hostel is right there on Fifth Avenue at the Gaslamp District), and the ones we managed to leave curious would say over the course of that week that one day they decided to try out that Comic Con thing, went there and bought tickets right then and there and got in. They had fun.
We, too, went to the beach some years on Tuesdays. When we started going, Shane (Amaya, who wrote Roland and lived in Santa Barbara at the time and would drive down to San Diego) would drive us to the nice beaches and we would admire giant American biquinis and think about Brazilian biquinis instead. Back then, we would go back to that part of town even at night, after our Comic Con days, to try our luck on Pacific Beach bars, karaoke and pool included. Once, I don't know how, we ended up on a rooftop party of some local indy cartoonists.

All that, and it was only Tuesday.

---

You can read here the announcement of the Hellboy Winter Special 2018. We're back at Mike Mignola's backyard for a little while, writing and drawing a short story revisiting the B.P.R.D Vampire world (don't know B.P.R.D Vampire? It well be reprinted soon). Mignola did a knock-out cover for this issue, and we both did variant covers. With two other stories in this comic (one by the uber-talented Tonci Zonjic), it should be a fun read. Maybe a little scary, but fun.
---

We don't want to wake up too early on Wednesday, but the jet lag is still on full swing so we can't help it. Bá will probably hit the gym, and I'll try to join him (at least this early in the week). We have a quiet breakfast, probably our only meal for the rest of the week which isn't also some sort of meeting. I'm probably finishing a drawing I'm going to hide later as part of my Moon Art Hunt game. I'll consider going to the hotel pool for a swim (I prefer the Hyatt when it comes to a suitable pool for swimming). At lunch, we'll probably have our first meet-up, usually with our brazilians friends. This year, we would go meet Rafael Albuquerque, who's a guest of the convention and has just released a beautiful adaptation of Neil Gaiman's A Study in Emerald (with Rafael Scavone and Dave Stewart). A talented Brazilian artist going to San Diego for the first time this year is Eduardo Medeiros. It will be good for him (and for the comics' world) to widen his horizons and experience a little bit of the craziness of SDCC.
This will be a long lunch, with drinks, that will last as long as it takes for the line of people waiting to get their badges to get smaller (the Brazilian posse won't mind spending an afternoon drinking). Then we'll go get our badges so we can get in for a light, commitment-free preview night. If there's some book I really want and made a mental note to track down during SDCC, I try to find it on Wednesday, because I might forget during the week, and if I don't, by the time I go back there it might have already be sold out . Last year, I stopped at the beginning of the con at the Fantagraphics booth and got some books they had published, and forgot to get the new Jason book. I went back on Sunday, and it was all gone.

Saying hi to Terry Moore and Jeff Smith is usually part of our preview night.

Wednesday is still preview night, so it isn't so crazy to find places to have dinner. We usually choose as we walk around the Gaslamp, depending on who we're meeting for dinner. Still, it's a relaxing dinner with friends. The calm before the storm.

---

From Thursday on, the con game is on. After a breakfast meeting with one of our publishers, we usually have a signing. If we don't, it's my first chance to hide a drawing and start posting pictures online and giving people clues so they can find it.
Lunch is also a meeting, probably with a foreign publisher. Our foreigner publishers from France (Urban Comics) and Italy (Bao) usually go to San Diego. In fact, we met both of them in San Diego years ago, before they were our publishers, and now, besides being our publishers, I think of them as friends.
Signings await in the afternoon, and we also usually stop at the Comic Book Legal Defence Fund (CBLDF) booth to leave the original art we brought for the art auction on Saturday. Their booth is near the DC comics booth, on the way to the Drawn & Quarterly booth. Alex Cox will probably have a lot to say about their relocation to Portland, and if he doesn't, I'll simply ask. I'm curious.

We leave the artwork  personally on the first day because we are not mailing it from Brazil in advance, and because we know they'll display all the artwork they got on Thursday night at the party so people can get a good look of what is available and get excited about the auction.

Thursday night, the rooftop CBLDF Welcome Party at the Westgate Hotel is the party to go. It's traditional, and in this modern day of Entertainment World takeover, it's your better chance to hang out with the cartoonists you know and/or admire. And to meet new ones. It was at a CBLDF party that Bá and I saw Neil Gaiman for the first time, relaxing in a hallway before he had to go back inside to read something for everyone to enjoy. It was at a CBLDF party that we hung out next to Frank Miller in an outside balcony while he smoked a cigarette and talked passionately about comics, standing tall in his red Converse sneakers. This party has always been about the shared love for comics, and about the people who love them: the fans and the creators, interacting together and having a good time.

Maybe we'll have energy to go to a second party, probably with Sierra, and probably at the Bayfront. The Boom Studios crew have good parties at the Bayfront bar. If all goes right, the night might end in pizza in the lobby.

(the Bayfront bar has a brazilian bartender who makes some great caipirinhas)

Friday begins with another breakfast meeting. Maybe with someone from Vertigo/DC to talk about the Absolute edition of Daytripper and decide what sort of extra material would be fun to put in this oversided deluxe edition. Maybe to talk about something else.

(See, the same way I forgot to mention that every morning before breakfast, we'll try to go to the hotel gym, in real life we'll also probably forget to go to the hotel gym before breakfast)

After the Hall-H celebration of Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Reunion (which I'm not going, as I have never been to Hall-H in my life), I would probably stop at the Dark Horse booth at 12pm to get some of the posters they'll give away, because I think they turned out pretty nice (hint: I did the artwork).

During the week, we usually have a signing at the Dark Horse booth, next to a panel or announcement we're involved. After the panel, Dark Horse normally sets up interviews from media outlets.

Lunch meeting, but all day on Friday we're thinking about the Eisner Awards later that night at the Bayfront Ballroom. I hide another drawing across town, and we're thinking about the Eisners. I meet some friends for drinks around six and I try not to think about the Eisners. If these friends happen to be Skottie Young or Jason Latour, their jokes alone will keep me busy laughing and I'll forget everything. I'm still going to the Eisners afterwards.

Mainly because of the Umbrella Academy Netflix show, Bá got an invitation for the Universal party. The Umbrella crew is still shooting in Toronto, so I don't think we'll be able to make it this year.

We arrive at the Bayfront, where they're presenting the Eisners. Every awards ceremony is boring, I know. Still, we like the Eisners. We like to see people get happy about how other people love what they do enough to vote for them. We like the celebratory aspect of it. We miss that the ceremony doesn't have a keynote speech anymore, or a keynote speaker. We heard some earth-shattering-life-changing speeches at previous Eisner awards that motivated us, and still do, to try harder, and do more, and to do it better.

There's some drinking after the awards are all delivered at the Bayfront, and then we'll probably head back to the Hyatt bar and catch up with our gang of idiots. The convention night scene is definitely more spread out nowadays, to all sorts of places and hotels and bars, but there are a bunch of us comics' folk who still hang out the the Hyatt bar.

There's a panel on Saturday I can't help but think we would be in if we were there. We're usually invited to those kind of Dark Horse panels. Here's the description:

3:00-4:00 PM:  Artists Who Write: The Craft and Creation of Comics (Room: 7AB)
Whether it's a superhero adventure, a colorful fantasy world, an ultra-violent crime noir, or a new take on an old classic, creators put a lot of thought into the sequential art that drives stories told in comics. Join an all-star lineup of Dark Horse creators including Frank Miller (Xerxes: The Fall of the House of Darius and the Rise of Alexander, Sin City), Dave Gibbons (The Originals, The Life and Times of Martha Washington in the Twenty-First Century), Joëlle Jones (Lady Killer), Wendy Pini (ElfQuest), and Rafael Albuquerque (EI8HT) as they discuss turning an idea into a full-fledged story and how they continue to keep their writing fresh.
I would be interested to be there just to listen to Frank Miller and Dave Gibbons talk, but Albuquerque and Joëlle are so talented that it's no surprise they've reached the success they have, and I also want to hear they talk about how they got there.

Saturday is the big hollywood day. It's crazy. It's fuller. We usually hide in the green room for lunch.  If I haven't run into Joss Whedon up until this point at a hotel bar (I like that he started going to Comic Con again after two giant Avenger movies), then on Saturday he's easier to bump into, relaxing and having a good time. We stop by Mike Mignola's booth to make sure we say goodbye to him, as he doesn't do Sundays anymore. Close by, we might try to walk around artists' alley for a bit, but nothing sticks out. A lot of crazy talented creators with original art, prints and commission lists. People who sells books usually have booths on the other side of the convention floor, where we used to have our booth, and we have always been book people. We make comics so people can read them.

For the past few years, we have tried to have at least one signing at the CBLDF booth as well, where they have a great selection of our work from all publishers we work with. You'll find there (signed) copies of Daytripper, Casanova, Umbrella Academy, Two Brothers, How to Talk To Girls at Parties (with a special signed bookplate) and much more.

At the end of the day, the CBLDF live art auction will take place at the Bayfront, on the Sapphire AB room, starting at 8 PM, where you'll be able to bid for some amazing original art from your favourite creator. There are some pretty neat Frank Miller, Jeff Smith and Howard Chaikin originals being offered, among many other incredible pieces of art.

The night is full of wonders. We have a much better time at dinner, usually catching up with old friends. For the past few years, this has been editor's dinner for us, so to speak. Bob Schreck, Diana Schutz, Karen Berger, Sierra Hahn, Pornsak Pichetshote, all great editors, dear friends, and during the craziness of Comic Con, we catch up with them, and they catch up with us, and we start our night just right. We met some great cartoonists while on those dinners, which always involved big tables and lots of people. I'm pretty sure I met Scott Morse and Jim Mahfood in one of those dinners with Bob. I met Eduardo Barreto in a dinner with Diana (actually, Eduardo Barreto comes from Uruguay, and was the very first "international" comic book artist I met when he went to São Paulo for a book fair to promote his Batman book, and I was around 13). I met Jeff Lemire in a dinner with Karen. I met John Cassaday in a dinner with Sierra.
Saturday is the night that never ends, no matter if California law says otherwise, and we all meet up at some point after the Hyatt bar closes. The backsteps crew doesn't disappoint. (Will Dennis always has our backs, fellas). One of the recent topics I ask my friends is when are they coming to Brazil, as the Brazilian convention, Comic Con Experience (CCXP), as well as the Brazilian audience, would welcome them with open arms (I'm trying to convince myself the reason I didn't get Skottie Young to come last year was because, on a very energetic Saturday night, I didn't agree to go have matching tattoos made the following Sunday – he got an amazing Alfred Newman).

The spotlight panel on Rafael Albuquerque is at 10 AM (room 24 ABC) on Sunday morning. We'll need breakfast before going to the panel. I'm not sure Albuquerque will wake up in time to get anything to eat, but at least he's a special guest of the convention and there will be people who will go to his hotel room and make sure he attends his own panel. (the convention organisers have a volunteer who speaks Portuguese, who took care of me when I was a guest in 2009. He was taking care of Eduardo Risso last year. I bet he'll take care of Albuquerque).
 
​Our last stop of the Con is the Dead Dog Party, organised by Bob Chapman and the Grapphitti Design crew. Every friend we didn't have a chance to talk to during the convention will stop by, have a few drinks, have a few laughs.

Things start to die out earlier on Sunday, like the magic pixie dust starting to wear off. The Hyatt bar is still open, and some other friends are there. It might close soon, tho, and so we'll cross the street and stop by the Lion's Share.

When will we ever go to sleep?

Probably on the flight back home, the next day, and for the entire following week.
---

Maybe now it's a good time to say Bá and I didn’t go to San Diego this year. We have been going since 1997 every year. We didn't go in 2013 to focus on work (making Two Brothers, specifically), and I went alone in 2014 (Bá was still drawing Two Brothers) to negotiate which publisher would publish the book in the US. Aside from that, we've been there every year. It's our safe port in the american market, where we know our way around, where we see our friends.
This is one of those years where we decided to focus on work. And, like those years, we did miss San Diego greatly throughout the week.

I recommend the experience. I still think it's a special show. You don't have to go 20 times.
But do it at least once.

Some very late and unusual commissions

I don't usually do commissions, but last year I offered to help a crowdfunding campaign to help pay for a cartoonist's medical bills, and I offered commissions as a reward. I ended up with a dozen requests, and I figured I'd do them in a month's time.

Stupid, silly me.

Almost a year later, I have finally done them all.

I'm glad I could help in some way, and I'm thankful to those to contributed, but now it's back to the pages, and to the stories, where my passion really lies.

Original pages at SDCC 2015

We have a wide range of original pages we brought to San Diego this year, and they’ll be available at the Beguiling booth (1629).

Hellboy cover and pages, American Vampire pages, Umbrella Academy pages, Chrononauts and Killjoys covers, and more. The image shows some of the pages we left with them.

Dark Horse Presents #200

Dark Horse Comics will publish the milestone 200th issue of its Eisner and Harvey Award-winning comic book anthology DARK HORSE PRESENTS in February 2015, and Bá did this awesome HELLBOY cover.
His story inside, also featuring HELLBOY, was written by Mike Mignola himself, and it's a direct sequel to THE COFFIN MAN (the story I drew and Mignola wrote).
Also on this issue, Gustavo Duarte tells a story about mermaids, and Sergio Aragonés draws GROO. What else could you ask for?
For more info, click here.

2014 after a long day and a bottle of wine.

I will be done with the artwork of the Hellboy story I’m drawing this week. Today was a long day in order to finish inking two pages from it. I planned on finishing this pages much earlier, but life got in the way – in a good way, at least – and I had to pull a late night shift in order to keep up with my self-imposed schedule.
After I finished inking the first page, I made myself dinner. I opened a bottle of wine to relax a bit, and the fact that the bottle had “Aragonez” written in it struck me as a good sign. Not quite Aragonés, but close enough. I wondered if drinking would help or ruin the inking of the second page. It didn’t do any of the above, I guess, but I did relax as I worked well after midnight.

I’ve been working, on and off, at this Hellboy story since the beginning of the year, but the very first page of art I made this year was for something completely different. If you follow the news or attended the Image Expo convention that happened in San Francisco on January 9th, or if you follow this blog, you already know.



I got the following email from Matt on December 28th, already at the beach house:

“With the Image Expo coming up, Image is wondering if we (you) can generate a promo image they can reveal. Even if we just end up showing the logo and everyone’s name and a date that works but, y’know, art is always preferred.”

The page above was the result of the email exchange that followed, talking about the plot and the visual influences Matt wanted for the new arc. Even in the middle of my vacation, I decided to put in the extra effort and make this page. It was worth it, and it was a good reflex of one of my new year’s resolution:

-This year, I want to produce more.

If I focus, I know I can do more than what I’ve been doing. I know answering emails is part of the job, and making decisions and signing contracts and going to festivals around the world where I meet wonderful people and have incredible experiences, but I know I can produce more if I put my heart into it. An I plan to do it this year. The Hellboy story is part of it, as is the new Casanova arc. As is a short story for a Vertigo anthology, a one page Little Nemo homage piece, and some other secret projects we can’t talk about it yet.
We can do more stuff outside the “comics” realm: an music album cover, more live drawings, a tour poster, and whatever feeds our muse.

A recent email I received fed my muse in ways it haven’t been fed in a very long time, and it helped everything make sense.

As I finished the last inking page I set to myself for today (tonight), I went back to the bottle of wine and started thinking about my upcoming trip to India. I’m sure many stories are waiting to be discovered there, and Bá and I are counting the days.

We’re counting the days, and we’re making plans, and we’re dreaming of stores yet untold.

Super sketches

We're back from Germany, and we survived. Thanks to everybody who stopped by to talk, to have your books signed and to ask for sketches. We don't usually do super heroes sketches, and I'm not entirely sure why we decided to say yes to all these requests for super heroes, but I'm glad we did, as we liked most of the drawings we made, and they seemed to make those who asked for them happy.

Thanks to everybody from Panini Germany (Alex, Rebecca and Gunther in special) for taking good care of us, thanks also to Pipo from Cross Cult for a great job with De:TALES and Umbrella Academy, and for being such a nice guy not only to us but to all the other brazilian authors who needed translation at the Frankfurt book fair.

It was great to hang out with Scottie Young, Phil Noto, Esad Ribic, Bill Morrison and Nei Ruffino during the convention. Great conversations about the love for the aesthetics of Tony Scott's movies, TV series, cats and dogs, meeting your idols and who drinks manly drinks or girly drinks.

Back to the drawing board.

VAMPIRE, VAMPIRE, VAMPIRE!

We're finishing issue 4 of VAMPIRE this week, but here's the cover and solicitation information for issue 3, out in May. (Issue #1 will be on sale in two weeks!)




B.P.R.D.: VAMPIRE #3 (of 5)
Mike Mignola (W), Fábio Moon (W/A/Cover), Gabriel Bá (W/A/Cover), and Dave Stewart (C)
On sale May 29
FC, 32 pages
$3.50
Miniseries
A nobleman vampire’s life is spared after a horrific bargain made with the evil goddess Hecate, and now the bloodthirsty Simon Anders will put that deadly deal to rest.
• A direct sequel to the critically acclaimed B.P.R.D.: 1948!
• From the Eisner Award-winning creators of Daytripper—Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon!

BPRD: VAMPIRE

Some years ago, we had the gigantic honor of being invited to work with Mike Mignola on the series BPRD 1947 (along with Josh Dysart). We have been huge fans of his work for more than two decades and he's a massive influence.

After we finished that series, Mike and Scott (our editor) wanted to make more comics with us, but we didn't really know what at the time. A couple of years later, we finally finished Daytripper and we started talking about what this next thing could be.

What it turned out is this:
BPRD :VAMPIRE



On 1947, we were only the artists on that series. This time, we talking closely with Mike and Scott and we are also writing the story.

We are really thrilled to be working on the Heelboy universe once more and I can only hope the readers like what we will show them.

It will be a 5 issue mini-series and it'll begin in March. You can read a little bit more about it here, and see some pages as well.

BPRD originals at SDCC 2012

Both Fábio and I have been big fans of Mike Mignola's work for a long time and when he began Hellboy, it just blew our brains with his amazing style and perfect mix of fun story, great characters, amazing design and overwhelming use of black&white art.
It was a great honor to have worked with him on BPRD:1947.
So if you're a fan of the Hellboy universe as well, you'll be happy to know we're bringing original pages for SDCC next week! We have a bunch already with the folks at Beguiling and I'm sure they're bringing them all this to the show, but here's the new selection of pages (click on the pages to see a bigger version).



It's great to create characters that survive your story and move forward on their own. Ota, the priest we helped creating for this series, has new adventures of his own on the series Cameron Stewart is doing, called BPRD - Hell on Earth: Exorcism. Go check it out.

So if you're going to SDCC, stop by our booth (#1320) and check out all the original pages we have there, as well of all the amazing comics too, of course.

San Diego bound!

We had a wonderful time in London. The weather was incredibly sunny and everybody that we met were adorable. I joked I brought the sunny weather over from Brazil, but the warmth from the people was the nicest surprise of the trip. We certainly left wanting more, so thanks to all of you who we met, who we talked and who we touched during the past two weeks. The fact that I finished the very last page of Daytripper on my last day in London made the whole experience all the more special.



Now, the time has come again for that crazy thing (which I love) called SDCC. Many people are going, and once again we're excited and ready to rock it brazilian style. We'll share the same booth we had last year, booth #1320, with our usual pals Cliff Chiang (artist on the recent Greendale graphic novel) and Jill Thompson (the über talented artist of the recent Beasts of Burden series), and this year we'll be joined by Rafael Albuquerque (who's really showing some artistic skills on American Vampire) and Cris Peter (our colorist on our revitilized Casanova series).

We'll be there most of the time, signing books, selling copies of the new first issue of Casanova, and selling original art from series we've been working on, such as The Umbrella Academy, BPRD1947, DMZ and Sugarshock. Come around and look at all the lovely things everybody from our booth will have this time around.

Also, we'l be selling a limited signed giclée print that I made on our recent trip to Portugal, which comes in three sizes and looks like this:



Here's a detail. The prints come in small, medium and large sizes (come by the booth, they look sweet):



Our signings and panels schedule is quite full this time, jumping around all publishers we're currently working with. Here's the complete rundwon of where to find us when we're not at the booth:

Wednesday
6:60-7:30 - the EXCLUSIVE all-in Casanova signing with Matt Fraction, Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon

Thursday
11AM-12PM- PIXU signing with Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá at the Dark Horse booth
2-3PM - Signing at the DC booth
6PM - BPRD meet-up for BPRD members (at the Hilton Gaslamp - Terrace Foyer)

Friday
11AM-12PM - Signing at the DC booth
12-1:30PM - Hellboy and BPRD signing with Mike Mignola, Duncan Fegredo, Gabriel Bá, Fábio Moon and Patric Reynolds
5:30-6:30PM - Vertigo: on the Edge panel (room 6DE)

Saturday
11:15AM-12:15PM - Spotlight on Gerard Way with guests panel
1-2:30PM - Umbrella Academy signing with Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá (ticketed event: See Dark Horse employee for details)
3-4PM - Signing at the DC booth

Sunday
1:30-2:30PM - Signing at the DC booth

So, here we go again. I hope to discover a lot of new books, new artists, new people. This trip, for us, is always about discoveries. Are you ready?

July has begun with horror!

Our new enterprise into the helms of horror will hit the stores this week.

PIXU: Mark of Evil!, the collected, hardcover edition of our Harvey nominated mini-series done last year with Becky Cloonan and Vasilis Lolos. Beautiful book!
And BPRD: 1947 part 1 of 5, the dream of every cartoonist, working with Mike Mignola on the Hellboy-verse, and there're Vampires!

As the publishers start to announce their panels on the San Diego Comic Con, we start to have a notion of how busy (or not) the convention will be for us this year. Since we won't have a table anywhere, if you want to find us you better go to these panels.

So far, That's what we know:

Thursday, July 23rd:
- 6:00 -7:00 Vertigo New Ongoing Series/Crime Line
It's a new beginning for Vertigo with the launch of new ongoing titles such as The Unwritten, Greek Street & Sweet Tooth. In addition to these titles we will be launching the highly anticipated Vertigo Crime Line with some of the top talents in the industry. Hosted by Senior VP - Executive Editor, Vertigo, Karen Berger and Senior Editor Will Dennis, this panel is not to be missed, especially considering the talent present: Peter Gross (Unwritten), Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth, The Nobody), Jason Starr, Chris Gage, Gabriel Ba, Fabio Moon and others! Room 5AB

Friday, July 24th
- 5:30-6:30 Vertigo: View of the Future
Vertigo, DC's edgiest and most provocative imprint, returns to San Diego! Come and discover what's going on at the imprint that birthed The Sandman, Preacher, Y: The Last Man, Fables and more? Wait 'til you hear about what new projects the Vertigo team is going to thrill us with next! Hosted by Senior VP - Executive Editor, Vertigo, Karen Berger, Group Editor Shelly Bond, and Senior Editor Will Dennis, with Jason Aaron (Scalped), Mike Allred, Mark Buckingham (Fables), Josh Dysart (Unknown Soldier), Peter Gross (Unwritten), Amy Hadley (Madame Xanadu), Jeff Lemire (The Nobody), Chris Roberson, Matt Sturges (House of Mystery), Matt Wagner (Madame Xanadu), Bill Willingham (Fables, House of Mystery), G. Willow Wilson (Air), Brian Wood (DMZ, Northlanders), and others (that's us)! Room 5AB

Ther'll be the first ever, awesome Spotlight on Fabio Moon
Friday, JULY 24
12:30-1:30pm
ROOM 10

We'll have some signings as well, and we'll post them here closer to the event.

Why Comics? - part 2

Why Comics?

answers by:
Gerard Way (Eisner Award winner, writer of The Umbrella Academy);
Gabriel Bá (Multiple Eisner Award winner, brazilian storyteller, author of De:Tales, 5 and PIXU , artist of The Umbrella Academy and Casanova);
Dave Stewart (Multiple Eisner Award winner colorist of BPRD, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Cut, Hellboy, Lobster Johnson, The Umbrella Academy (Dark Horse); The Spirit (DC))