WIZARD WORLD CHICAGO COMIC CON

Hey there folks,

I'm about to depart for Wizard World Chicago Comic Con: http://wizardworld.com/comiccon/chicago

WIZARDWORLD CHICAGO COMIC CON
Donald E. Stephens Convention Center
5555 North River Road
Rosemont, IL 60018

Here's my schedule:

THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2016
03:00pm - 08:00pm - I'll be at BOOTH A31, where I'll be selling copies of my novels RAIN OF THE GHOSTS and SPIRITS OF ASH AND FOAM for $10 each. If you buy both, you get a free RAIN OF THE GHOSTS print, illustrated by Christopher Jones. I'll also be selling CD sets of the RAIN OF THE GHOSTS AudioPlay for $30 This is an unabridged four hour production with 20 actors (including Brent Spiner, Marina Sirtis, Ed Asner, Vanessa Marshall, Jim Cummings, Steve Blum and more), a full original musical score (by the composers of YOUNG JUSTICE and THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN) and sound effects. It's like a four hour movie in your head! Buy the CD set and you also receive a free print. If you ONLY want the print, it's $20. Plus I'll also be selling original Christopher Jones art prints of YOUNG JUSTICE and GARGOYLES for $20 each. Finally, I'll be selling copies of my animation scripts (from series including GARGOYLES, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN, YOUNG JUSTICE, STAR WARS REBELS and many others) for $20 each. All transactions are cash only. Signatures - if you bring something for me to sign - are FREE!

FRIDAY, AUGUST 19, 2016
BOOTH A31 12:00pm - 06:00pm

SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 2016
BOOTH A31 10:00am - 06:00pm

PANEL: WORDS INTO PICTURES: HOW TO WRITE COMICS 06:00pm - 06:45pm. ROOM 2.
Here's the description: Accomplished comics writers Greg Weisman (Gargoyles; Young Justice), Dean Haspiel (The Fox; Beef With Tomato), Jai Nitz (Dream Thief; El Diablo for Suicide Squad) and Danny Fingeroth (How to Create Comics From Script to Print; Spider-Man) talk about how to put together a compelling comics story. Plus, they'll answer your questions about both the creative and business sides of the comics writing profession, including how to find an artist to work with (hint: a comics convention is the number one place!) and how to write exciting dialogue!

SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2016
BOOTH A31 10:00am - 02:30pm

PANEL: TRIPLE DC ANNIVERSARY: FLASH, BATMAN & WONDER WOMAN 02:30pm - 03:15pm. ROOM 2.
Description: 2016 is a landmark year for three key comics characters. 75 years ago, WONDER WOMAN debuted in 1941, establishing herself as the first important female superhero! 60 years ago, in 1956, the modern FLASH first appeared, starting not only his own career, but ushering in what has come to be known as "The Silver Age of Comics!" And in 1966, 50 years ago, the BATMAN "camp" TV series debuted (starring Adam West and Burt Ward), marking what is seen as both a high and low point in the history of the character! Comics and animation writer/producer Greg Weisman (Young Justice; The Batman) and comics historian Danny Fingeroth (Superman on the Couch; Disguised as Clark Kent) take you on a slideshow-guided tour of the histories of the heroes and the highlights of their careers in comics, on TV and in the movies! Join the celebration! .

Hope to see you there!

Evil Geeks Podcast Fun!

Check out the latest podcast I did:

Website: https://evilgeeks.com/2016/08/01/ep-163-talking-toons-with-greg-weisman/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EvilGeeks/posts/1059457520816588

Bringing YJ Back

Here's a short primer on how fans can help to bring Young Justice back for a third season:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwoI2gSj1Sk

CONvergence 2016

I leave tomorrow for CONvergence 2016 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Okay, really Bloomington, MN, but close enough.) CONvergence is one of my favorite cons. And I have the honor of being their first fan-funded guest. Here's my schedule for the long weekend:

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 2016
GUEST RECEPTION 07:00pm - 09:00pm
Atrium 4

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2016
"Why Gargoyles is Still Relevant" 12:30pm - 01:30pm
Atrium 6 w/Christopher Jones, Patrick Fisher, Alana Profit, Chandra Reyer.

RADIO PLAY AUDITIONS 02:00pm - 03:00pm
Plaza 3 w/Christopher Jones.

"Physics of Time Travel" 03:30pm - 04:30pm
Edina w/Renate Fiora (m), Dan Berliner, Melanie Galloway, Jim Kakalios.

"Fancy Bastard Pie Competition" 08:30pm - 09:30pm
Garden Court - Southwest w/GPS.

FRIDAY, JULY 01, 2016
SIGNING 11:00am - 12:00pm
Autograph Table B.

RADIO PLAY AUDITIONS 12:30pm - 01:30pm
Plaza 3 w/Christopher Jones, Khary Payton.

"Writing by Ear" 02:00pm - 03:00pm
Bloomington w/Patrick Marsh (m), Emma Bull, Aimee Kuzenski, Jim McDoniel.

"Don't Call Them Sidekicks: The Enduring Power of Teenage Superheroes" 03:30pm - 04:30pm
Bloomington w/ Christopher Jones, Jessa Markert, Khary Payton, Sylus Rademacher.

"Drawing with the Masters" 07:00pm - 08:00pm
Plaza 2 w/Christopher Jones, Ruth Thompson.

"Why Diversity Needs to be Deeper than Marketing" 08:30pm - 09:30pm
Edina w/ Trisha Lynn (m), Kate Norlander, Jonathan Palmer, Dirk Ykema.

"Xanadu Cinema Pleasure Dome Live Podcast" 10:00pm - 11:00pm
Edina w/Windy Bowlsby, Melissa Kaercher.

SATURDAY, JULY 02, 2016
"Building Worlds for Fiction" 09:30am - 10:30am
Plaza 1 w/Michael Carus (m), J.M. Lee, Melissa Olson, Lynne M. Thomas.

"Why We Need Representation in Superheroes" 11:00am - 12:00pm
Edina w/ Christopher Jones, Bri Lopez Donovan, Khary Payton, Lynne M. Thomas.

RADIO PLAY REHEARSAL 12:30pm - 01:30pm
Atrium 6 w/ Christopher Jones, Jim Kakalios, Khary Payton and a cast of tens.

RADIO PLAY PERFORMANCE 02:00pm - 03:00pm
Atrium 6 w/ Christopher Jones, Jim Kakalios, Khary Payton and a cast of tens.

"Superficially Strong Female Characters" 05:00pm - 06:00pm
Edina w/ Crystal Huff (m), Kathryn Sullivan, Chrysoula Tzavelas, Joan Marie Verba.

"One on One with Christopher Jones" 07:00pm - 08:00pm
Edina (m) w/Christopher Jones.

ANIMATION BLUE 07:00pm - 08:00pm
Atrium 6 w/Christopher Jones, Lyda Morehouse, Khary Payton, Jenna Powers, Edmund Tsabard.

SUNDAY, JULY 03, 2016
YOUNG JUSTICE 09:30am - 10:30am
Atrium 6 w/Christopher Jones, Khary Payton.

SIGNING 11:00am - 12:00pm
Autograph Table B.

RAIN OF THE GHOSTS 12:30pm - 01:30pm
Edina.

READING 02:00pm - 03:00pm
Rm 2201.

ONE ON ONE 07:00pm - 08:00pm
Atrium 6 w/Melissa Kaercher.

Podcast

Here's a podcast and a half I did...

Here's the interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXwsojrctzM

...aaand here's the separate chunk of the interview all about how people can support YJ Season 3.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBvQTrBRAvI

Blather

It's that time again:

Blather
So in a tryce came the documentary depicting many a Chinese doll and also the three wise men (who may or may not have been kings) that needed sixty-two dollars between them to redeem the coupon, which offered up solace and not a little irony to anyone who hadn't yet seen the crew chewing on leaves that weren't tobacco, but might have been sage and still left horrible stains in the dirt floor of the lean-to where I left my ski poles after the overnight with the cranes that were kept on the lake domestically for the purpose of tourism but who could also speak Latin on occasion when prompted by offers of cheese or jerky -- though not just any jerky, it had to be salmon jerky -- which isn't always easy to come by when you've agreed to leave before closing on summer days in the springtime of your life, which has been known to last longer in people who aren't concerned about under-inebriation or over-intoxication or both: it's the balance which is everything when nothing else will do and no one else will participate in the extravaganza that's been created by the giant invisible flying monkey brain that is modern life in the Twenty-First Century, counting since the (approximate) birth of Christ -- as long as the lack of the number zero doesn't disturb your math sensibilities as, frankly, it does mine, though I like to think I've made peace with that and with the Skrull too, since I haven't picked up an issue of that book in about nine years, which wasn't an intentional or explicit act of cold turkey so much as a sliding away followed by a none-too-impressive epiphany -- far from the best epiphany I've ever had, say, compared to Tintagel or Lego, not to mention the birth of certain children, which couldn't get more personal than the zany antics of the semi-erotic flea circus, which used to travel the stars waiting for an invitation to land at your door, since you are the personal target of the extra-lunar probe that counted all the seahorses that Aquaman used to make the giant seahorse that he could actually ride, though no faster than he could swim himself on his own power -- and no, we're not talking Super Friends here, but something older, more primal, something that was born back when the Ptero-whatever streaked across the sky leaving behind contrails made not of smoke but of pure and unadulterated grace, a commodity in which we are sorely shy as a planet, and yet which we find in the most unlikley of places, including but not limited to contracts which dictate how we will interact with each other but do it in such a way that no normal human being could possibly wrap their heads around the language and internalize the meaning, which we declare to be progress or civilization and which is not meant as a criticism so much as a detachment of troopers marching on a hill that you wouldn't pay five ducats -- FIVE! -- to buy yourself, or so I told myself and Hamlet night after night, but now Hamlet is a Thief on FX and I haven't seen him face to face in over twenty years, which sometimes seems quite normal but sometimes blows me away, not that I want to move backwards at all, though I'm not sure that I'm truly moving forward and I'm convinced I'm not moving sideways, though the metaphor of the sidewinder is appealing, not in the cliché sense of something sinister and left-handed, though I do throw with my left hand, I can bowl just as badly with either hand, and even though I'm 42, I quite prefer to have bumpers instead of gutters, where the rain gets backed up and sometimes flows over the lip and creates leaks in the roof and drips, drips, drips down into the shiny metal bowl that's usually used for something much more pleasant like mixing cookie dough to create chewy wonderful ... well.. cookies (I mean "duh") that taste a little bit like home even when you are home and it is raining, or maybe ESPECIALLY when you are home and it is raining and the water overflows and the ocean fills and the giant seahorse peaks out and winks at the cranes, which is exactly what the documentary crew was hoping to capture when they first took out their cameras and shot the whole thing from three different angles across six different days and still never saw the giant invisible flying monkey brain, because it was, to put it mildly, invisible.

Wizard World Sacramento Comic Con

Here's my schedule for Wizard World Sacramento Comic Con. Note that all panel blurbs come from the official website: http://wizardworld.com/comiccon/sacramento

WIZARDWORLD SACRAMENTO, June 17-19
Sacramento Convention Center
1400 J Street
Sacramento, CA 95814

FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 2016
03:00pm - 06:45pm - SIGNING at BOOTH A5
I'll be selling copies of my novels RAIN OF THE GHOSTS and SPIRITS OF ASH AND FOAM for $10 each. If you buy both, you get a free RAIN OF THE GHOSTS print, illustrated by Christopher Jones. I'll also be selling CD sets of my RAIN OF THE GHOSTS AudioPlay for $30 This is an unabridged four hour production with 20 actors (including Brent Spiner, Marina Sirtis, Ed Asner, Vanessa Marshall, Jim Cummings, Steve Blum and more), a full original musical score (by the composers of YOUNG JUSTICE and THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN) and sound effects. Buy this and you also receive a free print. If you ONLY want the print, it's $5. Finally, I'll be selling copies of my animation scripts (from series including GARGOYLES, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN, YOUNG JUSTICE, STAR WARS REBELS and many others) for $20 each. All transactions are cash only. Signatures - if you bring something for me to sign - are FREE!

07:00pm - 07:45pm - 25 YEARS OF DISNEY'S DARKWING DUCK! (ROOM 104)
That's right... it's been 25 years since the terror that flaps in the night, Darkwing Duck, first appeared in a cloud of smoke on television screens, as part of Disney's beloved programming block, the Disney Afternoon! In celebration of this milestone anniversary, the masked mallard, Launchpad, Gosalyn, and all DW's villains have returned in an all-new comic series from Disney Comics, and publisher Joe Books! Join comic creators Aaron Sparrow and James Silvani as they discuss the road it took to get here, as well as what's next for the terror that flaps in the night! Moderated by Gargoyles creator Greg Weisman.

SATURDAY, JUNE 18, 2016
10:00am - 05:45pm - SIGNING at BOOTH A5
Selling and signing. Stop by to make a purchase or just to say hello.

06:00pm - 06:45pm - A CREATIVE LIFE: SPOTLIGHT ON COMICS AND ANIMATION WRITER AND PRODUCER (GARGOYLES, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN, YOUNG JUSTICE) GREG WEISMAN (ROOM 104)
Greg Weisman has had-and continues to have-an incredible career as writer, producer, executive and editor for countless comics (including Captain Atom, Star Wars Kanan and Starbrand and Nightmask) and cartoons (including Gargoyles, The Spectacular Spider-Man, Young Justice and Star Wars Rebels). He's also a prose novelist (Rain of the Ghosts and Spirits of Ash and Foam), whose latest work-World of Warcraft: Traveler-is due out in November. Today, Greg talks about his career and how he got to work on so many cool projects. Danny Fingeroth (The Stan Lee Universe; Deadly Foes of Spider-Man) moderates.

SUNDAY, JUNE 19, 2016
10:00am - 01:45pm - SIGNING at BOOTH A5
Selling and signing. Stop by to make a purchase or just to say hello.

02:00pm - 02:45pm - GARGOYLES - WE LIVE AGAIN! (ROOM 203)
Twenty years after new production ceased, the groundbreaking Disney animated television series Gargoyles still has a massive and loyal fan following. Come hear series creator Greg Weisman talk about the history of Goliath, Demona, Xanatos and the rest with Joe Books' Aaron Sparrow. Plus - spoilers! - find out what's next for everyone's favorite Defenders of the Night!

03:00pm - 03:45pm - SIGNING at BOOTH A5
Selling and signing. Stop by to make a purchase or just to say good-bye.

OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL 2016

Really had a great time all last week at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon.

Went up with my dad, daughter, son and a couple of friends. We saw eight plays in four days, and every single one was - at minimum - highly enjoyable. And some just blew me away.

We saw:

Great Expectations
Roe
Twelfth Night
The Wiz
The River Bride
The Winter's Tale
Vietgone
Hamlet

Some truly amazing work. Plan on going back in September to see the three plays we missed: Yeomen of the Guard, Richard II, Timon of Athens.

Toonami Squad Podcast

Toonami Squad podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV9GjwtrQpI

A History of Disney Television Animation, Volume One

I've contributed to this worthy Kickstarter. I thought some of you might want to also: http://kck.st/1WRcqGd