129: a face full of chocolatey nougat.
Hullo.
I have an hour to kill at Heathrow before I fly off to NYCC, so let’s get this done. Big week, however you cut it.
And I’m Out
NYSee
Links
Byyyyeeee!!!
****
What’s out this week?
The final trade. Out this week in comic shops. It’ll be available next week in book shops.
I’ve said everything about this comic, because it is everything.
Thanks for reading.
DIE 8, which is where Stephanie turns things beautiful and Matt has a time.
And I believe this is the printing of Once & Future which should have sufficient copies for folks to grab.
*
We’re at NYCC this week, so here’s my schedule. Let’s hope I do this properly and accidentally don’t cut and paste the phone-number of everyone I’m having meetings with, eh?
Firstly – we’re not tabling. We’ve got a bunch of signings instead. So see folks there.
THURSDAY
11am - SigningTable #2, Autograph Hall
6pm – Signing at Midtown booth
FRIDAY
10am – Signing Boom Booth
11am: I Love You 3000: Managing Real Feelings about Fictional Characters (Room 1B03)
Panel about Parasocial relationships with fiction, which is basically Listen To Me Talk About Crying about Impactor From Transformers For an Indefinite Period.
12:15 - SigningTable #2, Autograph Hall
2:45 PM : Spine tingling comic book series perfect for Halloween (Room 1A02)
Image Horror panel!
6pm – Signing at Midtown booth
SATURDAY
10am – Signing Boom Booth
11:00 - SigningTable #2, Autograph Hall
2:45: A Spotlight on the bestselling, award winning series THE WICKED + THE DIVINE (1B03)
Panel! Er… clearly this will be a time. Katie is moderating, and she’s promising hard hitting questions, as if her wont.
6pm – Signing at Midtown booth
9pm: THE PARTY! Details are here. Party sold out its advance tickets, but it’s worth jumping on the waitlist. There will be some tickets available on the door, which I’d advise to arrive early on. We’re basically tied to capacity, so will be watching it carefully.
SUNDAY
11:00 - SigningTable #2, Autograph Hall
4pm Signing at Image Booth
And then I’m doing stuff afterwards too!
TUESDAY
Event at Newbury Comics, New York. Which one? At the time of writing, I am unsure, but I’m sure the shop will know.
WEDNESDAY
Event at Newbury Comics, Boston.
And then I will be very tired.
This was fun. Thoughty runs an interview with me about DIE RPG, which is the first time I think I’ve done a straight “I am a designer here” interview about the game as its own entity. It feels like the very first Phonogram interviews in that awkward laying-out-stall-for-those-who-know-me-not, and a slightly different cadence. I suspect if you read one interview on DIE RPG, this is the one to read.
Charles io9 interviews me about Once & Future. This was done at SDCC, as we made our way across the con floor, at speed, in an attempt to get to my next signing. As such, it’s me saying half sentences as we dance between passersby (plus being day three of the con, I think) and isn’t exactly me at my most coherent – plus for those who have read issue 2, you can likely see me side-stepping talking about what’s revealed there. I feel for Charles transcribing it, basically.
This week’s new Music Crush are Black Midi. I came in via Ducter which had me thinking “is this the Foals” within the first thirty seconds before rapidly becoming WHO THE HELL IS THIS?!??! 30 seconds later.
***
As said, I’m sitting here in a Café Nero seeing what I can write and upload before my flight is called. I’d normally save writing this for the flight, but it pushes getting it online until far too late in the day plus I want to attack Once & Future 6. It’s done in a skeletal first draft, but it’s a good chance to polish things up, assuming the person in front of me doesn’t decide to push the seat back instantly.
You may be correctly reading the subtext from the above – that I’m someone who doesn’t tend to actually use Wifi on the planes. It’s a blessed chance to get away from the Internet for a few hours, and concentrate on the work. I wish I kept a list of scripts and pitches I’ve written on a transatlantic flight, to see if I can see a thread there. The thread is likely “work done in a panic before a Con.”
Failing that, I may try to do an alignment grid meme of People’s Behaviour In The Security Queue. “Puts away their tray AND any trays other people have just left” – is it Neutral Good or Lawful Good? This is the sort of pointless ethical question one likes to chew over instead of (say) writing up the script you’ve meant to be doing.
As well as everything else, it was my birthday this week. 44, which is a relief in a small way – namely that the internet has been convinced I was 44 all this year, and now it’s not wrong in that annoying way. I’ll admit, I do like the idea that I’m 44 just as the last WicDiv trade drops, for magical “the last issue was 44” reasons.
I deliberately didn’t mention the Birthday to anyone, as I wanted it quiet. Birthdays tend to be a time where I get a bit sad, and then get over myself by the afternoon. This is normally related to the time when I start to eat a Toblerone, and things are rarely so bad when you have a face full of chocolatey nougat.
There may be a moral here. The moral may be “maybe if I mention Toblerone, they’ll send me a box of Toblerone?”
See folks in NYCC soon, where you will identify me as the white, bearded, bald comics guy who is standing by Jamie McKelvie.
Kieron Gillen
London
25.9.2019