Dreamspinner Press author Ethan Stone recently went on a wild Las Vegas vacation with his friends Dawn and Laura, and while he was there, he and Laura decided to get tattoos. What design did Mr. Stone choose to adorn his shoulder? None other than the Mark of Aeacus!

Needless to say, Mark Brill and I are flattered beyond measure, and are putting a Northwest Press gift package together to send to Ethan to reward his loyalty. (I can only hope that he doesn’t start to develop supernatural powers and become a homicidal vigilante…)

Ethan’s latest book is called Flesh and Blood:

When a local man is attacked and the suspect is a hustler, Cristian knows there’s more to the case than meets the eye. His investigation will lead him into a maze of lies, deceit, and underage prostitution. But that’s only the beginning as people start disappearing and turning up dead. Cristian begins to realize that solving the case and stopping the murders won’t be enough. If he wants to make his new life with lawyer Colby Maddox work, he’ll need to face the demons of his past and put them to rest once and for all.

Check out more of Ethan Stone’s published work on the Books page of his website!

MYTH creator Sean-Z was kind enough to model the shirts while I was visiting him down in L.A. for Bent-Con. Be like Sean! Order a MoA t-shirt today!

I’d been tending to a lot of things over the last few weeks, trying to complete a lot of projects in time for Comic-Con in San Diego. I didn’t finish and bring everything I’d been working on, but it was still an amazing lineup of neat stuff.

I saw the Teleny and Camille books in person for the first time on Thursday, and they look stunning. I was hoping that the cover would turn out as lustworthy as Jon’s graphic novel, and I wasn’t disappointed. Visitors to the Prism Comics booth snapped them up, and I got complimentary copies into the hands of a lot of people whose work I admire. The book is available right now through Last Gasp and soon through some other distributors, and will be in Diamond’s September Previews catalog. Ask for it at your local shop!

In addition to pushing Teleny at the Prism booth, I was able to promote the book on an all-star panel on the 23rd annual Gays in Comics panel, moderated by Andy Mangels. It was also during that panel that Geoff Johns asked me if he could keep my sample copy of The Mark of Aeacus #2. (What was I going to say? “No”?)

Yes, the second big project was the long-awaited second installment of the erotic vigilante book that Mark Brill and I co-create. There were a few hundred copies of MoA #2 waiting for me at the hotel when I checked in, and they looked gorgeous. In addition to the first and second book and the t-shirts, I also ordered up some temporary tattoos with the Mark on them, and was branding people right and left with them all weekend. (I’m not quite ready for a permanent Mark on my neck…)

I also brought a companion volume, The Myth of Aeacus, which is an illustrated storybook recounting the Greek mythology that the modern story is rooted in. The book is drawn by none other than multiple Eisner Award winner Eric Shanower, and it’s beautiful.

Both books will be available shortly on the Prism Comics website and also here. (If you buy them from me, I’ll toss some tattoos into each order. Mythic powers await!)

The next big project was a brand new t-shirt for Glamazonia, the Uncanny Super-Tranny, Justin Hall’s superpowered heroine. The bold orange shirts were a big hit, as was the new minicomic, Glamazonia: JFKiller, which we printed up especially for the show. The mini features a story from the forthcoming Glamazonia collection from Northwest!

While I was hawking Glamazonia products, the Prism booth was visited by none other than Kids in the Hall‘s Scott Thompson, who was promoting his forthcoming Danny Husk graphic novel project. We’re best friends now.

There was a lot more going on at the show, including demos of a new app for the iPad, but I have to keep a few mysteries to keep things spicy. More news very soon!

Class Comics and Northwest Press are co-publishing the second installment of The Mark of Aeacus, which will be debuting at Comic-Con International in San Diego next month. This issue reveals the secret origin of the strange powers that Jack has been given, and introduces a mysterious foe determined to put an stop to the Bearer’s brutal brand of justice.

The cover’s just been finalized, and I’m letting you lucky folks take a peek…

Marc Andreyko came by the Prism booth with a big grin on his face, holding a small, black “1 Year Later” sketchbook. He said that all of the DC folks had gotten these sketchbooks when DC launched that event in 2006 but, as a writer, he didn’t really know what to do with it. He decided to get Manhunter sketches.

The latest piece to grace the pages of the book was this one by Ethan Van Sciver. Hardly a sketch, it’s a real work of art!

Sina Grace came by a few times during the weekend to mix and mingle and to sign copies of Books with Pictures and Cedric Hollows in Dial M for Magic. The boy is a fashion plate, a flirt, and a heck of a lot of fun!

I wish I had some more exciting pictures to share with you of Prism’s social event at the Pilsner Inn on Saturday night, but I was too focused on hearing about new projects and enjoying cocktails and mingling with all the queer nerds. It was quite a successful event; we filled the place up!

A bunch of us headed next door to Chow to get some dinner (I’d been eating nothing but snacks and Vitamin Water all day and was ready for something with more nutritional content than beer) and saw this interesting sight outside.

Stefan Salinas came by with a brand new book, a thick, elaborate graphic novel called Within the Rat, and he wore his rat chapeau in celebration of it.

Kenne Morrison is the writer of a new series called Night Patrol, which he signed and sold at the Prism booth on Sunday.

I did a few TV interviews for news outlets that escape me, and on Sunday I called in to record a podcast episode with my dear, queer pals the Comic Book Queers. We talked about digital comics, upcoming new Mark of Aeacus books, and Prism Comics. Time flew by; before I knew it we’d talked for a whole hour and the show was almost over!

When the final bell rang, we packed it all up and shipped it out. All in all, the best WonderCon that Prism Comics has had to date, and certainly something I’ll look forward to again next year.

I’m waiting in the iPad line at the San Francisco Apple Store, so I’ve got some time to share some tidbits about how the first day of WonderCon went.

As always, I spent almost all of my time at the Prism Comics booth. It’s like the queer comics drop-in center at every con, so the con pretty much comes to me. Convenient!

Storm came by to sign copies of his minicomic Princess Witch Boy, which was sprinkled with a hint of glitter and faerie magic.

I stepped in for an absent Patty Jeres to moderate the “Queers, Comedy and Camp” panel, featuring Joey Alison Sayers, Ed Luce, Sean Seamus McWhinny, Rick Worley and Brian Andersen. I asked the crowd to help me take a new Grindr photo to replace the censored Iron Man one. Just to be safe, I had them say “bible study” instead of “cheese” to make it extra wholesome.

At the end of the panel, I got to make the announcement that the recipients of the Queer Press Grant this year were Ed Luce and Eric Orner. See how happy he is here? Or maybe that’s just lack of sleep catching up with him.

Robert Triptow stopped in to sign and sell copies of Gay Comix and regale us with tales of his adventures over the past year. He had to fly in this year, because he moved up to Oregon, and was obviously happy to be back in town. I know the feeling! I love Seattle, but SF always feels like home when I come back.

Jeff Krell was here promoting his Jayson books and translations of Rälf König comics. His latest book, Jayson Goes to Hollywood, is a convention favorite and is already sold out here! I’d recommend heading to his website and ordering a copy or you might miss out.

Jon Macy showed up at the con with not one but two gorgeous graphic novels: Teleny and Camille and Fearful Hunter. Teleny is an adaptation of an anonymous erotic novel reportedly written by Oscar Wilde and his circle, and Jon’s produced a masterpiece. Hunter is the first in a series of fantasy romance/erotica stories with druids, werewolves and all kinds of freaky and awesome stuff.

The only other booth I made it to was the Hungry Tiger Press booth, to check in on Eric Shanower and David Maxine. Turns out they drove up from San Diego for the show this time, so they were running on fumes, but still managing to entertain visitors with tales of Greek warriors and the magical land of Oz.

Adorable overload! Justin Hall brought this Wonder Bear shirt to the con and it was an immediate favorite. It’s apparently part of a line of bear images including a bear luchador and a “cowbear”. If this shirt was any cuter I think my head would explode. Want!

That’s about all for Friday. Saturday was off the charts! I’ll write some about that tomorrow.