You Can Only Get This At New York Comic Con

IT’S THAT TIMEof the year again: New York Comic Con. 

I just got back from a fantastic panel at Notre Dame, capping off my Long 9/11 Anniversary. NYCC is about as sharp a change of pace as there can possibly be. There’s a lot to say about the state of the world—Iran looks to be losing its grip over Hormuz; Pete Hegseth is empanelling an advisory group on the “future of warfare” led by Elon Musk, Anduril’s Palmer Luckey and Newt Gingrich, three men who’ve never heard a shot fired in anger and who will surely deepen the military’s dependence on what Sharon Weinberger calls the Valley of Death—but journalism will have to wait until after the convention. If you’re at NYCC, just come up to me and ask me about all this stuff.

Because I will be doing a lot at NYCC this week. 

Priority #1 for NYCC is to stoke interest in my upcoming ongoing series with Antonio Fuso at Boom! Studios, NO ONE ESCAPES THE DIALECTIC. (Podcast interviews about it: Mutant Studies 101, American Prestige, Pod Damn America, the FAQs Project. More on the way!) Our first issue won’t be out until November 4, but exclusively at NYCC, if you come by Boom’s booth while I’m signing, you can get an ashcan of our first shocking scene! And I will sign it for you! And whatever you do with it afterward, like selling it on the secondary market, is your business, not mine! 

(No one who’s attending NYCC needs to be told what an ashcan is, but for everyone else: it’s an early-release publication for promotion, on a very limited print run. Think of it as a dubplate for comics. [For Extreme Comics History Nerds, publishers used to run these to establish copyright on a title they wanted so nobody else could run offDetective Comicsreal quick before you went to press. They arethe ultimate variant cover.—Sam]

How do you get that ashcan? Or otherwise find me at the convention? Consult this edition for my schedule. You can also follow my Instagram account, @attackerman. I’ll have a grid post up there by the time you read this, and throughout the con, I’ll be posting refreshers on my story. 

2:00-2:30 p.m.: Signing at the Bulletproof Comics booth (#3906)

4:30-5:15 p.m.: Signing at the Boom! Studios booth (#3235) – ashcan available

3:00-3:45 p.m.: Signing at the Boom! Studios booth (#3235) – ashcan available

2:45 p.m.: Panel discussion: “Passing the Knife: How Horror Comics Tell the Truth.” Room 406.1 (North Building) Get ready for this, I’m on a panel with R.L. Stine, Christina Henry, my friend and comrade Julio Anta and Punko! 

3:45 p.m.- 4:45 p.m.: Panelist signing (alongside the aforementioned distinguished co-panelists), Hall 1A, Table #47 

Am I in Artist Alley this year? No. Am I doing any public appearances on Thursday? Also no. But did I mention that NYCC is the only, only, only time you’ll ever be able to get that limited-edition ashcan? 

I’m really excited for this. Not only do I badly need a break from journalism/the public-speaking circuit, seeing NO ONE ESCAPES THE DIALECTIC in print for the first time represents a small victory for me. A year ago, I walked into the Javits Center feeling low. My time on IRON MAN had ended and I had no offers from the Big Two. Instead I had a one-page treatment of a comic-book series I would own, one with the ambition of meeting the broader political and social moment head-on, that I was determined to get in front of editors. I sold this series at that convention. Now we’ll finally be able to give you a sample of what we’ve been developing. I can’t wait until you see it. 

Speaking of victories, thank you to the many, many of you who’ve taken us up on our offer of a year of FOREVER WARS in exchange for subscribing to NO ONE ESCAPES THE DIALECTIC at your local comic store. For you and our other paid subscribers, I’m going to give you an exclusive first look at another project of mine. If that’s not you, don’t you want to see? Come on, of course you do.