Spidey Sense

So, the new Ultimate Spider-man will be making his (?) debut this week!

I really like the Ultimate Spider-man series... it's one of the only superhero books I still read. It's been written by the same guy (Brian M. Bendis) since it first launched back in 2000, and it's been so consistently enjoyable that whole time that I am willing to trust him when he does something as potentially infuriating as (supposedly) murdering and replacing his main character. I am excited to see who this new person behind the mask is, with their terrible homemade costume and goofy kneepads and apparent exhaustion after a single fight. (Are we getting a Spider-man with no powers? Is that where the black suit that they will eventually be wearing is going to come in?)

But even more than that, I'm just excited to see more Spider-man art from Sara Pichelli, who is going to draw the hell out of this book. You can see some of her art for the book in those two links above. (AKA: here and here.) Gorgeous!

Thanks for all the good health wishes over the weekend! I'm still not back at 100 percent yet, but I'm getting there. Come back on Wednesday for more exciting illness updates! (And also a new comic or something.)

-Sam Logan

Awkward cough

I'm sorry, team! I was really looking forward to doing some serious Q and A today -- I got some great questions last week! -- but sadly, good vibes are not the only thing I brought home from Comic-con. I've been running a fever all day, and am generally only managing to stay awake for a couple of hours at a time.

So please enjoy today's comic, while I rest up! I will do a mega-round of Q and A next week when I'm back at full strength.

-Sam Logan

PS: Also, please keep emailing and tweeting me your photos of your books and sketches! I've been getting them all week, and I gotta tell you, there's almost nothing that makes me feel better.

Post San Diego Thought Times

There was something a little different about San Diego this year. The show is traditionally the most gruelling convention of the year -- five 13+ hour work days in a row, in a completely packed convention hall. It's a non-stop rush of activity: meeting people, scrambling from place to place, meeting even more people, building things up, taking them back down, boxing, unboxing, working, cabbing, eating, partying... pretty much everything except sleeping. You're always glad you came, but by the time you head home, you feel like you're ready to crash into a coma for a week.

All that was still true this year. But this time, it didn't wear on me quite as hard as usual. There was just something about being there, in a sweet booth full of friends, all of them incredible artists, all of them getting to do what they love, that makes a guy feel lucky. There I was, sitting behind two books with my name on them, meeting readers who have supported me for years and new folks willing to take a leap-of-faith and take home a comic they were only seeing for the first time. It was a awesome thing to be a part of. Long, draining, exhausting... but awesome. Thank you so much to my friends in Topatoco, my webcomics comrades, and to all of you for making Comic-Con -- my entire comics career, really -- a reality. By comparison, my contribution seems pretty tiny.

-Sam Logan