JMS at WonderCon Feb. 22-24

[Jan]

This post from the moderated newsgroup:

Title: Re: Attn JMS: WonderCon event schedule
Author: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2008 02:38:15 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <[email protected]4g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>


On Jan 27, 1:00 am, [email protected] wrote:
> Joe,
>
> Do you know yet what events you will be participating in at WonderCon
> in San Francisco and when they are scheduled?
>
> --Larry

On Friday and Saturday I'm signingn from 2-3, and I have a writing
seminar/talk on Friday at 4, and my spotlight is at 4 on Saturday.
More things may be added along the way but those are the key events.

jms

I'm going. Anybody else? http://www.comic-con.org/wc/wc_guests.php

Jan

[*Starstuff*]

Lucky you!
"... love to, can't really, next time."

[Jan]

Anybody else going to be there besides me and Jon?

Jan

[SmileOfTheShadow]

Looks like we're the only real fans Jan...the only ones who are willing to travel through rain..sleet...snow...to get to see JMS for an hour.....

Well, I just have to drive 30 minutes. But...still. The thought's the same.

[babylonlurker]

Looks like we're the only real fans Jan...the only ones who are willing to travel through rain..sleet...snow...to get to see JMS for an hour.....

Well, I just have to drive 30 minutes. But...still. The thought's the same.

I might have come - if it was not for the fact that I have to cross the "pond" (- and all the hassle of entering the country)

[Jan]

Well, I just have to drive 30 minutes. But...still. The thought's the same.

Mmm-hm. I'll remind you of that the next time he's on *this* side of the country and it's your turn to fly across it.

Jan

[Jan]

Looks like JMS is going to have some major announcements at the Con. See the Comics Forum for a post about his going non-exclusive with Marvel.

Jan

[SmileOfTheShadow]

Looks like JMS is going to have some major announcements at the Con. See the Comics Forum for a post about his going non-exclusive with Marvel.

Jan

Well here's to a Brand New Day with JMS!!!

[Jan]

Well here's to a Brand New Day with JMS!!!

Now how did I miss this when you first posted it?! I must've mercifully blocked it from my consious mind.

Drat! I just wrote a long, insightful post about yesterday and my computer blinked and it's lost.

Short version: JMS had an autograph session and his writing panel yesterday. There was a pretty good line for autographs but nothing near what I've seen sometimes in the past. The writing session was really good. All of the questions were serious and the answers could be helpful to people really wanting to write. JMS's first, main advice before he opened it to questions is "Finish what you write." Nobody tried to get announcements from him at the writing session as sometimes happens. Questions ranged from how to stay focused to plot vs character to how detailed a comic script should be in describing panels for the artist. The audience was pretty evenly split among aspiring prose writers, script writers and comics writers.

Today he'll have another autograph session and his Spotlight. The good news is that my recorder worked yesterday so I have hopes for today (I have some *really* poor luck with recorders) so I'll be able to transcribe all or part of these once I get home.

ETA: Here's a good report at Newsarama

Your intrepid on-the-spot reporter,

Jan

[*Starstuff*]

Jan, thanks for keeping us up to date! Enjoy the second day!

[Joe Nazzaro]

Jan, just out of curiosity, did you happen to see the girl wearing the 'cherish cat' smile? Would that have been somebody with a fixation on felines, or was just somebody trying to make a Lewis Carroll illusion and failing miserably? Either way, it made my day.

[Jan]

Joe, I'm assuming that the reporter meant 'Cheshire' cat smile so I think you're right about the allusion. I did see her but she sat behind me so it was after JMS started talking to her so I didn't see the smile itself. I think all JMS said was that she had a 'knowing' smile, like she already knew the answers he was giving.

Okay, folks...I've made a list of the things people have asked about in the past few days. Dunno if I'll have the chance to ask him but I've at least got the list.

Jan

[Shabaz]

Seems like JMS is moving to do work for DC. I'm fairly ignorant about the whole American comicbook thing to be honest, so not sure how to place that.

Besides his love of Superman, the only concrete thing mentioned with regards to JMS is that he hopes to do some B5 comics, and finally finish that B5 GN that been in the works for ages now. Which I am quite excited about.

[Jan]

Okay, folks, are you sitting down? Get comfortable, there's a lot to report... Ready?

I missed it but JMS did sit in on a DC panel. I only came in at the end and didn't hear of any projects.

At his spotlight session later, I was the first questioner and I asked the questions I'd been instructed to by the JMSnews folks:

- Book of Lost Souls: JMS is waiting on a determination on the status of this. The Icon line is sort of reserved as a prize for Marvel's exclusive writers.

- Dream Police: Ditto

- B5 comic with Wildstorm: JMS is looking to turn that in within a couple of months.

- Squadron Supreme: JMS decided to stop and regroup after he felt that he'd lost track of the story after the move to a team story rather than the focus on Hyperion. To be revisited later.

- Rising Stars Compendium: He doesn't know anything about it.

We now turn to the many other people who wanted to ask questions.

- Asked about more Lost Tales: No new word on more. JMS retold how WB had started talks for more but refused to accellerate the process, thinking that there wouldn't be a writer's strike. The good news is that WB is now starting to realize that they've really got something in B5 ('bout time!).

- Asked about working with DC: JMS didn't give any specifics on titles though he mentioned that people who know the characters who've influenced him will know what he's interested in (I'd guess that to definitely mean Superman).

- He does have a deal to write two creator owned titles for Image. One is called "Justice" and the other "Ten Grand".

- Now that the writer's strike is over he's got seven other feature films lined up, two of them genre from film and print. When asked for hints, he simply mentioned how nice it was that Ron Howard had acquired the rights to the "Lensman" series.

- JMS is starting his own production company named "And the Horse You Rode In On Productions". I believe that he's looking to bring "Midnite Nation" and "Rising Stars" into this company.

- World War Z, the adaptation that he's written from the Max Brooks bestseller is, if production goes as currently planned, slated to be a big tentpole production with a possible 100 million dollar budget.

- The Silver Surfer movie he's written will be an origin story which is why that wasn't in the FF movie.

- For Marvel, he's got two miniseries planned: one SubMariner and one Captain America.

- Asked if he might ever write an autobiography, JMS told of having begun the "JMS Historical Reclamation Project" a while back by asking fans for pictures of the many places he'd lived as a child and that he's begun writing an autobiography focusing on how, if he could become a success, anybody can.

- He continued on by pointing out that he never sits when doing his spotlights, hasn't for a long time. The reason for that is because you always stand when reporting to your superiors and that's those of us in the audience who he looks to to create the next great stories.

And that's pretty much it. It was a lot of fun, as usual, with JMS joking with the audience and teasing the questioners. If I find anything else when I review the tape of the session again, I'll be sure to post.

Jan

[raw_bean]

That's really great news, Shabaz! We've not even heard anything from JMS's spotlight yet, and already have some good B5 news.