Promote-O-Rama

This Wednesday: EARTHLIGHT, an original graphic novel by me and Chris Schons, hits comic shops. It tells the tale of 15-year-old Damon Cole, a newcomer to Earth's first moon colony, where his father is chief administrator and his mother is assigned to run the colony's first organized school. The colony is a dangerous place, vulnerable both to deadly accidents and to threats of terrorist attack -- which amplifies the usual teenage pressures until they explode violently.

Depending on my audience, I tend to describe EARTHLIGHT as as "Degrassi on the moon," "an updated Heinlein juvenile" or "a futuristic Afterschool Special with a really nasty twist." I'm very, very proud of it, and Chris's work brings both the characters and the tech vividly to life. You can read the first chapter here; more info here .

Also out this week: FIRESTORM THE NUCLEAR MAN #30, featuring Part Three of "In My Father's House." Twists and turns leading up to a big revelation, courtesy of me, Jamal Igle, Steve Sadowski, and Keith Champagne.

And finally: Jamal and I will be attending ICAF, the International Comic Arts Festival, this coming Saturday. We're doing a panel at 1:30 PM on the creation and production of a mainstream comic book, right before Phil Jimenez and Denny O'Neil speak about comics and politics. It's at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C., it's open to the public, and it's free. Other weekend attractions include an evening with Jules Feiffer and a variety of academic papers on various comics-related subjects. More info at the link.

As always, for longer, wordier versions of these notices, you can sign up for my email newsletter at stuartcomics at mindspring.com . I promise no spam, no passing your address along, and no Mark Foley-style midnight emails. In the Monster Force, pages are treated with respect (before being consumed for nourishment, of course).