There will be no post today, as the DC offices are closed and I’m heading to Saratoga for the races! Be back on Monday.

While you’re waiting, here’s a photo I took of a few Fables fans at the San Diego Comic Convention.

Amanda (Rose Red), Matt (Bigby) and Chris (Flycatcher)

Some amazing images from CINDERELLA: From Fabletown with Love by Chris Roberson and artist Shawn McManus with covers by Chrissie Zullo were revealed at the FABLES panel at the San Diego Comic Convention, and now you’re able to see them for the first time here.

Cover of #1

From issue #2

From issue #3

I’ve read the first issue and have to say, for those of you who’ve been wanting more of Cindy since her undercover work to the cloud kingdom and her trip to Ushuaia, Argentina to pick up a “package” are in for quite an adventure. And as for visuals, well, the opening of issue #1 contains a 2 page spread of Big Ben and Cindy in a cocktail dress and heels that’s stunning!

And here’s the cover of #2

Do you know who the mysterious man is? Are they both undercover spies?

By now, you’ve heard the news out of San Diego: Indie star Matt Kindt (Pistolwhip, Super Spy, 3 Story) will make his Vertigo debut with the graphic novel REVOLVER in August 2010. It’s a surreal thriller about an ordinary guy living in two wildly different realities, gradually realizing he alone has the power to avert the series of apocalypses that’s destroyed one world, yet finding himself freer and more alive there than he ever was in the other. (Check out this design sheet, which I think says it all.)

My first introduction to Matt’s work was Mephisto and the Empty Box, his one-shot comic with Pistolwhip collaborator Jason Hall about a magic trick gone heartbreakingly wrong. I fell completely for his loose, gorgeous art and cinematic storytelling in just 24 pages. Now I’ve had the pleasure of working with him on 192 of ‘em.

I’m not just in it for the art, though. Matt’s the dean of what I call the St. Louis School of Speedsters. Like his fellow Missourans Chris Samnee and Brian Hurtt, he’s insanely fast and prolific. I believe Matt squeezed in three 8-pagers, the last bits of another 200-page graphic novel, and one 32-page minicomic for other publishers, all while wrapping up REVOLVER. And REVOLVER is wrapped up — I’m staring at it right now as I type this. All 192 pages of beautiful, creepy, thrilling, deeply moving blue-and-brown-toned magnificence. Done. Finished. In your hands in 2010. Heartbreakingly cool. Like magic, really.

Highlights from the past week:

MARKETPLACE/American Public Media spoke with Josh Dysart about his Eisner Award Nominated series UNKNOWN SOLDIER. Listen and then watch the video.

CBR covered both the Vertigo Ongoing Series/Crime Panel and the Vertigo Panel from San Diego Comic Con.

IGN covered the FABLES panel and all of the exciting announcements from San Diego Comic Con.

While the exclusive one-sheet handed out at the FABLES panel that foreshadows future FABLES events can be seen on IGN, Robot 6/CBR, and COMICS ALLIANCE.

And CBR spoke with Chris Roberson and Mike Allred about their new series I, ZOMBIE.

There will be no post today.

I’m recuperating from SDCC by heading to the famous San Diego Zoo and then it’s back to NYC.

Please check in tomorrow for highlights from the convention.

For all you Bill Willingham fans, today is all about Bill: master storyteller and sometime artist. The panel begins at noon. I hope to see many of you there.

For those of you who couldn’t make it to the show or if you missed any of the DC COMICS panels, or, you just want to relive the experience again, you can find photos, podcasts from the panels, and other information, here.

As always, THE FABLES FORUM was a full of fun and fan interaction as Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Matthew Sturges, Steve Leialoha, Lee Loughridge, Shawn McManus, Andrew Pepoy, Chris Roberson, Chrissie Zullo and Todd Klein discussed all things FABLES.

The major announcement today is that Bigby Wolf will be the protagonist of his very own ogn. Fables: Werewolves in the Heartland an original graphic novel written by Bill Willingham with art by Jim Fern. Bigby Wolf takes center stage in an action packed story full of sex, violence, intrigue and daring escapes, as he sets out on a quest across the US to find a new location for Fabletown.

And for those in attendance a special one sheet Fables story written by Willingham with art by Mark Buckingham was handed out.

What? You wish you could read that story?

Well, for the first time EVER you can.

As Willingham himself puts it,”In the past two years we’ve handed out one-page Fables comics at the San Diego show that were basically throwaway gag pages. For the first time we decided to go the other way and do a serious, very dramatic Fables story, one that has far-reaching consequences for the series to follow. This one-page comic hints at what the second hundred issues of Fables will all be about.”

Here it is. ENJOY!

For those of you who couldn’t make it to the show or if you missed any of the DC COMICS panels, or, you just want to relive the experience again, you can find photos, podcasts from the panels, and other information, here.

At last night’s 2009 Eisner Awards Vertigo won in a couple of categories:

Best Cover Artist James Jean for FABLES and Dark Horse’s The Umbrella Academy
and Best Writer Bill Wllingham for FABLES

So there will be plenty of celebrating at today’s panel!

I hope you’re enjoying the show!

Today’s Vertigo Voices: The Fables Forum is at 4:45 pm. I hope to see many of you there. If you can’t make it, check back at 5:45 pm to find out what happened.

Also, stop by the DC COMICS booth and pick up a special edition of FABLES issue #1 which includes a preview of the first chapter of PETER & MAX: A Fables Novel.

Two Graphic Novels were announced at today’s panel:

From Mat Johnson, award winning novelist and author of the highly acclaimed Vertigo graphic novel INCOGNEGRO, and artist Simon Gane comes DARK RAIN, an uncompromising portrait of the life and death of the American city. Johnson uses the setting of New Orleans and the aftermath of hurricane Katrina intertwined with a suspenseful bank heist to explore social issues with a page-turning plot.

Sam, a 20-something living in Seattle, wakes up one morning to a world where things are out of control—the stock market has crashed, there’s a bird-flu epidemic in Asia and radioactive material has gone missing in Russia. Next, Sam wakes up and the world is fine. REVOLVER, written and illustrated by Eisner Award nominated Matt Kindt, is a tale of two realities and how they both test Sam’s limits until he makes a move that changes his path forever.

And Vertigo rolled out more details on I, ZOMBIE the upcoming new series that was originally announced here on Graphic Content last week:

Written by Chris Roberson and with art by Michael Allred, I, ZOMBIE is the story of Gwendolyn “Gwen” Dylan a 20-something gravedigger in an eco-friendly cemetery. Once a week she must eat a human brain to keep from losing her memories, but in the process she becomes consumed with the thoughts and personality of the dead person until she eats the next one. With a posse of vampires who play paintball, a smitten weredog, a swinging 60s ghost and a sexy but demented mummy, Gwen ‘zombie girl detective’ sets out to fulfill the dead person’s last request, solve a crime, or right a wrong.

And here are the covers to the new 6 issue mini-series JOE THE BARBARIAN (sorry, I mistakenly wrote 3 issue last week) and CINDERELLA: From Fabletown With Love:

For those of you who couldn’t make it to the show or if you missed any of the DC COMICS panels, or, you just want to relive the experience again, you can find photos, podcasts from the panels, and other information, here.