If you’ve enjoyed the first three issues of iZombie even a little, I recommend picking up iZombie #4 next week. As good as Mike Allred and Laura Allred’s art in those first issues have been, it gets ridiculously good in issue 4, the chapter we’re calling “Magical Memory Tour.” And if you wanted a few answers about just what the heck is going on in Gwen’s world, this is the place to find them.

If you can’t wait until next week, the Vertigo blog Graphic Content has posted a few preview pages to whet your appetite.

I’m back from San Diego, having had the best experience at SDCC in the history of ever. Just a fantastic time. (The fact that I’m only now just beginning to recover is a sign that I had a very good time.)

One of the highlights of the show was sitting at the DC booth for an hour each day at the Vertigo signing table, meeting readers of Cinderella and iZombie, getting to talk to readers. The fact that DC had hung an enormous banner of Gwen from the cover to iZombie #1 didn’t hurt matters at all.

My sincerest thanks to everyone who stopped by and told me how much they’re enjoying iZombie. Thanks to everyone who came to the various panels and laughed at my jokes. And my sincerest thanks to Karina at the Bayfront Hilton’s Odysea Bar, who kept me well supplied with caipirinhas throughout the weekend.

One of the other real highlights of SDCC every year is the chance to meet so many talented creators whose work I’ve enjoyed for years. The chance to tell Paul Levitz what his LSH run meant to me, or Kurt Busiek how much I need a return of the Silver Centurions, or to tell younger creators like Ming Doyle or Mike Maihack or Kieron Gillen and on and on and on how much I’m looking forward to their new work–to me, that is what a comic-con should really be about. Comics, in other words. And despite all of the Hollywood nonsense and Hall H chaos and focus-group-tested pavilions and such, the fact that at the core of this ever expanding media convention we can still get together and talk about comics means I’ll keep coming back, year after year.

Oh, and did I mention that I had breakfast with Stan Lee…?

Tomorrow I leave town for San Diego (well, first for Duncanville, where Georgia will be staying with my folks, and then for San Diego at a ridiculously early pre-dawn hour on Wednesday). This is promising to be my busiest SDCC yet, but should be a lot of fun.

If anyone is interested in tracking me down at official functions, here is my list of panels and signings and such. Other than that, I should be holed up somewhere with a drink in my hand, probably at the Gaslamp Hilton during the daylight hours and at the Hilton Bayfront after dinner.

THURSDAY, JULY 22
12:00-1:00pm: SIGNING @ DC booth (#1915)
6:15-7:15pm: PANEL – Vertigo: The New Classics (Room 6A)
Evening: BOOM! Party @ Bayfront Hilton

FRIDAY, JULY 23
10:00-11:00am: PANEL – With Great Powers Come Great Stories (Room 32AB)
12:00pm: ROBERT E HOWARD LUNCH at the Gaslamp Hilton
4:00-5:00pm: SIGNING @ DC booth
5:30-6:30pm: PANEL – Vertigo: On the Edge (Room 6DE)

SATURDAY, JULY 24
4:00-5:00pm: SIGNING @ DC booth
6:45-7:45pm: PANEL – Fables Forum 2010 (Room 6DE)

SUNDAY, JULY 25
2:30-3:30pm: SIGNING @ DC booth

Apologies for the silent running the last few weeks, folks. Georgia has been in a three week day camp, and I had to get a lot of work done while I had the time. But now we’re back in full-on summer vacation mode… just in time to leave town for San Diego. I’ll post my schedule in a moment, but in the meantime feast your eyes on the loveliness that is Mike and Laura Allred’s cover to iZOMBIE #6.

This is my favorite issue of the series so far, and when people get a chance to read it I don’t think it will be hard to see why. I don’t think the full solicitations have appeared online yet, but the title should be enough to give you a clue — “I, Were-Terrier”.

Thanks are due to Topless Robot for pointing this fountain of awesomeness. The digital artists of the 3G Society are engaging in a bit of friendly competition, to see who can make the best tribute to the granddaddy of all CGI, Tron. And the results so far have been pretty fantastic.

Kiel Figgins‘s Tron Homage: Disk Battle:

Garrick Campsey’s tribute featuring a lightcycle race.

And here’s one not done for the competition, per se, but posted in the comments. It was a piece done by Green Grass Studios for the Dallas Mavericks.

Keep watching the 3G Society thread for more Tron-y goodness.

The third issue of iZombie is in stores next week, but if you can’t wait that long the Vertigo blog Graphic Content has a preview of the first few pages to whet your appetite.

I would totally buy this comic in a heartbeat.Bless Dean Trippe for imagining the awesomeness.

I have vague memories of hearing about this forthcoming show, but this is the first time I’ve actually gotten excited about it. I’ve raved about the work of animator and character designer Derrick Wyatt before, but today I’ve got him to thank for posting a preview of the upcoming Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated series on his blog.

Here’s how Wyatt describes the series:

“Meet Dale and Angie Dinkley! Barty and Nan Blake! Colton and Paula Rogers! And Mayor Fred Jones, Sr. Join the gang and their extremely disappointed parents for Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated, coming this July!”

And here’s the preview:

Check out more about the upcoming Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated at Cartoon Network.com, and watch for the series to start in July.

I’ve raved about the work of artist Jason Chalker on the Ramble before, but two new gems have popped up on Jason’s blog in the last few days that merit special mention.

Working backwards, I feel compelled to point out this fantastic mash-up between Big Daddy Roth and Big Trouble in Little China, the “Lo Pan Express.”

The image is avalable as a print, and would make a fine addition to the art collection of any discriminating home.

Next is an image that Jason posted a couple of days ago, promoting his forthcoming exhibit at the Amy’s Ice Cream on 6th Street in Austin.

Now, if you know Austin, you know that Amy’s Ice Cream offers some of the best ice cream on the planet, and starting July 1st the 6th Street location is also going to be putting on display the manliest of manly art I know, from the manly Jason Chalker himself. What do you have to lose?