2006 Comic-Con pics

As promised...


Win Eckert - book signing




Win Eckert - Wold Newton panel




Chuck Loridans - Wold Newton panel




John Small - Wold Newton panel





Brad Mengel - Wold Newton panel





Pete Coogan - Wold Newton panel






Last copy





Family affair





The gang

2006 Comic-Con report

Where to start...?

At the beginning! Lisa, Andrew, and I arrived Monday night and spent the day Tuesday at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Very hot, but we had a great time.

Brad Mengel got in Tuesday night, but understandably was too exhausted from traveling the better part around the world, so we met up with him for breakfast on Wednesday morning. Dennis Power arrived a few hours later and we had a great time chatting and getting to know each other.

Later we made our way over to the Con itself to pick up our badges and get ready for Preview Night. We met up with Henry Covert and Rachel, and the “getting to know you” continued. Eventually Chuck Loridans, John Small and Family, and Pete Coogan arrived. We also bid our greetings to Chris Roberson of MonkeyBrain Books and solidified the plans for the Myths for the Modern Age book signing the next day.

Dinner was had and Wold Newtonry was discussed! Various permutations of this group of folks met for breakfast and dinner on Thursday (including late arrivals Chris Carey, his pal Karl Kauffman, and their very nice writing colleague, tcastleb) over the next few days, so I won’t bore everyone with that.

The Wold Newton panel kicked off the Comics Arts Conference presentations, and went well. In fact, there’s a nice report on it here.

From there was the Myths signing, and we sold all the copies that MonkeyBrain brought to San Diego.

After that, our time was our own, and we spent long hours discussing our various Wold Newton projects and theories, other writing projects, and Philip José Farmer.

Along the way I picked up the first new Shadow pulp reprint, signed stock of Tarzan Alive at the Bud Plant booth, picked up some beautiful prints of The Shadow by the legendary Steranko (who also signed them, and is a very nice man), chatted briefly but productively with Joe Gentile of Moonstone Books, picked up some very cool pulp magazines, attended a panel on thriller writing (featuring Paul Malmont, who also signed my copy of The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril, and Max Allan Collins, among others), attended the Lost panel (which had some great meta-fictional moments, including a "protester" accusing the show and its creators of fronting for the very real, evil, Hanso Foundation), hung out with Jason Robert Bell and the other great folks at Caveman Robot, and the panel featuring the legendary Forry Ackerman, Ray Harryhausen, and Ray Bradbury.

By far the best part, though, was hooking up with old pals and making new friends. The panel and signing would never have come off without their help, so I'd be remiss if I didn't thank Chris Carey for putting together some very nicely done flyers to promote the Wold Newton panel session; his pal Karl Kauffman for handing out said flyers at the door; Brad Mengel for bringing us all some truly invaluable shoulder bags emblazoned with the word "Pulp" for hauling stuff around; Chuck Loridans, John Small, Brad Mengel, and Pete Coogan for helping put together a great presentation (and for traveling from around the world to give it!); my wife Lisa for setting up the computer at the panel session while I was scurrying around, and for taking pics; Lisa's son Andrew for running the video camera and doing a great job of it; Henry Covert and Rachel Kadushin, John's family (Melissa, Joshua, and William), Dennis Power, Jason Robert Bell (Caveman Robot!), Karl Kauffman, tcastleb, and Chris Carey for showing up at the panel and lending much-needed support; and Chris Roberson for holding the book signing afterwards.

It was a great time and I’m hoping to see everyone again soon. I still haven’t got my Con pics ready, but I’ll post those next.

Win Scott Eckert.com

It's still a little buggy, but the bugs should be resolved in a few days, so I'll go ahead and roll out my new writing website, Win Scott Eckert.com. Anyone inclined to link to it, the URL right now is http://www.winscotteckert.com/Index.htm, but in a few days plain old http://www.winscotteckert.com/ will work.

The syndicated blog feeds may take a few more days beyond that, so ignore those for the time being.

I could have waited, but I'll be buzzing around this weekend and preparing to depart for the San Diego Comic-Con on Monday.

Anyway, anyone who feels like it, I'll much appreciate a link. And I'll be happy to reciprocate once I figure out how to update the damn pages myself. ;-)

Props for TALES OF THE SHADOWMEN...

... from no less than Michael Moorcock. Start on page 1 and continue through page 7.

Standout quotes: "I think the Shadowmen titles are great and a good way in to French pulp... Probably the best kept secret in publishing." He also says he's interested in participating in a future volume.

Hey, I have no idea if he liked (or even remembers) my particular stories or not. But when you have guys like Robert Sheckley, Brian Stableford, and Kim Newman involved, and Michael Moorcock interested... well, it can't be a bad thing to be associated with the Tales of the Shadowmen.

SanDiego Comic-Con - Wold Newton panel and book signing

Thursday, July 20th, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
Comic Arts Conference Session #1: Myths for the Modern Age — In the tradition of Philip José Farmer's famous hoax biography Tarzan Alive, contributors to Myths for the Modern Age: Philip Jose Farmer's Wold Newton Universe (MonkeyBrain Books) present their parascholarship with a straight face, treating comic book as the reports of the adventures of real-life people. Win Eckert ("Foreword," Tarzan Alive) brings forward evidence to show that DC Comics' Doc Savage series of the 1990s, dismissed by many scholars because of numerous inconsistencies, in fact portrays events from Doc Savage's life consistent with the original pulp super-sagas. Brad Mengel settles the longstanding question of the Man of Bronze's true family name—"Savage" as asserted in the pulps, or—"Wildman" as Farmer revealed in Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. Chuck Loridans reveals evidence recently uncovered from the files of Richard Henry Benson (aka The Avenger) that suggests that the Jungle Lord may have sired two daughters, Modesty Blaise and Nellie Gray. John Small presents a compelling case that the woman known as Vampirella was born Anita Santiago and adventured with Zorro as Lady Rawhide. Peter
Coogan (Superhero: The Secret Origin of a Genre) pulls the curtain back and discusses the principles of Wold-Newtonry employed in the essays. Room 7B

After the Comic Arts Conference Wold Newton panel session, we'll be at the MonkeyBrain Books booth (F1) for a signing for my book, Myths for the Modern Age: Philip Jose Farmer's Wold Newton Universe.
Thursday, July 20th, 12:30-1:30 p.m.

If anyone reading this will be there, please drop by, I'd love to see you.

Lance Star, Sky Ranger

Wild Cat Books has announced it will soon begin a series of pulp anthologies made up of all new stories focusing on one specific, classic pulp hero. The brainstorm of editor Ron Fortier, the first volume will star LANCE STAR, SKY RANGER in four brand new tales by pulp experts and writers Bobby Nash, Bill Spangler, Frank Dirscherl and me. The book features three beautiful black and white spot illustrations per story, and a brand new cover painting by graphic artist, Rich Woodall. Coming July 2006 from Ron Hanna's Wild Cat Books!

Here is Rich Woodall's portrait of Lance Star.


I'm very pleased to be involved in the Lance Star project. My story, "Shadows Over Kunlun," deals with the search for a long-lost Great War air ace, and takes Lance and his Sky Rangers to San Francisco and Tibet. If you're unfamiliar with Lance Star, he's a long-forgotten air hero whose adventures were briefly published in Canadian pulps in the 1930s.

As you can see from the book cover, this is a class-act group of talent, and I'm honored to be a part of it.