Tales of Syzpense #89
San Diego Comic-Con Photo-Journal, SDCC panel recaps, the Summer of Spinner Racks, and more!
What better way to kick off a recap of the early days of this year’s San Diego Comic-Con than this new, and very positive, review of our recent comic-con-related release, Dread the Hall H!
With tongues firmly in cheek, [Ryall] and Jordan Hart have crafted horror tales centered on Hall H to mordantly hilarious effect.” — from Fanboy Planet’s review of Dread the Hall H
The full review is here.
And now, on with the show!
Thursday, July 24
I sat on two panels today, and I think we made some nice noise with the first one, both confirming and correcting some recent rumors:
10:00AM – 11:00AM ABRAMS: MARVEL LICENSED PUBLISHING
Creators Dan Santat (All the Hulk Feels), Dean Hale (Iron Man: Something Strange!), Chip Kidd (The Avengers: The Veracity Trap; Spider-Man: Panel by Panel), and Michael Cho (The Avengers: The Veracity Trap) explore the history of Marvel superheroes, their own personal histories working on Marvel’s heroes, and how Marvel's past influences its future. They will be joined by Abrams staff Charles Kochman (editor-in-chief, Abrams ComicArts) and Chris Ryall (editor-at-large), with Sven Larsen (vice president, licensed publishing, Marvel). Room 25ABC
On this panel, we announced a thing that got a fair amount of attention. You might have heard of it. You’ll definitely be hearing more about it soon. For now, here is some information about the project, which is releasing April 2026 and up for pre-order from bookstores and comic shops now.
4:00PM – 5:00PM ABRAMS COMICARTS: REDEFINING GRAPHIC STORYTELLING
Join Abrams ComicArts for an insightful exploration into their distinctive approach to graphic storytelling. Known for definitive, award-winning monographs on the medium’s most significant creators (Kirby, Kurtzman, Eisner, and Schulz, among others) literary adaptations (Dune, Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred and Parable of the Sower, and The Road), curated collections of classic comics (Topps, the Simpsons, and Marvel Comics), genre-defying original graphic novels (My Friend Dahmer, Three Rocks, The Best We Could Do), and captivating manga, Abrams ComicArts continually pushes the boundaries of visual literature. This panel features creators and editors who will share behind-the-scenes insights into the creative and editorial processes, discuss successful strategies for publishing and marketing diverse content, and offer an exclusive look at new and upcoming projects. Room 25ABC
On this one, I was able to show off the first copy of Megalopolis in all its full-color, hardcover glory:
Friday, July 25
I had no panels on Friday — plenty of other things kept me occupied instead, from this KPBS interview alongside Dread the Halls 2025 (December 2025 release) artist Keithan Jones to the Eisner Awards. But I was able to save my voice a bit today, which was helpful for the two panels I had on Saturday.
I was also part of a massive signing for Scott Morse’s This Ink Runs Cold book, a truly gorgeous thing he put together with 100+ one-page stories written by us but drawn, colored, and greytoned by Scott (and then colored by Jose Villarubia).
Saturday, July 26
5:00PM - 6:00PM DREAD THE HALL H: (FICTIONAL) COMIC CONVENTION HORROR STORIES!
Everyone has experienced the joy and anguish of trying to get into their favorite over-sold panel, and now there’s a new comic celebrating those highs and lows in heightened horrific fashion! Join Dread the Hall H co-writers Chris Ryall and Jordan Hart, alongside cover artist Maria Wolf, and artists Keithan Jones and Chris Anderson, as they share spirited convention stories both real and fictional in celebration of both comic cons in general and their new horror anthology in specific! Best of all, every guest in attendance will get a free one-of-a-kind Dread the Hall H lanyard and badge, too! Room 23ABC
This panel was, without a doubt, one of my favorite panels ever.
You never know with any panel how well-attended it might be (I mean, with caveats: I’m sure George Lucas knew ahead of time that his Hall H panel on Sunday was going to be SRO, which it was). And with a panel at 5pm on Saturday, I had even more reason to think its attendance might be somewhat sparse.
And I was so happy to be proven wrong! I walked up to the panel room and was greeted by this line, all waiting for our Dread panel:
The panel itself was a rousing good time, too. We talked about our comic and the stories contained within it: like this one by me and Nelson Daniel called “Q&A,” which detailed the last couple minutes of a Hall H panel where the moderator, modeled after Ming Chen, told the crowd there was only time for one more question, and then asked the last person in line to be quick and concise… only to see him go on for all 10 pages of the story trying to finish a single sentence. It looked like this in the comic:
As our panel worked its way til its final minutes, well, some magic happened. The panel was moderated by Barbra Dillon (herself also a character in the comic) but at the end, Ming Chen joined the panel to announce that there was only time for one more question… which is when some magic happened:
We also gave out custom Dread lanyards and badges at the panel, and I feel bad that we had such great turnout that not everyone got one. We only made 100 total badges (they ain’t cheap!) and additional lanyards but we ran short of them for the panel. My apologies if you didn’t get one and wanted one. If you did attend the panel and got left out, drop me a line and I’ll see what I can do to help.
We also didn’t get the signing for the comic itself that we’d hoped for at the publisher’s booth so we also had to turn away some people who wanted the comic over the weekend. From what retailers on-site said, they also had a run on the comic at the show, but that too resulted in people who wanted them not being able to pick one up there.
Again, I can help there if you didn’t get and still want. Scroll down to the Dread mentions in last week’s newsletter to see how, or else just drop me a direct line and I’ll get you set up.
7:00PM - 8:00PM PETER DAVID: A CELEBRATION OF HIS LIFE, WORK, AND LEGACY
The comic-book and science-fiction communities recently lost a true titan when Peter David passed away. While Peter’s works will be celebrated for decades to come, we invite you to join us for a lively celebration of the Peter the longtime convention presence and amazing “Writer of Stuff.” Panelists will include comic legends, friends, and collaborators such as Paul Levitz, George Takei, Mark Evanier, Chris Ryall, Tom Brevoort, Glenn Hauman, and by Peter’s longtime Comic Buyer’s Guide partner and friend, Maggie Thompson! Marriott, Room Grand 10 & 11
These kinds of panels are never fun but it was still a great time, sharing memories of writer Peter David, his life, and his work. As a guy who first got to know Peter through his work as just a fan of what he did, it was nice to get to know him and work with him long enough and well enough to be a part of this panel. And, as i told the audience, although I’d done many with him in the past, this was the first Peter David panel where I could get a word in. (Not a long word, mind you, since George’s tribute along took up over half the panel time.) I did get to relay the story of how Peter gave me the gift of Harlan Ellison, the kind of gift that I valued for the last decade of Harlan’s life.
Sunday, July 27
10:30AM - 11:30AM BLOOMSBURY PRESENTS: INTRODUCING MARVEL AGE OF COMICS
The first authors to contribute to Bloomsbury Academic’s new collaboration with Marvel will dig into the specifics of how each approached their subject with moderator Barbra Dillon (co-founder and editor-in-chief of Fanbase Press). Chris Ryall will preview his examination of the Daredevil: Born Again books and how they forever changed the ways super heroes and their secret identities have functioned; Paul Cornell will focus on The Mighty Avengers as icons of the 1970s; Ytasha L. Womack explores the hugely successful reimagining of one of the most popular super hero characters as Afrofuturist and Latinx in her upcoming Spider-Man: Miles Morales; and Stuart Moore tells the story of Doctor Strange, one of Marvel’s most bizarre, otherworldly heroes, discussed against the turbulent backdrop of the 1960s. Room: 23ABC
This was the first official panel to discuss the coming launch of Bloomsbury’s new line of books, the Marvel Age of Comics, so it was great that all four of us who are part of the launch series of titles were able to be on this panel.
Here are a couple pane sides, including one that lists the second round of books headed your way. Including one by Paul Levitz, who joined the panel at the end to talk up his book a bit, too.
There’s lots more to say about the show but in short, it was a blast, a 5-day reminder of how much I love this convention and how lucky I am to be able to work in and around a comic world so full of such talented and amazing people.
But since I’ve barely slept a combined 18 hours over the last five days, I’ll opt out of saying less and ending with a photo-journal of the show, since the sights far outweigh the words anyhow.
The Summer of Spinner Racks
Fewer selections than usual because, you know, post-SDCC exhaustion and all but still, here are some of the current “Summer” comics currently populating my spinner rack:
Next time, a bit more about the books I mentioned above, including more on the X-Men Elsewhen pencils, inks, and colors; the announcement of our next Dread the Halls comic and some of Keithan’s artwork, and more!
An epic weekend!
Loving the "Summer comics" spinner rack gallery!