There are no shortage of great Comic Book Conventions across this majestic nation of ours, and I hope to be a guest at many of them, but the San Diego International Comic Convention in San Diego, California is by far the largest and most iconic in the country, dare I say, probably the world. When I was in middle school and high school I used to watch the coverage of San Diego Comic Con on the G4 channel, and I would also constantly refresh various comic book websites over the course of the weekend to see what major announcements the publishers has made about upcoming projects and creators they were going to be working with. It’s a show that has loomed very large over my life, and yet…I had never been to it as a fan or professional.

As a fan this was pretty understandable. I grew up in Massachusetts and it was way easier to go to major comic book conventions in the North East like Boston and in New York City. Then…I became a comic book professional who worked in Los Angeles, it was always possible for me to go down to San Diego Comic Con, but I didn’t go. Part of my reasons for not going were monetary, as a young assistant editor I was just scraping by getting my rent and bills paid every month, taking a five day trip down to the show would have put a big dent in my life. However, I have done plenty of things that had adverse monetary effects on my life because I felt they were important. So of course there was a larger reason I had never been to show before.

The truth was, I wanted to go down to San Diego Comic Con as a comic book writer whose career was undeniably up and running. I wanted to be in the exact place in my career that I had always dreamed of, not looking at it longingly from a far. And this year…I got to do that. Ignition Press, the amazing comic book publishing company who releases Showdown, had their own Pavilion across the street from the convention and they asked me if I wanted to sit at one of their tables and sell copies of Showdown all weekend. I was planning on going to the show anyway, but this gave me a home base, a place to operate from, promote my book from, and it gave people no doubt that I was a capital C, Comic Book Writer. The team at Ignition were INCREDIBLE. That Pavilion was a comic book creator’s dream come true. All weekend they had signings, creator interviews, Ebay auctions, and their staff treated all of us creators who had tables with a level of kindness that bordered on saintly.

And they did not just extend that kindness to the creators. They also extended that kindness to my brother Josh. Josh decided to come with me to the show so it was both of our first times going down there and I’m so glad he did. Having him by my side made me walk into the show with a lot more confidence and enthusiasm that I think it would have taken me longer to build up to on my own. Walking into the show with my brother who is a huge comic book fan and has always been tremendously supportive of me, was a gift, he gave me the ability to not overthink anything, we just did stuff.

Josh hung out with me at my table at the Ignition Press Pavilion, helping me with my sales, and taking pictures of me with the readers who bought my books, but he spent the vast majority of his time on main show floor getting books signed, meeting creators, and taking pictures of amazing things you can only see at a Comic Convention. When I wasn’t signing at the Ignition Press Pavilion I went with him to the main show floor at San Diego Comic Con as much as I could. And sincerely? I had one of the best times I have ever had in my life. Through Ignition Press I got to live out my dreams of going to San Diego Comic Con as a Comic Book Writer, and with my brother I got to experience the show as a fan, the best of both worlds.

My brother and I stayed in a gorgeous hotel, we shared many a nice meal together, we had drinks at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville, I got to meet and introduce him to a number of creators I had worked with over the years, and he met a ton of creators he was a fan of on his own. Also, in classic Josh fashion, my brother found a lot of fantastic graphic novels/collected editions that he needed for his comic book collection, and also looked out for me and got me a number of books I needed for my own collection. AND, we both walked out of there with some stylish new comic book related clothing items, again, full credit to Josh for that. AND, AND, we even found the time to go to one of San Diego’s best comic book stores Now or Never Comics and it was stunning, I can’t wait to go back there too. My five days at San Diego Comic Con this year are going to be a major highlight of my life, and something I am not going to forget anytime soon.

So to Ignition Press, to all the comic book readers I met, to all my editorial colleagues I saw, to all the comic creators I met for the first time, or met for the fiftieth time, and especially to my brother Josh…Thank you. Now I can tell people I finally went to San Diego Comic Con, and I waited for all the right reasons before I went. I don’t think…I know…this was the best first time at San Diego Comic Con I could have possibly had. And I look forward to the next time.

Weekly Up-Dave Faithful, we have a few very important Showdown weeks head of us!

This upcoming Wednesday on August 12th, 2026 Showdown #3 written by me, drawn by Tadd Galusha, colored by Triona Farrell, and lettered by Clayton Cowles with main cover by Steve Lieber & Dillon Sook and variant cover by Tadd Galusha hits local comic book stores everywhere! The response to issue 2, our focus on Harvey Harlowe was fantastic. This issue focsues on Trish Sullivan, the young woman who lost her brother Michael and set this whole Showdown into motion, and it’s going to be another wrecking ball of a character study. I am so excited for you to check it out!

And then…Showdown #4…Trish and Harvey’s last day before the titular Showdown…that has it’s Final Order Cut-Off Date on Monday August 10th. If you have already ordered the full series with your local comic book store? You are all set. If you have been ordering issue by issue, or you are going to be getting this issue from a different comic store than your normal one? PLEASE go ahead and order it. This issue will be coming out on September 16th, 2026. And then after that? We only have one issue left. Issue 5, our final issue of the mini-series on sale October 28th, 2026.

We may be approaching the end but I can tell you this…we won’t be going out quietly. The next three issues are going to be an absolute character-packed thrill ride that you are not going to want to miss!

Last week saw the release of the Detective Comics 2026 Annual which featured the back-up story “Pyg Pen” written by me and pencilled/inked/colored by Fran Mariscal. Last week on the Weekly Up-Dave I ran an interview with Fran that had the highest traffic any post I have done here has ever had, only confirming for me even more that Fran is on his way to being a star.

The story itself was received very warmly. People seemed to really enjoy the story Fran and I put together which I could not have been happier about. “Pyg Pen” was absolutely labor of love, and I hope it was the first of many collaborations I will have with Fran. A shout out to the incredible Detective Comics 2026 Annual editorial team for helping us make such a great story: Ben Meares, Jessica Berbey, and Rob Levin. Legends all!

I did a signing for the issue last Wednesday at my local comic book store, Collector’s Paradise North Hollywood, and I got to do said signing alongside two of the best, most prolific, and nicest comic book writers currently working in the business: Matthew Rosenberg and Tini Howard. We had a lot of great people come through to get our various comic books, our signatures, and we had an awesome time. Thanks to the wonderful staff over at Collector’s Paradise North Hollywood for hosting us and putting the signing together!

Between San Diego Comic Con and the Collector’s Paradise Signing this has continued to be the busiest year I have had yet professionally. However, unless a surprise/pop-up signing comes up, I don’t think I will be doing any comic book signings/appearances in August or September. It does look like I will be doing an appearance in October, I am hoping I will be doing one in November as well, and I am in the process of scheduling something for right before the holidays in December. Three more events to coincide with the three issues of Showdown we have coming out! More about all of those as soon as I can talk about them.

Work wise? Things are going well. As mentioned before I have a second creator-owned book I have finished writing that is currently being drawn, I am hopeful that will be released sometime in 2027. And I am in the midst of writing another long form project that will be announced towards the end of this year, I am very excited about it, and I have no doubt when you find out what it is, you will be too.

With that being said, I am back on the hunt for comic book writing work for the remainder of 2026 and I am trying to fill out my calendar for as much as 2027 as I can. As I had hoped, I have done more comic book writing work, and worked on more long form projects than I did last year, and I intend to keep that trend going for next year. With that being said, I certainly would not be opposed to taking on some shorter assignments to fill out the rest of this year’s calendar. So if you are an editor reading this or a fellow comic book writer who knows of editors who are looking for writers, new pitches, somebody to help out on some hardcore holiday deadlines? I have some killer samples to share with you.

I also have a number of pitches out right now that I am hoping to hear back about in the next few weeks, keep your fingers crossed for me, I think I have put my biggest and most ambitious pitches to date, and I think they could become some big exciting comic book projects in 2027.

That’s it for this week!

Next week we should be coming back with another Showdown Creative Team interview to conicde with the release of Showdown #3.

Until then?

Stay safe!

—Dave Wielgosz