My BFF John has just posted his photos from the San Diego Comicon. I was all set to join him, up until about a couple of months ago. But then (I think it was on a Tuesday) a flash of purple, otherdimensional lighting arced through the room and a man who looked exactly like me appeared. He seemed to be about two months older than me, and had suffered much. From behind haunted, distracted eyes, he managed to achieve and maintain mental focus only long enough to grab my shoulders and scream at me.
 
"DO NOT go to Comicon just two days after spending two weeks in Asia!" he said. "You'll be crossing 15 time zones in 72 hours! You have a big chunk of a book due the following week! And you're already spending a small fortune on incidental expenses associated with China and Japan and Korea!!!"
 
Then he started laughing until he started to cry, and then he cried until he vomited, and then the purple lightning reappeared and took him back to wherever he came from.
 
I called John and cancelled. I probably would have gone ahead, but as I was cleaning the bile stains from the rug and the scorch marks from the ceiling, it occurred to me I hadn't tied up any non-refundable money in the Comicon trip and I had no speaking or coverage commitments, so pulling out would be harmless. And whoever that dude was, he had a point.
 
Plus, thanks to John, I can experience the show vicariously through his Flickr feed. His Comicon photoset:
 

 
 But I want to call your attention to this one photo in particular:
 

 
She got Frank Cho (one of the top pinup artists at the show) to sign her left breast. She got Joe Linsner (another top pinup artist) to sign her right one.
 
On that basis...she simply HAS to have an Adam Hughes (THE top pinup artist on the planet) autograph on her somewhere.
 
You don't suppose...
 
...
 
...That does it.
 
1) I'm booking my hotel room for 2010 right now.
 
2) And I have exactly 12 months to become a famous pinup artist.