First off is McCloud's panel on his new book Making Comics at 12:00 in Room 8. Though the book is a "how-to" with any of McCloud's books you can expect a lot of deep thinking about comics with it.Â

Then, you can mosey across the hall to room 7B for the... 1:15-2:30 Comic Arts Conference Session #6: Visual Language— Neil Cohn reveals the “secrets” of sequential art: the grammatical rules and visual “parts of speech” underlying comics' use of sequence. Zon Petilla (Cal State University–Fresno) asserts that there is a universal visual grammar operating in comics that can be used to teach language. Hal Shipman (Northwestern University) examines the contrast between the vocabulary and grammar of visual language in European and American comics, represented respectively by the adventure strips Tintin and Terry and the Pirates. Room:7BÂ

The essay for my Visual Grammar talk will also be found exclusively on the CAC CD that is for sale at the conference. After the talk I'll be doing a booksigning down at the Comic Relief booth. So, come by the talk or afterwards, and say hello. Hope to see you in San Diego!