You've already proven yourself a criminal. Do not endeavor to add "fool" to that charge as well.

That mysterious gray figure in hat and long coat, perpetually cloaked in smoke isn’t a ghost–not exactly. The hero known as Mister Grey is a protector of the city, typically found in Karlsburg where he does everything in his power to crush the drug trade. Quick to vanish in a cloud of ash and then re-form where you least expect him, he most closely resembles the Invisible Man, wrapped in bandages beneath hat, coat, gloves, and goggles.

INSIDER INFO: At the dawn of the Jazz age in Cobalt City, Simon Floyd was a rising talent, a pianist with few equals. But when he witnessed a mob hit in 1931, he was eliminated and cremated to avoid complications. His lover, a singer as well as a voodoo practitioner, tried to bring him back from the dead, but it was too late. He was already ash, firmly contained within an urn behind the bar at the Marco Polo.

Over 70 years later, Wild Kat discovered him while converting the Marco Polo to her own headquarters. A true man out of time, he quickly bonded with the first several people to show him any kindness and connect with him, especially Wild Kat, the Tesla Twins, and Gato Loco. While he appears to wear the fedora, coat, and wraps, he is entirely a construct of ash; part ghost, part failed zombie, haunted by the past and uncertain of what the future holds. He has a small jazz combo that plays gigs around Cobalt City. He has also built a web of informants among other displaced and discarded people around Cobalt City. Called the Perdido Street Irregulars, they constantly feed him inside information about what is going on at the street level of the city, both legal and illegal.

By the numbers

Identity: Simon Floyd (public – deceased)

Height: 5’5”

Birth Year: 1894

First Appearance: Chanson Noir

Nationality: British (Dover)

Powers: As he is technically undead, Mister Grey no longer requires food, water, air, or sleep. With a body made of animated ash, most damage simply passes through him or displaces his physical shape, leaving him vulnerable only to high winds. He can dissolve into a cloud of ash for concealment, or stretch long distances for faster speed. He can condense his ash down to hit with force just beyond normal human maximum. He can invade the lungs of breathing, organic beings and force the air out, knocking them unconscious, or he can take mental possession of them. His ash particles can corrode solid materials over time, and can absorb and neutralize magic with extended exposure.

Personal base of operations: The Keep in downtown Cobalt City

Team Affiliations: Mysterious Five (founding member), Protectorate.

"Not right? No, nothing has been right for some time now."

Madman to many and occult researcher to others, the man known as Louis Malenfant is no one’s hero. Marked at birth as a whipping boy of the fates, his lengthy study of the dark arts has left him no longer firmly tethered to our world. Of average height with thinning brown hair, weak chin, dishwater gray eyes, shoulders slouched in perpetual defeat, and a pronounced spare tire, he rarely warrants a second look. The unsettling way he casts no shadow or reflection ensures that few glances linger more than the barest of seconds.

INSIDER INFO: Louis Malenfant is the worldly anchor to the cosmic entity known as the King in Yellow. As an occultist, Malenfant is well-versed if more than a bit deranged, but his connection to the avatar of madness and mental corruption gives him significant protection. The two cannot exist on the same plane at the same time, and are best expressed as two ends of a thaumaturgic wormhole, the ends of which can be switched at will.

The King in Yellow is a humanoid figure approximately 10′ in high (though this varies), clad in wraps and robes of silk. He wears an intricately carved bone helm that sweeps backwards from the head like a tusk, and a silver chain hung with charms connects the tip of the helm to a pale yellow veil that covers much of his face. Above the veil, the eyes are white and dead. The yellow tone of his clothing is an unhealthy shade; the color of nicotine stains on a baby’s fingers, of curdled milk, of leprosy and madness.

By the numbers

Identity: Louis Malenfant (public)

Height: 5’5”

Birth Year: 1972

First Appearance: Chanson Noir

Nationality: USA (Cobalt City)

Powers: Louis Malenfant has finely honed skills as an occultist, with extensive knowledge of the extra-dimensional space known as The Coil, and denizens of those worlds. If he has any other powers, he has yet to display them. His primary power is to serve as a conduit to the King in Yellow, a god-like being of crushing, mind-bending presence, and unknown abilities.

Personal base of operations: A crumbling Georgian-style home in Karlsburg neighborhood, Cobalt City, and by extension, the lost city of Far Carcosa.

The Place Between by Minerva Zimmerman (“Muffin Everlasting” and “Apples and Arrows”) breathes life into the world of the Norse Gods. In 1975, Cole Washington returned home from the U.S. Army bearing the mantle of Thor. Taking the name Midnight Thunder, he waged war against Loki for the soul of the West Key neighborhood, if not all of Cobalt City, for over a decade. Now it’s 2012, and it’s time for the title of Thor to be passed to his daughter Tera as she forges her own identity as Tempest. But this time, the battle lines are not so clear. And Lucky, one of the aspects of Loki, might be her best chance of surviving her trials.

Eye for an Eye by Erik Scott de Bie (Shadowbane, “Vengeance on the Layover”) shakes up the happy family life of Cobalt City’s brightest star, Stardust. Injured, on the run, and without a friend in the world, Lady Vengeance returns to Cobalt City. Stardust can’t be sure which is more dangerous—the murderous vigilante chasing her, the dark secret which grants Lady Vengeance her powers, or the threat this dangerously sexy bad-girl poses to his family life. Is it a team-up or a free-for-all? And is Cobalt City big enough to contain the sheer firepower all sides are willing to unleash to assure victory?

Erik & Minerva, spotted in the wild

We knew today was going to be the marathon stretch–the one where we’d need a little help from our friends to get through. We weren’t wrong.  With the doors to the con opening at 9:45 am, getting necessary prep done, and travel time, that meant a somewhat early alarm time, made someone earlier by being out way to late the night before geek-rocking. Plus, we had the panel “Building your Fortress of Solitude: Creativity in Isolation” at noon, moderated by Jeremy Matthews and featuring Nathan Crowder, along with Corey Lewis, Harrison Wood, and Paul Southworth. We had no idea what to expect.

After getting there early to set up we were able to take a walk around the floor and get our bearings. We had heard that Friday had been like last year’s Saturday. So what would Saturday bring? Answer? A ton of people. Thankfully Jeremy came prepared with a box of Tootsie Pops which turned out be a great draw and a great way to strike up conversations. And then we hooked ‘em with postcards, ashcans, and books. And we had several great conversations and ran into people we hadn’t seen in a while. Plus, Jeremy got to knock out some concept sketches of Cobalt City characters as well as sketches on request of convention goers.

Then the panel, which was through some halls and down two floors by escalator. Easy trip under normal circumstances. But the convention floor was jam packed, and even with fifteen minutes (and Rosemary Jones swimming upstream to get to our table to hold down the fort), we barely made it to the room on time. And lo and behold, the place was packed. We could have gone on an extra half hour easily had they let us. The room was bright, attentive, and asked some sharp questions. It was an absolute delight.

Held in the cobra-like gaze of Jeremy Matthews

Then back to the floor where we saw some of the things we love the most.

Kids in costume:

Strong female heroes like Hawkgirl:

Hawkgirl strikes a pose

Authors holding up their anthologies:

Erik Scott de Bie does his Vanna White impersonation

And Nathan got to meet one of his artistic heroes, Bill Sienkievicz who instilled in a young mind that not all comic books had to look the same.

A bit of fanboy glee

The theme of day one was finding our feet, and of course rocking out.

We met up with a few old friends and new. Choose-o-matic author and evil genius Matt Youngmark stopped by the booth and checked out a copy of !Zombre! We even got our share of cosplayers. We’re there showcasing the art and talking up Cobalt City and this year’s lineup at table B-11 on Artist Alley.

It’s always great to get out and share the love, and Cobalt City authors Rosemary Jones and Minerva Zimmerman joined us at the table for a while. That’s great, because it gave us a chance to explain their upcoming books in their own words. What upcoming books would those be? Well, Minerva Zimmerman has written “The Place Between” which features Tera Washington as she takes over the mantle of Thor from her father, the Midnight Thunder from Cobalt City Timeslip. As a writer who knows her way around Nordic mythology, I can promise that she is bringing the thunder! Rosemary is bringing us the updated pulp stylings of the next generation of the Wrecker of Engines, which she describes as “Digital boy meets steampunk girl–librarians go bad–and there’s trouble in Cobalt City!”

After the show, it was time for Krackle Fest down at the Hard Rock Cafe where Adam Warrock spit some MAD rhythms (and kindly posed for a picture with our publisher, Nathan). Marian Call kept the geek love flowing, including her tribute to Jayne from Firefly. And then Kirby Krackle took the stage and brought the house down despite a shredded throat.

Marian Call in Jayne hat

Nathan Crowder & Adam Warrock

Kirby Krackle take the stage

INSIDER INFO: The current Libertine took over the costume and identity of this hero simply because no one else was using it. With the previous Libertine long gone (retired decades ago), no one has bothered to tell her she can’t use the name. She was originally brought on to join the Protectorate, the premiere superhero team in Cobalt City, but was quickly knocked unconscious when their press conference was attacked. She was put on the reserves list instead and has been frustrated by her (lack of) career growth since.

In regular life, she’s a lithe, tattooed bike messenger with short hair and a fondness for bare-midriff shirts that show off the tribal-style rhinoceros beetle tattoo around her navel. She has pale green eyes and straight, light, brown hair.

By the numbers

Identity: Rachel Czerny (private)

Height: 5’5”

Birth Year: 1987

First Appearance: Cobalt City Blues

Nationality: U.S.A. (Cleveland, OH)

Powers: Libertine is a natural mentalist, with the ability to read minds, implant desires and suggestions, and weave limited-range illusions. She also possesses rudimentary telekinesis which allows her to float, and lets her repel physical attacks, provided she can see them coming.

Personal base of operations: Apartment in Cannonade neighborhood, Cobalt City

Team Affiliations: Protectorate (reserves)

I've see more than you can imagine in the last 3,000 years!

The sorcerer known as Doctor Shadow is rumored to have existed for several thousand years under a variety of different guises and names. Dark and mysterious, he is currently considered Cobalt City’s creepiest mystery man. Silent and brooding in public, he is a master of dark magics with an aversion to sunlight. He is never seen out of his heavily hooded black cloak with a scarab clasp.

INSIDER INFO: Doctor Shadow has been returning to Cobalt City for a few years at a time every few decades since the early 1800′s, always under a different identity. He has been passing himself off as various scions of the mysterious Umbra family for 200 years, but his true name is lost to the sands of time. Trained as a priest of Set, he was caught up in a conflict between Gods during the reign of Ramses II in ancient Egypt, wherein he was cursed with his albinism and light sensitivity and made unwelcome in the Halls of the Dead. He turned this curse into a blessing, and resolved to study the arcane arts, a practice that continues to this day. He is a firm believer in minimizing the force of dark magics in the world, and will frequently travel to wherever he is called. For now, that places him in Cobalt City.

In a hooded black cloak to hide his face in perpetual shadow, with golden borders on both cloak and hood. His clothing is a dark tunic, gathered at the waist with a golden sash, and black leggings. He bears a big medallion around his neck, inlaid with symbols of an arcane nature. He uses a minor glamor to color his hair and eyes, but it does nothing to reduce the light sensitivity.

By the numbers

Identity: Seth Umbra (private, current name)

Height: 5’6”

Birth Year: 1249 BCE

First Appearance: Cobalt City Timeslip “The War at Home”

Nationality: Egypt

Powers: Doctor Shadow is a powerful sorcerer cursed with immortality and a sensitivity to sunlight. His powers are spell-based and include telekinesis (shields, blasts, and powerful strength at a distance), telepathy, flight, invisibility, the ability to see and pass through solid matter, and the ability to open gates between dimensions. He no longer needs to sleep, drink, eat, or breathe, but does so to keep up appearances.

Personal base of operations: “Family” estate in Regency Heights neighborhood, Cobalt City

Team Affiliations: Protectorate