This link will take you to the comic at 10pm.

Eager to get your own hot-off-the-press paper copy of the comic? Pre-orders are now available. Shipments will begin mid-September from Astrosphere New Media Association.

A full PDF version will be available starting Friday at 10pm Eastern!

To participate, you must create a costume with you or someone you love (or at least someone you like to dress in costumes) inside the costume (without the human inside, it would be called a statue, and that would be a different contest ). You can make the costume out of anything you want, but you must be able to walk around in it.

Once you’ve completed your costume, either come to Dragon*Con and join us in the Crystal Ballroom of the Atlanta Hilton at 10pm Eastern on Sep 3, OR upload a 5 second to 15 second video of the costumed person being a Voorwerp (show off your best light echo imitation) to our Flickr group. Online submissions are due by 6pm Eastern (GMT -4) September 3.

Winners will be announced at the launch party.

Need inspiration? Check out Bill Keel’s Voorwerp page.

Full comic coming Sept 3!

line art: Elea Braasch, color: Chris Spangler

This past Monday, at about 8pm Central (GMT -4), a Voorwerpish webcomic was delivered to Sips Comics for printing. Tuesday morning we got the page proofs, and now, one by one, they are being made into full color reality.

We could say a lot of things right now: We could tell you about playing round robin with the script, digitally passing it from person to person under the guidance of Kelly, sometimes into the wee hours of the night. We could tell you about watching the art come to life; transforming from line drawings to fully rendered pages in the hand of our artists Elea and Chris. We could tell you how many pencil tips were broken, and how many digital files grew so big our computers crawled.

We could talk a lot, but instead, let us invite you to join us for the World Premier and share with you a few images.

You’re Invited to a World Premier

• Time: 3 September, 10pm Eastern (GMT -5)
• Online: via Hanny’s Voorwerp Webcomic or via direct UStream Link
• In Person: At Dragon*Con
  Crystal Ballroom
  Hilton Atlanta
  255 Courtland Street NE
  Atlanta, GA

Come meet the artists, hear a brief talk by Bill, and generally revel in the Voorwerp’s awesomeness.

And come dressed as a Voorwerp for a chance to win a prize for best costume!

See you in Atlanta?

Are you a college student? Would you like to illustrate a comic book (and get paid)? We are hiring 1 student illustrator (and seeking volunteer professionals to help!) Applicants are asked to submit a PDF portfolio  with webcomic style illustrations of 1) Hanny using a laptop (photos of Hanny here) and astronomers using a telescope (see flickr feed); 2) the Voorwerp (images here); 3) one ground-based telescope like Gemini North or the VLA and one space-based telescope like Hubble or GALEX (follow links here); and members of the science team Chris Lintott (image here) and Bill Keel (image here) doing something at a computer. We hope to fill this position by June 15, 2010. Preference given to students in the St Louis, USA area (Must be living in US and legal to work and planning to be enrolled in college in the fall semester). To apply, email pgay at siue dot edu. This project pays a flat rate (email for amount).

Thursday, July 1

• 3:30pm , Atrium 7
  Practicalities of Living in Space: If you were living on a moon base or on Mars, what would life be like? How often would you have to exercise? What could you eat and grow? How would you get water? (Michael Walsh, G. David Nordley, Pamela Gay, David Buth)
• 8:30pm, Atrium 7
  Skepticism 101 (Steve Thoms, Pamela Gay, Lois Schadewald, Greg Laden)

Friday, July 2

• 2:00pm, Quantum Sandbox
  Hanny & the Mystery of the Voorwerp I: Come one, come all, come help us outline the plot and divvy up plot lines. (Galaxy Zoo Team)
• 5:00pm, Atrium 7
  Ask a Podcaster Almost Anything!: Podcasters answer your questions on the who, what, when, where, why, and how of podcasting. (Taylor Kent (mod), Cayenne Chris Conroy, Hugh Morrison, Pamela Gay, Sue Grandys)
• 7:00pm, Atrium 8
  Writing Contest Reception: Meet the winners of the GPS writing contest to talk about the contest and their work. (Hilary Moon Murphy, Jodie Gustafson, Kelly McCullough)
• 8:30pm, Atrium 7
  Physics or Fantasy?: Perpetual motion machines, cold fusion, free energy and other fake science stories. Where do they come from and what does physics really allow? (Jennifer Ouellette, Pamela Gay, Stephanie Zvan, Lois Schadewald)

Saturday, July 3

• 11:00am, Quantum Sandbox
  Hanny & the Mystery of the Voorwerp II: Come writers, big & small, come tell us what were your stories stand. (Galaxy Zoo Team)
• 12:30pm, Autograph Tables
  Book signing:Former Guests of Honor Lois McMaster Bujold and Kelly McCullough will be available to sign their work. (Kelly McCullough, Lois McMaster Bujold)
• 2:00pm, Bloomington
  Evolution of Common Themes: How do you reinvent something that has been done to death in a way that is interesting without seeming forced? Vampires, werewolves, androids, zombies and sentient computers that want to rule the world. (S.D. Hintz, Matthew Davis, Kelly McCullough, MontiLee Stormer)
• 8:30pm, Atrium 7
  Women as Skeptical Activists: (Maria Walters, Carrie Iwan, Pamela Gay, Jennifer Newport, Debbie Goddard)

Sunday, July 4

• 11:00am, Quantum Sandbox
  Hanny & the Mystery of the Voorwerp III: Come share your drafts, so we can work on putting together the final story. (Galaxy Zoo Team)
• 12:30pm, Vista Suite
  Can’t-Put-It-Down Pacing: What distinguishes the book you can’t put down from an interesting character story or a stylistic triumph? Is it the same for everyone? (David Oppegaard, Kelly McCullough, Hilary Moon Murphy, Catherine Lundoff, Matthew Davis)
• 12:30pm, Atrium 7
  You don’t have to be a genius to think critically.: Perpetual motion machines, cold fusion, free energy and other fake science stories. Where do they come from and what does physics really allow? (Ted Meissner, Maria Walters, Stephanie Zvan, Amy Davis Roth, Debbie Goddard, Pamela Gay)

Author Kelly McCoullough (blog) of the Webmage series will be leading a writer’s group to collectively create a webcomic (or web-based graphical novel) during CONvergence Con 2010, in Bloomington, MN on July 1-4, 2010. Authors will be meeting with Kelly and scientists and educators with the Galaxy Zoo project in the writer’s sandbox each day of the Con to share ideas, can in sites, and storyboard plots before going of to write. Our goal is to have the text of the story complete by the end of the Con. Up for a challenge? Want to be part of a weekend of writing with purpose (and a known publication date?) Join us at CONvergence!