Those of us lucky enough to check in on the smaller panel “Cartoon Books and Abstract Studios Happy Hour” at the San Diego Comic-Con last weekend by Jeff Smith (Bone) and Terry Moore (Strangers in Paradise, Echo) were privy to some exciting news from both of the artists, as well as just a fun discussion.

The first news of the day was that Terry Moore’s newest book, Echo has been given a film deal by producer Lloyd Levin (Watchmen, Hellboy II) which means that we will be seeing a film adaptation at some point in the future. Echo is a sci-fi tale that tells the story of Julie Martin, a young photographer whose life gets turned upside down when she gets coated in a layer of metal that gives her strange powers. The series is currently on issue 14, with a planned run of 30 issues. Moore also said that his next goal is to get Strangers in Paradise produced as a TV series.

The other big news of the day came from Jeff Smith, who revealed much to the enjoyment of every Bone fan, that two new books will be coming out in the next two years. The first book comes out next summer, and will be titled Bone Stories: Tall Tales. The story follows Smiley Bone and Bartleby as they tell stories of Big Johnson Bone to three Bone Scouts named Ringo, Bingo, and Todd. The book will be written by frequent Bone collaborator Tom Sniegoski, with art by Smith.

The second announcement by Smith was that we would see a trilogy of prose novels, starting in 2011, written by Sniegoski, with covers and some interior art by Smith. The three novels will go under the title Quest for the Spark and will be an actual sequel to the original series. The crowd was very happy when Smith made these announcements, and I was right there with them.

Smith went on to talk about The Cartoonist, a documentary about his life and work which went on sale at the convention last weekend, which was then debuted at the show on Friday. The rest of the panel was taken up with a great Q&A that was loads of fun for those that attended. This was the most fun I had at my first day of the Con.