|
|
 |
 |
|
Saturday, July 24, 2004
Comic-Con Fan Report part 1
Hello, I just got back from the SDCC. I left at around 3:00 p.m. today in the middle of the Sin City panel after they've shown clips of the film. It was awesome, but I'll get to that later. I want to describe to you what two and a half days of Comic-Con was like for one comic fan just there to soak up the pop culture goodness. This will go on for a few installments, but I'll try to keep it up interesting and not go over stuff that Newsarama and Heidi MacDonald's The Beat have already written about it.
So, let us start:
Weds.
After a four-hour plus train ride from Moorpark, CA to San Diego and a half-hour walk to our inn, neither my friend Daniel nor I were interested in preview night. We just got to where we were staying and decided to rest up for the next few days. We learned at the front desk that every room is filled with Comic-Con attendees. To think that I was staying in an inn where everybody conceivably knew who Joe Quesada was left my mind in a particularly boggled state.
Also, San Diego has Seinfeld on after The Simpsons at 11:30. I felt this was a vast improvement over the Los Angeles Fox station, which gives us The Drew Carey show after Simpsons.
Thurs.
Since our inn was only two minutes driving distance from the San Diego Convention Center we figured we could just walk there. All I can say is, I didn’t think carrying a backpack filled with big thick trade paperbacks and graphic novels (I ended up getting a total of 0% signed) would be a problem. After all, it was only a short walk. Well, it wasn’t so short when we end up getting lost while the summer sun was just coming out. Many probably thought registration was a hassle, but after adding an extra twenty minutes to our travels getting our badges felt like a rest. After all, I was able to lay this big heavy back pack down for a few minutes. Oh, but if only took advantage of the luxury that is luggage check.
We finally got in and witnessed the disturbing splendor that is thousands and thousands of people who have at least one obsession or another with some trivial pop culture phenomenon.
Daniel and I decided to split up and meet up again at the Freaks and Geeks panel. That wasn’t until 4:30 p.m. and we got on the convention floor at around 11:00 a.m. This gave us plenty of time to kill visiting all the various booths out there. I’ll share some quick observations now:
• Heavy backpack hurts me
• Staying in DC’s booth for too long will make one’s head explode, it really feels like media overload. I never want to hear the Cartoon Network at such a high volume again.
• Heavy backpack hurts me
• Fantagraphics had a nice, simple booth set up. It was well stocked with all their latest titles, the exception being when I asked about what Ho Che Anderson stuff they had. They told me they had nothing there, but gave me their latest catalog along with a coupon that gave me free shipping and handling. Dirk Deppey was there and proved to be a very kind, helpful gentleman. He also always had a flattoped cap on which, when combined with his facial hair and pony-tail, made him look like a cool, hippie train conductor. When I asked if they had my pre-ordered package of Eighhtball #23, Luba #8 and Love and Rockets #11 they gave me my package right away. They didn’t have L&R #11 just yet, but Eric Reynolds signed off on a sheet of paper that I’ll get the book when I come by the booth on Fri. Very cool.
• It’s cool when a creator has their own simple little booth. Steve Rude (assisted by his wife) and Kyle Baker were there to see the fans face-to-face and do a quick signing on the latest books they had. No hassle, no big lines, just comics business done fast and clean.
• For the love of all that is good and holy in this world have a water bottle with you!! Oh, and drink from it from time to time.
• Heavy backpack hurts me.
• After wandering aimlessly seeing a lot people hock a lot of, err, below-average material, I decided I had to simply sit and down and enjoy the books I bought. I gave my body a rest. I also did a little people watching. That was something. For example, I no longer have to wonder what Darth Maul would look like if he was a teenage girl. Also, a full blown Spider-Man costume might look odd but at lest it isn’t as sad as just some guy with a Spider-Man mask on his head and T-shirt and jeans on otherwise. It seems, over all, many people went for extravagance over efficiency. I guess you’ve got to dedicate your life towards something.
• I went to the small press tables and stocked up on stuff I’ll probably only get the chance to buy at Comic-Con. A lot of fun stuff and fun people selling it. I’ll review some of this stuff soon.
Oh, and my heavy backpack was somewhat painful. I’ll get to the F&G panel tomorrow, but I do want to share an image with you that fascinated me to no end. Among a few guests dressed up in full Jedi regalia, there was one guy who paid extreme detail to his costume; it was an impressive show of craft. He was also so large he had to ride a Rascal. I don’t want to make fat jokes because they are too easy, but this man summed up a lot of my feeling about this Con. He obviously spent so much time on his Star Wars costume yet very little time, if any, to keep his weight down so his knee caps wouldn’t be crushed by the weight of his upper body. I was reminded of this gentleman, who couldn’t have been older than his mid-30’s, when I stood in the largest line in the world to see the Sin City panel or when I spent $100+ in fifteen minutes at the Milehighcomics.com booth. In the end, this man just might be the spirit of the Con, for good or for ill.
Tomorrow, the Freaks and Geeks panel, a DC writers panel featuring Howard Chaykin, Bill Willingham, Andy Diggle and others. Until then I say good night, folks!
Permanent Link: 11:13 PM |
0 comments
Comments:
-- Home
|
|
