Comic Con overview
OK. Just the facts for now so I can get this posted and get to bed.
Wednesday, July 25
I got headed off to to the airport in good time. Once I got there, the anxiety was pretty much over. I waited until they called for boarding and got in line. I got to chat with a really hot guy with very short trimmed hair. Sadly, he was with his daughter. There's no assigned seating on Southwest, so I started searching for a seat once I got boarded. I saw one cute guy and sat in the window seat near him. I noticed a Batman tattoo and asked if he was going to the con. I guess he lives in LA but has never been there. He and his wife (Wife? Damn!) wanted to go and volunteer this year but couldn't make it. Then a priest came and sat down between us. He was a cool guy and we all had a good time chatting. I got a pic of them before they got off the plane. It was a no transfer flight but we were early so I got to get off the plane. I picked up a bear with "Las Vegas" on it to take to my mom as a souvenir of the trip and got back to the plane.
I made it into San Diego in good time and chatted with a couple cute guys going to the con while we waited for luggage. Once I got my suitcase, I checked around and called jkusters to find out where to meet him. We played the whole "I'm at the baggage claim" game before realizing I was at a smaller one he didn't even know was there. We stopped for some Arby's one the way to his house. There, we met up with ghostcub and thomasm and headed off to preview night at the con.
We got our tags and stuff after not much of a wait and hung out til we could get into the dealer room. The place was huge. Being the only one without a kilt, they wanted to hit the Utilikilt booth first. Sadly, no one was there. We wandered around and checked out some of the stuff before heading off to eat at a Mexican restaurant (with a very bad waiter). Once back to the house, I unloaded my first backpack full of free stuff. (Good thing I brought an extra duffel bag.)
Thursday, July 26
The next morning, we got up and drove back to the convention center. There was a HUGE line of people waiting to register. It was great not having to wait in that line since we had registered the night before. We sat down to our first day of pretzel breakfasts and looked over what we wanted to do for the day. We stopped at the Utilikilt booth but still nothing there. The morning was mostly wandering the dealer's area until lunch when ghostcub and I went to the food court at a nearby open air mall he knew of. The only panel I went to that I had marked off was the LGBT New Creators panel. It was mostly independent artists who promoted through Prism and web comic artists. It was an enjoyable panel though. On the way up, I was chatting with one guy on the escalator who ended up was going to the panel too and was roommates with one of the panelists, so I got to meet that guy while we waited in line. There were a couple of handsome guys on the panel, one who I talked to right after and one who I caught once I got to the Prism booth. Both were very nice guys to chat with as well. One other panel I was going to attend was one on the Cartoon Network MMO but ghostcub and I got to test it out right at the Cartoon Network booth so we didn't need to hit that. Just before we headed to eat, we found out the Utilikilt booth was open so we checked it out. They didn't have much larger size stuff (The guy running it wasn't happy about the selection they sent him.) so they didn't have quite what I was looking for. We found one that fit me (olive original style) that I thought I'd think about. Of course, afterwards, I did the whole "Maybe I should have gotten it. It might be sold tomorrow." bit so we planned on hitting that first in the morning. We hit an Irish pub for dinner that had some good food and then headed back to the house.
Friday, July 27
Friday morning, we all got ready, hopped the rail to the con, got our pretzels and drinks as usual, and headed off to the kilt place. The guy I worked with remembered me and still had the kilt there so I bought it though the belt selection was even worse than the kilt one and I had to take a belt that left me on the last hole of it. (The next size lower they had didn't even fit around me!) They said to stop at Sword & Stone to see if someone would punch a couple holes in the belt for me, which I did later when I got the chance. I wore the kilt the rest of the day and left my shorts in my backpack. I headed off to the Fallen panel which was cool. I need to remember to tape that this weekend. I had tried to pick up the Highlander anime DVD the day before from one booth but they didn't have it in stock there yet but said it would be in Friday so I stopped back. They had it in but the credit card machine wouldn't work. They said to stop back to I went off to Joe Phillips' booth and got one of his books which he signed for me. He also showed me the preview for Witch Kids on his iphone. I headed back and they were still having problems with the phone line for the credit card machine. Long story short, I found a couple more DVDs I wanted, they did a manual charge with the old swipe imprint machines, and gave me a free shirt and apron ("Kiss me, I'm a butcher!" with bloody hand marks on it) because of all the problems. Wasn't necessary but I wasn't going to say no. Next on my schedule was the Top Cow panel to see Seth Green. Sadly, he got held up in filming a movie and couldn't make it in but they said he'd be in for the signing on Saturday. After that, I headed over to catch the Doctor Strange movie which they were playing though it won't be out on DVD for a bit yet. I got there early and got to sit in on the end of the Babylon 5 panel (which I knew nothing about). After that cleared and I found a seat for the movie, I got a call from thomasm that they were sticking around and would wait for me outside the movie area. I told them I had 2 seats near me so they joined me for the movie (no ghostcub as he had plans with a friend that night), which was very good even if not too true to the actual Doctor Strange mythos. After that, we headed to dinner at a place called (I believe) Trophy's. I almost went to one of them near the con for lunch but luckily went to Subway instead.
Saturday, July 28
Saturday, the 3 of us got ready, took the rail to the con again, and split up as they had a panel they wanted to see. I needed to check on when Seth Green's autograph session was and headed to a DC Talent panel that was really just for artists. Not what I'm good at but interesting nonetheless. After the panel, I got a call from ghostcub who made it back to the con and headed to meet up with him. On the way, I ran into bluedepth and paeryn who were in line for a panel. It was a surprise to see them as I didn't even know they would be there. A little before 2, I headed off the the autograph session (the starting organization of which was non-existant) but eventually Seth Green showed up which was cool. He actually is as short as he seems. He was also really friendly though and I got him to autograph volumes 1 and 2 of the Freshmen trade paperback and take a picture with me. After that, I tried to catch up with kakiniry whom I had tried to catch all weekend but never seemed to be able to do. I finally gave up and figured I'd call his cell phone only to realize the battery on mine had died. *facepalm* Luckily I ran into ghostcub who let the others know this had happened and to just meet me at the Gays in Comics panel later. From there, I headed off to the Supernatural panel though only one of the stars ended up being able to make it. It was still cool and it sounds like the new season will be good. I fiddled around a bit more before going to the room for the Gays in Comics panel and caught some of the Tomb Raider panel that was before it. The guys wanted to go eat so I didn't get to stay for the meet and greet sadly. At least I did get to meet Phil Jimenez before I left (He seems like a really cool guy.) and ran into another person I didn't expect to see, mattycub. We went to an Italian restaurant for dinner and headed back to the house one more time.
Sunday, July 29
Sunday, I got up and got my stuff ready for the trip home. One the way to the airport, we stopped at IHOP for breakfast. Nothing too exciting about the trip home. We were running a little late on the last leg as they were waiting on passengers since it was the last of their flights to Buffalo for the night. At least my luggage actually made it there and in one piece too. I just went home, relaxed for a bit, and got some rest. It was nice to be home, but I realized when flying back that I really didn't want to be in New York any more.
I'll post more about all this later, probably but I at least wanted to get some details out there and add in the links to some of the pics.
Wednesday, July 25
I got headed off to to the airport in good time. Once I got there, the anxiety was pretty much over. I waited until they called for boarding and got in line. I got to chat with a really hot guy with very short trimmed hair. Sadly, he was with his daughter. There's no assigned seating on Southwest, so I started searching for a seat once I got boarded. I saw one cute guy and sat in the window seat near him. I noticed a Batman tattoo and asked if he was going to the con. I guess he lives in LA but has never been there. He and his wife (Wife? Damn!) wanted to go and volunteer this year but couldn't make it. Then a priest came and sat down between us. He was a cool guy and we all had a good time chatting. I got a pic of them before they got off the plane. It was a no transfer flight but we were early so I got to get off the plane. I picked up a bear with "Las Vegas" on it to take to my mom as a souvenir of the trip and got back to the plane.
I made it into San Diego in good time and chatted with a couple cute guys going to the con while we waited for luggage. Once I got my suitcase, I checked around and called jkusters to find out where to meet him. We played the whole "I'm at the baggage claim" game before realizing I was at a smaller one he didn't even know was there. We stopped for some Arby's one the way to his house. There, we met up with ghostcub and thomasm and headed off to preview night at the con.
We got our tags and stuff after not much of a wait and hung out til we could get into the dealer room. The place was huge. Being the only one without a kilt, they wanted to hit the Utilikilt booth first. Sadly, no one was there. We wandered around and checked out some of the stuff before heading off to eat at a Mexican restaurant (with a very bad waiter). Once back to the house, I unloaded my first backpack full of free stuff. (Good thing I brought an extra duffel bag.)
Thursday, July 26
The next morning, we got up and drove back to the convention center. There was a HUGE line of people waiting to register. It was great not having to wait in that line since we had registered the night before. We sat down to our first day of pretzel breakfasts and looked over what we wanted to do for the day. We stopped at the Utilikilt booth but still nothing there. The morning was mostly wandering the dealer's area until lunch when ghostcub and I went to the food court at a nearby open air mall he knew of. The only panel I went to that I had marked off was the LGBT New Creators panel. It was mostly independent artists who promoted through Prism and web comic artists. It was an enjoyable panel though. On the way up, I was chatting with one guy on the escalator who ended up was going to the panel too and was roommates with one of the panelists, so I got to meet that guy while we waited in line. There were a couple of handsome guys on the panel, one who I talked to right after and one who I caught once I got to the Prism booth. Both were very nice guys to chat with as well. One other panel I was going to attend was one on the Cartoon Network MMO but ghostcub and I got to test it out right at the Cartoon Network booth so we didn't need to hit that. Just before we headed to eat, we found out the Utilikilt booth was open so we checked it out. They didn't have much larger size stuff (The guy running it wasn't happy about the selection they sent him.) so they didn't have quite what I was looking for. We found one that fit me (olive original style) that I thought I'd think about. Of course, afterwards, I did the whole "Maybe I should have gotten it. It might be sold tomorrow." bit so we planned on hitting that first in the morning. We hit an Irish pub for dinner that had some good food and then headed back to the house.
Friday, July 27
Friday morning, we all got ready, hopped the rail to the con, got our pretzels and drinks as usual, and headed off to the kilt place. The guy I worked with remembered me and still had the kilt there so I bought it though the belt selection was even worse than the kilt one and I had to take a belt that left me on the last hole of it. (The next size lower they had didn't even fit around me!) They said to stop at Sword & Stone to see if someone would punch a couple holes in the belt for me, which I did later when I got the chance. I wore the kilt the rest of the day and left my shorts in my backpack. I headed off to the Fallen panel which was cool. I need to remember to tape that this weekend. I had tried to pick up the Highlander anime DVD the day before from one booth but they didn't have it in stock there yet but said it would be in Friday so I stopped back. They had it in but the credit card machine wouldn't work. They said to stop back to I went off to Joe Phillips' booth and got one of his books which he signed for me. He also showed me the preview for Witch Kids on his iphone. I headed back and they were still having problems with the phone line for the credit card machine. Long story short, I found a couple more DVDs I wanted, they did a manual charge with the old swipe imprint machines, and gave me a free shirt and apron ("Kiss me, I'm a butcher!" with bloody hand marks on it) because of all the problems. Wasn't necessary but I wasn't going to say no. Next on my schedule was the Top Cow panel to see Seth Green. Sadly, he got held up in filming a movie and couldn't make it in but they said he'd be in for the signing on Saturday. After that, I headed over to catch the Doctor Strange movie which they were playing though it won't be out on DVD for a bit yet. I got there early and got to sit in on the end of the Babylon 5 panel (which I knew nothing about). After that cleared and I found a seat for the movie, I got a call from thomasm that they were sticking around and would wait for me outside the movie area. I told them I had 2 seats near me so they joined me for the movie (no ghostcub as he had plans with a friend that night), which was very good even if not too true to the actual Doctor Strange mythos. After that, we headed to dinner at a place called (I believe) Trophy's. I almost went to one of them near the con for lunch but luckily went to Subway instead.
Saturday, July 28
Saturday, the 3 of us got ready, took the rail to the con again, and split up as they had a panel they wanted to see. I needed to check on when Seth Green's autograph session was and headed to a DC Talent panel that was really just for artists. Not what I'm good at but interesting nonetheless. After the panel, I got a call from ghostcub who made it back to the con and headed to meet up with him. On the way, I ran into bluedepth and paeryn who were in line for a panel. It was a surprise to see them as I didn't even know they would be there. A little before 2, I headed off the the autograph session (the starting organization of which was non-existant) but eventually Seth Green showed up which was cool. He actually is as short as he seems. He was also really friendly though and I got him to autograph volumes 1 and 2 of the Freshmen trade paperback and take a picture with me. After that, I tried to catch up with kakiniry whom I had tried to catch all weekend but never seemed to be able to do. I finally gave up and figured I'd call his cell phone only to realize the battery on mine had died. *facepalm* Luckily I ran into ghostcub who let the others know this had happened and to just meet me at the Gays in Comics panel later. From there, I headed off to the Supernatural panel though only one of the stars ended up being able to make it. It was still cool and it sounds like the new season will be good. I fiddled around a bit more before going to the room for the Gays in Comics panel and caught some of the Tomb Raider panel that was before it. The guys wanted to go eat so I didn't get to stay for the meet and greet sadly. At least I did get to meet Phil Jimenez before I left (He seems like a really cool guy.) and ran into another person I didn't expect to see, mattycub. We went to an Italian restaurant for dinner and headed back to the house one more time.
Sunday, July 29
Sunday, I got up and got my stuff ready for the trip home. One the way to the airport, we stopped at IHOP for breakfast. Nothing too exciting about the trip home. We were running a little late on the last leg as they were waiting on passengers since it was the last of their flights to Buffalo for the night. At least my luggage actually made it there and in one piece too. I just went home, relaxed for a bit, and got some rest. It was nice to be home, but I realized when flying back that I really didn't want to be in New York any more.
I'll post more about all this later, probably but I at least wanted to get some details out there and add in the links to some of the pics.