Comic Con 2010: Day 3/4
The gallery is here! I realized how much I wanted a better camera this year, so as to better capture the crazy that is the Con.
Saturday:
First up was the Marvel panel, run by Joe Quesada (editor-in-chief) and some of his minions, whose names have escaped me. Quesada swore up and down that the merger with Disney was the Best Thing Ever to Happen to Their Little Company and that no creative control was being meddled with. (But guess what? There's a tie-in comic with the new Disney film Tron: Legacy coming out in October, which everyone was Very Excited about!) As is probably obvious from the preceding sentences, I really didn't give a damn about this panel one way or another. But it did lead to some of the most hilarious quotes I heard during the entire Con:
Quesada on a new Incredible Hulk title, coming out in September: "There'll be a lot of smashing in this one... yeah, lots of things smashed. It'll be really cool."
One of the scriptwriting/artists minions, in response to an audience question from two guys in costume who asked, "Why are Captain America and Iron Man hoarding all the knowledge of [unintelligible]?": "Uhm... you do realize that Captain America and Iron Man aren't real, right?"
Guy in the audience, ecstatic over an announcement of a certain character's return: "YEAH! Rocky Rac-Coon! Woooo!!"
This panel was quickly followed by the far superior and more entertaining Quick Draw, featuring Sergio Aragones (of Mad magazine), Scott Shaw!, and William Stout doing improvisational drawing games. I actually got a couple of decent pictures this year of the drawings they did, which are in the gallery. Describing this panel is like trying to grab hold of a very determined and grouchy eel in a large tank of vaseline, especially given my tired state of mind, but here goes: This panel reminds me why we're all actually at the Con. It's because of comics and drawings and stories. Little improv sketches give way to crazy stories, and come with all sorts of tales and prompts that hint at the stories that inspired them. (My favorite running drawing game is "New Jobs for the Hulk", as suggested by the audience. This year they were Secretary, Janitor, and Astronomer.) This panel always makes me glad I spent the $$$ on the ticket in the first place, mostly because I get to spend some serious time in the presence of people who I think are creative, funny, and talented.
After this, I met with M. from Book Group and a friend of hers and we went out for drinks and non-Con airspace. It was very peaceful out in Seaport Village, and nice to talk fannish stuff.
Following lunch, I lurched my way back into the Exhibit Hall and realized, somewhat belatedly, that I had hit my wall, putting-up-with-the-Con-wise. The crowds were pretty crazy; I didn't feel like spending anymore money; and I kept running into people at the booths who were really into the hard sell, which is something I really don't appreciate. (No, I will not buy the 5$ compilation of the series that I stopped reading over 10 years ago; I stopped reading it for a reason. Yes, I would like to support your charity, but I cannot for the life of me remember what this guy's artwork looks like, and I don't want to commission something from someone I don't know.) I did have a very nice discussion with the women at the Bekyoot booth, who did not do the hard sell and seemed happy to have someone talk with them about their designs and their plans to expand into the babywear market.
yebisu9 caught up with me around 5:00 and we decided that we had to have dinner or we both might do violence. Unfortunately, I think it was this decision that caused us to miss a good place in line for the Mythbusters panel: by the time we got back to the room, it was still an hour before panel time and the line snaked back away from the room, down the wall, and outside, where it curved and rounded back on itself so many times that we couldn't figure out how many people were actually waiting and if we had a chance to get in or not. In the end, I told Yebisu he could call it either way and he decided we should bail. (We read in the Con newsletter this morning that 2,000 people came to see it! No way would we have gotten into that!) So we went home and watched an episode of "Survivors" instead.
[Bonus report! Yebisu attended the "V" panel and provided the following information:
1) Morena Baccarin is GORGEOUS (well, duh, we already knew that);
2) Mr. Hawt Britishy Guy will be a series regular this next season; and
3) Anna's mother is named Diana and there will be a shot of her on the V home planet.]
Sunday:
Today's panel was the spotlight on Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson books. And he was a gracious, articulate, and kind speaker, who fielded the questions from his youngest fans with great attention to detail. Overall, he didn't tell me anything especially new about the series and its creation, but his passion for writing and education really shone through, and it was a pleasure to hear him speak.
After that, psydolivia and I wandered around the Exhibit Hall floor, where I fulfilled my final few quests of the Con, which were buying one more crazy fleece hat, procuring comic-themed baby clothes (Flash onesie! YAY!), and generally trying to soak it all in one more time. We met psychoe and her friend, had lunch, saw ashears one last time... and then my brain began the shut down process and I knew it was time to go. I would have loved to talk longer with everyone, but I could see the mental and physical storm clouds gathering, and I was determined to leave on a high note. One trolley ride and short drive later, we are home, and I am finding that I do, in fact, have a very painful blister and more free swag than I know how to deal with.
Sum-up post to follow, most likely tomorrow, when I've regained my brainpower. But whatever brainpower got drained, it was totally, 100% worth it. XD
Saturday:
First up was the Marvel panel, run by Joe Quesada (editor-in-chief) and some of his minions, whose names have escaped me. Quesada swore up and down that the merger with Disney was the Best Thing Ever to Happen to Their Little Company and that no creative control was being meddled with. (But guess what? There's a tie-in comic with the new Disney film Tron: Legacy coming out in October, which everyone was Very Excited about!) As is probably obvious from the preceding sentences, I really didn't give a damn about this panel one way or another. But it did lead to some of the most hilarious quotes I heard during the entire Con:
Quesada on a new Incredible Hulk title, coming out in September: "There'll be a lot of smashing in this one... yeah, lots of things smashed. It'll be really cool."
One of the scriptwriting/artists minions, in response to an audience question from two guys in costume who asked, "Why are Captain America and Iron Man hoarding all the knowledge of [unintelligible]?": "Uhm... you do realize that Captain America and Iron Man aren't real, right?"
Guy in the audience, ecstatic over an announcement of a certain character's return: "YEAH! Rocky Rac-Coon! Woooo!!"
This panel was quickly followed by the far superior and more entertaining Quick Draw, featuring Sergio Aragones (of Mad magazine), Scott Shaw!, and William Stout doing improvisational drawing games. I actually got a couple of decent pictures this year of the drawings they did, which are in the gallery. Describing this panel is like trying to grab hold of a very determined and grouchy eel in a large tank of vaseline, especially given my tired state of mind, but here goes: This panel reminds me why we're all actually at the Con. It's because of comics and drawings and stories. Little improv sketches give way to crazy stories, and come with all sorts of tales and prompts that hint at the stories that inspired them. (My favorite running drawing game is "New Jobs for the Hulk", as suggested by the audience. This year they were Secretary, Janitor, and Astronomer.) This panel always makes me glad I spent the $$$ on the ticket in the first place, mostly because I get to spend some serious time in the presence of people who I think are creative, funny, and talented.
After this, I met with M. from Book Group and a friend of hers and we went out for drinks and non-Con airspace. It was very peaceful out in Seaport Village, and nice to talk fannish stuff.
Following lunch, I lurched my way back into the Exhibit Hall and realized, somewhat belatedly, that I had hit my wall, putting-up-with-the-Con-wise. The crowds were pretty crazy; I didn't feel like spending anymore money; and I kept running into people at the booths who were really into the hard sell, which is something I really don't appreciate. (No, I will not buy the 5$ compilation of the series that I stopped reading over 10 years ago; I stopped reading it for a reason. Yes, I would like to support your charity, but I cannot for the life of me remember what this guy's artwork looks like, and I don't want to commission something from someone I don't know.) I did have a very nice discussion with the women at the Bekyoot booth, who did not do the hard sell and seemed happy to have someone talk with them about their designs and their plans to expand into the babywear market.
yebisu9 caught up with me around 5:00 and we decided that we had to have dinner or we both might do violence. Unfortunately, I think it was this decision that caused us to miss a good place in line for the Mythbusters panel: by the time we got back to the room, it was still an hour before panel time and the line snaked back away from the room, down the wall, and outside, where it curved and rounded back on itself so many times that we couldn't figure out how many people were actually waiting and if we had a chance to get in or not. In the end, I told Yebisu he could call it either way and he decided we should bail. (We read in the Con newsletter this morning that 2,000 people came to see it! No way would we have gotten into that!) So we went home and watched an episode of "Survivors" instead.
[Bonus report! Yebisu attended the "V" panel and provided the following information:
1) Morena Baccarin is GORGEOUS (well, duh, we already knew that);
2) Mr. Hawt Britishy Guy will be a series regular this next season; and
3) Anna's mother is named Diana and there will be a shot of her on the V home planet.]
Sunday:
Today's panel was the spotlight on Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson books. And he was a gracious, articulate, and kind speaker, who fielded the questions from his youngest fans with great attention to detail. Overall, he didn't tell me anything especially new about the series and its creation, but his passion for writing and education really shone through, and it was a pleasure to hear him speak.
After that, psydolivia and I wandered around the Exhibit Hall floor, where I fulfilled my final few quests of the Con, which were buying one more crazy fleece hat, procuring comic-themed baby clothes (Flash onesie! YAY!), and generally trying to soak it all in one more time. We met psychoe and her friend, had lunch, saw ashears one last time... and then my brain began the shut down process and I knew it was time to go. I would have loved to talk longer with everyone, but I could see the mental and physical storm clouds gathering, and I was determined to leave on a high note. One trolley ride and short drive later, we are home, and I am finding that I do, in fact, have a very painful blister and more free swag than I know how to deal with.
Sum-up post to follow, most likely tomorrow, when I've regained my brainpower. But whatever brainpower got drained, it was totally, 100% worth it. XD