Comic-Con 2008

Popular culture, movies, wierdos, and comics galore!

Comic-con was the reason we picked San Diego for vacation, but in actuality it wasn't the highlight of the trip. We did spend a lot of time there... a LOT of time in lines, waiting to purchase something, waiting to get into a program or preview or panel, waiting to buy food... lines, lines, everywhere!

Aside from the ache our feet felt after so many lines and so much waiting, we did see some cool stuff. The exhibit hall was the happenin' place to be: movie star (or their look-alike) appearances, author and artist signings, exclusive toy sales, games to try and movies to preview. So much to do, so little time. The first night James and I split up and saw some different things. There are freebies at every booth, so we got pins, posters, magnets, pencils, stickers, etc. all shoved into huge free tote bags. The Warner Bros. booth had bags that went from your shoulder to the floor, with their upcoming movie releases printed on them. With one of the bags on your shoulder you were a literal walking billboard. We got some exclusive toys through Diamond Direct, James' shops' distributor service. The next morning we went into the exhibit hall as soon as it opened. James bought an exclusive HeroClix figure, the Anti-Monitor. I stood in line for a raffle to win the opportunity to BUY an lego set.. and after going through the line twice, I won! What did I get for my hour in line and $50? An Indiana Jones lego set (200 pieces), so it's not so huge or spectacular, but it's #71 out of 500. I hope to sell it on eBay and get much more back than I paid for it.

Later that day I got to meet Andy Runton, the author/artist of "Owly" comics. I bought a t-shirt and he signed it, adding a custom sketch to the back of the shirt! I think it's my favorite souvenir from the Con. James met a comic book artist on the floor and now loves his title, "Supernatural law," which shares the challenges lawyers face when they defend the likes of Frankenstein, etc. We saw Lou Ferrigno and Johnathan Frakes (from star trek) and James saw Willliam Katt, the guy who plays "Greatest American hero." We saw an NBA star but I don't know who he was... you could just tell he was a star because of the cameras following him and his 7-feet-plus height.

The costumes were a riot. Standing in line for my Legos I saw the "Elvis stormtrooper," complete with rhinestones on his stormtrooper belt, gold chains and gelled-back sideburns. (The picture of him here is not mine because James had the camera, but is from his web site, elvistrooper.com.) On Star Wars day, Friday, I saw a ton of ladies in skimpy Princess Leia slave-to-Jabba-the-Hutt outfits. And many other ladies showed how little material they could afford to put into their costumes...and how much skin they were willing to reveal. Even some men wore just loin cloths! Yikes! The oddest costumes I saw were a whole family, mother, father, girls and boys, wearing London Police officer uniforms, complete with black mustaches on everyone! There is a "nerd prom" or costume masquerade on Saturday night and these creative folks compete to win prizes for their costumes. We didn't go but saw that the winning costumes were a flock of pixies from Neverland that spelled "Peter" on their costumes when they lined up.

There were some great panels we listened to. My favorites were two panels on writing, one by J. Michael Strazcinsky who has done many comic books, screen plays, etc. The other was by Ray Bradbury. I loved hearing him talk. He is 88 or 89 and was in a wheelchair. He talked about selling his first short story for $10 and his three rules of writing: 1) write what you love and love what you write, 2) and 3) get up in the morning and write (he said "throw up") and clean it up at noon. He summed up by saying "write what you love and to heck with everything else."

Other panels we enjoyed discussed new animated movies like Batman: the brave and the bold and Wonder Woman. We heard from science fiction writers, King Kong experts, fans of Jack Kirby, and Blu-ray DVD producers, to name a few.

I went to the preview of the Twilight movie coming out, based on the Twilight saga by Stephenie Meyer. I stood in line for an hour (of course, more lines) with 6000 other people. The line went from the end of the convention center to the hotel next door, across a courtyard about the size of a football field, and back... three times! When I finally got in the hall, I was shocked by all the screaming teenage girls who just swooned over the actors, similar to what you see in Beatles footage. One lady, actually a 40-year-old mother of a teen girl, went up during the Q and A time and asked the two leading men if it was "boxers or briefs." How silly and embarrassing! They never answered that question. I liked hearing from Stephenie about writing the books and she said her favorite Bella and Edward scene was in the 4th book (which at that time was a week from being released; now it's out and yes I've read it already). It looks like a good movie and it comes out the day after my birthday so I plan to go see it.

One tip for anyone who might go to comic-con: plan to spend a lot of money. James and I found really cool books, and he added to his collection of comic essentials and showcases a great deal. Just the food at the food court there costs a lot: $14 for two hot dogs, a 16 oz bottled water and small soda pop. There's a lot of cool t-shirts and toys for sale and you can find about anything related to comics or anime or movies there for sale.

There were movie screenings each night and fan club meetings, etc. but we were so beat each night (and were forced to admit, we're old people now) that we left the convention center by 7 at the latest each night. We were glad to go back to our condo via shuttle bus (a free service, and very conveniently a stop was located across the street from our condo) so that once we stumbled off the bus and into our condo we were definitely done for the day.