Comic-Con 2007: (The Actual) Day One

Okay, so where were we? Ah, yes. The actual first day of the Con. Thursday. Seeing as how we were up so late the night before, getting up too early wasn't that big of a consideration. However, Russ and Tony did want to make it to panel where Battlestar Galactica veteran Richard Hatch would be speaking. Richard Hatch became kind of a Con regular thing for us a few years ago. Before this new BG series started on Sci-Fi, there was a big battle going on with two camps trying to bring it back. One was headed by Richard Hatch (whom you may remember, if you're old enough and a bit of a nerd, as Apollo from the original show). The other was series creator Glen Larson. Apparently there was some big legal battle over this, the details of which I can't quite remember. But we ended up going to a Richard Hatch panel a few years back. Richard is one highly motivated SOB. And he was really, really into bringing the show back. He'd gotten together a group of other Galactica people, and some other creative folks he knew, and was moving forward with his vision. He (and these folks) had even made a trailer for a new Galactica series. He got effects people to work on it and everything. His vision picked up quite a few years after the first series left off, and what he filmed wasn't the actual new show, but just something to show others (and networks) what it could be like. He showed this trailer, one that had already been making news on the internet, at this first panel. People went out of their minds. There were seriously like a 5-minute standing "O". And Hatch talking about...man. I should add that he's also a motivational speaker. You could see why. We became converts....and then it became a standard thing every year for us to go to whatever panel Hatch was it. We started using the phrase "What Would Richard Hatch Do?" amongst ourselves the rest of the year. Anyway, as it turns out, someone ELSE got the Galatica rights and did the show a different way...which turned out to be one of the best shows on TV in years. So Richard didn't get to do it himself, but was a gracious "loser" and accepted a recurring role on the show.

So Tony and Russ wanted to hear him again, but A.T. and I had to get in line for badges ourselves, so we wouldn't be going. We took two cars from Tony's place down to the convention center, as A.T. and I would have to split off from them later in the evening (more on that in a bit), and since we learned a long time ago not to bother trying to park anywhere near the center, we took our usual parking spots at a lot across from the baseball stadium (Petco Park, baby! Home of the Padres!) and walked over...which isn't that far of a walk. As I expected, thousands and thousands of people on the streets on foot, making their way to the big event. We got to the door and found out where the pro-reg area would be. As we were talking to the security guy at the door to get directions, someone comes running up to him. And who should it be? Richard Hatch himself. He ran up in a panic asking "Where's 6-A? Where's 6-A? Just tell me, where's 6-A?" "6-A" is one of the panel rooms, obviously where he was headed for the panel that Russ and Tony were headed to...and he was obviously running late. The security guy seemed kind of stumped, but luckily Russ, being in the know, was able to give Mr. Hatch directions. So began our 2007 celeb stories. There's always a number every year, and this year was to be no exception.

So A.T. and I got into line with the pros. Pretty big line. Some years someone spots the wheelchair and comes up and tells me I can just come up to the front, but that's never something I actually ask for (it's something I feel kind of bad about, actually, when it happens), but not this year, so we waited. As we got close to the front, A.T. turned around for something, and he physically bumped into Lou Ferrigno (you might remember him as the Hulk from the TV show). Luckily, A.T. did not make him angry (we wouldn't have liked that...), and he was quite gracious about it.

We got our badges, and finally, we were able to go in. Just before we did, we got a cell call from Russ. He and Tony had finished their panel (we were in line quite a while) and were getting ready to head into the Gaslamp for lunch. We really wanted to get inside, so we bowed out of that and headed in. Immediately, the familiar sights brought back all the memories and made it feel like home. As I might have mentioned, the San Diego Convention Center is HUGE. For you trivia-minded folks, there's over 525,000 square feet of space on the lower floor (where all the booths and tables and such are), and this convention uses ALL of it. Thursday is typically the "slow" day, but even so, it was wall-to-wall people. The bigger companies (bigger comic companies like D.C. and Marvel, video game companies, TV networks, movie studios) all have these really elaborate booths with all kinds of cool displays, and people are moving in out of them all day. There are banners of comic art a couple stories tall. There's giant video screens showing promo stuff. Some of the booths are two levels, and on one I passed, there was a guy up there with a mic rapping (okay...). The Marvel booth had a display of the actual life-sized Mark I Iron Man armor for next summer's big Iron Man movie. There were dazzling sights all over, and I found myself feeling envious of those folks experiencing it all for the first time (me, being a regular for 17 years, I'm just not as blown away anymore) and dealing with the sensory overload. There were vendors selling thousands of tee shirts and posters, companies selling software at their tables, sword and armor dealers, art dealers, toy dealers, memorabilia dealers, comic companies, book publishers, anything you can imagine. Anything you could want as a pop culture fan of any kind.

The most important thing you can arm yourself with is the program schedule. Aside from telling you when and where panels are happening (almost all of them upstairs...there are two floors of panel rooms up there, but the biggest venue is "Hall H" downstairs, where all the really big celeb things happen), there's a map and a guide to tell you where everything is, so you can find the company or dealer or whatever you're looking for downstairs. There SO much to see, and it's so easy to get lost, that this is a necessity. This is actually available online before the Con ever starts, but I generally don't get around to looking until we actually get there and get the program book in hand, which they hand you when you get your badge. Maybe I just like the tradition. This used to be part of the experience in the early days. We'd all fly in on Wednesday night, go to pre-reg, get our books, and then go back to someone's hotel room and start highlighting and underlining to plan our week. But, this year, didn't have it until right when I went in. The map shows you who's where on the main floor, and also shows that there are certain special areas. One of them is the Small Press area, where small comic creators who generally publish their own stuff get to have their tables. This is where Tim and I were stationed with our Nice Guy table a couple (or was it three?) years back, but I still like to go over there, even if I don't have a table, and check out the other indy guys and be sure to buy something from as many as possible.

Another of the segmented areas is called Artist's Alley (or Artists' Alley, I guess...), a place with rows of tables just for comic artists. The artists range from popular names in the business to lesser-known guys just there to get themselves known and do commissions for people. This is always a big area for me, as I love getting original comic art, and I generally come in with a agenda for some character art I want for one of the web pages I do. There are a couple of regulars I hit, but the list of artists tends to change from year to year, so I like to roam around and see who else is kicking it that I might hit up. As artists doing commissions tend to fill up their art lists quickly, I like to hit the Alley first, so A.T. and I headed over there. I'd come with some art references to hand out, so I wanted to see who might be available for work.

I had two big scores here. First off, veteran Marvel artist Bob Hall was there, something no one else around seemed to be noticing or caring about. But me, I'm an old fan of his. He used to do comics back when I was in high school (I remember him best from West Coasts Avengers). He's now 75 years old and still working it. So I had to introduce myself and chat with him for a bit. Had a great conversation about Ireland, as he'd lived there for a couple of years (whereas I had only spent a week there, back in '03, on a trip with Russ). And I ended up getting some art ordered from him, too. I was heading down another row and spotted an artist named Josh Howard. I first discovered his work about three years before when I picked up a comic he does called "Dead @ 17". I totally loved his art, and have been trying to track him down to do some for me ever since, but he'd never been in the Alley. Now, there he was, and doing commissions cheap, no less! So I got to meet him and put in an order, and he did a couple of really amazing pieces for me. I love not only his art, but his storytelling style, so much that I definitely have plans to work with him one of these days. I'm planning to write a script that really matches his style and pitch it to him down the road. We'll see.

I also ran into a great artist named Otis Frampton (who does a wonderful book called "Oddly Normal") who did some commission work via eBay for me a while back, so it was great to be able to meet him in person. Also tracked down an eBay artist named Marc Wolfe, who actually owed me some art from a commission, and was supposed to be bringing it along. I found him, and he had to apologize, but he'd forgotten to pack it. So he offered to do an additional piece for me on the house for my patience. Excellent. I was supposed to have emailed him about that when I got back, something I just now remembered. Oops. We'll see if I can remember that tonight. I also tracked down Jeff Moy, who I hit up for a piece every year. If you're a comic person, you may know his work from Legion of Super-Heroes. Great guy and amazing artist, and once again, he came through for me this year. Great piece. Finally, I spotted Marvel artist Terry Shoemaker, and got one ordered up from him as well. The way these things work is that you order the commission, pay your money, and then, depending on how many people are on the artist's list ahead of you, you're given a rough idea of when to come back to pick up your art. This is why I like to order my art on Thursday, since I'm there for all four days each year, so I can tell the artists there's no rush and they can take their time with my stuff (and move someone ahead of me if that person is only there for, say, one or two days). I just check back in about once a day and see how it's going. By Sunday, I had it all. So my annual art hunt turned out really well.

A.T. and I had to grab some food, so we took part in another annual Con tradition...which is going upstairs to the Mezzanine level and paying way too much for overpriced on-site Con food. They mainly have sandwiches and pizza up there, and it costs way too much, but it does save you from having to take the walk across the street to the Gaslamp. We were in line for food when Russ called, and he had just had lunch with our old friend Jo, who recently moved back to San Diego from L.A. and was living downtown. She had never done the Con thing, so while Tony was at her place doing something on her computer (I can't recall what...), he loaned her his badge and she came back with Russ. They met up with us and we got a table and chatted while A.T. and I scarfed. It's always fun hanging out with someone who's experiencing it for the first time...particularly someone as wonderfully sarcastic and snarky as Jo. Had a great time catching up with her, but soon, she was off to get back to the real world.

Let's see...I think at this point Russ and I went outside to one of our favorite spots to have a couple of cigars, while A.T. headed off to check out another panel. It was the Lion's Gate studio panel, and it was in the big Hall H, so I wasn't convinced he was going to get in. Well, turns out he did, and he got to see folks at the panel like Jessica Alba (d'oh!), Dane Cook, Peter Fonda and Clive Barker. Me and Russ, we were waiting for Tony to return, as we wanted to check out the panel for Lost, which is always a popular thing. As I recall, it was during this sit that Russ pointed out to me that Nick Frost (co-star of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) was standing right nearby having a cigarette. We wandered over there, and he was talking with someone. I'm really not much of a guy for approaching celebs, generally, and I'm really not into autographs, so most of my celeb stories at these things end up standing next to someone famous or riding the elevator with them or something. But I thought since my friend Ken back home was such a fan, I'd maybe get a picture of me and Nick. ALMOST did, but some other guy walked up and did so while I was digging for my camera, and Nick went in right after that. Ah, well. Still three days left for that sort of thing...

I also had to make a phone call around this time. Our friends Ben and Kaye, who live in Orange County and usually drive down for the Saturday of the Con only, were making use of Ben's family's timeshare in La Jolla and were going to be in town for Wednesday and Thursday nights only. They'd wanted to do a barbecue, and A.T. and I had arranged to hook up with them for that Thursday night. I hadn't heard from them, and it suddenly occurred to me that that might not have still had my cell number. Turns out I was right! They were just leaving the convention and heading to La Jolla, and I got directions from them and let them know we'd hook up with them after our panel (and after fighting the traffic out of downtown).

So Tony and Russ and I got lucky with the wheelchair thing getting into the Lost panel, a room which, no surprise, filled up quite nicely. Producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse showed up for this one, but without any cast members like the year before. They showed some cool promo stuff, but then when right into questions from the audience. This is actually my least favorite parts of panels...people asking dumb questions and guys like these producers having to give very vague answers (as not to lay out any spoilers). So after a few minutes of this, I told Russ and Tony I'd be taking off so I could get out to La Jolla early. Turns out I missed a special guest on stage that gives away something from this upcoming season, but I won't tell you about that, because it's LOST, man! No spoilers allowed! At least not from me...

I hooked up with A.T. and we made our way to our car and headed to La Jolla. And we had a great evening hanging out and chatting with our old pals Ben and Kaye! We so rarely get to see them. It's usually just one a year, at the Con, and then it's only for a few minutes between panels and such. There's really no time to have a real conversation. So, while their two boys ran about and talked a lot of Harry Potter, we got to have some great chow out there on the patio, overlooking the ocean, and catch up on old times, talk about TV shows and books and all manner of stuff, and find out what's been up with their family. Hell of a treat. I miss those guys!! Hope we get a chance to try that method again next year, depending on their schedule.

So we finally wrapped things up there (didn't want to make it TOO late, as their family had to hit the road early and head home the next day), and A.T. and I headed back to Casa Del Tony to hook up with the boys and try for some shut-eye before preparing for the first of the two BIG days of the Con. Friday. New adventures and experiences awaited!

Comic-Con 2007: (The Day Before) Day One

I go to Comic-Con International in San Diego every summer. The reasons are pretty simple. 1) I'm a comic writer; 2) it's in San Diego; 3) I'd be stupid not to.

I've been going to this thing since 1990, since before I actually got into the comics biz. It started off as a place to meet up with other members of the Clobberin' Times, the Champions APA I was part of. It was our excuse to get together, but, all being comic fans, we went for the event itself as well. It was a lot different at the start (and had it different name...it used to just be the San Diego Comic-Con before it turned into Comic-Con International, the biggest comic convention in the world). It was smaller. It used to take place in the old convention center in San Diego. Over the years, it's switched over to the new Center, and it's grown, like crazy, every year. It used to be sort of a secret...kind of the best kept secret in entertainment. When the average person heard "Comic-Con", they just thought comic books. What they didn't realize was that, for a really low price for all you get out of it, you could hang out with known celebrities as well. The thing may have started out as a comic thing only, decades ago, but it evolved into the biggest "popular culture" convention in the world, inclusive of comics, film, television, videogames, you name it. I've got endless stories from over the years. Back then, you could just walk in to one of the many panels offered, take a seat amongst the not-full-house, and listen to director John Carpenter talk for an hour. Which I did. It was badass. These days, you've got to get in a very long line to get into panels like that, and often can't get in before they fill up.

What it's evolved into is a monster event packed with really huge celebs. All the major (and minor) TV networks and film studios use it to promote upcoming shows and movies, and with that comes a lot more stars. Big ones. I think the year Halle Berry showed up was the breaking point. That's when folks like Entertainment Tonight and "E" finally took notice of what was happening. After that, the celebs kept pouring in, as did the attendees, and suddenly, there were over 100,000 people attending this thing each year over the four days it's held. It became a madhouse, jammed to the walls of a very, very big building. Not as intimate as it used to be, but still the biggest spectacle of its kind on Earth, and always a good time.

I usually meet up with quite a few friends down there for the event, but this year was to be a small year. Not a lot of my peeps, for various reasons, could make it. And not only could my Nice Guy co-creator and artist, Tim, not make it, but we didn't have our second book done yet, so we had no way to justify getting a table there to push our product. But I still needed to be there to do a little selling and schmoozing, and I always count on the trip to give me a load of creative inspiration to last me until the next summer, so I was there. It was just going to be me and my pal A.T. going from Sacramento, and we'd be meeting up with our friend Russ (a former San Diego resident, like myself, who moved away and now had to fly in (from Boise, in his case) to attend) and staying with our pal Tony (the last resident from our old San Diego gang still there) and his family, skipping the hotel route this year. Which was important, because I think every hotel room within five miles of downtown filled up months before the event. I'm not kidding. They really did.

I took a week off work, wanting a day before the flight to get myself together and packed, so I spent my Tuesday doing that (after spending a late night on Monday at the office to get my desk ready for me being gone). Then Wednesday came around, and it was time for A.T. and I to get out of Dodge (or Sac, in this case). He still had to work on Wednesday, but only a half day, so he finished up his work and family stuff and came and grabbed me, and it was off to the airport we went, ready to leave our nightmarish insurance jobs behind for a few days and get a much needed mental break. Russ would already be there when we arrived, as he flew in that morning, so we planned to meet up with him and Tony after getting out of the airport. They, themselves, would be picking up their pre-registered Con badges at the Convention Center and attending what's called "Preview Night". If you're pre-reg'd, you get to go in the night before everyone else and check out the place. There aren't any panels or events going on, but all the companies and vendors have their stuff all set up, and people can come through and start buying any of the ENDLESS items available for purchase (comics, tee shirts, DVDs, swords, collectibles of EVERY kind). They essentially added an extra half-day to the Con. Not needed for me or A.T. First of all, due to A.T.'s schedule, we weren't able to fly in in time for it. Second? We...uh...didn't actually have badges yet. This would be my bad, and this was a potential disaster that was still hanging over our heads, even as we drove to the airport to fly off to America's Finest City.

There are the regular badges, you see, and there are "pro badges" for industry professionals. Since I technically am one, this allows me to get a badge for free, and allows me one guest for free as well. Which is cool, since other folks are still paying $25 per day for their badges (and I can't imagine this low price is going to last much longer). But to get the free badge, pros have to pre-register. Well, life got busy, and I didn't. It's happened before, and it's usually not an issue. That only meant, in the past, that you would have to wait until Thursday morning, stand in line for a while, and then buy your page on-site, which would cost you (and your guest) $25 for all four days. Not as good as free, but still 1/4 of the price others are paying. So I've done that a couple of times.

This year, there was a potentially big problem. You see, this year, for the first time ever, the Con started selling out. There was an announcement that went up about a week before the Con that all 4-day badges were now sold out. This was unprecedented. Believe me, I know, as I've been doing this for 17 years. They were encouraging people to get online and pre-register asap, as there were still 3-day passes and single day passes available. But, as a pro, I didn't have this option, as I found out when I called the pro hotline at the Con and got a recording. You have two choices as a pro--you make the May 1st pre-reg deadline, or you're out of luck and you have to buy at the door. Well, that was fine, but did that mean that I now wouldn't be able to get a 4-day pass...me or A.T.? I couldn't find out, because no one ever answered to pro-line. Just the recording. And there was no help on the web site, either. All they told you was just to buy at the door, but didn't state anywhere if the sell-out applied to us pro-types. I even emailed them, and never got a response. So it seemed it was too late to do anything about it. So as I waited that final week, news then hit that Saturday passes were totally sold out. Holy crap! Saturday's the biggest day, with all the big events. Missing that would suck, big time. So it looked like there was a chance A.T. and I wouldn't be able to be there for one of those days. As it turned out, in the end, all the other days sold out as well.

But, as luck would have it, Russ went to the pro people while he was getting his badge and asked the question for us, and called me, just before we got on the plane, and said that all was well...the sell-out didn't apply to pros. Whew! So that took a big load off, and got us relaxed and excited about the trip. We landed in San Diego (which I always love doing, as I still consider that city home and treasure every chance I get to get back there) and went to go take care of our rental car. In years past with me and my friends, there were always numerous vehicles available for the attending gang...there was Tony's car, and Russ had his when he lived there, and I had my van back before I made the move back north. Now, we'd be down to just Tony's car, and as Tony has kids and family matters to deal with, we didn't want him being stuck having to taxi us around if he suddenly had to take off. So, A.T. and I both being in insurance, we've got connections with Enterprise. A.T. used his and got us set up with the good rate, and set us up for an Economy-sized vehicle. This had started to worry me as we got closer, the more I thought about it. If we did have the situation with Tony happen and A.T., Russ and I needed to all use the car, we wouldn't be able to fit three of us plus my wheelchair in there. So I figured we should rethink that once we got to the rental car place.

IF we got to the rental car place...

We waited for the Enterprise shuttle outside the airport (the Enterprise location is off-site), and the one that showed up didn't have a wheelchair ramp. But the driver said a workable one would be by in about 15 minutes. Okay, we could wait. Well, that didn't happen. As it turned out, two of Enterprise's shuttles were down...including the one with the lift. An Enterprise guy showed up and let us know this, and that they'd actually called us a cab. Oookay. Whatever got the job done. Our cab showed, a mini-van with a lift, and our driver was a Russian cabbie named Boris (I'm not making that up), who informed us (not quite buying this) that his cab is one of two in all of San Diego that has a wheelchair lift. Boris came complete with the accent, and at one point, I almost leaned forward and asked him to say "moose and squirrel" for me, but self-control got the better of me.

Boris got us there, and then it was time to get hooked up on our car. I asked the helpful guy who'd be setting us up if we still had the option to get a bigger vehicle, and he said sure, we could just see what was available in the lot. I was thinking we needed a standard-sized vehicle (their sizes go: Economy, Compact, Intermediate, Standard...then move up to Full-Size, Luxury, and so on). He showed us to a Taurus. He started writing it up for us, and we even got our luggage in the trunk, and that's when A.T. let us know that he insisted on having the extra insurance, and he had budgeted his portion of the rental based on that, so he really wanted to look at an Economy. Okay, so our guy showed us what Economy ones he had, and A.T. even unloaded the Taurus. I looked at it, and its lame excuse for a trunk that wouldn't fit the wheelchair, and realized that even if we didn't need to put the chair in the back seat, Russ is too tall to fit in that back seat with any kind of comfort. It just wasn't going to work. We looked at the next size up, but while our guy was walking back from inside with some adjusted figures, another couple of people stepped up and got the last Compact. In the end, A.T. worked his mojo, and managed to talk the guy into giving us the Taurus for the Compact price. Problem solved, and we got a great deal on the car for the trip. And we could now finally get on the road, since it was now after 10pm and Russ and Tony were waiting for us downtown at a bar.

We took the (what would have been) short drive toward the Gaslamp area downtown to track down the Yard House where Tony and Russ were waiting. We were preparing to make a left turn that would get us into the Gaslamp when we hit a red light. As we waited, a train started coming (we'd have to cross the tracks to make our turn). Well, okay, that happens. So we waited. And waited. This was like a mile-long freight train. And as more of it passed us, it started slowing down. Way down. Pretty soon, it stopped. And then, to our further frustration, it even started backing up, slowly. So this train had managed to get far enough into our area to completely block any street would let us get to where Russ and Tony were. This was frustrating me even more because I hadn't had a meal all day and I knew the kitchen would be closing soon. I managed to call Russ and asked him to at least order me some kind of appetizer before that happened (which would be less than 10 minutes from that time).

As it looked like the train wasn't going anywhere anytime soon (you should have seen the line of traffic behind us), A.T. got in the job. As his visual memory is apparently MUCH better than mine, he remembered back to a previous trip when Russ had driven us through a back way to the Gaslamp...and A.T. also thought he remembered a spot up ahead where a bridge would take us over the train. Keep in mind that I lived there for seven years and even *I* didn't know that. So. A.T. hit the gas, and soon, we found the route he remembered. We got past the train (woo hoo!) and found our way to the Gaslamp. And we managed to find a parking spot just a couple of blocks away from our destination, thanks to my disabled parking pass that I'd thankfully remembered to bring.

So we hit the Yard House and found the boys (already pretty toasted), and it turned out that Russ had gone ahead and ordered me a burger (time for another 'woo hoo!'). So, now relaxed and in better mood, I was able to get some food in me and order a Guinness before last call. So the four of us toasted the trip to come, got caught up, since we hadn't seen each other in a while, and enjoyed some quality hang-out time downtown.

As parking is just ridiculous during Con time, particularly on preview night (which begins right around rush hour traffic time), Tony had parked his car at a trolley station elsewhere and taken light rail down to meet up with Russ. So thanks to us having the Taurus, we were able to give them a ride back to that station to get Tony's wheels. We all hit the freeway and headed to Tony's place, where, as I said, Tony and his wife, Wendy, and their three (count 'em!) kids were letting us crash. We got unloaded, and I got my stuff into the room I always get to use when I'm staying with Tony (he puts a rollaway bed in his home office for me, which is awesome because the office also opens right into the downstairs bathroom), and we got to catch up with Wendy a bit (who was miraculously still up at that time). Eventually we all managed to get off to bed. I think it was near 3:30 or 4:00am when I finally got to sleep. Which would, certainly, be making for a very long first day (Thursday) at the Con...