Tag: geek Mecca

San Diego Comic-Con: Day 2

Posted on July 23, 2011 by Bruce

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Have you ever been on a Disney vacation? You know how after a while you just need a break from the “Happiest Place on Earth”? Today was not that day, but close, I did leave early- don’t fret or feel sorry for me I got everything done that I wanted to today & wore my fez and comic Hawaiian shirt for good measure. Today, I had just a few things on my list most of them required the presence of Jeff Smith. If you do not know or have ever heard of Jeff Smith… I am sorry. I am not talking about the Frugal Gourmet- I speak of the Eisner award winning creator of Bone.

This actually demonstrates the difference between Comic-Con and other comic book conventions. Two years ago I went to C2E2 and after a wonderful breakfast with Sue stopped in to get some things signed by Jeff Smith for my classroom. I was confronted with a sign being held by the person in front of me that read “Last in line for Jeff” I decided to wait… What was one more person? I held onto that sign until today. See at Comic-Con there are lines… Lines to get an autograph of some actor who played in some show that was cancelled after three episodes but has a cult following, that or t-shirts. At Comic-Con comics aren’t that important, so unlike C2E2 I walked up to a rather short line and then had a nice conversation with Jeff Smith who took a picture with Cecil and drew a wonderful piece of artwork below “Last in line for Jeff” and now I am happy. The only other things on my list was a photo with the TARDIS and a copy of Dave Kellett’s wonderful Eisner nominated book. Done & done. The only session I wanted to attend was Jeff Smith’s which I did and that got me thinking. Finally before calling Sue to see about a late lunch I headed up to the Art show and saw some cool things, and some amateurish things, but sadly while taking pictures of some Klingons, Cecil lost his Jayne hat… He no longer has the same control over Firefly fans. Tomorrow will actually be a day away from the Con- but fear not, we will be attending an event (the Nerdist podcast) with the Doctor & Pond in the evening so geekiness will not be avoided.

San Diego Comic-Con: Day 1ish

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Bruce

After advertising that this would be the “Year of No” here I am still stunned that I was given professional status at the San Diego Comic-Con. As I write this Preview Night is but a memory and I am going over my notes from today’s sessions while trying to figure out where all my money went. A brief recap for those interested- I applied for pro status, got it but it was too late to get any guest badges. While I immersed myself in geekdom, Sue was going to go geocaching.
Preview night worked out OK… I gave myself some time to get the lay of the land, while Sue read a bit. After an hour the crowds were getting to be a bit much and I called it a day. What SWAG did I get? Nothing that I can recall- except three SWAG bags from Warner Bros. One Justice League, one Big Bang Theory, and one Looney Tunes. I did go and scan the BBC America QR codes that were part of the Dr. Who scavenger hunt. I am only missing one but can’t find Titan entertainment anywhere. The BBC lists them in the same booth spot as “Unshelved” a great web comic and the Comic-Con app put them in aisle 5500 of the exhibit hall (5400 is the last aisle). So that was about it for preview night. Two years ago Marv Wolfman I believe said that preview night was the new Saturday… With the number of comp passes I saw I can believe it. I can also understand why people with 4 day passes without preview night were not happy.

So, I got up Thursday morning with a plan… All geeked out with my QR code t-shirt and geek vest I set out to do a few things first go to Comic Book Law 101 & next go to David Petersen’s CBDLF master session. Both were fantastic and have gotten me to rethink a few things. One on copyright and the other on the process & tools I ink with. After that it was a day in the exhibit hall which is a very scary place. I think I was able to cover the entire floor, but I could be mistaken. I purchased a few things: Katie Cook’s cat & Gronk books along with a Doozer drawing for Sue. A David Petersen sketchbook. Almost the entire “DC Super Pets” series (the last 4 books will be available tomorrow). Two convention special books from Archaia (Rust & Fraggle Rock) which let me get three books for free (& then lug all of them around for hours & hours). Finally, a complete sketchbooks of Dave Stevens compendium (Dave created “the Rocketeer” one of my favorite comics & movies ever). Now you might look at that list and wonder why I bought sketchbooks and kids books… First I am a teacher so finding new comic material for my classroom is important. The sketchbooks are great because I learn so much seeing how other artists draw, even roughy sketches teach me something. By 4:30 I was exhausted. Sue arrived and we dumped my stuff in the car and wandered having a pizza dinner at a Cartoon Network NY style pizza place. Afterwards we walked around people watching and ended up on the grass waiting for a rather sad Cirque du Soleil performance on the the side of Petco Park.

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Since I had mentioned the Rocketeer here is the infamous monkey with him… Or at least a very good imitation. For those wondering about other pictures I would ask that you visit my Flickr site and as for Cecil, I had a wonderful chat with some steampunk outfitters about getting him a pair of goggles. I (and he) will be overjoyed if we hear back from them after the con.