How do I describe it…
Overwhelming? Huge? Fun!
My friend Ginny and I drove out to San Diego Chula Vista San Diego Bay
Surprisingly, even though there were literally thousands of people there, we got through the registration line to get our badges fairly quickly. In fact, it was impressive how organized this entire event was. I’ve never in my life seen anything with so many people run so smoothly.
First thing’s first. Jim Butcher!!! He was signing a limited amount of autographs that day and I lugged one of my first edition hardback copy of Changes all the way there and got lucky in that he was selling copies of his new book, Ghost Story right at the table. So even though I already ordered an autographed copy from Dog Eared Books, I just HAD to get one from Jim.
So there I was, meeting one of my greatest literary inspirations…dressed like a dog. I was so excited I had the butterflies. I spent the rest of the day periodically leaning over to Ginny and saying, “I got to meet Jim Butcher!” To which she would patiently say, “Yes you did.”
Then we went to the Exhibit Hall. HOLY CRAP! Stuff, stuff, stuff, stuff and STUFF! Everywhere I looked there were statues of the iconic figures that I grew up with and loved. Lego had a life size Batman made completely out of Lego’s and a 20 foot tall Bumblebee (the transformer) made out of giant Lego’s. My favorite thing was an enormous poster of John Constantine from Hellblazer. Though I did fancy the life size statue of Drizzt Do’Urden and Guenhwyvar, two of my all time favorite fantasy characters. My favorite part of the Exhibit Hall was all the art. There were tables and tables and tables of comic book and concept artists from all over. I spent hours wandering around those tables and just looking over all the amazing things they’ve painted, drawn and sculpted. That’s also where I spent the most money.
Costumes, costumes, costumes. That part was the most fun. I LOVE costumes and playing dress-up (never quite grew out of that). I met a Spartan from Halo Reach, Predator, Al from Full Metal Alchemist (though that wasn’t a costume, just a statue), and one of the robots from Real Steel (also a statue). I loved watching people standing in lines. Be it for a panel or for the bus or shuttle, you’d see a few normally dressed people, then a storm trooper. Then a few more normally dressed people, and Batman and Wonder Woman. Ginny would stare at the lines and just laugh.
Panels. We only dressed up the first day because we had to get in line so early to get to the panels that we didn’t have the time. Next year, easier costumes. Or at least ears that aren’t so difficult to hold in place. We still were able to get to all the panels we wanted to, and even a few that we didn’t want but ended up enjoying anyways. We made it to the Green Lantern panel that Conan O’Bryan hijacked. Then to Falling Skies, Attack of the Show, Community, Being Human, Frank Miller, Joss Whedon (so awesome!), and The Guild. Sunday, we got in line for Hall H at to make sure we were able to get into the Supernatural Panel. Which was awesome because so many of the cast was there (name the cast that showed).
I also got to meet my favorite illustrator, Todd Lockwood. And the artist that illustrates the Umbrella Academy, Gabriel Ba (he drew me a picture!). I also met an artist named Ron Brown (who I spent the most money on because his charcoal drawings were AMAZING!!),and John Stanko who also does D&D and Magic art. I looked all over for Jhonen Vasquez, Warren Ellis and Jon Cassidy (as Planetary is an all time favorite) and did not find them L. I don’t know if they were even there. Oh well, maybe next year. We almost got to meet Stan Lee…STAN LEE!!!!!!! But with about 10 people in front of us in line, they cut the line off. How depressing. Supposedly that was the last time he’d be attending Comic Con. At least we got a good picture of him. Notice the girl flipping the bird in the background...
It was a fantastic experience that I have every intention of repeating again next year. It was worth every penny.
I got to meet JIM BUTCHER!!!!!!!!!
Then I double fisted hamburgers.
