"I'm WOLVERINE!"
Sorry - I'm so far behind on blogging. First up - my Comic Con wrap-up.
What's left to say? Comic Con is big. And it's easy to hate it now - it's too big, it's too crowded, it's a death match just to find the privilege of paying $400/night for a hotel room, and searching for a parking spot is pure torture. All this and the other 125,000 people makes it easy to get cynical about Comic Con.
But the people. The people make it worthwhile.
I love love LOVE the way that there are all these great people that I never get a chance to see regularly, but then once a year we all gather and stay out all night catching up. We might as well all leave each other with the blessing, "Next year in San Diego."
So a few choice things from the convention (if I've forgotten anyone, sorry about that)-
Wednesday Preview Night. Had dinner with friends and family at the Rockin Baja Lobster. For Comic Con, they'd done up some very creative comic book-themed menus. Very creative and completely BAFFLING menus.
"Uh, what kind of cheese is in the Batman vs the Riddler tacos? And can I get a side of Spider-Man clone rice instead of the Gwen Stacy clone refried beans?"
Thursday. Caught up with an old friend, Josh, lunched with him and Dwayne and Charlotte at an Australian restaurant, then watched three panels to support friends - the Hulk vs Wolverine panel, the annual animation pitching panel, and the So You Want to Do a Graphic Novel panel. Then a whole mess of us went to dinner at a seafood place. Restaurant was awful, their sushi was even worse, but the company was great. Ended the night at the Hyatt for the Boom Studios party. Caught up with an old friend who I hadn't seen in years and hung out with the writing staff of Leverage.
Friday. Watched the Batman: Brave & The Bold panel, then lived it up at the Gotham Group party. Thought we saw Sarah Chalke from Scrubs, turned out not to be her.
Thought we saw Mark Hamill, turned out to be him. Told us how his sister didn't believe he was the Joker on Batman because she never watched the show (it was opposite Oprah) - and regaled us with stories about his Simpsons episode. Great guy.
Before I left the party, thought I saw Beau Bridges. Turned out to be Beau Bridges.
Had sushi dinner with new friends - then headed to the Disney party. Discovered I'd lost my invite to the party. The invite I'd been given to me only TWO HOURS before. Felt like an idiot, but thankfully an exec came down and got me in.
Disney party was at Stingaree. Amazing venue. Tremendous party with tons of people there. Didn't want to leave, but ended up leaving at the end to get over to the Warner Animation party. Thank goodness I did.
Met Shirley Manson - who I absolutely adore. You can tell by how happy I am. Shirley, not as much. Maybe she's only happy when it rains.
Left the Warner party as they closed down, so they'd run out of gift bags. Hung out in the Marriott lobby with friends. Got smiled at by Elvira - which was weird. We chatted with voice actor Tom Kenny before calling it a night.
Saturday. Watched the Iron Man: Armored Adventures panel. Very strange experience watching a show that I worked on with an audience. Thankfully, the audience reaction was really positive.
Watched the WGA's Writers Room panel with primetime comedy writers, went to Amy W's signing at the DC booth, lunched with Dan and Charlotte at a Mexican restaurant that shows Santo movies, then watched the spotlight panel on Len Wein.
In the evening, went to the WGA Reception and chatted it up with a ton of people. Ducked out of the WGA reception, headed downstairs where I bumped into Erik Estrada downstairs at the Hyatt ("it's PONCH!"), then headed to dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery with friends David, Katie, Rob, Adam, Simon, Richard, and Rob, followed by drinking and bar hopping. Bumped into voice actress Tara Strong on the streets of San Diego - again, only at Comic Con.
Then headed back to the Marriott, because I got a text message from my friend Charlotte to meet them there.
See, this is the way it always works at Comic Con - you sit down with friends, someone you know happens by and joins the group, someone they know joins the group, and soon you have a big group of people.
So I'm sitting there in the Marriott between Charlotte, Bruce Timm, Matt Groening, Len Wein, Dwayne McDuffie, and Glen Murakami.
Yeah. It was like that.
Matt Groening actually got up and introduced himself to me when I arrived. Matt FREAKING Groening. The guy who I wanted to be when I was 15 years-old. Somewhere in my office I've got an autograph he gave me at my first San Diego Comic Con in 1989.
Whenever in situations like this where I'm the least talented in the room, my modus operandi is the same - keep my mouth shut, don't say anything stupid, and hope I can absorb some of their amazing talent through osmosis. I think we were there for two hours. Two amazing hours.
Sunday. Sunday's a blur. I don't remember much of it, except walking the floor one final time, saying good-bye to friends, and leaving the convention center in the rear view mirror. The last thing I remember on Sunday is lying down and taking a five hour nap after it was all over.
Lastly, if you haven't already, go watch Triumph the Insult Comic Dog at Comic Con.
I think that's everything there is to say about Comic Con. Love it, hate it, it is what it is. There's nothing else in the world like it.
Next year in San Diego.
What's left to say? Comic Con is big. And it's easy to hate it now - it's too big, it's too crowded, it's a death match just to find the privilege of paying $400/night for a hotel room, and searching for a parking spot is pure torture. All this and the other 125,000 people makes it easy to get cynical about Comic Con.
But the people. The people make it worthwhile.
I love love LOVE the way that there are all these great people that I never get a chance to see regularly, but then once a year we all gather and stay out all night catching up. We might as well all leave each other with the blessing, "Next year in San Diego."
So a few choice things from the convention (if I've forgotten anyone, sorry about that)-
Wednesday Preview Night. Had dinner with friends and family at the Rockin Baja Lobster. For Comic Con, they'd done up some very creative comic book-themed menus. Very creative and completely BAFFLING menus.
"Uh, what kind of cheese is in the Batman vs the Riddler tacos? And can I get a side of Spider-Man clone rice instead of the Gwen Stacy clone refried beans?"
Thursday. Caught up with an old friend, Josh, lunched with him and Dwayne and Charlotte at an Australian restaurant, then watched three panels to support friends - the Hulk vs Wolverine panel, the annual animation pitching panel, and the So You Want to Do a Graphic Novel panel. Then a whole mess of us went to dinner at a seafood place. Restaurant was awful, their sushi was even worse, but the company was great. Ended the night at the Hyatt for the Boom Studios party. Caught up with an old friend who I hadn't seen in years and hung out with the writing staff of Leverage.
Friday. Watched the Batman: Brave & The Bold panel, then lived it up at the Gotham Group party. Thought we saw Sarah Chalke from Scrubs, turned out not to be her.
Thought we saw Mark Hamill, turned out to be him. Told us how his sister didn't believe he was the Joker on Batman because she never watched the show (it was opposite Oprah) - and regaled us with stories about his Simpsons episode. Great guy.
Before I left the party, thought I saw Beau Bridges. Turned out to be Beau Bridges.
Had sushi dinner with new friends - then headed to the Disney party. Discovered I'd lost my invite to the party. The invite I'd been given to me only TWO HOURS before. Felt like an idiot, but thankfully an exec came down and got me in.
Disney party was at Stingaree. Amazing venue. Tremendous party with tons of people there. Didn't want to leave, but ended up leaving at the end to get over to the Warner Animation party. Thank goodness I did.
Met Shirley Manson - who I absolutely adore. You can tell by how happy I am. Shirley, not as much. Maybe she's only happy when it rains.
Left the Warner party as they closed down, so they'd run out of gift bags. Hung out in the Marriott lobby with friends. Got smiled at by Elvira - which was weird. We chatted with voice actor Tom Kenny before calling it a night.
Saturday. Watched the Iron Man: Armored Adventures panel. Very strange experience watching a show that I worked on with an audience. Thankfully, the audience reaction was really positive.
Watched the WGA's Writers Room panel with primetime comedy writers, went to Amy W's signing at the DC booth, lunched with Dan and Charlotte at a Mexican restaurant that shows Santo movies, then watched the spotlight panel on Len Wein.
In the evening, went to the WGA Reception and chatted it up with a ton of people. Ducked out of the WGA reception, headed downstairs where I bumped into Erik Estrada downstairs at the Hyatt ("it's PONCH!"), then headed to dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery with friends David, Katie, Rob, Adam, Simon, Richard, and Rob, followed by drinking and bar hopping. Bumped into voice actress Tara Strong on the streets of San Diego - again, only at Comic Con.
Then headed back to the Marriott, because I got a text message from my friend Charlotte to meet them there.
See, this is the way it always works at Comic Con - you sit down with friends, someone you know happens by and joins the group, someone they know joins the group, and soon you have a big group of people.
So I'm sitting there in the Marriott between Charlotte, Bruce Timm, Matt Groening, Len Wein, Dwayne McDuffie, and Glen Murakami.
Yeah. It was like that.
Matt Groening actually got up and introduced himself to me when I arrived. Matt FREAKING Groening. The guy who I wanted to be when I was 15 years-old. Somewhere in my office I've got an autograph he gave me at my first San Diego Comic Con in 1989.
Whenever in situations like this where I'm the least talented in the room, my modus operandi is the same - keep my mouth shut, don't say anything stupid, and hope I can absorb some of their amazing talent through osmosis. I think we were there for two hours. Two amazing hours.
Sunday. Sunday's a blur. I don't remember much of it, except walking the floor one final time, saying good-bye to friends, and leaving the convention center in the rear view mirror. The last thing I remember on Sunday is lying down and taking a five hour nap after it was all over.
Lastly, if you haven't already, go watch Triumph the Insult Comic Dog at Comic Con.
I think that's everything there is to say about Comic Con. Love it, hate it, it is what it is. There's nothing else in the world like it.
Next year in San Diego.
posted by Eugene at 9:44 PM
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