Batman goes to Con

When I started writing this article, I wrote “Friday Wrapup”. That should give you an idea what Con is like.

In fact, by the end of the night, it felt like like it was Saturday night of a typical Con. That’s One thing about Comic-Con, it is a a marathon, not a sprint. It lasts and lasts and lasts, and each day is very long. If you race to do too much in one day, you can burn out and get exhausted, and exhausted is no way to be at Con.

In fact, I cracked the code to having a relaxing day at Comic-Con: leave everything at home.

Usually at Comic-Con, I have a shoulder bag with me, to stuff away all the items I buy throughout the day. Not today. I left the bag at home, with the intention of buying absolutely nothing today.

It was liberating!

I spent the con walking through the hall and checking out the sights, and really soaking everything in. There is a freedom in not making any purchases at the Con, the internal dialogue changes from, “do I want to buy this?” to “is this cool?”

So, I spent the day looking at statues and toys, indie and small press books, making a note of anything that was cool, and that I want to check out again later in the weekend.

The Marshmallow Gun is real, and it’s at Comic-Con

I made the usual stops, to see Super Real Graphics, and to stop by to see Steve Bryant (Athena Voltaire), Chris Murrin and James Hefron (Law Dog Comics).

Even with a free day to soak it all in, I only made it through about half of the convention floor. In my mind, the convention is divided into thirds. The topmost portion is artists alley and illustrators. The middle third is the “Maelstrom”, the portion of the floor that is filled with all the big media, movie studios, TV, etc. the last third is comics, and it starts with the big publisher booths, and then becomes the small press area and comic dealers. On Thursday, I only made it through the comic area, visiting publishers, small press, and dealers.

I also managed to get to the Sergio and Mark show, a panel that had Mark Evanier, Sergio Aragones, and Stan Sakai talking about their comics and cartoons, their time in the business, and with a lot of since, heartfelt appreciation for the fans of their work. It was a great break from the chaos of the show, and a great look at some great history and stories from the past.

On Thursday night I headed over to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund party. They had it at the same place as last year, and it was a great party, as usual. A bunch of the folks I usually hang out with at the con were there, and plenty of people to meet and mingle with. Most interestingly, I met Matt Waite, who did the 8-Bit Valiant covers. We may be hearing more from him in an OTV episode coming your way soon.

It was a long day, and as always, a fun day. You can’t beat Con.

The plan for Friday is to start in artist alley and repeat the same thing as Thursday, just on the opposite side of the convention. I’ve got a panel or two lined up, and some folks to meet up with. Onwards to Friday!

View looking up the convention floor on Thursday

View looking down the convention floor on Thursday