The Long-Awaited SDCC Post

Long-awaited by ME, anyway, I doubt anyone was holding their breath in anticipation... :-)

So here we go! I'm missing a few photos from my destroyed laptop, but I'll add them in if I ever get my stuff back...

Anyway, I had a great trip, lots of partying and not seeing everyone I wanted to see! The best part about cons for me, is getting to hang out with all my friends from all over the country (and actually, the world), so its disappointing when some of my favourites are in the same place as me and I still get to see them for only a few minutes (or sometimes not at all). But that's the problem with the San Diego Comicon...it's just so damned big! I LOVE this con for the same reason, though... haha Good thing there are other cons to catch up with my pals! (Next up: Baltimore Comic Con!!)

This year, I stayed with a rather new, but awesome friend, Robyn (AKA Twyst!) in a hotel with a creepy Shining-esque hallway (thanks to the very-helpful Pat Loika!)...


Speaking of Twyst, she had a fun little project during her trip (her first SDCC!) in which she took pictures of people and places "hanging out" with the Mighty Mugg Spider-Man! Very cute stuff, here's my entry:


Pretty clever if I do say so myself! (And I did say so...a lot. haha) ;-)

Almost as soon as I got to the con, I ran out to have dinner with my good friend & pain-in-the-ass, Sean McKeever. I do not have a picture with him, but he took this while waiting for our DELICIOUS sushi!!! Last year was the first time I had any real sushi (before was California or avocado rolls only) and I'm so glad I did, as now it's one of my favourite foods. This was taken outside Sushi Itto in the Gaslamp area. Highly recommended.


I have only a few pics of the Marvel booth, but here they are! I LOVED these Iron Men suits on display...I think there was actually one more I didn't get in the shot...


This is as much of the big Thor wall as I could get in one picture. My co-worker, Mark Beazley was responsible for commissioning this 6-part cover for the 6 issues of Thor: Tales of Asgard which reprints old Thor comics with modern colouring. (They look great, go pick 'em up if you like the old comics!)


It's been Marvel's 70th this year and we've been showing that off wherever we can (I think the logos look cool!) This is the front of the giveaway table.


The front of the signing table.


I thought this looked really cool, this hung from the ceiling!


Cutest Thor I've ever seen...


Random booth shot from the Marvel pics on Flickr. I'm in it! :-) I don't know what was going on at our booth at this time, but clearly it was popular!!


Maybe it was during THIS! Jon Favreau signing!! I could've gotten something signed and/or a picture with him, but I'd already had a much cooler encounter with him AND RDJ two years ago...hehe


So anyway, the first night I was there, I tried to get into the IDW party but it was HEAVILY guarded (thanks for the invite, Schmidt! haha)! I believe it was at the Hard Rock Hotel and in the hall where we were waiting I took some pictures of some cool baseball memorabilia behind glass in the wall...




So instead of the IDW party, I stopped by the Aspen one which was cool, but left that to go to the Brutal Legend party. Fantastically, my co-worker...let's call him Agent M...had a few VIP passes and was able to get me one. Up in the VIP bleachers I found my pals Gerry Duggan & Phil Noto (with whom I had a lot of fun with the entire weekend). At this party GWAR played! Here's where I'd post a couple of pics of that had my hard drive not died... ::sigh:: They weren't amazing pics or anything, but you can see the cool costumes they were wearing. I'll add them in if I ever get them back...

Anyway, Friday I got a chance to walk around the con a bit. Though after only a couple hours, I was exhausted.

Evan's awesome toys! (I've got 'em, of course!)


These guys have cool costumes on their own, but they look so much cooler all huddled together! Rebel planning meeting!! Woo!


The only reason to watch the Transformers movies... I love Bumblebee!!!!


I believe there was a contest to win this car, too...


Castle Grayskull! Awesome.


I bought this for Evan & Sarah's daugher...still haven't given it to her yet...oops! (It's Cheburashka, by the way!)


Bought this AMAZING Momo hat (Momo's a character on Avatar: The Last Airbender, if you didn't know) off a fangirl who made them! I saw this girl wearing one and ran over to ask where she got it, her friend said "I made it!" I was disappointed until she said "But I'm selling them!" Made my frakkin' day!! SO well made, too! You can't see in the pic, but there's even a tail hanging off the back!


One of the many cool things I bought at the Tokidoki booth (also got a cool tokidoki for Hello Kitty handbag, a Hello Kitty dressed in Mozzeralla cotume doll and some little keychains). This just looks awesome! Figured my laptop was old & dirty enough to cover it up (normally I love the all-white Apple look). Have been told that maybe that sticker caused the crash...but that's just ridiculous! Right?!?!



Passed by this on my way to my hotel. Meant to go back in, but never got a chance. I went there the first time I was in San Diego (2005...I was 25) and was carded when trying to go into the 18 & over section of the store! haha I love lookin' young! ;-)


Friday night was an AWESOME night! My friend Gerry brought me backstage to Brian Posehn & Doug Benson's comedy show! It was awesome! Also performing was Graham Elwood, Chris Hardwick, John Roy & Patton Oswalt. All very funny and very nice guys! Here's Brian, Patton & Doug from backstage taken with shitty iPhone zoom app! haha


I also met Mike Allred & family and Anthrax's Scott Ian that night, also a nice guy and a huge fanboy! A bunch of us went out to eat that night and this creepy thing on the wall was staring at me the whole time. ::shudder::


On the way back to the bar, we passed a playground and had a little fun there. I'm waiting for the VIDEOS FROM GERRY...but I may NEVER see them... sigh... ;-)

Anyway, I think this is the night I ended up stealing Lee Duhig's hat...all right, I borrowed it. I'm not mean!


Spent a LITTLE more time on the con floor the next day. As you might be able to tell Star Wars stuff tends to attract my attention...


The reflective glass made these hard to get pics of, but they're pretty damn cool! I love Legos almost as much as Star Wars!


So after that wiped me out and I was starving, I grabbed my friend Paul Azaceta (my usual breakfast buddy at Wizard World Philly) and got some lunch. Didn't feel like going back into the madness just yet so we took a walk behind the Hyatt along the water. There was all this cool stuff back there!

Like ships...


And parrots!!!!


The guy taking care of them (and trying to raise money to keep doing so) just came over and put this guy on my arm without warning! Was SO COOL!


Did the same to Paul, but on his shoulder...and as you can see, Paul was a little worried! (Mostly afraid it would try to grab his earring...) haha


There was all sorts of shops back there as well as face painters, balloon animal makers & caracture drawers. One such caracature artist tried to call us over to get one done by calling out "Hey pink hair & extremely straight eyebrows!!" haha I'll never let him live that down... ;-)


Found this on the side of a building on the way back to the con. Made me very happy. (Here's why if you don't know.)


Also saw this back there, some type of contest where you can win this if you donate blood, I believe. I shoulda done it... :) I would TOTALLY drive this!



When we came back in, I caught Jaime Hernandez signing at the Fantagraphics booth and commissioned this in my sketchbook (maybe I'll eventually get to it in my sketchbook series of posts...) Jaime was VERY nice, as well. This is Hopey!


Immediately after that I talked to Sean Chen & Leinil Yu at the Marvel booth and showed them my sketchbook. While I was busy talking to someone else, Leinil surprised me with this drawing!! Sean promised one too, and don't think I won't collect!! :-)


That night was yet ANOTHER awesome night! I went to the PopCult party with friends John Cassaday & Jimmy Aquino and made two NEW friends Zane & Brea Grant!!

Found these on the Beat...

Zane, Brea, me & John:


Brea, Jimmy, me & Zane (just realising now how colourful Brea & I looked that night!):


After THAT party we went to the Radical party which was ENORMOUS and had Gene Simmons & playing with his son. A bunch of Marvel peeps were there but I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get in. Thankfully Brea can get ANYWHERE at Comicon so not only did she get me in with her & her brother, we got to go to the VIP section! Didn't stay there long though, as we abandoned it to hang with the MUCH cooler Marvel crew!

Took a nice picture with CB there. He had a great Japanese phrase for this situation: "Ryo te ni hana" which means "a flower in both hands." Awww, Ceebs!!


LOVELOVELOVE this next picture, taken by Zane, on our super-fun pedi-cab ride to the Hyatt bar after the Radical party. I was well drunk by this point (open bars will do that) and I believe I gave the guy a $10 tip on top of Brea's tip! hahaha He definitely charged us much less than most of those guys do and he made it fun like a rollercoaster, so I'm fine with that! :)


Of course the night I get the drunkest, I have an early morning panel to be on the next day! I made it by the skin of my teeth, a mere 3 minutes late, but with my voice a-shambles! haha This was the second year in a row for me on the Women of Marvel panel and it was a lot of fun. Took this from the Marvel Flickr page, that's me & Laura Martin. (Other panelists included Christina Strain, Emily Warren, Marjorie Liu & Colleen Coover!)


After the panel I got another visit from one of my FAN CLUB members!! Right?! I don't know how I deserve that but this is the second year in a row I've been given a birthday present from my Unofficial Arizona Fan Club!! Clearly the nicest people in the world! Thanks so much, peeps!!!

Had an even MORE amazing sushi dinner with a friend on Sunday, followed by gelato! Yum! Took this picture because I'd never seen gelato with a chili pepper in it before...


No, I didn't try it. Not that much of a chocolate fan, let alone SPICY chocolate...

Finished up the night at the Hyatt bar again, which is much more calm on Sunday night. Was falling asleep talking to some friends so I walked back to my hotel. Ran into Mark Brooks & his wife Lisa on the way there and had a nerd attack talk about the AMAZING news we found out this year...that Tokidoki & Marvel are teaming up to make some AMAZING products (look out for it next year)!! CAN'T FRAKKIN' WAIT!

Had a lovely breakfast with Twyst in the morning (my first Huevos Rancheros) and flew home around 3PM. An arrival at home at 1AM was a good excuse to come in late the next day! :) (The later flight was $100 cheaper. Totally worth sacrificing sleep!)

All in all, this was as great a San Diego trip as any, maybe even better! Other than the Gwar pics, I can't remember what else I lost, but thanks to my facebook mobile uploads & twitpics, I managed to reacquire most of the important ones! :)

Hopefully this was somewhat interesting and if you haven't made it to the San Diego Comicon, I recommend you do so at least once! And bring friends, much more fun that way! :)


The End.