COMIC CON 2006 THREAD BY ME

Arranging a time/place would certainly help.

It even looks like the new Finder book will be done in time for SDCC--Speed has posted an update at her site: "This week will either see this book finished and ready to print, or I sell my kids, scratch my right hand off at the wrist, and die happy working as a zombie on a Dominican sugar plantation."

But WTF:

3:00-4:30 D33pak Ch0pra and Grant Morrison: The Seven Spiritual Laws of Super-heroes

1. D33pak Ch0pra WTF.
2. I thought he was dead.

4:30-5:30 Veronica Mars— Series creator and executive producer Rob Thomas (Drive Me Crazy, Cupid) and cast members Kristen Bell (the upcoming movie Pulse, Showtime's Reefer Madness)... Join Veronica and the rest of Neptune's residents for a Q&A session about the San Diego–filmed series moderated by tvguide.com's Daniel Manu. Room 20

Meee
Chaki
Douglas
Matt

Huk?

And, uh, how do we pass cell phone #s along? 'Cause I sure as hell am not going to post mine here for the ringtone merchants to prey upon.

A Bobbert Shrek Anecdote

Back before Batsmans Year a Hunnerd... PP was supposed to do this short 8-pager for Shrek. Come deadline time, Shrek could not get in touch with PP! But! Shrek figured out where to find PP's mother, who was a doctorb at a hospital, whom he managed to reach in between surgeries.

"Hi Dr. Mrs. Pohpe, your son owes me 8 pages and I can't find him."
"Hi Green Ogre, I will get in touch with my son! Give me 15 minutes!"

15 minutes later, a phone call at Chez Shrek...

"Dude," says the voice.
"Hi Pawl!"
"Don't ever call my mom again."

~ The End ~

Thursday
The two other d00ds went to preview night (when pre-registered people can enter the exhibition hall a day early so that they can snap up toys before others can) -- and they later tell me that preview night was PACKED. Unheard of -- I went to PN in 2003, and it was like a ghost town.

Surprisingly, I woke up around 5.30 but wasn't feeling tired at all -- hoorah for adrenaline! We got to the Convention Center extremely early (I broke my moratorium on MacDonaldson fast food and get three Eggy MacMuffins), I picked up my badge, then proceeded to wait in line with my carpoolmates to get into the convention for more than an hour. (During the wait, I asked them if we'd be coming to the Con this early every day. "YOU DAMN BETCHA," said he.) By the time the doors open, there were probably a few hundred people waiting to get in. The operative phrase here? "Get one life, 'NERDS.'"

When I got in, I really couldn't decide what I'd do first -- scope out Artist's Alley? Look at the Oni/DC booths? But then I walked past the Age of Bronze booth, and that was enough for me. I said, "HI OMG ERIC AOB IS LIKE TEH AWESOMEST I LEFT MY TRADE ON THE CAR BUT CAN YOU DO A SKETCH FOR ME OMG!" He looked completely shocked and uncomfortable at my fanboy gushing and maybe even a little frightened, so I leave promptly and make a mental note to avoid the booth for a couple days in hopes that he'd forget the incident.

Skulking away, I headed for the retailers' area and found my LCS there. On display? A pile of Daredevil comics, with Bullseye and Elektra on the cover which promises that one of them will die! A-a-and under that pile, another one of DD holding a revolver! For $5 a pop! I had promised myself that I was not going to buy comics this trip, but seriously, who was I kidding? Thirty minutes into the Con, and I had already become a Collector.

At this point, I probably headed to back to Artist's Alley, and commission (yes, commission -- I had a cache of P4yp4l monies at that point) an inked Runaways sketch from J4son "No not that one" "And not that one, either" Alex4nder (he of Q&C fame). Then at some point, I touched Z4nder "Not a werewolf" Cannon for a free sketch. He drew another Smax for me, which I got from him last year.

Smax, 2005:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/comics/xander-smax.jpg

Smax, 2006:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/comics/sdcc2006/zc-smax.jpg

Seeing the finished product, I said, "It looks like Smax's hair got longer since last year," thus laying the groundwork for future jerk-things I'd say this year, though I wasn't being too mean about it. After all, I didn't say what I wanted. FWIW, I don't know if ZC understood what I was implying.

Then it was the comics editor's panel, where I heard the Pawl Pohpe anecdote. Shrek was funny! Way better than his movies, anyway. (FYI: he was once married to D!ana $hutz.) Good panel, and at the end of it, Shrek said, "I'm glad no one asked me any questions about ARSEBAT." Which I wanted to believe was him trying to wash his hands of that embarrassment, but he was probably referring to its lateness. Retardedness, even.

You know what? I probably commissioned JA after this panel, because I actually asked "Awesome" 4ndy Leee for a Runaways sketch first. For those who don't know him, he does Chinese brush paintings, often minimalist with few brushstrokes and very cool. I handed him my Runaways hardcover for reference, telling him I wanted the hot Asian Goth chick. Don't we all?

After commissioning Awesome 4ndy, I left him to get cracking. I also needed to find a copy of Runaways #18, because I hadn't had the chance to pick it up from my LCS and I was going to shadow Brian "the K is for Killing" Vaughaghaghan -- certain spoilerage if I wasn't careful. Of course, just about none of the retailers brought any of the week's new floppies with them, so I scoured about 10 big retailers for it, all unsuccessfully. At that point, BKV was signing at DC's booth, and I had to give up my quest empty-handed and get in line. I'm about the 10th person in line, and ahead of me, a couple teenagers are joined by their buddies -- and one of them holds the elusive #18! I asked them where they got it, and one of them said something to the effect of, "Um, I don't remember the name of the booth. Uh, what was the name? I don't know, it was off of the main path-thing, though." Thanks you tard, the convention center is only 525,701 square feet. While I'm grousing at the kid's inarticulateness, I hear BKV saying something about "killing your darlings," and so I yelled at him, "DUDE SHUT UP! No spoilers! I haven't read #18 yet!" He was cool with it and actually asked others to stay mum until I was gone.

Next, I went to the Morrison/Ch0pra panel. The program guide mentioned that an Indian supermodel was going to emcee it -- awesome! Except when I got into the panel (late), the emcee was this dude in a baseball cap who turns out to be Ch0pra's son. I would have been sorely disappointed, except the son's name is Gotham. Gotham! GMo and Ch0pra pere talked at length, and at times got too new agey for my tastes, but DC ends with an extremely abridged version of the Ramayan story, which blows my mind.

With this panel done, it was time for me to check up on Awesome 4ndy. I arrived, and told him as a reminder that I liked his minimalist Zen stuff. He said, "Ok! Sure!" and scrapped what he was working on. Jeesh! So I watched him start from scratch, digging on how he'd wipe his brush off on his shirt and his arm, and how the brush glided across the paper. His whole method was fluid, sort of like an elaborate dance, even. When he finished laying out the blacks, he started on the colors. I would've preferred a monochrome piece, but I didn't say anything because I didn't want him to start over again. Then he colored Nico's hair yellow. "Hm," I thought to myself. Then he colored her torso blue. "Hm." Then he colored this triangle shape around her waist red. It sort of looked like a skirt...

"Wait," I said. "Is that Supergirl?"

"Yeah," he said, "isn't that what you wanted?"

"LOL," I said.

"OMG," he said.

Apparently, he mixed me up with someone else -- you see, all Asians look alike -- and after profuse apologies from both parties, he promised he'd get me my Nico before the day was through.

I putzed around again to see if I'd missed any retailers that might have had Runaways, and finally, I found one retailer that was local. They didn't have it with them at the booth, but they would order it from the store by the next day. The catch? "We'll bring it in, but you have to promise to pick it up early."

Uh oh! "How early?"

"No later than 10:30. ISN'T THAT EARLY?"

"I think I can manage that."

Enough time had passed for Awesome 4ndy to have finished my piece; when I swung by, he wasn't there, but the piece was done.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/comics/sdcc2006/andylee-nico.jpg

Nice!

I also picked up my Runaways hardcover, and dropped it off with J4son 4lexander.

At some time during the day, the Convention Center people turned off the AC because of increasing power demand (global warming hi!), while outside, San Diego was unseasonably humid. However, I was so caught up in the Con that I didn't realize that I had turned into a greasy, sweaty nerd. How such things creep up on you.

And then closing time and off to my friend's crib outside of San Diego where I was staying. We had curry. Yum!

Mood: Ecstatic
T-Shirt: People's Republic of Berkeley (seriously, do I even own another shirt?)

I was mostly there to see Lee who remains remarkably spry for a man of… what is he? 103? He’s still funny too, even if it’s obvious he’s told the same stories a billion times. The best moment came when a fan referenced a recent story in which Spider-Man was badly beaten and lost an eye in a fight to which Lee replied, “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about?” Then he turned to Quesada and said, “You had Spider-Man lose an eye?”

I've, uh, also blogged my convention experience at the following: http://www.highway-62.com/blog/archives/2006/07/onestop_highway_62_sdcc2k6_blo.htm

Golly, but that's a long URL...

It's part of Grant Morrison's plan of making Batman less dark.

Friday

My first stop was, of course, to the retailer that brought in Runaways #18. They sold it to me for $10, but at least I got a bag and board! But seriously folx, I got it for cover price, but attention She-Hulk fans -- #8 is selling for $20! Because of some Civilian War thing, apparently.

Next up was the Hellboy: Animated panel, but Brian "Leee" O'Malley was signing at Oni at the exact same time, and I decided to camp out there while reading my Runaways. (BKV = jerk!) So I was first in line when BLO'M arrives, and I get a Corin Tucker sketch (using my SK tee as reference).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/comics/sdcc2006/blm-corin.jpg

Fab!

I jetted off to Hellboy -- cos what's SDCC without some Mignola action? They showed a clip at the very beginning, so I missed that, but after some Guillerm0 del T0r0 f-bombs and some character designs from a guy named "Cheeks" (né S34n G4110way, and he had this hella PUNK Liz Flamegirl preliminary design that, alas, didn't make the final cut), they showed another clip at the end of the panel, and it was actually pretty good! From what I could tell, the cartoon is going to be straight to DVD, with a second movie being planned. R0n "the Pearl" Per1man reprises the HB role, too.

After the panel, I grabbed some food and went to the academic panel on " Comics as Post-modern narratives." Boor-wing! From what I could tell, one of the chumps was an undergrad eager to drop "situationist" and like jargon, except I'm pretty sure he mispronounced Guy "the board" de B0rd. However, the last speaker, all the way from Australia, presented a really good paper on the difference between the post-modern and postmodernity. If I ever think about becoming an academic again, I might apply to some Australian unis.

Gene Ha! got a haircut! At his booth, he had some inked pages of an "ABC: A-Z" encyclopedia dealie that was actually in the form of a comic; on one splash page showing Neopolis, the lower corner had a construction scene -- with CONSTRUCTICONS! Which reminds me of that one episode where Optimus and a few others somehow disguise themselves as the Constructicons, and they actually fight the real McCoy later in the episode.

Anyway, two hours after reminiscing about old Transformers episodes (which only happened in this retelling) I head for the Black Panel. Yes, it's really called the Black Panel. I only went because the RZA was on it (BOM BOM), but since I wanted to catch the WildStorm panel, I had to leave before he got to say anything besides introducing himself (unsurprisingly, he arrived late, because he's, well, you know, an actual celebrity).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/comics/sdcc2006/rza.jpg

Note: nothing is wrong with the camera in this picture!

The WildStorm panel was really boor-wring, even though BKV and Morrison were both there, which, incidentally, disproved the rumors that they're the same person. (Even if they did wear the same outfit. How cute!)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/comics/sdcc2006/bkv-gm.jpg

Said Vaughan of their physical similarity: "We're the before and after, except you have to figure out who's before and who's after." He also got a few Ex Machina plugs in: we'll be treated to a Bradbury story "because no one demanded it," and in response to someone who asked if Ex will be a finite series, he saith: "Are you sick of it already?"

I asked Morrison if his Authority will be in the same continuity as Brubaker's, and I don't actually remember his answer, though I seem to recall it being sort of a non-answer.

90 Minutes Later
I end up in the 52 panel, but what happened in between the WildStorm panel and this one? To find out, you'll have to read 90 Minutes Later, an earth-shattering new event, which I will publish each minute until I reach the beginning of the 52 panel, which was definitely the punchiest panel at SDCC this year, mostly because of Rucka, who, by the way, is writing Montoya (duh) and the Question, though he actually gave GJ credit for writing the Question's funniest line.

Actually, I must have seen this incredibly talkative and nice as hell man who vaguely remembers posting to ILC once, and also R0sar!0 Daws0n signing at the Image booth in the interim -- barely anybody was in line! Is it possible that despite her utter HOTT, she's actually not that famous?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/comics/sdcc2006/sdcc06-rd.jpg

And what about the fact that at the moment I had nothing for her to sign? Who cares! It's R0sar!0 Daws0n! Which was why I now own a copy of Occult Crimes Taskforce #1, signed by artist, writer, and R0sar!0, unlikely ever to be read. However, the day before, I had also seen a booth somewhere that was selling Josie memorabilia, including a prop Josie CD. At the time, I didn't think it was worth buying because it was just a jewel case with no CD inside, and the thought of lining up for a genuine Hollywood celebrity was quite unappealing. But since the line was so short, my thinking reversed itself. "That'd be an awesome thing to get signed," I thought. But R0sar!0 was to leave the Image booth at 5:00, and it was 15 till, and I didn't remember where the booth that had the Josie stuff was or even the name. I speed through the hall, desperately searching, until I happen upon a booth that looked vaguely familiar.

"Do you sell Josie stuff?" I asked breathlessly.

"Oh yeah, tons of cool Josie stuff," the proprietor said. "We've got the original sketch of RLC's costume design. We had the one for R0sar!0 too, but I gave that to her the other day. And then there's the ears, but we didn't bring them with us, though if you're really hard up for Josie ears, we could order them for you, and let's see..."

"DUDE, DO YOU HAVE THE PROP CD FROM THE MOVIE I'M IN A HURRY SHE'S SIGNING NOW FOR ONLY 7 MINUTES MORE AND I HAVE TO GET BACK IN LINE!"

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/comics/sdcc2006/sdcc2006-josie.jpg

Fast forward 2 minutes and I became the proud owner of an autographed-by-Valerie movie prop CD. Oh, and I also called her the "hottest nerd at the con."

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/comics/sdcc2006/sdcc06-rdandme.jpg

(She actually pooh-poohed this label good-naturedly, saying, "I don't know, I saw some pretty hot Poison Iveys around.")

And to cap the day's festivities, the primetime panel on the human that Triumph poops out.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/comics/sdcc2006/sdcc2006-rs.jpg

Hilarity ensues.

Mood: Questing
T-Shirt: Sleater-Kinney

oh oh who dis?

Kit: J4son B4inbridge, lecturer at U of Tasmania.

"OH SNAP," cried the shocked crowd, while c('ºc) applauded.
From offstage, a cloud of black smoke descended upon the questioner, never to be seen or heard from again.

c('ºc) had been waiting near the back of the line, rehearsing his question that would ask the producers if they would consider a more compressed mode of storytelling -- but now, things were different! Thus, when his turn came to voice his query, he decided to enliven the proceedings with some sarcastic levity. "First, congratulations on a mmmmoderately successful second season. Second, to my fellow sister in disappointment," he said, pointing to her quasi-spirit which had materialized from some unknown ether, in the exact same spot where her physical body had once been sitting, "you are not alone."

But alack! The mood must have been spoiled by the impertinent girl from earlier, for the crowd of supporters grew hostile -- "Get eaten by a polar bear, chump!" -- and the producers quickly became defensive. "Oh yeah cool guy?" said the head executive producer. "It's easy for you to make fun of us in your cool socks."

The author notes that c('ºc) was wearing shorts with his tube socks pulled up to mid-shin, and of all the things that the producer could have made fun of c('ºc), he chose his socks.

"What exactly do you take issue with our show?"

"Read my blog," c('ºc) said. The atmosphere of criticism had been firmly established, however, and despite his initial desire not to attack Lost and its creators, c('ºc) went on to criticize the show -- e.g. there should be more things happening, more developments, and perhaps more blond, plucky high-school girl detectives (the last eliciting general wuhs of confusion).

The producer responded, "With a show that appeals as broadly as ours, we can't satisfy everyone. Fundamentally, it's a cult show, and so it might not appeal to mass audiences." And so on and so forth, all explanations agreeable to c('ºc), though he smarted inwardly at the suggestion that he fell into the vulgar category of "mass audience." Nevertheless, noted the producer, c('ºc) was present at the panel, so surely Lost was doing something right.

In a conciliatory effort, c('ºc) said, "I agree. I merely criticize because I love." The author notes that at this point, c('ºc) should have closed by saying, "I have to admit though that the season 2 finale knocked my socks off." Unfortunately, c('ºc) has never been terribly quick on his feet, possibly because he wears his socks too tightly.

But in any event, with his eternal infamy secured, c('ºc) regretted the brazen tone he took with the producers; yet, as they say, "there's no such thing as bad publicity." (And yes, video exists of this verbal donnybrook. Stay, as they say, "tuned.")

Thus bolstered, c('ºc) went to the least eventful Quickdraw in years, possibly because of the sad lack of nakked C0nnie Chun9/octopus hybrids. One uncomfortable and potentially disastrous moment occurred, however, when 3van!3r asked Sergio to draw Hezbollah/a terrorist, and the legendary artist drew an explosion with a human figure flying outwards.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/comics/sdcc2006/qd-sergio-terrorist.jpg

Later that day, c('ºc) traversed his way to what he had touted as the panel where he would embarrass himself truly (as if he had not already!), the panel for the abovementioned Blond, Plucky High-School Girl Detective Show! This panel had far a full half-hour less to field questions, so while c('ºc) lined up again, mentally preparing the wording for his proposal to the now-18 Titular Character, the panel ran out of time before he had the chance to plunge into further indignity. However, an ancillary question he had for the creator of Blond, Plucky High-School Girl Detective Show was about seriality and narrativity, and when the panel had ended and c('ºc) did not have his answer, he resolved to ask Creator in person for an interview. c('ºc) headed in a vague, Creator-wards direction, thinking that perhaps he could intercept Creator in some vaguely imagined hallway. But ahead of c('ºc), two women walked towards a corner of the stage, and believing that the exit to this hallway lay behind the curtained partition, c('ºc) followed.

What surprise befell him, then, when he found himself backstage in the midst of UPN royalty! Bedecked in his hopelessly juvenile shorts-and-backpack ensemble, c('ºc) espied Creator and waited for a chance to speak with him, though Creator was fully engrossed in a discussion with someone else. A mass exodus towards a secret hallway used solely to spirit away celebrities began, denying c('ºc) a chance to interview Creator. However, no small cookies was he left with in the form of Titular Character lingering backstage! c('ºc) quickly accosted her, got one of her lackeys to take a picture (and boy was it a horrible picture! So yes, he did embarrass himself anyway!), and before she departed, pronounced to her, "Best show on TV!" Then a security guard appeared and thoroughly trounced c('ºc).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/comics/sdcc2006/kristinbell.jpg

Mood: Entitled
T-Shirt: Bardo Pond (if someone would ever recognize "On the Ellipse" in public, it would be Saturday)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/comics/sdcc2006/csm-molly.jpg

I ended buying another Finder, though I forget if it was Dream Sequence or Mystery Date. If the latter, then I bought the wrong one, since I've only read up to Talisman.

On a less embarrassing note, Jeff Lobe at the Marvel panel totally undermined this joke I had that would have propelled me into superstardom.

What should have happened:

Me: Two questions for BKV, one serious and one not-so-serious.
BKV: Shoot.
Me: Whose voice do you hear when you write Prof. X, Patrick Stewart's or the cartoon version's?
BKV: Blah blah blah. And you're serious question?
Me: OMG THAT WAS MY SERIOUS QUESTION LOL.
Planet Earth: ROFFLE.

But what really happened:

Me: Two questions for BKV, one serious and one not-so-serious.
Lobe: Ok, let's hear the not-so-serious one first.
Me: Uh...

Speaking of BKV, he also autographed my interview with him from last year for HIPSTER RAG. Even though the article was fairly weaksauce, he was stoked about it anyway and talked about how he kept the magazine out on his coffee table so that guests would see how unexpectedly cool he was to be in HIPSTER RAG.

Also, T4r4 McPh3rs0n was a smug jerk, and not even because she gave me the same sketch as last year. I want to keep this recap light, thus:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/comics/sdcc2006/tm-beep.jpg

Last year, the head said, "Sometimes I like stuff." Good to see she's becoming more concise.

I visited Shan0wer again, and hopefully he'd forgotten how fanboy I came off on Thursday. I got him to sign AOB, he sketched Agamemnon in profile on the title page (my second-favorite character after that master of schemes, wily Odysseus), and he clued me in on Deidamia's psychology vis-à-vis Achilles. Actually a cool guy, once you get past his shyness.

Anyway, in lieu of a typical recap, I will distract you with eye candy (admittedly not as much as in years past)!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/comics/sdcc2006/randomchicks.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/comics/sdcc2006/cammie.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/comics/sdcc2006/legobats.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/comics/sdcc2006/legobats2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/comics/sdcc2006/sdcc2006-snazzygalactus.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/comics/sdcc2006/cloneymcparker.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/comics/sdcc2006/bermejo-mirandazero.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/comics/sdcc2006/nguyen-midnighter.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/comics/sdcc2006/takeshi-dagger.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/comics/sdcc2006/jalexander-alex.jpg

Get into specifics!

That Jason Alexander sketch is pretty cool.

Du5tin Nguy3n, who did that Midnighter (not Batman!), would do me an Authority sketch, just as long as it wasn't Apollo.

"Why not Apollo?"

"Because he's boring!"

Pretty specific!