My San Diego Comic-Con Survival Tips

What’s that buzzing that keeps getting louder and louder every day coming from the West Coast? Ah of course it’s the energy being generated by the prospect of another Comic Con in San Diego, or official known as the Comic Con International: San Diego, CCI for short.

My pal Fred and I had a chance to go to the big convention for the first time last year. It was a blast, I still reflect on those days with a big grin. I live in the DC area on the East Coast so going out to San Diego every year is a little tough, which is why I’m missing it this year. However I still want to pass along the wisdom that I gathered from my time out there to those of you who are going for the first time.

1. Get the 4-Day pass, even if you don’t think you’ll want to attend for all 4 days I’d still pick it up. There’s a chance you’ll want to go to an evening event even if you don’t go to the con during the day. And there is always so much going on that once your there, you might totally change your mind and you’ll kick yourself for not getting that extra day.
2. Pack snacks. I know you aren’t supposed to bring food into the convention center. But no one checked my bag last year and I always bring snack with me to every other convention I go to. Convention Center food is over priced and leaves a lot to be desired.

   If you have the time & money there are plenty of places to eat in the Gaslamp Quarter a couple blocks from the convention center. But honestly I was short on both when I went to the con.  I didn’t stay in the city, I was bunking up at Fred’s house in the ‘burbs. If you are staying in the city, a lunch break would be a good way to dump off bags from the expo floor and freshen up.

3. Plan Plan Plan as much as you can. Take a good look at that schedule of programs. It’s a fluid document that is always changing, but its a good idea to firm up your reasons for going to the con. With so much bombarding you from comic companies, artist, Hollywood, toy companies, gaming industry, television, it can be overwhelming. Look at the schedule and find some focus on what’s important to you.
4. REMEMBER YOU CAN’T DO IT ALL. It’s just not going to happen. Repeat this mantra and you’ll find some peace, there’ll be other conventions and CCI happens every year. Just try to see the things important to you and enjoy yourself.
5. Bring cash. Don’t count on the ATM machines at the convention center and don’t rely on the vendors accepting credit cards. Often some of the bigger vendor do take cards, but sometimes that network connection can be brutally slow for prcoessing things.
6. Be prepared to wait in lines. At CCI there is a lot of waiting in lines. Sometimes you wait in a line to get a ticket to wait in another line. Lines form for autographs, exclusive toys, panel discussions, media programs, etc. So bring some inline entertainment. Bring a book, bring that Nintendo DS, your laptop, something.
7. Go with a friend. Going to a con this big without a buddy would just suck. First off you are going to see so many weird and wonderful things at this convention you’ll want someone to share it with and talk about it all with. Second, having a friend to back you up and vice versa is good when you’re hands are full and you need to get to your wallet, or you want a photo with that dude in the Boba Fett armor. A friend comes in handy and makes the convention a lot more fun.
8. Please bathe. There is going to be a lot of humanity in that expo floor. In some sections you are going to get really close up with people… If everyone’s clean it makes it a lot easier. Other guides impress upon this tip and I can’t agree with them more.
9. Take a break from the convention, don’t spend this long weekend in San Diego entirely in the  convention center. Get out of there, wander around the city some. Find a good restaurant, watch a ball game, just do something where you can get out and enjoy the area.
10. If you aren’t staying in the city, use that trolley system. I’ve seen the parking garage of the convention center during a smaller convention and it got pretty full. Don’t count on finding much parking in town during this big convention. The trolley system is easy to use and quite a bargain, plus the parking is free at the stations, at least the ones I used.

I’m sure there are plenty of other tips, and anyone can add to the list in the comments area. These 10 are the ones that came to mind first for me. For all of you going this year, you’ll have a great time. Take plenty of photos and grab all the swag that you can.

Jon Favreau, man don’t let me down

Everytime I see stills from the upcoming Iron Man film I get pumped up for this movie. I was totally geeking out at San Diego Comicon when we got to see footage from the film. As good as it all looks I so afraid that for some reason something will go wrong and the story will suck or something like that. I’m hoping beyond hope that this is unfounded worrying. After the steaming pile of crap that was the Hulk movie, it’s hard not to be a little gun shy when a new film comes out based on a Marvel property.

Iron Man Trailer debuting September 10th

According to the SCI FI Wire the Iron Man trailer will be airing on Viacom owned networks. One airing being before ‘The Hills’ on MTV. This will be followed up with a hi-def download of the trailer being made available on Apple.com on Tuesday Sept. 11th.

Very cool news! I can finally stop trying to describe this trailer to people. I was among the lucky ones who saw the Iron Man trailer at San Diego Comic-con this summer. My first order of business Tuesday will be downloading this .mov file. Woot!

Source: Iron Man Teaser Due Next Week – SCI FI Wire

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Not so Current or Quick, Quick Shot Reviews – 8/17/07

My late to the party edition of QSR. I picked up a lot of books while in San Diego and I get some of my comics via subscription. So I’m reading a lot of stuff that has been out for awhile or at least for a week or two. BTW what’s up with Marvel subscriptions, these guys are so hot and cold on when they get comics to me. Sometimes I get a title the day before its in stores and then some months I have to wait 1-3 weeks for a comic to be shipped to me, loooong after everyone has read the thing and its been reviewed online. I might quit Marvel Subscriptions service and go with a retailer just so things are more consistent. Okay onto my late reviews:

DC: The New Frontier - DC Comics
Darwyn Cooke, Dave Stewart

While at the big comicon I picked up two tradepaperbacks that collected Cooke’s New Frontier series. This series has won many awards, so my telling you that this series is amazing is hardly a newsflash. My first comic book exposure to Darwyn Cooke was actually in the Spirit comic book series that he is writing and drawing currently. I love seeing a writer/artist who is able to produce a quality book month to month without noticeable delay. I have so much respect for that. Plus I really like the style of Cooke’s artwork. The bold lines, the classic comic book style and clean, clear storytelling that he’s able to do with his artwork is so refreshing.

After reading this series I came away with a strong grasp on the basics of each of the major players in the DC Universe. Through years I forgot about Martian Manhunter’s initial gig as a police detective. I especially enjoyed the back story and development of the Hal Jordan. Of any of the characters Hal Jordan really got the greatest deal of attention and details. The series also fleshed out the Challengers of the Unknown for me. I knew of this team but wasn’t sure who they were, what they did or where they came from. They recently appeared in the Brave and the Bold, it was nice to know the characters by name and personality this time around.

Overall this series I put to the same level of The Dark Knight Returns or the Watchmen. While a much different in style and tone it shares a similarity in the way Cooke takes superheroes and tells a different kind of story and tone then was is currently the norm. This tone harkens back to the Golden Age when chronilogically these stories were supposed to take place. Cooke really captured the feel of classic superhero action, stripping away some of the shades of grey that separate heroes and villains in current stories. 5 out of 5 star rating. Damn good read!

Incredible Hulk #109 – Marvel Comics
Greg Pak, Carlo Pagulayan, Jeffrey Huet

This comes from the stuttering comic book subscription that I have with Marvel. In my desire to save money on this comic book habit I wanted to take advantage of the discounts that come with a subscription. Unfortunately this means I get many of my main titles late now, sometimes a whole month behind schedule… This issue was only a week late, but it was worth it. The story really moved in this issue and we have Amadeus, the child genius of the Renegades finally doubting his heroic, idyllic view of the Hulk. The most joy I get out of these past few issues has come from the dynamic resulting from the Hercules and Angel pairing. It has me wanting a real return of the Champions… not some government created west coast team.

I haven’t been a huge fan of the World War Hulk storyline. The overall story just seems too thin to me to be worthy of 3 limited series and crossovers in some many different ongoing titles. Honestly, this could have been taken care of in 3 issues of the Hulk with maybe a double-sized finale and a couple Fantastic Four, Iron Man crossovers. But this issue was rewarding. The artwork was fantastic and the story moved at a decent pace. 3.5 out of 5 star rating

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Initial Reviews of ‘Stardust’ are Favorable

I’ve been going around the net to see what the initial buzz is on the film adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s ‘Stardust’. So far all the reviews I’ve found have been very positive. I was one of the fornate folks to see a sneak preview of a portion of the film at San Diego Comic-con a couple weeks ago, and it looked great. It sparked my interest for sure, enough to search for these reviews. Judging from the reviews the rest of the film maintains this level of quality.

Review: ‘Stardust’ charms and amuses – Leslie Morgan, Comics2film

A couple of Shimmering ‘Stardust’ Reviews – Ain’t it Cool News

Stardust: Bottomline a Magical Adult Fairy Tale – The Hollywood Reporter

Neil Gaiman’s Magic Hour – Michael Ordoña, San Francisco Chronicle

Technorati Tags: Neil Gaiman Clare Danes Stardust Paramount Robert DiNero Michelle Pfieffer magic fantasy unicorn star film fairy tale

Comic Book News Wrap – Issue 6

DC Comics Mixing it Up Online

DC is looking to get into the web comics business. Anything that makes comic book stories more accessible to the masses is a great idea to me. I’m actually surprised it took DC this long. With their ownership by Warner Bros. they have an advantage over any other comic book company, including Marvel. Warner Bros. depends on DC for keeping it’s valuable character’s alive which keeps the licenses healthy. There isn’t the same pressure to profit that other publishers work under. DC has a long history of finding talented folks and I’m hoping this venture will attract a high quality of new creators, as they hope it will.

Big Boys Enter the Web comics arena – Andrew Hiltzik, Los Angeles Tribune

Sexism in Comics, Prevalent Topic this Week

In regards to superhero comics, there is still along way to go… really far to go toward presenting women fairly. This is nothing new. But there are so many other comic books out there, that portray women more accurately and favorably. They unfortunately don’t get the marketing support or the big publishing companies behind them, but they are out there. The industry should never be judged by just the superhero comics. Many of the most talented writers and artists in the industry do their best works outside of the typical superhero genre. Superhero comics pay the bills.

Supergirls Gone Wild: Gender Bias in Comics Shortchanges Superwomen – Charlie Anders, Mother Jones
Superheroes need rescuing from sexism – Ned Beauman, Guardian Unlimited: Art Blog

San Diego Comic Con International Coverage

Plenty of wrap up coverage of the big convention last week:

San Diego Hosts 2007 Comic-Con – Daniel Kuo, Canyon News

CCI XTRA: THE INVINCIBLE ROBERT DOWNEY, JR. – Remy Minnick, Comic Book Resources

Comic Con: Geeks, Spocks, Supermen – Jeremy Kay, Telegraph.co.uk

At Comic Con, geek is chic – Randy Dotinga, Christian Science Monitor

Technorati Tags: SDCC CCI Iron Man web comics DC Comics San Diego Comic-con sexism gender bias geeks Warner Bros. Paramount

San Diego Comic-Con 2007 – What I thought was cool, and what wasn’t

There’s no mistaking that Comic-Con was the big story for last week and is still giving this week. Many of the comic book news sites are still digesting and generating content from news and interviews gathered at the big conference. Yep I was there but simply as a fanboy, not a blogger/journalist. At least not this time around.

Cool Stuff:

Booths, Booths, Booths: Man alive, that was an incredible expo floor. Disney, Lucasfilm, Hasbro, Lego and Mattel are the Top Five that stick out in my mind. Disney wins the big prize in my book. When you have a replica of the Black Pearl pirate ship from Pirates of the Caribbean sitting on top of your booth, you’re assured a place at the top of my list. The mini-museum, with sand on the floors, within a cavern that was also part of their booth was a lot of fun to walk through. Whoever designed that booth deserves an award. I guess with Disney you should expect this level of quality and detail. The toy maker trio of Lego, Hasbro and Mattel offered up looks at upcoming toys, displayed many of their current offerings. Hasbro and Lego even had small toys stores for you to buy stuff from, really cool! Lucasfilm, was just an incredible booth, that included an illustrated timeline of the films, an art gallery of Darth Vader helmets, playable LucasArts games, loads of stuff. These corporate booths are a new experience for me at these shows, and I loved having there. They are one of the reasons I’ll be coming back to this show.

Iron Man Preview & Stardust Preview
Both of these upcoming movies from Paramount have my interest locked. For Iron Man, the surprise preview on Thursday was incredible. Seeing the gun metal, original Iron Man armor on the big screen was great and Robert Downey as Tony Stark is perfect casting.

More surprising to me is Stardust. I’ll admit I missed the boat on Neil Gaiman. To this day I haven’t read single word the man has typed or written. When he wrote the Sandman series for Vertigo, that wasn’t the kind of comic I’d readily pick up. I was solidly into superhero/sci-fi action. I’ve seen him interviewed now and then, and his concepts sound interesting, but life moves on and I forget things. But seeing a preview for a film on at least 6 large screen all at once, really brands a memory into my head. So I’ll be picking up Stardust the next time in a book buying mood… its already on my Amazon wish list.

Autographs
Dave Petersen – Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 and Andy Runton – Owly, both guys are total creators of their books, holding the jobs of writer and artist. Though both are animal focused books they couldn’t be more different and they both couldn’t be more talented. If you haven’t read Mouse Guard or Owly please check them out. I was lucky enough to meet both gentlemen at comic-con this year.

Costumes
The people watching that one could do at this convention was worth the price of admission alone. The caliber of costume is definitely a notch higher then at other cons. Loved seeing all the variety and marveling at the craftsmanship. My only concern are for those guys walking around in black leathery suits like Batman or Cyclops from the X-Men movies.

What wasn’t Cool, this is a minor list because this con was awesome.

Convention center food
It can be summed up in one word, disappointing. Not that I was surprised, but they didn’t even get our overpriced, freshly microwaved soft-pretzels correct.

Hasbro’s Ticket System
Hasbro had a ticket grab to enter and buy somthing in their booth. Fred & I won this little game, but that’s beside the point. I was even more burned when I saw the San Diego “Exclusives” online available through their online store. Maybe some one needs to remind Hasbro what a show exclusive is. If you are going to make people wait in line to wait in another line to purchase an exclusive, it better damn well be truelly exclusive.

Mayor of San Diego, not a Fan of the Comic-Con Fanboys & Fangirls

Seems the Mayor of San Diego made his opinion of the comic-con attendees known on a local radio show. Funny way to act towards the people who provide the biggest shot of reliable tourist dollars his city receives every year. I live in the DC metro, and I have to deal with my fair share of tourists throughout the spring months. That’s an entire season, not just one weekend. And I could only wish & dream that the tourists crowds were as organized and courteous as the Comic-Con crowd. We overheard or were out right faced with some of this negativity towards comic-con attendees on the trolley system as well during our commute back and forth. This mentality really boggles my mind. I mean when you live in an area with an event like this that happens every year you’d think the people would roll with it, accept the great gobs of tourist bucks, and then continue with their day the following Monday.

See this link here to see what the Mayor Jerry Sanders had to say about us comic-con attendees: The Mayor of San Diego on Comic-Con – Pink Raygun

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San Diego, Jerry Sanders, Mayor, Comicon, Comic-con, SDCC07, American Idol, convention

Comic-Con Wrap-Up: Good Friends, Long Lines, Fish Tacos

Alright the I’m back on the blog. I’ve gotten caught up to a point with work since returning from San Diego. I’m not going to go on about any of the news that broke during the con. I’m not that much of a pitbull blogger to get online during the convention with all the news I uncovered. Basically other blogs have staffs that handle that better, and many of them get some pay for their efforts. I do this for free, and I was trying to avoid work of any kind during my time off. My first post since returning is more of a personal take on my trip and the con.

I spent the extended weekend with my friend Fred and his family, which worked out really well. It’d been years since we’d gotten together and this was my first chance to meet his kids in person. They made me feel quite welcome and the kids were so much fun to hang out with. Staying with them definitely enhanced the trip. This was actually a trip with a lot of firsts. My first trip to California, my first San Diego Comic-Con, my first fish taco, first In and Out burger, the list goes on and on. For Fred this was his first comic book convention of any kind, quite a brave choice to dive into SDCC for his first con. I’ve been going to conventions  along the east coast for  a little over a decade but I still wasn’t prepared for this convention.

San Diego Comic-Con more then lived up to the hype. The expo floor is immense. It took us the entire week to walk the thing from end to end. I know we still ended up missing things since new sites popped up or new features were revealed through out the duration of the con. On Sunday we were still discovering things that we hadn’t noticed before. Next time we attend, making sure to take advantage of the Wednesday preview night will be a “must do” on our list.

The comic-con programming is extensive and deep. One of the big challenges was determining which panel was worth attending since many of them overlapped. It made scheduling things really challenging. The panels catered to so many different interests, that a person could attend this con and have a completely different set of interests but still find the event satisfying. There were plenty of programs for aspiring artists, aspiring filmmakers, comic book fanboys, movie buffs, anime/manga fans, toy collectors, educators, and many others.  I’m already trying to assess how I’m going to tackle the programs for the next time.

For our first convention we did a good “sampler” of the event by doing some of the unique things that SDCC offers. Such as attending a huge Paramount movie preview panel or getting an autograph from Nick Frost of Hot Fuzz. We did a lot of waiting line. Lines are really a big part of comic-con. Lines to get into some booths, lines for panels & programs, lines for tickets to get into other lines. All of the lines we waited in resulted in some great rewards at the end, but all the line waiting really added another monkey wrench in the planning and scheduling of the day. When time is at such premium, deciding to spend time in a line is a tough choice sometimes. Fortunately we had good pay-offs for each one we waited in.

I’m a big fan of the convention and I wish I could afford to attend it every year. I flew Jetblue this time and I’d definitely use them again. The price was right, the flight was direct, and the leg room was plentiful. I can’t wait until next time. My photos are posted on Flickr, a few can be seen to the right of the page.

Comic Book News Wrap – Issue 5

Hilary Swank confirmed for Iron Man Film

News of Hilary Swank’s confirmed cameo appearance in the upcoming Iron Man movie slipped during an interview with Avi Arad. Nothing is better then a leak from the top. This adds another big star to an already impressive cast including Robert Downey Jr. and Samuel L. Jackson.

Hilary Swank Is In Iron Man After All – Adam Weeks, Moviehole.net

Marvel’s Coming Back to Cons in a BIG WAY

For the first time in a few years Marvel will have a large solo booth presence at San Diego Comic-Con. Something I’ve noticed at other conventions, is that Marvel has had a really understated booth, which was just basically a few tables or one table and some preview copies of books or artwork. Nothing compared to the huge booth presence they had in the mid-90’s at events like the Philadelphia Comic Con. I’m glad they’ll be returning to the big booth set-up this year at San Diego. Marvel remains my favorite publisher, so it’ll make the con that much more enjoyable.

MARVEL MAKES DRAMATIC RETURN TO COMIC-CON – Jonah Weiland, Executive Producer, Comic Book Resource

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