San Diego 2009: Trip reports

[BobBretall]

Wed (Preview) night
I got to San Diego around 1pm, had lunch, then checked into the hotel. REALLY nice view from the new Hilton. I'll post some pictures when I get home.

Stephen & I went over around 4 to get our badges, then stood in the BIG line to get into the hall @ 6pm

They let us in EARLY! Around 5:30 or so.....

Warner Bros. had a very cool Harry Potter "big bag", other than that, we mostly wandered around getting freebie stuff.

It was REALLY crowded, but seemed about the same as last year, maybe slightly less crowded. Now that the con is at saturation point (e.g. sold out) there's not a whole lot more crowded it can get. It is what it is.

What I found interesting is that the Toy Exclusives were siphoning off HUGE amounts of people. There were at least 500 people in line at both Mattel & Hasbro. Also for the GL figure at Graphitti. I didn't count the lines, but there were SO MANY people I just decided to give any toy exclusives a "pass".

I talked to Thom Zahler (Love & Capes), he recognized me from the cover to the wedding issue (I'm going to be in the crowd on the "Hero" cover), and also from when we interviewed him for the show. I picked up his latest sketchbook, he does a really cool spiral bound book with cover images of commissions he has done in the past year.

Spent a while talking to Batton Lash & Jackie Estrada. Jackie showed me her copy of the San Diego con 40th anniversary hardcover, she already had a lot of autographs in it! I pre-ordered one but will pick it up later in the weekend.

* Got the latest Elephantmen HC signed by Richard Starkings & Moritat, and Moritat did a really nice Black Cat sketch in my Spider-Man sketchbook

Got the "San Diego Con" exclusive Toon Tumbler (Captain America) and also 2 really cool team ones (JLA & JSA).

Picked up this year's Adam Hughes sketchbook.

Got Rob Ullman's latest "Atom Bomb Bikini" sketchbook. This is a SWEET little HC sketchbook with some pretty girl art. You can check it out here:
http://rkullman.blogspot.com/

Got this year's Jason Martin (Super Real) sketchbook & talked to Jason a bit.

Stopped by with Steve Bryant & the Lawdog folks. I got a REALLY NICE Doc Savage commission from Steve that I'll post up after I get home. Also picked up a comic called "Gangs of Camelot" from another guy at the booth.....Chicago Mobsters brought to Camelot by Merlin. They kill dragons with their Tommy guns. Wacky!

That was it. Stephen & I finished off with dinner over at the Marriott pub, then back to the hotel.

[BobBretall]

Thursday
* Decided (for the 1st time ever) to just skip waiting in line to get into the hall & to sleep until we wake up. That occurred at 8:30am (very nice as in the past I would generally BE IN LINE by 7am at the latest. This only works if you are staying within walking distance, as you need to get here really early for parking if you are driving in.

* Looked out the Window of the hotel room and saw the line for Hall H....WOW, INSANE. I'd estimate 5000 people easy. Twilight panel later in the day and people going crazy to get in there. It seems to me like there are 2 cons going on:
- "Hall H Con" for the people who want to see Hollywood panels
- "Regular Comic Con" for people who want to go on the show floor and attend other panels.

* Anyway, we left the room around 10am, walked over and strolled directly onto the show floor. Much preferred to standing in a line for several hours.

* Stopped in & talked to Ron Randall. Commissioned him to add the 2nd redhead to my "redheads" jam piece.....Shanna the She-Devil, classic readhead "wife of Ka-Zar" version, not the recent blonde Frank Cho one....

* Got some DCU lead figures really cheap from a gaming booth we always shop at. I was going to avoid the villains, but when I saw the Anti-Monitor (normally $40) and Doomsday/Bane (normally $30) for $10 each, I couldn't resist. I got the Creeper for $5 also.

* Got the 2nd Hatter M hardcover from Frank Beddor. This is a pre-release, has not even hit Previews yet. He sent me over to Penguin books & they gave me a free pre-release review copy of the 3rd volume of this "Looking Glass Wars" novel series that I have been loving so far.

* Picked up a J. Scott Campbell sketch cover of Elephantmen (for $2) and an "Art of Ladronn" HC from Richard Starkings......Moritat did another sketch for me, Hip Flask this time.......

* Got a page of art from Steve Bryant from the Athena Voltaire web-strip. This one has a panel with Doc Savage & Monk Mayfair (unnamed) in it.

* HUGE line to get con t-shirts.....Ethan VanSciver GL/Blackest night image this year. I left Stephen in the line to get the shirts while I wandered around talking to various folks
- Eric Powell signed my Chinatown HC, I stopped by the Radical booth and talked to Steve Pugh, David Hine & Sam Sarkar, and rolled by Dabel Bros. where the wroiter of Dog Eaters was hanging around, so I chatted with him about that book a bit......

* Back to the room and hauled 2 short boxes of comics to give away over to the convention center at the podcasting panel.

* Podcasting Panel. Dinner after @ Rock Bottom brewery (about 16 folks attended and we got right in with no reservation, SWEET!)

* Back to the hotel around 11pm......

[Garrett!]

Wed (Preview) night

Got the "San Diego Con" exclusive Toon Tumbler (Captain America) and also 2 really cool team ones (JLA & JSA).


Stopped by with Steve Bryant & the Lawdog folks. I got a REALLY NICE Doc Savage commission from Steve that I'll post up after I get home. Also picked up a comic called "Gangs of Camelot" from another guy at the booth.....Chicago Mobsters brought to Camelot by Merlin. They kill dragons with their Tommy guns. Wacky!

The Toon Tumblers are always really nice looking. How does Cap look? Does he have the round shield?

The Gangs of Camelot sounds interesting. Do you know who is it by?

[BobBretall]

The Toon Tumblers are always really nice looking. How does Cap look? Does he have the round shield?

The Gangs of Camelot sounds interesting. Do you know who is it by?

There are 2 caps, a golden age & a Kirby-looking Silver age.

Gangs of Camelot is by Jim Heffron, look here for more:
http://lawdogcomics.blogspot.com/2008/0 ... omics.html

[BobBretall]

What I think is a really nice picture of the San Diego Convention Center taken from my room on the 23rd floor of the new Bayside Hilton:

[JohnMayo]

What I think is a really nice picture of the San Diego Convention Center taken from my room on the 23rd floor of the new Bayside Hilton:

Great photo, Bob.

I think that tiny green pace in the lower left is the area the convention center might expand into.

The line for Hall H in the lower right is insane...

[Trev]

Thursday


* Looked out the Window of the hotel room and saw the line for Hall H....WOW, INSANE. I'd estimate 5000 people easy. Twilight panel later in the day and people going crazy to get in there. It seems to me like there are 2 cons going on:
- "Hall H Con" for the people who want to see Hollywood panels
- "Regular Comic Con" for people who want to go on the show floor and attend other panels.

Yep. I never even went in Hall H. Standing around for that long just to get a 'sneak' of some early movie footage and see some stars doing movie PR just didn't appeal to me. I was thinking about going to the LOST panel until I saw the size of the lines for Hall H.

I heard that Twilight people were lined up for the Thursday panel on Wed afternoon! as soon as they got their badges.

[BobBretall]

I heard that Twilight people were lined up for the Thursday panel on Wed afternoon! as soon as they got their badges.

Yes, they had tents & air-mattresses in line on Wed. Already a sizable line at 2 in the afternoon when I got there.

[Garrett!]

The Toon Tumblers are always really nice looking. How does Cap look? Does he have the round shield?

The Gangs of Camelot sounds interesting. Do you know who is it by?

There are 2 caps, a golden age & a Kirby-looking Silver age.

Gangs of Camelot is by Jim Heffron, look here for more:
http://lawdogcomics.blogspot.com/2008/0 ... omics.html

Thanks. It looks like Jim Heffron is coming to Wizard World Chicago. I'm going to have to stop by his table and check out this book.

[dbm]

The Toon Tumblers are always really nice looking. How does Cap look? Does he have the round shield?

The Gangs of Camelot sounds interesting. Do you know who is it by?

There are 2 caps, a golden age & a Kirby-looking Silver age.

Gangs of Camelot is by Jim Heffron, look here for more:
http://lawdogcomics.blogspot.com/2008/0 ... omics.html

Thanks. It looks like Jim Heffron is coming to Wizard World Chicago. I'm going to have to stop by his table and check out this book.

Likewise, thanks for pointing that out!

[atomic99]

I'm still typing up my trip report but here are some photos I took during the con....

I always love the lighting under the sales. I get some of my best photos here with my zoom....


Actress Jennifer Wenger, whom can be seen in the documentary Confessions of a Superhero, as Wonder Woman....


Night Owl and Twilight Lady. Lots of Watchmen cosplay.....


This one's for you, Bob....Zatanna. She was adorable. Some Zatannas wear the thigh boots. Some the high heels. This one had black and white sneakers and made it work....


"To me, my X-Men!!"


Lots of Elektras this year too

[atomic99]

Bucky Cap


Isaiah Bradley Cap


Batman


JLA


Blue Beetle

[BadDeacon]

I wrote up my memories from Comic-Con on my blog.

It's pretty long, so I didn't want to clutter the thread with a looooong post. Click the link above if you are interested in reading it.

[HassanT]

Great posts from everyone. I wished I went to Comic Con.