Comic Con 08 Recap

A lot has happened since Preview night and I wish I could have updated earlier, but such is life. The con was a lot of fun, but I definitely had issues with somethings that I think I would be able to avoid if I go again in the future.  What follows is my breakdown of each day.

Thursday:
Pretty tame.  Got there early and went to a BSG panel, a Spotlight on Ed Brubaker, and a general Marvel panel.  Not a bad day. Got a feel for the convention center, how to get around, and how the lines work.  I do wish I had eaten more during the day though because I could barely eat at dinner from a mega-headache.

Friday:
I made two big mistakes this day.  First mistake: I skipped the Watchmen panel to go to other panels.  I knew the info in the Watchmen panel would end up online eventually so I tried to go see the Cup O’ Joe panel and get upcoming Marvel info. Let me just put this out there: Joe Quesada is a douche bag; I’d call him money grubbing too, but I can’t blame him for that.  He supplies no answers and just says ‘keep reading/buying’.  I guess he’s done some good stuff at Marvel, but he is not good with the public.  Also, please stop asking him about ‘One More Day’ no one in the audience wants to see you start a live flame war that you wont even win.  Next I tried to go to the Spaced panel, but the line was huge (this was my first experience with such a huge line) and it wasn’t worth the wait to not get in.  This was the first evidence to me that the organizers need to reanalyze what panels go where.  They severely underestimated the draw of this British comedy series. Next was the Dr. Horrible panel with the whole cast which was very fun, but I had to wait in a line that went outside and looped around 3 times.  At the Vertigo panel, we got to hear about the upcoming Vertigo Crime projects, which look really good, and do Q&A with some of the creators.  Afterwards, I could have stayed with my group for Penny Arcade or gone to the Venture Brothers panel, this is where I made my second mistake: I left for the VB.  The Venture Brothers panel was followed by Robot Chicken and an MST3K reunion, in a small room.  The line was seriously out the doors and around the building.  There was no way I was getting in or back to the PA panel. SIGH.  So at this point I just hung around until the Totally Rad Show panel/live show.  I was in the second row on the right side of the audience (look for me in the ep), and next to Dr. Tiki.  The show was fun to watch and the crowd was great. I’ll have to see what a Diggnation crowd is like some time when they are on the east coast.  I tried to go to the meetup at Basic after, but it looked like it was full of non-con yuppies so I called it a night.

Saturday:
We did it right this day.  Got there early, got in line, and camped in Ballroom 20 for most of the morning.  I saw most of the Futurama panel, but missed any news on ‘Benders Game’.  Then came The Simpsons panel where Groening and some others talked about the history of the show.  It would have been better if voice actors had been there like there were for Futurama though.  We suffered through Dean Koontz’s (who has a total Donald Trump haircut) so that we would have seats for the following panels in that room. The Dollhouse panel was next and could have been a lot better since it was all Q&A. Panels with a moderator are much better then ones where the audience asks questions. They aren’t going to tell you spoilers and if you tell everyone you’re terminal you’re just bringing everyone down, so don’t waste everyones time with BS and dumb questions.  It would have been nice if they showed some clips from the pilot instead of just the same old trailer.  A Battlestar Galactica panel followed, with most of the cast and moderated by Kevin Smith.  This panel was fun, but sucked in that there was no new info, we just have to wait for the final 10 episodes.  The last panel this day was for Secret Invasion, which turned out to be a lot more Quesada BS that I could have gone without.  My write up may not indicate it, but overall this was a good day.

Sunday:
Another tame day.  I had one panel that I wanted to go to, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and I got in.  This panel was great because we got to see a new episode for the upcoming season, and I ended up getting a free Tshirt and DVDs.  Afterwards, we went out to lunch and then went shopping in the exhibit hall.  The great thing about the the exhibit hall is that by Sunday prices are reduced everywhere so they don’t have to ship a lot back, and you can get some great deals.  I only shopped at one place, but by combining some purchases with friends I was able to get some stuff for 50% off.

Overall I’d say it was a good trip.  I don’t know yet if I’d go again next year since most of the info ends up online after each panel anyway, but it was definitely a good experience. I’d sum it up with the following pros and cons.

Pros:

• Interesting panels.
• Lots of deals.
• Lots of like minded people.
• Cool booths on the exhibit floor.

Cons:

• Lines.
• Necessary room camping.
• Too many people. Seriously, find a new venue or limit the number of attendees.
• Shitty con-food.
• People that shouldn’t be asking questions, asking questions.
• LINES.