San Diego Comic-Con 2008

Mike Carroll · 10 July, 2008, 11:12:06 AM

//http://www.comic-con.org/cci/
It's only a couple of weeks away now...! So is anyone else going? If so, come along to my panel on Thursday 24th at 16:00 in room 5AB (me, Kevin J. Anderson and a bunch of other writers talking about writing superhero prose).

Rebellion has a stand in the Exhibitors' hall, but I suspect that there otherwise won't be much 2000 AD-related stuff, so I'll be bringing my Termight Replicas Judge Dredd badge to wear at all times.

Should have mentioned this before, but I'm also willing to bring along flyers to leave on the freebie tables, so if you want some free promotion for your comic, convention or whatever, get in touch ASAP!

Cheers,
Mike

Mike Carroll · 13 July, 2008, 05:49:43 PM

No one interested, no?

Bolt-01 · 13 July, 2008, 10:06:06 PM

Ooh, missed this...

Mike- If I send you some flyer-y stuff for FQP will you take it?

satchmo · 13 July, 2008, 10:43:29 PM

I could give you a few of my teeny weeny mini-comics to take if you don't mind Mike!

Jim_Campbell · 13 July, 2008, 10:46:53 PM

Mike - I've got this suitcase full of uncut cocaine ... all you need to do is get it to the hotel, and Vinnie will meet you in Reception ...

Cheers!

Jim

Mike Carroll · 14 July, 2008, 01:30:13 AM

Quote from: "Jim_Campbell"Mike - I've got this suitcase full of uncut cocaine ... all you need to do is get it to the hotel, and Vinnie will meet you in Reception ...

Cheers!

Jim

Well, okay, but you have to let me open the packages just in case you're really trying to get me to smuggle bootleg DVDs or something because ethically I just wouldn't be able to do that.

Mike Carroll · 21 July, 2008, 05:29:18 AM

OK... Leonia and I are leaving the house in about an hour. We expect to arrive at the hotel in San Diego approximately twenty-five hours later.

During the con I'll be keeping an eye out for all things 2000 AD-related and will, of course, be bothering the heck out of the people at the Rebellion booth.

If I get a chance during the con I'll report in with updates!

Cheers,
Mike
P.S. Just in case we don't make it back due to some terrible disaster (or some fantastic opportunity), I just want you to know that I love you all. Mostly.

Buttonman · 22 July, 2008, 02:48:34 PM

I see Mad are doing a special Watchmen themed giveaway - snag loads - ebay gold!

johnnystress · 23 July, 2008, 12:15:28 PM

snag one for me please!!

Mike Carroll · 05 August, 2008, 06:24:34 AM

We're back!

Full report later, following sleep and answering of bazillions of e-mails...

Cheers,
Mike

Richmond Clements · 05 August, 2008, 09:26:27 AM

And the first thing you do on returning is show up here!
Excellent!

Hope you had a great time!

satchmo · 05 August, 2008, 01:10:26 PM

Never mind sleeping Carroll, we need salacious gossip!

JOE SOAP · 05 August, 2008, 07:31:48 PM

Quote from: "Mike Carroll"We're back!

Full report later, following sleep and answering of bazillions of e-mails...

Cheers,
Mike

It's getting late Carroll.

Richmond Clements · 06 August, 2008, 01:45:13 PM

Hey!

Just how much sleep do you need???

Mike Carroll · 06 August, 2008, 04:30:34 PM

Okay... I'm awake and have made a good start on the voluminous correspondence that requires my attention, but now it's time to report on the San Diego Comic Con!

Ahem.

First, I should warn you that we didn't get to see that much of the con. Not because we weren't there for all of it (we were), but because it's just too big an event to see everything. The dealers' room (or Exhibit Hall, as they like to call it) is about the size of two football fields end-to-end and it was absolutely packed with dealers.

On the Wednesday evening (the Preview Night) we were there for over an hour before we found someone actually selling comics: most of the stands were pushing movies, TV shows, or toys (sorry, I mean "collectables"). Since it was the Preview night, there wasn't much else on so everyone was in the Exhibit Hall, and there was a lot of free stuff to be had so it was absolutely chaotic: the Warner stand, for example, was so crowded that at one point it took me five minutes to reach Leonia and she was only about ten feet away from me. I hated it.

(A tiny, tiny portion of the Exhibit Hall during one of the quieter times.)

Thankfully, from Thursday on the con was a lot better: the Exhibit Hall was less crowded because many people were in other parts of the convention centre lining up. Lining up seemed to be a popular activity... For a lot of the big events (mostly movie panels) it was necessary to line up for an hour or two in order to get into the lottery for free tickets that would allow us to join another line that offered the possibility of getting into the room in which the panel was taking place. This is not something we enjoy doing so after a few attempts we just gave up. The real problem was that in most cases the organisers didn't clear the rooms between panels, so people were lining up early to get into the rooms and sit through the panels they didn't care about just so that they'd be guaranteed a seat for the panels they did want to see. Towards the end of the last day I got talking to a couple of guys who had spent pretty much the whole convention in queues - they'd come into the Exhibit Hall for the first time and were frantically spending all their money before it was too late.

One other drawback was the seemingly endless bundles of reporters who routinely blocked the paths through Exhibit Hall with their cameras so that they could interview the people dressed as Stormtroopers and Hobbits (we saw only one Klingon, wandering around looking lost and lonely).

But on the positive side, we did have a lot of fun. We got to meet John Barrowman, Steve Purcell, Matt Groening, Jim Starlin and lots of others whose names escape me at the moment. We got to play in the Owl Ship from the Watchmen movie, touched a lot of "do not touch" exhibits from the Iron Man and Incredible Hulk movies, picked up (and then put down again) some very expensive original artwork from the earliest days of Marvel comics. I spoke on a panel called "Superhero Superfiction" where thanks to alphabetical order or something I found myself sitting next to Kevin J. Anderson, did a couple of signing sessions and sold lots of books (Peter David turned up at one of my signings, which was remarkably cool!).

And of course I was wearing my Termight Replicas Judge Dredd badge at all times, which over the course of the con drew dozens of comments, ranging from "Wow! Where the hell did you get that?" all the way down to "But that's nothing like Stallone's badge from the movie!" The latter prompted a brief but informative lecture from me on difference between the Judge Dredd movie and the comics, which culminated in the commenter heading off to find the Rebellion stall (which, aside from one stall selling a few knackered issues of DC's "Judge Dread" [sic] comics, was the only source of 2000 AD-related material at the con).

(Some fans examining the offerings of one of the Freebie tables.)

Food was available at many places throughout the convention centre, but it wasn't great and was very expensive, such as four dollars for a slightly warmed pretzel not much bigger than a slice of bread.

Overall the con was fun, but utterly exhausting and just way too big. I've had a lot more fun at much smaller cons (such as, picking one at random, Hi-Ex). Plus, despite the size of the dealer's room, I only bought about half a dozen comics and the same number of graphic novels, almost all of which I could have bought at home.

San Diego itself is a great city, and I'd definitely go back there... But not necessarily for the con. (The following week in New York was a whole different kettle of ballgames...)

Anyway, more later when (and if) I can remember it!

-- Mike