Comic-Con 2008

Avengers Cosplayers It’s been over a week since Comic-Con concluded and I’m still catching up on trying to do a write up. I finished sorting and posting my pics on Tuesday. The galleries are available under the San Diego Comic-Con category on my photo site. There weren’t that many pics this year since my schedule was split between parenting duties and show time. It’s certainly a different experience having a baby in tow this time around. In some ways it reminded me of my first attendance when I had poor time management and everything felt a bit rushed. Lessons (hopefully) learned for next year.

Content-wise, it was a really good year. After blowing most of Saturday last year, I decided to join in on a block of panels this year (with my mom in her first SDCC attendance!) including Futurama, The Simpsons, Dean Koontz, Dollhouse and BSG. Not knowing much about Dean Koontz’s novels, I found him to be the most surprising entertaining. I guess a good storyteller can both write stories as well as talk about them to an audience. Overall, Futurama was my favorite of the set of panels with the voice talents of John DiMaggio, Maurice Lamarche, Billy West and Katey Sagal on hand to liven things up.

In the exhibit hall, Paramount returned with their free t-shirts but added a collection of Star Trek items including posters, construction crew badges by email and drawings for goodies. Warner Bros. beefed up their bag selection, held the usual group autograph sessions and had a lifesize Watchmen Owlship on display. Fox had what was probably the most useful schwag: a poster tube with strap. Everyone was giving away bags but I think Fox had the lock on the popular poster tube. Now if only someone will start giving out art portfolios next year.

More convention notes after the jump…

I was plesently surprised to see Todd Nauck in the artist alley. He wasn’t listed in the program and I guess was a late addition. As much as I read and collect comics, I’ll admit I’m pretty ignorant about the creators. For whatever reason, his art in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man last year stuck in my head and I was happy to collect a Betty Brant sketch and original art from an issue. My wife and I made the usual rounds to pick up ash cans, art and other goodies from the likes of Adam Hughes, Frank Cho and Dan Brereton.

Speaking of Dan Brereton, his wife (whose name escapes me right now) makes Cuddle Monster Toys, a series of cute, hand made dolls, baby / kids clothing and accessories. Each one is unique with variations in cloth color and positioning of the elements. I picked up a shirt last year with a monster on the front and we added a little teddy bear (with a sort of worried look) to our collection. The teddy has a hard time competing for affection with a two foot tall Snoopy we also picked up at the Con but I think it’s adorable.

Bumblebee Cosplayers get better and better each year with continually impressive displays of imagination and craftsmanship. There was a very detailed Bumblebee making the rounds near the masquerade photo area on Saturday. I made it to a couple of cosplay meetups including the Marvel one which had a great selection of Avengers, X-Men and Runaways. The masquerade itself was good but started even later than usual. The combination of missing out on a chair in the photo area and too many elective late nights / mandatory early mornings meant that I retired early this year and missed the best acts. I think I made up for it in my other pics during the week. See the previously listed photo link at the top for the photos.

I didn’t do too much shopping this year, economizing on space since there’s so much family gear involved in the trip. My main pickups were the Toynami Robot Santa and Santa Bender combo pack and various bits of art including the Todd Nauck page and a couple of cels from Golden Boy. A big shout-out to Nichibei Anime Club where I’ve been buying cels from for eight or nine years now. Interestingly, I didn’t pay for one comic this year. Considering the severe damage I did to my wallet at past conventions, that’s probably a good thing. I also didn’t use my incomplete web comic DB application that’s been in limbo for months. I have new motivation to make progress by the end of September so hopefully I’ll have an update in a few weeks.

That’s my brief wrap-up on San Diego Comic-Con 2008. If I have time, I’ll try to expand on some of the topics over the next week. And if I don’t make the time, just enjoy the photos!

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