Comic-Con 2008 Part One: If You're Lazy and Cheap
So here's some pictures and commentary on my one day at the San Diego Comic-Con 2008.
First off, know that I'm not a very serious fan. More like a tourist. I'm lazy and I'm cheap, and the only thing that pisses me off more than crowds is having to stand in line for an hour just to sit through what pretty much amounts to a live action advertisement. Especially since I would probably run into those panelists eventually at Peete's in Santa Monica...plus then I'd have coffee.
A lot of the panels are great, actually, but this year I was too lazy to tackle them with much enthusiasm. Truth be told, I go to Comic-Con for the geeks (I'm a geek hag) and for items to add to my collection of "unnecessary action figures" that I like to talk to late at night while I'm writing.
But of course, I'm going to blog anyway. If you want to read a real blog with all the buzz on Comic-Con 2008, check out this Variety blog here.
Part One: How To Do Comic-Con If You're Lazy and Cheap
As usual, I start my penny-pinching with my free four-day pro pass that I guess I deserve about as much as half the people who get them. Next, I stay at Casa Darlene in Carlsbad. It's a 40 minute drive to downtown San Diego, but the place comes with a pool, jacuzzi, and free meals cooked by Darlene. And by the way, I met someone who said he tried to book a hotel a month before the event and the closest one he could find was twenty miles from the event, so if you're thinking about Comic-Con 2009, plan on booking early!
Next, I look for free parking. I got up pretty early this year, and got to downtown by 8:45. I usually have luck finding free, un-metered parking in the crack neighborhood south of downtown. I don't want to give away all my secrets, but you'll know you're in the right area when you start to see stuff like this:
I tried to curry favor with the locals by sharing some of the 99 Cent store power bars I was packing (99 Cent Store power bars: Cheap-o tip number four). But when "Tennessee" here realized I didn't have any cash, he suggested instead we go into the bushes to drink, fuck and smoke crack.
I said thanks but no thanks, but I did envy his travel mug. I can't believe I took Tennessee's picture and didn't even give him a dollar, now that I think about it! I really am cheap.
Don't be too scared by the crack zone. Nothing's ever happened to my car. And it's one block from this:
Downtown San Diego gets cuter every year. It looks like a Little Kiddles downtown (old enough for that reference?)
Especially with its Little Kiddles baseball stadium smack in the middle of it all:
It's kind of cute that they have a baseball stadium you can just stroll past
And they have this little whiffle ball field right next to it where dads can play with the kids! So cute!
But enough about San Diego. On to Comic-Con!
The Convention Center is about 15 blocks from Crack Central parking spot. This is the first thing I spied:
If you look closely, you can see a giant line of people running the length of the Convention Center. According to the youngster walking next to me, they were all in line for a seat at the "Watchmen" panel...starting an hour later. I was pretty happy to learn that this kid, who was meeting up with a friend who'd already been in line for an hour, didn't care at all about the actors on the panel. He didn't even know who was in the movie. He just wanted to see three minutes of Watchman footage a year before anyone else on his block. So Comic-Con might have gone Hollywood, but I took it as a good sign that the very first person I met was a true graphic novel fan.
These were the very awesome Terracotta Warriors Universal installed in the park facing the Convention Center to promote The Mummy 3. Good job Universal!
And just outside the Convention Center, every boy's fetish: Anime babes ready to whip you with a snap bracelet.
Finally! The Convention Center! Would you look at that? It's only 9AM and Friday! No more "slow days".
And things get no less crowded inside:
FIRST ENCOUNTERS:
Comic-Con chicks chillaxin' outside the Exhibition Hall. People who come to Comic-Con in character seem especially good at sitting around on the floor...they're pretty much the only attendees who do sit on the floor, and they always seem to be sitting on the floor...these ladies were already sitting on the floor and the doors had only been open 5 minutes:
Resident Evil scientist shoots up her Asian Street Style friend with an experimental drug:
The secret of Asian Street Style eye makeup: Whiteout
Comic-Con Cruising Tip: I asked the girls if Comic-Con chicks try to hook up with Comic-Con dudes who show up as their character's counterpart. Nope. They just go for the cutest boy.
First Stop: Overpriced Comic-Con Cash Only Coffee:
It's overpriced, but it comes with this:
Plus, while you're in line for coffee, you can take advantage of my first Comic-Con Tip for The Lazy: never bother to read the program. Just find the chick in line with a three-page, typed summary of her carefully chosen events and ask her what events for today are hot:
This girl was especially fantastic and organized: she'd just given blood and it was only 9:30!
Next stop: Help out distressed characters having costume malfunctions:
Poor Snake Eyes, once he'd got his gloves on he couldn't zip up his hoodie, and his buddy, Skeletor's foam hands weren't articulated. I helped Snake Eyes zip up his hoodie and clip on his machine gun. These guys were from the East Coast.
Skeletor was always ready for his close up:
But Snake Eyes proved to be pretty high maintenance for a stealth action figure.
Skeletor turned out to be none other than "Unemployed Skeletor", an online host for Spike TV.
Check out Unemployed Skeletor's coverage of Comic-Con at Spike TV here to see some of the movie stars I never got close enough to interview.
ON TO THE EXHIBITION FLOOR!
What's cuter than Robin? Lego Robin!
First Rule of Comic-Con: Prepare To Stand In Line! Here a Warner Brothers staffer herds people into a line for a free Star Wars mask:
A happy recipient wears his mask...in front a promo poster for...Chuck? I thought that was cancelled!
Warner also had a full scale Watchmen night owl ship model to check out (although the Warner staff was yelling the whole time: "Take your photos and move on, people, keep it moving!").
Here's a line of people waiting to buy stuff from Viz Media so they could carry the Viz Media stuff around in their exclusive Comic-Con Viz Media tote bags.
And of course long lines for autographs...especially if you're in line behind a true believer who's brought his ENTIRE collection for signing:
There were also long lines to buy exclusive Mattel and Hasbro figures:
But Mattel and Hasbro always have fun stuff on display: like Mighty Muggs Ghost Rider:
Gwwwrrr! I'm Ghost Wider!
And this:
And a stoic Tony Stark who refused to be distracted by this reporter:
(No, this figure did not have an anotomically correct version of Robert Downey Jr inside...I asked)
And evidence of Comic-Con's delicious gay underbelly:
Mattel's "Paint the Bat" 2008 Grand Prize "The Groovy Knight"
And these 2008 Paint the Bat runner up's, including Chinese Opera Bat? Whuh?
Meanwhile, IFC pulled its usual trick of promising prizes if you were dumb enough to log in all your personal data and watch their trailers on a computer...like you could do at home without finding a hotel in San Diego:
How avante guarde and indie!
But true indie companies, like Anchor Bay, made up for dullsville IFC with stuff like this:
The creature from Monster Slayer!
And some company gave fans tattoo kisses to promote...I have no idea what. Pretty girls?
Gaming geeks are still king at Comic-con. This cool booth was selling gaming for kids.
I spent about 15 minutes trying to follow how the hell this game worked, but never got it. This little girl had no problem. She won.
Check out my snaps of crazy Comic-Con characters next!
First off, know that I'm not a very serious fan. More like a tourist. I'm lazy and I'm cheap, and the only thing that pisses me off more than crowds is having to stand in line for an hour just to sit through what pretty much amounts to a live action advertisement. Especially since I would probably run into those panelists eventually at Peete's in Santa Monica...plus then I'd have coffee.
A lot of the panels are great, actually, but this year I was too lazy to tackle them with much enthusiasm. Truth be told, I go to Comic-Con for the geeks (I'm a geek hag) and for items to add to my collection of "unnecessary action figures" that I like to talk to late at night while I'm writing.
But of course, I'm going to blog anyway. If you want to read a real blog with all the buzz on Comic-Con 2008, check out this Variety blog here.
Part One: How To Do Comic-Con If You're Lazy and Cheap
As usual, I start my penny-pinching with my free four-day pro pass that I guess I deserve about as much as half the people who get them. Next, I stay at Casa Darlene in Carlsbad. It's a 40 minute drive to downtown San Diego, but the place comes with a pool, jacuzzi, and free meals cooked by Darlene. And by the way, I met someone who said he tried to book a hotel a month before the event and the closest one he could find was twenty miles from the event, so if you're thinking about Comic-Con 2009, plan on booking early!
Next, I look for free parking. I got up pretty early this year, and got to downtown by 8:45. I usually have luck finding free, un-metered parking in the crack neighborhood south of downtown. I don't want to give away all my secrets, but you'll know you're in the right area when you start to see stuff like this:
I tried to curry favor with the locals by sharing some of the 99 Cent store power bars I was packing (99 Cent Store power bars: Cheap-o tip number four). But when "Tennessee" here realized I didn't have any cash, he suggested instead we go into the bushes to drink, fuck and smoke crack.
I said thanks but no thanks, but I did envy his travel mug. I can't believe I took Tennessee's picture and didn't even give him a dollar, now that I think about it! I really am cheap.
Don't be too scared by the crack zone. Nothing's ever happened to my car. And it's one block from this:
Downtown San Diego gets cuter every year. It looks like a Little Kiddles downtown (old enough for that reference?)
Especially with its Little Kiddles baseball stadium smack in the middle of it all:
It's kind of cute that they have a baseball stadium you can just stroll past
And they have this little whiffle ball field right next to it where dads can play with the kids! So cute!
But enough about San Diego. On to Comic-Con!
The Convention Center is about 15 blocks from Crack Central parking spot. This is the first thing I spied:
If you look closely, you can see a giant line of people running the length of the Convention Center. According to the youngster walking next to me, they were all in line for a seat at the "Watchmen" panel...starting an hour later. I was pretty happy to learn that this kid, who was meeting up with a friend who'd already been in line for an hour, didn't care at all about the actors on the panel. He didn't even know who was in the movie. He just wanted to see three minutes of Watchman footage a year before anyone else on his block. So Comic-Con might have gone Hollywood, but I took it as a good sign that the very first person I met was a true graphic novel fan.
These were the very awesome Terracotta Warriors Universal installed in the park facing the Convention Center to promote The Mummy 3. Good job Universal!
And just outside the Convention Center, every boy's fetish: Anime babes ready to whip you with a snap bracelet.
Finally! The Convention Center! Would you look at that? It's only 9AM and Friday! No more "slow days".
And things get no less crowded inside:
FIRST ENCOUNTERS:
Comic-Con chicks chillaxin' outside the Exhibition Hall. People who come to Comic-Con in character seem especially good at sitting around on the floor...they're pretty much the only attendees who do sit on the floor, and they always seem to be sitting on the floor...these ladies were already sitting on the floor and the doors had only been open 5 minutes:
Resident Evil scientist shoots up her Asian Street Style friend with an experimental drug:
The secret of Asian Street Style eye makeup: Whiteout
Comic-Con Cruising Tip: I asked the girls if Comic-Con chicks try to hook up with Comic-Con dudes who show up as their character's counterpart. Nope. They just go for the cutest boy.
First Stop: Overpriced Comic-Con Cash Only Coffee:
It's overpriced, but it comes with this:
Plus, while you're in line for coffee, you can take advantage of my first Comic-Con Tip for The Lazy: never bother to read the program. Just find the chick in line with a three-page, typed summary of her carefully chosen events and ask her what events for today are hot:
This girl was especially fantastic and organized: she'd just given blood and it was only 9:30!
Next stop: Help out distressed characters having costume malfunctions:
Poor Snake Eyes, once he'd got his gloves on he couldn't zip up his hoodie, and his buddy, Skeletor's foam hands weren't articulated. I helped Snake Eyes zip up his hoodie and clip on his machine gun. These guys were from the East Coast.
Skeletor was always ready for his close up:
But Snake Eyes proved to be pretty high maintenance for a stealth action figure.
Skeletor turned out to be none other than "Unemployed Skeletor", an online host for Spike TV.
Check out Unemployed Skeletor's coverage of Comic-Con at Spike TV here to see some of the movie stars I never got close enough to interview.
ON TO THE EXHIBITION FLOOR!
What's cuter than Robin? Lego Robin!
First Rule of Comic-Con: Prepare To Stand In Line! Here a Warner Brothers staffer herds people into a line for a free Star Wars mask:
A happy recipient wears his mask...in front a promo poster for...Chuck? I thought that was cancelled!
Warner also had a full scale Watchmen night owl ship model to check out (although the Warner staff was yelling the whole time: "Take your photos and move on, people, keep it moving!").
Here's a line of people waiting to buy stuff from Viz Media so they could carry the Viz Media stuff around in their exclusive Comic-Con Viz Media tote bags.
And of course long lines for autographs...especially if you're in line behind a true believer who's brought his ENTIRE collection for signing:
There were also long lines to buy exclusive Mattel and Hasbro figures:
But Mattel and Hasbro always have fun stuff on display: like Mighty Muggs Ghost Rider:
Gwwwrrr! I'm Ghost Wider!
And this:
And a stoic Tony Stark who refused to be distracted by this reporter:
(No, this figure did not have an anotomically correct version of Robert Downey Jr inside...I asked)
And evidence of Comic-Con's delicious gay underbelly:
Mattel's "Paint the Bat" 2008 Grand Prize "The Groovy Knight"
And these 2008 Paint the Bat runner up's, including Chinese Opera Bat? Whuh?
Meanwhile, IFC pulled its usual trick of promising prizes if you were dumb enough to log in all your personal data and watch their trailers on a computer...like you could do at home without finding a hotel in San Diego:
How avante guarde and indie!
But true indie companies, like Anchor Bay, made up for dullsville IFC with stuff like this:
The creature from Monster Slayer!
And some company gave fans tattoo kisses to promote...I have no idea what. Pretty girls?
Gaming geeks are still king at Comic-con. This cool booth was selling gaming for kids.
I spent about 15 minutes trying to follow how the hell this game worked, but never got it. This little girl had no problem. She won.
Check out my snaps of crazy Comic-Con characters next!
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