San Diego, Day -1

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

Tonight is what’s called the “Preview” night at San Diego, a term that I really don’t understand. Everything is set up and ready to go; basically it’s just an additional day that starts at about 5:30. Every year I get pìššëd øff when the PA voice booms, “The dealers room will be opening momentarily,” and I shout, “No! If it were opening momentarily, it would then close up again the next moment. You mean it will be opening in a few moments.” But they never change it.

Walked around the dealers room, scored some neat items that I’m not going to write about because they’re surprises for my family. I sat at the Marvel booth for a while, signing–I swear to God–Peter David trading cards that will be given away tomorrow. Finally, I have my own trading card. All I need now is my own action figure. The Marvel booth has built a replica of Odin’s chair in the “Thor” movie. It looks freaking amazing. I have some shots of me sitting in it that I’ll post eventually.

A big hit item around the convention are Galactus hats being given out at Hasbro. Sure, they’re cardboard, but they’ll cool. Plus I find myself slipping into doing Elrod schtick from “Cerebus.” You know: “The reason ah know I’m right, son, is ah have a pointy hat! You can argue with me, but ya can’t argue with a pointy hat!”

I walk the dealer’s room until about 8 PM and then I feel my right knee starting to give out (since the surgery, something different hurts every day. Never the same thing. Today it’s the knee). I promised myself I wouldn’t push myself during the convention, and this seems the right time to stick to that. I bail, head back to the hotel, sitting in the hot tub for a while to ease the throbbing, then head back to my room and work. I have enough things in the hopper for the rest of the evenings that I can afford to take it easy tonight.

PAD

25 comments on “San Diego, Day -1”

  1. I should get a Peter David trading card. Do you think they’ll go way up in value in a few years?

      1. How might your international fans get the opportunity to acquire one of these highly desirable collectibles? (Without, y’know, paying through the nose for a same-day airfare.) D’oh! I guess it’s ebay again….

  2. “Momentarily” means both “for a moment” and “in a moment,” so the PA voice is correct.

    1. No, it just means “for a moment.” “Presently” means “in a moment.”

    2. I was about to say that, but then I realized that my source was Aaron Sorkin.

      1. If you follow that link and scroll down Dictionary.com has a disclaimer that reads: Usage Note : Momentarily is widely used in speech to mean “in a moment,” as in The manager is on another line, but she’ll be with you momentarily. This usage rarely leads to ambiguity since the intended sense can usually be determined on the basis of the tense of the verb and the context. Nonetheless, many critics hold that the adverb should be reserved for the senses “for a moment,” and the extended usage is unacceptable to 59 percent of the Usage Panel.

      2. Well, it’s also defined as “in a moment” (sans any disclaimer) in my regular old Webster’s dictionary, and that’s good enough for me.

  3. “A big hit item around the convention are Galactus hats being given out at Hasbro.”
    .
    Are those hats missing the right bar (or whatever it’s called)? I’ve seen other pics now of people wearing those hats, and none of them have the right bar.

    1. One of the sad things about WizKids going under and then returning in scaled-back form is that conventions like this no longer have their giant (for the game) HeroClix figures. Their first one was Galactus, then was an even BIGGER Spectre, and the final one was Starro the Conquerer. (The latter came with four JLA members with starfish attached to their faces.) These figures were, I believe, a little over a foot high; this became WAY more impressive when you consider that most HeroClix figures were about an inch high.

      1. James,

        This year WizKids (NECA) had a giant Dr. Manhattan exclusive figure at SDCC. It will also be available at GenCon.

        I’ve heard that a different paint version will be available in stores sometime later.

        Angus

      1. Weird. I guess it must be a coincidence with how people are standing when wearing the hat in the photos I’ve seen then. 🙂

  5. (This is enormously off-topic.)

    Ohhhhh, Mr. David … I just read the new X-Factor. I have new knots in my shoulders. They will be there until next month. I want to shake Shatterstar! Curse you for being such an awesome writer that you get me emotionally involved with your characters! I know it’s a rough road for them, but … Do you think Rictor and Shatterstar could get to be happy and sort-of functional for just a little while, sometime soon? Pretty please? I’ve been rooting for them since the beginning, way back in X-Force! This particular soft spot goes back to a time before I could even drive, and now I’m a mother of 2 with a minivan, life insurance and a retirement plan! Surely they deserve a little break. Surely WE (pointing to all other similar fans) deserve a few warm fuzzies. I know, they’re mutants (sort of), it’s like asking for a happy Irish story. Or for a dog not to die in a young adult book. But … wouldn’t it be grand? Pretty please with sugar on top? Or Splenda, or Godiva chocolate liquor, or whatever. I’ll knit you something. Gloves with no finger tips so you can write in them. Or a hat. I make nice hats. Out of hand dyed merino wool yarn, handspun on an antique spinning wheel, from a sheep named Annabelle. (Not kidding, actually.)

    This has been a blatant, unapologetic plea. If we shadows have offended, think but this and all is mended: I’m gonna buy your books anyway.

  6. The Galactus helmets have to be cardboard. If they were anything heavier, you’d need a neck brace just to hold your head upright… 😀

  8. Hey, Peter! Been a long-time fan of your written “stuff.” I’ve read everything from “The Death of Jean DeWolff” to “Star Trek: New Frontier.” So I’m only able to attend Comic-Con on Friday. I see you’re having a Coheed & Cambria signing that day. Would it be okay to have you sign my X-Factor #87, also? I don’t want to break any rules or annoy you, which is why I’m asking first. Anyhoo, thanks for giving me years and years of reading entertainment. I’m quite possibly your biggest fan -but not in an Annie Wilkes “I’ll kidnap you and chop off your feet” Misery kind of way. …Uh, yeah.

  9. I cannot tell you how much I would like to see pictures of the Galactus hat. Preferably with you in it.

  10. Hope you continue to feel better, Peter.
    .
    Regarding the “momentarily” matter, I sympathize with your frustration at seeing such poor language skills by professionals, but at the same time, I wonder where the line is between incorrect use of language, and the natural evolution of it. Dictionary.com, the dictionary in Microsoft Word and The American Heritage Dictionary (which you’ve relied on yourself) all indicate that the word can mean both what you said and what the PA announcer indicated, though your definition was the first one in all three cases. But I’ve also heard the assertion that dictionaries do not give definitions, but usages. I’m not sure where this assertion comes from, how it’s so, or where, if anywhere, definitions can come from or be documented. But if valid reference sources support that PA guy, does that reflect his/her use of it?
    .
    Me, I’m far more pìššëd øff by people’s inability to write or use apostrophes, contractions and possessives correctly. I mean, it’s that even more basic than the subtleties of the word “momentarily”? Why is it so hard to know that “it’s” is a verbal contraction of “it is”, and “its” is a possessive? I mean, there’s a friggin barbershop a couple of blocks from my house called The Player’s. The Player’s what, you ask? Nothing. Just “The Player’s”. You’d think the idiot retard who owns that joint would’ve made sure that his use of an apostrophe was correct, at least perhaps by consulting with someone who was well-versed in stuff like English, spelling, grammar, etc. But no, we can’t have that. And I see examples like that all over the place.

  11. Oh, I want one of your trading cards. I have one of Harlan’s, and they’d make a great set.

    1. I put my Peter David card right next to my Chris Claremont and J. Michael Straczynski cards and now I can’t tell which one is which.

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