Day: July 26, 2010

A much less frantic day than yesterday. I buzz over in the morning to the airport where I pick up a rental car for my trip up to Los Angeles. I used to fly into LA, rent a car, drive down and then back. I don’t know what I was thinking. The cost of parking the car alone is $200, plus I don’t do much driving during the course of the convention, so it’s a waste of money. This time I flew into San Diego and am flying out of LA (Burbank, actually) and so am just renting at the airport and dropping it off in Burbank. Simple.

My first panel is at 11 AM. It’s on “Halo.” I’m on it at the request of the “Halo” folks so I can talk about my “Halo” limited series, which I do. I have to say, working with the “Halo” folks was a pleasure. If there were things in my scripts that they didn’t like or didn’t think worked, they didn’t simply say, “No.” Instead they say, “Here’s why it doesn’t work, and here’s how you can fix it.” Incredibly knowledgeable and utterly on top of all aspects of their universe.

As I walk across the street, a short guy in sunglasses and a wool hat says, “Now is when I run into you?!”, pumps my hand, says it’s great to see me, and keeps going. It takes me a moment to process that it was Seth Green.

I have a signing at the Marvel booth at 1 PM. I run into old Internet friend Kathy Li, and she in turn is able to have me rendezvous with Maggie Thompson, who I have not managed to catch up with the entire weekend.

I cannot believe how many people in the course of the day tell me they thought I did a great job at “Quick Draw.” First of all, I thought I did a terrible job, and second, how many people were at the dámņëd thing, anyway?

The Pro/Fan Trivia contest is at 3 PM and I’ve agreed to MC. Yet again, Mark Waid–probably the strongest member of the Pro team–bails at the last second, leaving Kurt Busiek and Len Wein high and dry, with an audience member attempting to fill in for Waid. But Waid’s absence is sorely felt as the fans beat the pros in a match that (all parties agree) would have been handily won by the pros had Waid been there since a number of questions would have been in his wheelhouse. As for the questions themselves: ghastly. Incredibly picayune, not particularly entertaining. Good trivia has you going, “Oh, oh, I know this! I know this!” These just mostly drew confusion and blank stares, and not all the attempts at humor I generated could hide that. If the same person is writing the questions next year, they can get someone else to moderate.

I head out to LA, making my customary yearly stop at Disneyland. It’s the first time I’m able to wield my handy dandy Disney employee pass, so I get in free. I could go to California Adventure, where I’ve never been. But it’s no fun going somewhere new in Disney if I have no one to share it with, so I decide to wait until I can go with my family. I buy a new suitcase, which I’m gonna need in order to bring home all the sway I acquired at the convention.

PAD