Month: July 2010

Pushing the outer limits of my stamina. Pain is well within the manageable level, but my endurance is not what it was. Keep trying to pace myself; handle the convention as a series of short sprints rather than a marathon.

Kicked off the day with a panel on the X-Men universe. A brief presentation is made of upcoming plans for the X-books and we field an assortment of questions. Nightcrawler’s fate seems to be of primary concern to the audience. It’s understandable. However when asked why such a move was made with the foreknowledge that it would probably make the fans irate, one panelist deadpans, “We don’t care about the fans.” It gets a huge laugh, as it was intended to, but it won’t surprise me if it gets reported somewhere as being a flat and serious assertion.

Another signing at the BOOM! table with Claudio Sanchez of Coheed & Cambria. The line remains steady and consistent for the entire hour. Buy some neat stuff at the WETA booth. For the first time in a long while, I actually leave the convention during the afternoon. Run some errands, do some shopping. Kathleen and Ariel love watching ‘Project Runway” and a sixth season contestant, Gordana, has a store nearby. Buy some stuff there for Ariel (nothing really there right for Kathleen.)

Heavy party night: First the Marvel party, followed by a part on a yacht held by William Morris to which I’ve been invited. Run into a variety of creators there, including Dwayne McDuffie and Glen Murakami of Ben 10, Rich Johnston of Bleeding Cool, Marv and Noel Wolfman of, well, Marv and Noel Wolfman; Michael Uslan and son David, and I’m sure many others I just didn’t spot.

Don’t get back to hotel until 12:30. Need to get some sleep.

PAD

Easing into the convention. Spent most of the morning at the CBLDF board meeting. Ran into Len Wein in the lobby and helped him score a “Human Target” bag (there are about eleven different giveaway bags people receive at the convention) since Len created the character. Had an autographing at the Marvel booth that went well, followed by another autographing at the Boom table with Claudio Sanchez and the artists for his various comic titles.

As always, getting from one end of the convention hall to the next is an exercise in staying focused and not banging into people.

The IDW panel on transforming movies into comics went well, I thought. However the lengthy walk from room 9 to room 30, where the panel on Mythology in comics was being held, convinced me that attending the comic writing panel on Saturday would be futile; by the time I was introduced I’d have to leave in order to get to the “Epic Mickey” panel in time. So I reluctantly tell Andy Schmidt that I won’t be able to make it. He understands; we had no idea there would be that vast a distance between the two.

Run into Richard Hatch, who invites me to a gathering that’s being held by Rochester Electronics to promote “Captain Rochester” (google it and read up on it) and thank the various artists who had worked on a Captain Rochester card set. Reconnect with voice artist Tom Kenney, who was kind enough to call Caroline last year as Spongebob and pretty much raise her entire childhood to a whole new level. Chat with Neal Adams about a proposed project of his (I think it would be inappropriate to go into detail.) Mark Evanier, Sergio Aragones, retailer Bill Cole, a host of others are there. From there I head to the CBLDF bash over at the Westgate. Very well attended, which is nice to see.

Come back to my hotel and collapse. My knees are fine, but my stamina still isn’t where it needs to be.

PAD

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

To some degree, I know this is an exercise in futility. One of my ten rules of San Diego is that a pro can post his schedule on his website; he can have his signing schedule up in lights at the Marvel Booth; he could take out an ad in the program book. And STILL people are going to say, “Where the hëll was (fill in the name)?! I couldn’t find him anyway!”

Nevertheless, hope–but not common sense–springs eternal, and so in that spirit, here’s my schedule for the con:

THURSDAY

1:00-2:00 ……..Marvel Booth signing, Booth 2329
3:00-4:00…….. Coheed & Cambria signing, Booth 2743
4:00-5:00 …….. Movies into Comics with IDW, Room 9
5:30-6:30…….. Creating The New Mythology, Room 30CDE

FRIDAY

10:00-11:00…..Marvel: X-Men, 10:00 – 11:00 AM, Room 6DE
4:00 – 5:00……..Coheed & Cambria signing, Booth 2743

SATURDAY

11:00 – 12:00….Coheed & Cambria signing, Booth 2743
12:00-1:00……..Marvel signing, booth 2329
2:30-3:30……….Words to pictures (novels into comics) Room 5AB (IDW)
4:30 – 5:30………Disney’s Epic Mickey, Room 9

(UPDATE) I will not be on the 4 PM Writing for Comics panel. The distance between the two rooms is simply too great to make my attending it reasonable, and I had committed to the Epic Mickey panel first.)

SUNDAY

11:00-12:00…..Halo Universe Panel, Room 32AB
1:00 – 2:00……. Marvel Booth signing, Booth 2329
300-4:30………Moderator, Pro/Fan trivia, Room 4

Including a stop at San Diego.

I figured I would do another installment of ASK THE WIFE AND DAUGHTERS

So you can ask us questions but, like last time, I am limited the topic to conventions and Disney theme parks.

So ask away.