Comic-Con Nerd Overload - Part 1

Vote Petrelli!, originally uploaded by kardinalsin.

Aaaaand, we're back!

Comic-con was unreal. Seriously unreal. Last year was pretty mild compared to the madness of this year. Waiting in line for two hours didn't compare to sitting in a convention hall for three. The blazing sun of the San Diego skyline didn't prepare us for the hour and forty-five minute wait in line just to see Paul Pope. The crowds were insane. The restaurants were full-up.

And I loved every minute of it.

Friday was more about comic books than anything else. First things first, I attempted to find Mark Ryden signing one of his new books on the con floor. After walking all the way down to the vinyl toy section and realizing we had gone too far, I realized that I needed to keep track of the artist locations much more carefully. Luckily, some of the artists were much easier to find. For instance, my first sketch at the con came from Ms. Becky Cloonan. I picked up the mini that her and her compatriots worked on, and chatted with her a bit. While I love her work, I have to love it even more for her graciousness and openness.

I also managed to catch Eric Canete right before lunch at the Black Velvet Studios booth, which was pretty cool. This was the first time (at this convention) that an artist was charging for a sketch. Well, the first time where I had been intending to buy something, but had to reconsider after asking for the sketch. Either way, I was more than willing to support him, he was relatively quiet as he worked on the sketch, but after chatting with him a bit, I realized that while he has a bit of publishing experience, he was unfamiliar with some of the current artists. He was pretty cool and talking with him and the writer of a series he's working on, I got the sense that his star is rising. Most definitely.

Speaking of the hour and forty-five minute wait, this is where Grace got a little testy. Paul Pope is one of the pre-eminent comic book artists of the modern era. Elusive as he is, the release of his Pulphope book from Adhouse was reason for promotion and celebration. Unfortunately, many other people felt the same way. Not being one to upset his fans, Paul spent a lot of time with each fan, even sketching for a small fee. It really tested Grace's patience to the point where she was in a sour enough mood that she had to leave for the rest of the day, which was really unfortunate. I left him with a copy of his book, a copy of THB, a print, and a smile.

The rest of it is kind of a blur. I popped through Artists' Alley, Vaguely scanned some of the toy booths, and attempted to grab a signature from Vasilis Lolos, even though I never saw him there. I did manage to catch a sketch and a word or two with Corey Lewis and Brandon Graham at the Oni Press table, which was cool. Rey showed me a sketch of a new character freshly designed for Sharknife 2 and Brandon regaled me with stories of his early days working in adult comics. Both guys were incredibly down to earth and really friendly. What surprised me the most is how much of a perfectionist Mr. Graham really is. Out of most of the artists I saw, he was the most liberal with his eraser.

As you can see, Friday was all about comics. Meeting most of these artists, getting sketches, and seeing the new work made me feel good about supporting the artists that I saw. Hopefully I'll be able to chat with them a bit more in the future, as SDCC really is a tough venue to get around and connect in.

Saturday was much, much more crazy.

More on this later.