Comic-Con 2006 (part 1)

Help Me, Obi-Wan
Originally uploaded by kardinalsin.

Comic-Con...

That fabled nerd mecca just south of us which is now dubbed the largest pop culture convention in America just finished up its five-day festival of the fantastic this past weekend. As a bona fide nerd myself, it was inevitable that I would make the trip down to San Diego to take it all in. There were not many surprises for myself, but there are ways in which I can learn to make the experience much better.

For all the interesting sights and amazing artists that were in attendance, the most awful aspect had to be the parking and registration experience. Thinking we'd be able to beat the crowds, I pre-registered online and pre-paid our fees knowing that the same business we completed last year was quite beneficial for our experience. What we saw this year was very different in the form of full parking lots and an hour wait in the sweltering heat and humidity. So many people were attempting to get into the convention halls that convention officials stopped allowing unregistered guests buy tickets after 12:30. It was a horrible start to the day and really affected my mood and patience, but not so much that I couldn't enjoy myself.

The highlights for me, of course, are always speaking with some of my favorite artists which this year included Bryan Lee O'Malley, Josh Middleton, JG Jones, Dustin Nguyen, and Frank Cho. I missed out on seeing some other ones I knew where in attendance, most of the Flight artists and the elusive and talented artist of DEMO, Becky Cloonan. It can be really tough for me to chat a bit with any of these artists, mostly because I have a hard time talking with new people anyway, but also for the reason that they tend to be very busy and often very stressed. I've been lucky, however, that most of them are also quite accomodating and appreciative of their fans. Scoring two small sketches from both Mr. O'Malley and Mr. Nguyen really helps too.