Current mood:	good
Current music:	spoon - "me and the bean"

Jedi Knights With Thick Glasses.


I drove to Hazard Center and then bought a ticket to get on the trolley. The first year I went with Anne, we drove there separately and still eeked out two spaces. Stupid kids. When we went the next year, I ended up parking 6 blocks away (possibly even further away than that) and I wasn't totally convinced that it was okay to park where I did, so I was worried about that all damn day. So, finally, I started taking the trolley. It stops right outside of the building, I don't know what took me so long. While we're talking about this sort of thing, this was the first year that I pre-registered. It was cheaper and I didn't have to wait in line. What took me so long?!

The first thing I did when I got there was check-in. I was too late for The Simpsons panel. I called Sierra a couple of times and eventually she called me (it was so loud in there, loud and hot) back and I went to her booth.

I chose a hat and she gave it to me, and I bought a comic book. I love comic books! We talked for a bit, and I tried to teach her the one crochet stitch I know. Then I said, "Smell ya later!" and I went shopping.
Not too much shopping... I knew what I wanted, and honestly, it was too crowded for me to really get into it. I hadn't been since 2001, and in the years that I missed, the convention has grown so much. I made my first stop at the Drawn and Quarterly table. There was (gasp!) a new issue of Sof' Boy out, and I picked it up along with a copy of 32 Stories to replace the one I'd lost. Adrian Tomine was there signing stuff, and while I was buying my comics, this guy was kinda reaming him about the controversy surrounding the quality of issue 9. I was giggling at the whole thing, happy that someone was saying something but still sort of embarrassed for Adrian (even though I don't like #9 one bit). I considered having him sign my copy of 32 Stories, but I didn't want to wait in the line, and I always feel so awkward asking for people to sign stuff, even though that's what they are there to do. I would be too wimpy to ask for a drawing too. I don't know why... Just another manifestation of my social retardation.
I paid and then went to the Top Shelf booth to look around. And there was James Kochalka. I was a little taken aback by the state of his hairline. Last time I saw him, two years prior, it wasn't like that. Of course, since I like baldies, this development only made me love him more. I looked at what he was selling, the other stuff on the table. There was a bit of a crowd around him, so I went to the Fantagraphics table and bought the new Eightball and, finally, David Boring. I saw about 50 other things I wanted (The first volume of the complete Peanuts, especially), but I exercised restraint and just got the Daniel Clowes stuff.
Back to Top Shelf, where the crowd had dissipated. I picked up the big book of James Kochalka's Sketchbook Diaries, and even though I knew I'd be overlapping some smaller versions of it that I already have, I picked it up. He said, "Hello!" and I quietly reciprocated. A girl walked up and asked him if he had any shirts, and he said, "No not for sale here, but [insert him rummaging underneath the table for a minute or two, finally producing a pink shirt wrapped in plastic] if you go to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund booth over there, they have this [insert him holding up the shirt] there. She thanked him and left. He saw me holding up the book and a CD, and he said, "Oooh, let me do a drawing for you." So I did.

And he did.
And that was so much easier than asking him to do it, ha.

Then I walked around for a bit.


I met up with Sierra at her booth and asked, "Wanna get lunch?" and she did, so we took off. On the way, we saw two Ghostbusters!

I tried to sneak in with someone getting a picture of them with Indiana Jones and, I think, Link, but those two took off and I just got them. Their proton packs were impressive!
And then Sierra saw an Ugly Doll and proceeded to make it pretty!


Convention food is so embarrassing. You have to wait in a line just to buy nasty, overpriced shit. And there is hardly a way around it.

This cost $13.50. I ate maybe half of the salad and I still haven't touched the muffin. Also, I forgot to get a fork, so I ate the overpriced salad with my fingers. The croutons were soggy and stale. Boo.
Some dorks were jousting on the veranda below us, and sometimes they would get really loud, and people would stand up and look over the edge of the balcony, and it looked funny, to see everyone pop up at the promise of geek violence. Sierra and I sat in a nice quiet corner outside, in the fresh air, before it got too hot. It was a nice reprieve from the sweltering main floor. I didn't even mention yet that she got to meet Patton Oswalt! She spotted Brian Posehn first, heh. But! Patton Oswalt! I am so very jealous. Not only did she meet him, she gave him a hat. What a jerk.
Then it was time to go back. We parted ways and I went to the Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow panel in the big hall. I caught the last twenty minutes of the panel for Sin City and I got to see Jessica Alba, Frank Miller, Rosario Dawson, Robert Rodriguez, and James King talk about something I've never heard of. I mostly read my comics and enjoyed the air conditioning.
Then it was announced that the next panel was to be for a movie called Team America, which I hadn't even heard of. I kept reading while they set the thing up and kept warning people not to videotape the exclusive film clips that we were about to see.
Team America is a movie done in the style of Thunderbirds (which, incidentally, is also being brought to the big screen, but for some stupid reason, it's live action). Anyway, the title characters are heroes who pursue terrorists. Some scenes involving Osama Bin Laden bombing Paris and Kim Jong Il murdering Hans Blix were shown. It looks like a winner, I must say. I have thus far neglected to mention that the movie is being made by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. They answered a few questions and then skedaddled.
Then it was time for the Sky Captain panel, and oh, how the ladies screamed for Jude Law.

I can't blame them. And by "them" I mean "us."
Giovanni Ribisi was there too, but he looked like a turtle in comparison. Sure, Jude had a bit of a sunburn, but he is my mantasy. Mmm!
The clips from the movie were really pretty. The story seems innocuous... I'll see the movie just to look at it, you know? And I'm not talking about the hot sex in the movie, I'm talking about the art direction.

Things were running late, and I had to take off to get to the Adrian Tomine panel. It was, of course, at the opposite end of the convention center. I should mention that the rule for the big hall is: Once You Leave You Have To Get In Line To Get Back In So Don't Leave Unless You Really Mean It. The line to get in was down the block. Were they there for Jude? For what was next? I really don't know. Anyway, I made it to the designated Tomine room just in time, and I got a great seat. There were a lot of good haircuts and tight pants in that room. I am happy to say that I was a member of the first group, huzzah! Finally!
The panel was moderated by Andy Greenwald, who is resposible for a book entitled Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers, and Emo. I secretly want to read that, but still.
When he was introduced, and the completely clueless Comic-Con lady said the title of his book, I laughed. And it was a tiny room, since Adrian Tomine is not, say, Stan Lee. And my laugh echoed, and I felt like an asshole. But come the fuck on! A guy who wrote a book with THAT title moderating an Adrian Tomine panel?! It really was too much.
So he asked questions, and then opened it up to us, and people asked different things, nothing I even remember.

No one reamed him about Optic Nerve #9 like the guy at the booth. I worked up the courage to ask a question, which was:
Will there be a translation of the foreign dialogue that was in issue 9?
(Adding in my head, "I can't remember WHAT language it was, seeing as how the entire issue was forgettable!)
He smiled and answered, "No." He chuckled. "I mean, you can tell from the pantomime what's going on."
I asked, "What language was it in? I read it a while ago and I don't really remember."
He laughed (which annoyed me... he, of all people should have an idea of how hard it was to even work up the nerve to ask him a goddamn question) and said, "It's in Korean. And the key to the entire story is hidden in that dialogue," all sarcastic-like. And then there was laughter. I guess I'd laugh too if it weren't me. I know that I laughed at the stupid questions people had asked downstairs. But I think it was a legitimate question. Maybe I'm blowing it out of proportion. But it pissed me off enough that I took a pictured of him using my flash, which I usually don't do.
The hour that his panel lasted flew by quite quickly. I walked around the corner to take a peek at the line to get into the Adult Swim panel, and I left. I'd texted Sierra to let her know that I probably wouldn't go to it cos I was so tired, and she replied that she probably wasn't going either, so I headed home.


I joined the sea of people crossing the street, and I got on my trolley. I saw a huge robot that was promoting Sky Captain.

The ride back was quiet, punctuated by me laughing at the book I was reading. I was really hungry, so I stopped at Roberto's and got a burrito. The car in front of me had the most obscene "Naughty Calvin" sticker I've seen yet.

I can't say that I blame him for farting on the Chargers, but I don't understand why anyone would put that on his or her car.

So. The Comic-Con was wonderful. I can't wait until next year ;)