Tony's SDCC Coverage Day 1!

Comic-con Day 1:

So I finally arrived at the massive San Diego Comic Con. I then had to wait in a line for at least a half hour just to check in and get my ID badge. After this was about 30 minutes of more waiting around.

When you get your badge they also give you a massive jumbo bag (for hauling all of your goodies and also being completely in the way of everyone walking around you) as well as a guide for the entire weekend.

I used this time to figure out where things were and what I had to do. Wednesday night was "Preview Night". This means that the floor opened up at 6PM and only stayed open for a couple of hours.

This is a perfect time to familiarize yourself with the layout of the floor. I give myself a pretty strict schedule (yay OCD). After a while security kept shooing people around into the designated entrance lines. If you look around though...these lines are freaking huge. I did not want to wait in that so I continued walking around outside the convention floor. I could go upstairs and downstairs and find where everything is located as well as best entrances/exits depending on what panels I wanted to travel to. Also, it's great to be a sneaky bastard. I started seeing the HUGE line move so I opened a "exit only" door and jumped in with them. I noticed a crowd of people tried to follow my lead but security stopped them. I guess I'm too awesome to control.

This entrance was perfect! The very first thing I saw was the Oni Press booth. They had stacks upon stacks of Scott Pilgrim vol 06 and they were flying off the metaphorical shelves. I picked up an exclusive SDCC Scott Pilgrim t-shirt.
Next was the DC and Marvel booths which already had huge lines for the writer/artist signings and all the free stuff they are handing out. DC had a lot of great toys and collectibles and lots of free comics to give away. Marvel had the Odin throne from the upcoming film (EPIC!) as well as free posters and video packages of upcoming video games.

Next was the Image booth. I met up with David Mack (Kabuki/Daredevil) and he gave me an Akemi (from Kabuki) sketch. David Mack is one of the nicest guys I have ever met so I always make sure I spend a moment to chat and then give him some money haha. I then met Jason Howard and Ryan Ottley and less than a half hour into the convention, Ottley was booked up for the next few days. I did get a copy of Sea Bear/Grizzly Shark and they both signed it. I also saw Rob Liefeld. We met eyes and gave each other the nod. I then picked up an awesome Walking Dead t-shirt I've never seen before and I watched Blair Butler (G4) interview Robert Kirkman while I waited in line to pay.

I then made my way to Artist Alley, it seemed smaller than usual but a lot of great people were there. I talked with Shane Davis for a bit (Green Lantern) and he was an awesome and friendly guy. Most people were not set up though since it was only preview night.

I then went the opposite direction and saw all the massive booths set up for the big movie and television studios. There is way too much to even talk about. I saw awesome Harry Potter props and even the Abin Sur dead body that will be in the Green Lantern movie! Holy crap!

I met and talked with a bunch of people including Brian Bendis who is always the man. I also played Iron Man 2 pinball which is great. I really want it for the store.

Anyway, that was only Preview Night and I am exhausted. Luckily there is nothing too early tomorrow so I can sleep in, but tomorrow brings Walking Dead and Scott Pilgrim panels as well as a lot of standing around in lines reading comics!

-tony

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