Comic Con - Friday
It is here that Mike's and my tales diverge. The memories slip through my fingers like droplets of rain! Let the recounting continue!
Friday, Friday... what did I do? When I first got to the Con, I wandered past the Oni booth and noticed a little line and immediately figured out that it was for Bryan Lee O'Malley. Perhaps you are familiar with my fondness for his work. Anyway, I got him to sign my Scott Pilgrim volumes, and he did a cool sketch of Kim Pine in Vol. 2. Really, it's fine that I didn't have my Vol. 1 with me, since Vol. 2's my favorite anyway.
As of Friday I opted to eat lunch alone because a) it allowed me to not be involved in the herding of a large group of people, thus not taking hours and hours for a simple meal, and b) there was stuff I wanted to see going on during lunch time. I feel it was the right call. I hate eating in a group.*
So I had an early lunch at Wendy's and then headed to the comics blogging panel, since I actually knew who most of the panelists were. It was pretty interesting, especially when the panelists would disagree over certain issues. The best was when Tom Spurgeon noted that blogging was not hard. At all. His job at the foundry was hard. I thought that was pretty awesome. I'd talk more about it, but I know that no one reading this gives a damn. Maybe Liz.
I tried to get into the Galactica panel, but there was a giant mob outside ballroom 20, and after several clautrophobic minutes I beat my way past the throng and retreated downstairs. Sorry to have missed it, but I was a bit panicked.
I opted then to hit up the Wildstorm panel since I knew Grant Morrison would be there, and I learned a bit about the new Wildstorm titles. I beat feet when the Q&A started. Nothing worse than comics Q&A.
After wandering the floor a bit, I headed back to the DC booth where I knew Morrison would be signing. Despite getting there early I was still near the back of the line that rapidly formed. The DC booth guys had apparently not anticipated the Morrison demand and the line for his signature snaked out into the con. The DC guys limited his signing to only two items, so I had him sign JLA #1 and Seven Soldiers #1, and hoped to catch him the next day. Lindsay and Mike were nice enough to wait in line with me for awhile, but they took off after a bit. I could hardly blame them. While in line I chatted with this couple in front of me. At one point the girl ran off towards a crowd in the middle of the DC booth and then came back saying "I got a picture of the guy they were all crowding around," and asked her boyfriend who it was. He said he had no idea so she checked with me. "Oh," I said, "That's Bryan Singer." Good ol' Comic Con.
After Morrison I met Frank in the massive line for Hall H and the Snakes on a Plane panel. Matt and Emory had headed in there sometime during mid-day, so they had decent seats, but only one saved seat. I gave it to Frank and found my own single seat a little farther in the back. The panel was all about New Line, so there was some stuff about Final Destination 3 (guys, Mary Elizabeth Winstead is damn cute) and the Tenacious D movie (they showed the opening rock opera sequence, and if that doesn't sell you on the movie, nothing will). The whole panel was hosted by Keenan Thompson, so that was cool. I was pretty impressed with the way they kept the panel moving, especially once the SoaP portion started. First they brought out the director, then the snake wrangler, then a bunch of snakes (one had to be held by five people), and then they showed a ten-minute clip from the movie. At the end of the clip the screens all went black and then from the darkness boomed "I want these motherfucking snakes OFF this motherfucking plane!" and the lights came up to reveal Samuel L. Jackson on stage. It was rad. Jackson was awesome. He was joking around and clearly having a great time. When one of the audience members asked if he thought the snakes deserved to die, Jackson took the bait and bellowed "Yes they deserved to die and I hope they burn in hell!" Pandering? Possibly. Awesome? Most definitely. Even if you were someone who was sick of the Snakes hoopla, I really can't imagine anyone not having a good time at this panel. Everyone was just so jazzed.
After the panel Emory, Matt, and I met up with Laurel and then went to dinner with Corinne and Aimee. We ate at O'Hungry's and I got a half-yard of beer, which is basically this long beaker that is one part awkward and two parts awesome to drinnk from. They made a good burger, too. It was a blast.
Afterwards we headed back to the hotel, bought some beer, and sat around kicking it. Finally Team Paul arrived to join us, having had their own wacky adventures. A nice evening, all told.
Next: Saturday! Drinking! Masquerade! For future reference, the Hyatt is where the party is!
Friday, Friday... what did I do? When I first got to the Con, I wandered past the Oni booth and noticed a little line and immediately figured out that it was for Bryan Lee O'Malley. Perhaps you are familiar with my fondness for his work. Anyway, I got him to sign my Scott Pilgrim volumes, and he did a cool sketch of Kim Pine in Vol. 2. Really, it's fine that I didn't have my Vol. 1 with me, since Vol. 2's my favorite anyway.
As of Friday I opted to eat lunch alone because a) it allowed me to not be involved in the herding of a large group of people, thus not taking hours and hours for a simple meal, and b) there was stuff I wanted to see going on during lunch time. I feel it was the right call. I hate eating in a group.*
So I had an early lunch at Wendy's and then headed to the comics blogging panel, since I actually knew who most of the panelists were. It was pretty interesting, especially when the panelists would disagree over certain issues. The best was when Tom Spurgeon noted that blogging was not hard. At all. His job at the foundry was hard. I thought that was pretty awesome. I'd talk more about it, but I know that no one reading this gives a damn. Maybe Liz.
I tried to get into the Galactica panel, but there was a giant mob outside ballroom 20, and after several clautrophobic minutes I beat my way past the throng and retreated downstairs. Sorry to have missed it, but I was a bit panicked.
I opted then to hit up the Wildstorm panel since I knew Grant Morrison would be there, and I learned a bit about the new Wildstorm titles. I beat feet when the Q&A started. Nothing worse than comics Q&A.
After wandering the floor a bit, I headed back to the DC booth where I knew Morrison would be signing. Despite getting there early I was still near the back of the line that rapidly formed. The DC booth guys had apparently not anticipated the Morrison demand and the line for his signature snaked out into the con. The DC guys limited his signing to only two items, so I had him sign JLA #1 and Seven Soldiers #1, and hoped to catch him the next day. Lindsay and Mike were nice enough to wait in line with me for awhile, but they took off after a bit. I could hardly blame them. While in line I chatted with this couple in front of me. At one point the girl ran off towards a crowd in the middle of the DC booth and then came back saying "I got a picture of the guy they were all crowding around," and asked her boyfriend who it was. He said he had no idea so she checked with me. "Oh," I said, "That's Bryan Singer." Good ol' Comic Con.
After Morrison I met Frank in the massive line for Hall H and the Snakes on a Plane panel. Matt and Emory had headed in there sometime during mid-day, so they had decent seats, but only one saved seat. I gave it to Frank and found my own single seat a little farther in the back. The panel was all about New Line, so there was some stuff about Final Destination 3 (guys, Mary Elizabeth Winstead is damn cute) and the Tenacious D movie (they showed the opening rock opera sequence, and if that doesn't sell you on the movie, nothing will). The whole panel was hosted by Keenan Thompson, so that was cool. I was pretty impressed with the way they kept the panel moving, especially once the SoaP portion started. First they brought out the director, then the snake wrangler, then a bunch of snakes (one had to be held by five people), and then they showed a ten-minute clip from the movie. At the end of the clip the screens all went black and then from the darkness boomed "I want these motherfucking snakes OFF this motherfucking plane!" and the lights came up to reveal Samuel L. Jackson on stage. It was rad. Jackson was awesome. He was joking around and clearly having a great time. When one of the audience members asked if he thought the snakes deserved to die, Jackson took the bait and bellowed "Yes they deserved to die and I hope they burn in hell!" Pandering? Possibly. Awesome? Most definitely. Even if you were someone who was sick of the Snakes hoopla, I really can't imagine anyone not having a good time at this panel. Everyone was just so jazzed.
After the panel Emory, Matt, and I met up with Laurel and then went to dinner with Corinne and Aimee. We ate at O'Hungry's and I got a half-yard of beer, which is basically this long beaker that is one part awkward and two parts awesome to drinnk from. They made a good burger, too. It was a blast.
Afterwards we headed back to the hotel, bought some beer, and sat around kicking it. Finally Team Paul arrived to join us, having had their own wacky adventures. A nice evening, all told.
Next: Saturday! Drinking! Masquerade! For future reference, the Hyatt is where the party is!
posted by Jeff at 4:24 PM
3 Comments:
I kind of love that Friday was our Empire Strikes Back, with both teams going off in their own directions, only to reunite at the end.
My tale will be told tomorrow.
Mike
It truly was the dark middle chapter. But, I think, ultimately the most satisfying.
My memory may be faulty, but I am almost positive that the line they actually played was "I have HAD it with these MOTHERFUCKING SNAKES on this MOTHERFUCKING PLANE." I remember noting that the line was not the exact "I want them off..." variant for which I had been hoping.
I also loved the moment of slight confusion before Jackson took the bait. He squinted up his brow and repeated, "Do I think they deserve to die?" Then you could see the burst of recollection as he got the joke, and launched right into the line.
That ranked right up there with watching Kristen Bell solve a mystery ... LIVE! I'm a sucker for watching actors actually think.
Were you going to provide a footnote for "I hate eating in a group."
"Were you going to provide a footnote for "I hate eating in a group.""
I was! Thanks. Mostly I just wanted to assure everyone that while I love their company, I am usually very opposed to huge, unwieldly groups going out to eat. Just strikes me as a bother that can be easily avoided.
I'm still signed in as The Atrox, apparently. But it's me.
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