I loooooove Comic-con. I go every year. It’s my favorite thing about living in San Diego. It makes up for any bad things life may bring. Since this post is late, I won’t go into all that and just bring you a few highlights. The ones I remember, at least.

This year it was so crowded, that they sold out. Or maybe they actually had a limit this year, because the fire marshal threatened to shut it down last year. In any case, that was the most crowded preview night I’ve ever witnessed.

This is me getting Neil Gaiman’s autograph. He’s calling for the guy who went before me to come back because the co-author for the book he had was there.

 

Every year he was there, I wanted to get his autograph but I was always too chicken to do it. Too shy. This year was different. After he signed the autograph, I was over the moon. I was floating on clouds. I was smiling a little too much and if you know me, you’d find that suspicious.

Besides getting autographs and generally wandering around, this year, I was on the lookout for Ollie’s stuff. (since he couldn’t make it this year) One of them was the Transformers Alternators Ford GT Rodimus from the Hasbro toyshop.

Cute, huh? I should’ve gotten one for myself.

Ollie also wanted me to say hi to some people for him, Jefferey Scott, Alberto Ruiz, and some guy who’s his best friend named Bobby. I didn’t see any of them. I saw their booths, but no one was there…

Also picked up a couple of Adam Hughes sketchbooks for him. I like going on errands for people at comic-con because it gives me a different perspective on the whole thing. I’m just a wandering person who is generally in awe of everything when I’m there. But when I’m given a mission, it focuses me on great things I would normally miss.

On Saturday, I ran into Matt, who I haven’t seen since high school…which was a pretty long time ago. He and his friend, LeRoid were there doing a documentary called American Komikeros, which is about Filipino comic book artists in American comics. They very kindly let me tag along with them while they were doing their interviews. This opened up yet another horizon in my comic-con experience. It was an honor to meet them and the artists they interviewed. I was in complete awe. And I learned a little about some of the artists.

Here’s Matt (with camera and Power Rangers headphones) and LeRoid (who is interviewing Leinil Francis Yu.).

This kind of got me thinking about my dad. I was looking at some of the art done by Alex Nino and there was something in the subtleties that reminded me of my dad’s drawings. I don’t think he would draw in the same style because I think my dad is a bit more conventional, but it was something about the lines…He once told me that he always wanted to be an artist, but didn’t because my grandfather wouldn’t let him. I guess it’s kind of a Filipino thing to give up those kinds of dreams in exchange for something practical. Maybe he kind of bought into that too…or else he would have fought for it. I would’ve fought for it if I inherited that talent. But no, my sister did. Hey you Joanne, you should use this talent. It’s a karmic challenge!

ANYWAY. Back to the con. I wanted a picture of Jabba the Hut. So I took it, then found out that Ray Bradbury was in my picture!!!! What a weird accident. And Ray Bradbury is NOT dead. I cannot emphasize this enough to those of you who continue to insist this. I have the picture to prove it.

The accidental Ray Bradbury photograph, feat. Jabba the Hut.

I hung out with Matt for a while when they were taking a break from their interviews. This girl comes up to us and asks to take a picture for her blog. I’m thinking, “Umm. I am not in costume, I just look like a monster. ” She went on to explain that she wanted the picture as proof that normal people DO go to Comic-con. Ha wonder what the caption said…”Comic-con! It’s not for geeks anymore!” Matt took offense at being called normal and went on about it after she left. She was supposed to send Matt the link to her blog, but apparently she never did. I tried to look it up–her name is Dina, or Deena or Deana or something–couldn’t find her blog. Good thing before she walked away I asked to take a picture of her for MY blog. And here she is, the girl who thought me and Matt were normal.

If anyone knows the whereabouts of this girl or the URL to her blog, please tell me. For all I know, she could’ve captioned my picture “Jabba the Hut”

Okay. I think I’m all caught up with my Comic-con post. Next time, I will post about the Qigong seminar I attended a few days ago. That experience just KICKED ASS. Thanks.