Time for Comic-con again! this year, Doug wanted to come too. After going through hell trying to get myself registered and only being able to get three single days (Thursday, Friday and Sunday) my husband, who is not NEARLY as much a fan of all this stuff as I am, got a four day registration plus exhibit night (the night before the convention actually opens) for FREE. Just because he's a genre writer. Was I bitter? Oh no... I told him all about it, describing the sheer mind-stomping HUGENESS of this convention, and sending him web pages of advice on how to survive and have fun (all of which agreed with my observations, since I am Ms. Organized Sensible Traveler!) and he read them...but nothing could prepare him for it, one simply has to experience it. So here is the tally of our adventures, with trenchant comments by Mr. Rees (Doug Sez) and also the Official Comic-con Description of all this stuff we did. We flew into San Diego on Wednesday July 20, and planned to take a bus and the trolley to our motel in Chula Vista.
Wednesday
		The first sign of the apocalypse: all three cats on the same couch sleeping peacefully.
And we leave the adorable kitties behind and fly to San Diego.
	At the airport. Love my iPad.	This blue heron was painted on the walkway outside the airport. DOUG SEZ: The flight was ompletely uneventful, thank God.	My sherpa.
The Santa Fe depot, where we change to the Blue Line trolley.	Yup, he's still got the luggage...one of these bags is empty, by the way. Lesson learned: take an extra bag for all the stuff you'll come home with, and fly Southwest because they check two bags for free.	Here comes our trolley! all the cars are orange, even on the blue and green line. They all look exactly alike...this will become inportant on Thursday night... DOUG SEZ: San Diego trolleys are cute. They don't so much run as saunter.	Oddly Specific...
			Mark London Williams is a writer friend of Doug's who has become part of the family. He has two sons, Eli and Asher, one or the other of whom he brings to Comic-con every year, and they all usually take the second of the motel rooms that I reserve a year ahead of time. This time, both sons were coming, and on Wednesday night Mark was letting a couple of friends stay with him- Patrick and Emon. Emon is a young artist, and Patrick and Mark wanted him to see the possibilities of portfolio review at Comic-con (and have a good time, but that goes without saying.) So Mark, Patrick and Emon drove down from LA Wednesday afternoon, arriving around 5 pm.
Another sign of the apocalypse: Douglas is eating A MCDONALDS HAMBURGER. Photographic evidence. DOUG SEZ: McDonald's food is no better than it ever was.	My powersquid, which is my BFF now. It's a 5 outlet power strip and is wonderful when you are in a motel room with two cell phones, a computer, an ipad and a camera, all of which must be charged every night. I have had it with trying to find enough outlets and pulling furniture away from the wall and forgetting to pick up half my electronics. This is THE best invention for travelers.	We actually got in really early and waited a couple of hours for Mark London Williams and his buddies, who had the room beside us.
	We went to dinner at a Syfy cafe that they turn into Cafe Diem for the convention; it's close to the Convention Center (CC from here on out) and the food is good. I had remembered that it was pricey, but not THIS pricey; sixteen bucks for a hamburger? we'll eat somewhere else next time. DOUG SEZ: Cafe Diem. Sort of like the Mos Eisley cantina without the grunge.
And the giant blue smurf welcomes us to Comic-con!		Emon has brought a vest he made from duct tape.	And the back of the awesome vest!
	So we had dinner, and it was fun. Then the four guys, ALL OF WHOM COULD GET INTO PREVIEW NIGHT, left to go to the convention center. Me? I walked up and back down 5th street, sat in a cafe and did some internets, then went back to the motel and picked up a bunch o' alcohol for when they got back. Truthfully, I was glad they took Doug, since I couldn't...it was his first introduction to the craziness that is Comic-con, and a good one- the exhibits are loud, crowded and full of stuff happening, on three football fields of little booths. DOUG SEZ: The exhibits are an overwhelming concatenation of various portals of artistic appreciation (he means there was lots of stuff...) The farther you get from the big stuff the more interesting it gets. The best was the whole alley of indie comics publishers, where I scored the first issue of a comic revealing to the world for the first time that Jesse James was a member of the order of the Knights Templar. Who knew? I clung desperately throughout the night (2 hours, actually, sez Jo) to my friend Mark, who had had been there before, from a well-founded fear that if we became separated I would simply wander around the exhibits until Sunday afternoon, be packed up with the rest of the detritus and never see my wife again.
	They got back around 10:30 pm. Here is Emon, trapped in our motel room.		Patrick, Doug and Mark. We compared notes for the next day, and pretty much didn't have anything in common to see. After much talk and some imbibing, they left and I packed my bag for the next day.
And why, you might ask, did I have to pack a bag to go to the CC? For many reasons: We're going to be there all day Food is expensive (so is water, and NOBODY should be drinking the actual San Diego water...) There isn't time to eat (seriously) The lines for food are long The lines for EVERYTHING are long, books are a MUST. Getting back to the motel takes 40 minutes each way, if you catch the trolleys just right...once we left, we were out for the day and evening. So what does one take to Comic-con? The official schedule (half an inch thick) Snacks- cheese and crackers, nuts, an apple, something sweet, a couple of bottles of water My ipad (duh) A book, which unfortunately was A THOUSAND PAGES LONG. Sigh. I dragged that sucker all over San Diego. Clothes to change into on the night we went to the theater Pens and a little notebook My ipod and earphones My camera and extra batteries (charged on the squid, woo hoo!) My cell phone Kleenex And probably a few more sundries. I have a canvas shoulder bag that goes EVERYWHERE with me and holds a lot of stuff. Very handy.
Thursday The plan for Thursday: I would leave the motel early to pick up my badges for the three days I was registered for (Doug got his the night before.) I'd also get in the line (which we expected to be kind of long) for pre-registration for next year, so I wouldn't have to go through the hell that is now Comic-con Registration. I had promised a friend from work to pre-register her and her daughter if I could as well. Doug and I had gone through the program schedule (four hundred panels in four days, wow!) and picked out a few each day we wanted to see. On Thursday, we had no other plans outside of the convention, and the stuff I wanted to see went from noon to 9:15 pm.
	The convention center! Now, you can't see it in this pic, but there is a line three people wide going all the way across this building to the next one- that's badge pickup. I followed the line backwards to find the end, found it, got in line, got into the CC, got my three badges, and that all took about ten minutes. Not bad.
Then I tried to find the line for next year's preregistration- it was through the hotel lobby two hotels away, out back and wrapped around about 1/4 mile of real estate. I'm not joking. I got in what I was TOLD was the pre-reg line, and that's when I found out it was the huge BADGE PICKUP line...which I had inadvertantly jumped, thinking I was at the end of it when I must have just come to a big space in the line. Ah well. But the pre-reg line was HUGE. And I heard horror stories about it all weekend, it was one of the hot discussion topics. Comic-con has 140,000 attendees every day. This year, they were selling 2400 badges per day for next year. They sold out so fast the first day that people were spending the night to get one first thing in the morning. There are limits on the annoyance I will put myself through, and standing in line for anything for more than an hour is not for me. So I got out of the line and went to the room where I wanted to see a panel at noon. But wait! I hear you say. You are getting in line at 9 am for a panel at noon? Doesn't that violate your 'never stand in line for more than an hour' rule? No, it doesn't, for two reasons: I only stood in line for half an hour or so, then they let us into the (2500 seat) room. So I had somewhere to sit, food and drink, a book and my ipad. And struck up conversations with interesting and nice people around me. Totally fun. Although the panel I was there for didn't start til noon, there was another one scheduled at 10:45, and Doug (who joined me around 10 am) and I sat through it, and enjoyed it very much. DOUG SEZ: Breakfast Thursday morning was very pleasant. Patrick drove us in his Toyota Land Cruiser Fluffy, and we parted company once we reached the Convention Center- Patrick and Emon to do graphic things, Mark to his own devices and I to meet up with Jo.
	At 9 am, the line was not very long at all! They let us in around 9:30.		The woman in gold (dressed as a Bene Gesserit) and I talked some- she is from New Zealand. I like this pic because the woman in red is wearing keds! way to be comfy in your costume!
And now: a word about pictures. I have a decent camera, a Lumix, that I like very much...but pics are hard at Comic-con. Firstly, every room has different awful fluorescent lighting, and it's hard to get the right settings. Secondly, I'm sometimes so far from the people I'm taking pictures of that I just hold my camera up at arm's length and take what I can. Thirdly, unlike many others, I try not to use my flash; not only is it useless in a huge room where I'm far back, but it's annoying to people around me and blinding to the panelists. And fourthly, a lot of times there is no time to take a perfect picture, like when I'm walking through the exhibits- I just have to whip out my camera and click. So these are not the greatest pics in the world...but they are very representative of Comic-con.
And it's time for the panel to start! OFFICIAL COMIC-CON DESCRIPTION: Oh, You Sexy Geek!— Does displaying the sexiness of fangirls benefit or demean them? When geek girls show off, are they liberating themselves or pandering to men? Do some "fake fangirls" blend sex appeal with nerdiness just to appeal to the growing geek/nerd market, or is that question itself unfair? And what's up with all the Slave Leias? Action flick chick Katrina Hill (ActionFlickChick.com) asks Bonnie Burton (Grrl.com), Adrianne Curry (America's Next Top Model), Clare Grant (Team Unicorn, "G33k & G4m3r Girls"), Kiala Kazebee (Nerdist.com), Clare Kramer (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Nerdy Bird - Jill Pantozzi ("Has Boobs, Reads Comics"), Jennifer K. Stuller (Ink-Stained Amazons, GeekGirlCon) and Chris Gore (G4TV's Attack of the Show!) to discuss whether fans can be sexy and geeky at the same time -- and if they should!
This was unexpectedly fun. The women, many of whom were in fairly sexy costumes, were articulate and interesting, especially the black-haired woman on the left, who is laughing at something- she was hung over and exhausted (and admitted it) but she was great. There was an empty seat on the far end where they guy she had drunk under the table the night before was late...
	And sure enough, it was him! because after the guy on the end showed up for the panel, it became obvious that he was neither articulate nor funny. Green kept raising his hand, and they finally handed him a mike, and he sort of became part of the panel. Very nice.
So we're waiting for this panel to start, and people are milling about near the podium. I see this guy and say to Doug, isn't that Seth Green? I get this pic of him after he takes his seat...the guy in the hat on the aisle.		Here he is again, part of the action.	One more pic of geek girls.
The consensus of the panel, not surprisingly, was that women should dress any damn way they want, and if a slave Leia costume makes you happy, go for it. Then they got off on the subject of a pic someone had seen of a SEVEN YEAR OLD GIRL drssed in the slave Leia costume (which, if you don't know, is a leather bikini.) That was a heated discussion, mostly based on motives: is the parent dressing her up or is the kid herself wanting to wear it, not to be a sexual object but just because she saw the movie and wants to identify with Leia. One of them pointed out that while wearing this 'demeaning' costume, Leia took care of business and offed Jabba while the guys were still talking about it. An excellent panel. DOUG SEZ: It left me wondering about the distinction between a geek and a nerd. The ladies of the panel were uniformly charming and interesting, particularly Adrienne Curry. The thing threatened to deteriorate when the only male panelist showed up late, hungover and vulgar. The situation was saved when Seth Green, from the audience, nominated himself a member of the panel and joined with the ladies in shutting out the vulgarian.
			The next panel was one of the two or three I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to see... OFFICIAL COMIC-CON DESCRIPTION: Putting the "Epic" in Epic Fantasy: Writing to Excite!— A selection of classic fantasy authors discuss how to tell stories that are "epic" in both senses of the word. Panelists include George R. R. Martin (A Game of Thrones), Brandon Sanderson (The Way of Kings), Patrick Rothfuss (The Name of the Wind), Christopher Paolini (The Inheritance Cycle), Peter Orullian (The Unremembered), K. J. Taylor (The Fallen Moon series), and Kevin J. Anderson (Terra Incognita). Moderated by Michael Spradlin (The Youngest Templar series).
I love taking pics of people in costume doing things out of character...like this...	Speaking of sexy geek girls...rowf!
Oh my god. George R. R. "Game of Thrones" Martin, whose 1000 page tome I was dragging ALL OVER Comic-con (and I wasn't the only one, LOL). Patrick "Name of the Wind" Rothfuss. Brandon Sanderson. Kevin Anderson. Christopher Paolini. Wow. A serious gaggle of bestselling authors, all talking about fantasy and epics and what they do. It was great. The two things I came away with were Martin's prognostication that ebook readers were not going to replace books per se, but he thinks they WILL replace paperbacks as the cheap/portable format. The other thing that was interesting was Christopher Paolini, author of the Eragon series. Because, being a good teen librarian, I have tried to read Eragon. Twice. And I just couldn't. It was so derivative and badly written that I literally couldn't get past the first chapter. One of these guys was talking about learning to write and the fact that (in his opinion) one should write five whole books and never show them to anyone, then start trying to get published with the sixth, after one has learned something of how to write. Paolini agreed with this, and said he had done it, and learned more from writing the four books in the Inheritance cycle (Eragon is the first.) And damn. He was cute, articulate, funny, interesting and self-deprecating. He was totally worthy to be on that panel with 'real' authors, and I will certainly be looking forward to his NEXT series- it might be very good indeed. Oh, and I was pleased to find that Patrick Rothfuss was funny and charming. I love it when authors live up to my expectations of them.
From left to right, seated, in the top left picture of the whole panel: Martin, Sanderson, Anderson, Paolini, a guy named Peter Orullian (of whom I have never heard), Rothfuss, and K. J. Taylor, whose books I buy for my library but have never read. DOUG SEZ: Intriguing that all these guys admit that they write epics- none of them can define it and each of them has a different notion of what an epic is. Jo sez: Truthfully, although several of them write multi-book series, Martin's is the only one that I would actually describe as 'epic'. And we are in the same room for yet a third panel; the scheduling was amazingly good this year, my eclectic tastes were useful! OFFICIAL COMIC-CON DESCRIPTION: Books vs. Graphic Novels and Comics— Writers often dabble with various forms of art as an outlet for their creativity. In this panel, authors discuss the process and collaboration involved in publishing a graphic novel versus a novel, as well as the role comic books play in the creation of their characters and story arcs. Panelists Christopher Moore and Ian Corson (The Griff), Jim Butcher (The Harry Dresden series), Tom Sniegoski (The Fallen series), Amber Benson (The Calliope Reaper Jones novels), and Matthew Holms (Babymouse, Squish) talk about the differences and similarities with moderator David Mariotte of Mysterious Galaxy. So again, did you catch that? Two more stellar fantasy writers and a bunch of other really good people, on the same panel. Doug has been devouring Christopher Moore's books this year (like Carl Hiaasen with paranormal stuff added, very funny). I'm a HUGE Dresden Files fan (Jim Butcher). Tom Sniegowski is the ONLY OTHER PERSON who is allowed to write Bone besides Jeff Smith. Amber Benson (Tara from Buffy) writes fantasy novels, none of which I've read. And Matthew Holms is the other half of the Babymouse team, with his sister Jennifer (whom I saw at WonderCon last year.) Wow.
			The (second) awesome panel. Top row: Christopher Moore, Ian Corson (co-writer of Griff) and Jim Butcher, and another of Jim Butcher. Middle row: Amber Benson, Amber Benson Loses It while Matthew Holms smiles, Christopher Moore points out a place in Griff where the artist put something in that was totally not in the story. Bottom: the whole panel. The moderator was from Mysterious Galaxy bookshop in San Diego, then Christopher Moore, Ian Corson, Jim Butcher, Tom Sniegowski, Amber Benson and Matthew Holms. DOUG SEZ: Amber Benson was a hoot! She acted like someone had gotten her out of bed, dazed, confused and hung over, and had gotten her to the panel at the last minute, and she was not entirely sure which panel it was. But that was just my impression- she was actually much more interesting than she seemed to think she was.
This was great. I was happy that Christopher Moore and (especially) Jim Butcher looked JUST RIGHT (it's always so disappointing when an author doesn't) and were articulate and funny. Everyone on the panel had stuff to say and was good, even Matt Holms, who is an illustrator rather than a writer and is rather quiet.
The Bene Gesserit lady and two of her buddies, rapt.	Sonic the hedgehog!	Cool costumes.	They were selling V for Vendetta masks, and this guy and his buddies were in a food line ahead of us...I asked to take a pic of him in the mask and his glasses because it actually looks really cool.
And here are his buddies. Meanwhile, we were in the NON MOVING FOOD LINE FROM HELL.	Two cool costumes.		This guy was flogging a very cool app- with the iPad 2, you download this app, and it uses the camera in the iPad to show you what's in front of you but with flying things in the picture.
But by the time we get out of the Food Line from Hell, it's getting to be time for the next panel...I ate my hot dog as we walked, and took my salad into the next room. Luckily you can eat and drink stuff in the rooms, otherwise we'd all die. These next three pics are taken as we dash across the CC to the panel.
	*sigh* Kasia told me three times who this guy is, he's from some video game called Final Something.	Big empty floor space with groups of people hanging out and resting.	I FOUND WALDO!!!
OFFICIAL COMIC-CON DESCRIPTION: True Stories— Chester Brown (Paying for It), Tom Devlin (art director of D&Q), Peter Kuper (Stop Forgetting to Remember), Leland Myrick (Feynman), and Thomas LeBien (publisher of Hill & Wang's Novel Graphics line) discuss the ins and outs of nonfiction graphic novel stories. What are the lines between truth and fiction when images are involved in a story? Moderated by Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics). This was an interesting panel; I had read or knew of all the authors included, and of course the moderator, Scott McCloud, is a COMICS GOD. Here's his own picture of himself: There was much spirited discussion of different types of nonfiction comics and how they are being used and who writes them for what. Here's one of my favorites right now, the zombie guide to the McPherson College Library. DOUG SEZ: Very interesting to hear about the NF uses to which the comic book format is being put. Wondered about the application to history since all the examples seemed to be sci/tech. (Jo: I don't know which panel he was on, a lot of the discussion was about writing honest biography, and there are many historical GNs.) Doug wants to coin the term Visual Nonfiction and have it become popular.		Then in the same room, was the panel on Comics for Teens with several writers we know either personally (Doug has met Cecil Castelluci many times) or through their work. OFFICIAL COMIC-CON DESCRIPTION: Comics for Teens— Comics creators Cecil Castelluci (Plain Janes), Hope Larson (Mercury), Nate Powell (Swallow Me Whole), and Gene Luen Yang (Level Up) come together for a discussion of what makes a comic fit a teen audience. Do books for teens have something special that books for kids and adults don't have? Moderated by Scott Westerfeld (New York Times bestselling teen author). An excellent panel with many teen writers who have created graphic novels. Much discussion of whether they belong in adult/teen/younger collections and how much freedom the writers had to do whatever they want. DOUG SEZ: Westerfeld: Dignified. Articulate. Reminded me of me. As always, Cecil is on the cutting edge of whatever is going down in YA writing.
			Scott McCloud outside the room talking to someone. The view over 5th street from a balcony. I'm so on this team...it's a Fullmetal Alchemist reference.
So we walked across the whole convention center. We had a little over an hour before our next panel (History of the Modern Zombie) and we were TIRED. Let's just go to the room that that's going to be in and chill, I said, at least we'll get chairs. We can just sit through whatever's before it. So we did. We got in the (short) line and went in. We sat in the back. Then I said, what the heck is Stumptown anyway? I looked in my guide to comic-con. A NEW GREG RUCKA DETECTIVE SERIES, OMG. We moved up to the front of the room and I enjoyed Rucka and Matthew Southworth, the illustrator, immensely. And bought the book next day, it's wonderful! OFFICIAL COMIC-CON DESCRIPTION: Road to Stumptown— Meet Greg Rucka (Gotham Central) and Matthew Southworth (Spider-Man: The Grim Hunt), the Eisner-nominated creative team behind the innovative new crime title Stumptown. Moderated by comics scholar Professor Ben Saunders. Rucka kept making jokes about most of the people in the room being there to see the zombie panel next...the room was PACKED. But I do enjoy listening to him, he is a good storyteller. And the book, Stumptown, takes place in Portland Oregon. Nice.
And here we are for a panel we had both been looking forward to- The History of the Modern Zombie. I had just read World War Z by Max Brooks and wanted to see/hear him live, and how can you go wrong with zombies? OFFICIAL COMIC-CON DESCRIPTION: History of the Modern Zombie— Experts discuss the history and evolution of the modern zombie, from its first appearance in George Romero's 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead to the most recent work being done in zombie science, survival, and pop culture today. Panelists include Max Brooks, bestselling author of World War Z and Zombie Survival Guide; Matt Mogk, head of the Zombie Research Society and author of Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Zombies; Steven Schlozman, M.D., Harvard Medical School psychiatrist and author of The Zombie Autopsies; Scott Kenemore, bestselling author of Zen of Zombie, Z.E.O., and Zombie, Ohio; James Lowder, bestselling author of Prince of Lies and editor of Triumph of The Walking Dead; and Bradley Voytek, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley neuroscientist and author of Scanning the Zombie Brain. This turned out to be one of the best panels we went to- there were not only authors of zombie books, but a psychiatrist from Harvard and a Berkeley neuroscientist, and they were funny, articulate and damn, they knew their zombies. A lot of discussion of the history (since Romero's Night of the Living Dead in 1968) and also scientific discussions of what exactly would have to happen to your brain for you to turn into a zombie. Voytek is on the board of the Zombie Research Society, and has had his students create a computer model of a zombie brain. What fun! DOUG SEZ: Splendid intellectual game. If zombies existed, what would they be like physically, especially their brains? Turns out zombies make perfect sense- all you have to do is assume deterioration of everything down to the limbic cortex and let 'em rip. But the best thing was Max Brooks' explanation of why zombies are flourishing in pop culture right now: Zombies are entirely beatable. They win becuase of our own flaws. Thus they represent all of the solvable problems- global warming, the debt crisis etc.- that we refuse to solve. I had been wondering about that. In a Christian sense, zombies show us our own original sin, an inherent tenncy to prefer to screw up.
		And then we did something I had been excited about for MONTHS...we saw GARTH ENNIS. Writer of one of the very best graphic novel series ever written, Preacher, and a bunch of other good stuff besides. His actual talk was scheduled for Saturday, the one day I couldn't get registration for, but on Thursday night he was going to be in a panel with a bunch of other people, and I'll take what I can get. He wanted to make a horror movie called Stitched about a bunch of soldiers in Afghanistan who run into really nasty scary stuff. He had gotten a bunch of actors and funding, and they filmed the first fifteen minutes in Arizona. This panel was the reveal of that footage, and info on what was happening with the film. OFFICIAL COMIC-CON DESCRIPTION: Garth Ennis's Stitched Movie World Premiere— Legendary comic book writer Garth Ennis (Preacher, Crossed) has written and directed his first-ever short film, Stitched, a visceral tale of terror. Meet the film's cast, monsters, producers, and Mr. Ennis himself. Learn behind-the-scenes secrets during the Q&A. See a sneak peak at the Ennis-penned ongoing Stitched comic book series. And thrill to the horror of Stitched in its one-night only Comic-Con viewing! It was pretty good, although obviously low-budget. But fun. The guy in the group shot near the left, in the blue shirt, is Ennis' comics publisher and he announced that it's going to be made as a comic book series rather than a movie. Ah well. The rest of the people in the group shot are actors and such from the movie. The bottom two pics are Ennis himself...he looks so...NORMAL. If you've read Preacher and The Boys, you'll understand why that surprised me. He was calm, cheerful, not at all foul-mouthed and seemed very nice. Amazing. DOUG SEZ: Pretty good but if I had lots of money I wouldn't put it into finishing that movie.
So then we entered public transit hell. First, as we left the CC at 9:15, we got stuck on the street waiting for THE LONGEST FREIGHT TRAIN IN THE WORLD to go by VERY SLOWLY.	Here is a storm trooper who has to wait for the signal arm to go up. Funny, I thought they didn't wait for anything if they didn't want to...	We caught the orange line to the 12th and Imperial transfer station. Then...WE GOT ON THE WRONG TROLLEY. It came in on the right track, but there are two trains that use that line, and we got on the wrong one. And it was PACKED. And three stops along, Doug said, 47th st? that's not a stop on our line...and sure enough, we had to get off, wait 20 minutes for the train going back to 12th and Imperial (and I was kinda glad that there were security guards at that stop, it was OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE.) get off, and wait for the RIGHT train. Instead of half an hour to get back, between the freight and the mistake, it was more like two hours. But Mark came over, and we had some alcohol, and I got food from the minimart (it was so late MCDONALDS was closed) and we talked til after midnight.
Friday We got up early to get in line for another panel I really wanted to see, which started at 10:15. We got in line at 8:45, and by that time there were a THOUSAND PEOPLE in line ahead of us. This is not hyperbole; there were literally a thousand people in line already. We followed the line backwards through the convention center, in and out of a tent where it snaked back and forth, and down a walkway to the end. A thousand people. And yet...we knew we'd get in.
Amusing costume.	This is part of the line...	And as we waited, a ship came into port. The white dots on it are navy guys. Doug: You mean SAILORS? Yeah, navy guys.	And a tugboat! waiting in line isn't all bad...
DOUG SEZ: So this (standing in line) is the essence of Comic-con. But interesting to watch the destroyer pass by on its return from deployment. The main thing was I knew we were going to get in.
And what were we waiting in line for? OFFICIAL COMIC-CON DESCRIPTION: Epix Pictures: The Captains— William Shatner is joined by fellow Star Trek captain Avery Brooks to present a preview of the EPIX Pictures original documentary produced and directed by Shatner, in which he travels the world to interview all the actors who've played Starfleet captains. This lively discussion and Q&A session is moderated by Comic-Con fave Kevin Smith. ZOMG. Not only William Shatner touting his latest scheme to gain more fame and fortune from the Star Trek franchise, but also Kevin Smith? oh hell yes. They and Avery Brooks (captain from Deep Space Nine) were joined by Scott Bakula (captain from Enterprise.) It was loads of fun, although we were seated pretty far back (and the big rooms have projection screens so people in the back can actually see the people on the panels.) DOUG SEZ: Kevin Smith is a lot smarter than William Shatner.
We were sitting next to a very nice and amusing woman, with whom we struck up a conversation, and who took our picture together.	Brooks, Shatner, Bakula.	Kevin smith, Brooks, and you-know-who
The whole group again...		and Bakula is laughing his butt off over something.	This is where we were sitting in relation to the actual panel, way up in the front...
	While we were in the room, people came down the aisles and passed out tickets. These are for schwag. You take the ticket to the Fulfillment Room (used to be in the CC but is now in the next hotel down) and get whatever it is that you are supposed to get...usually (and the best) a tshirt, but it could be anything. We got tickets. We went out of the CC, walked down the street to the maze that was the Marriott, found the fulfillment room (just had to follow the trail of bodies of those who had starved trying to get there) got in, found the right counter and person to present our tickets to...and got TWO SMALL BUTTONS. I mean seriously. How chintzy can you get? we were bitterly disappointed. DOUG SEZ: It was unfulfilling. However, we saw this elevator on the way to the room, it's pretty cool...
I talk to strangers. All the time. At Comic-con, it's usually fun. And the day before I had been talking to a young man and his wife, from Arizona, and they said the burgers at Nicky Rotten's were extremely good. So that's where we went for lunch.	And the young man did not lie. FABULOUS burger, and they cook it to order. Which, in my case, means RARE, of course. Damn, that was good. DOUG SEZ: I liked the silly Italian gangster theme.	A taste of the craziness that is 5th street, the heart of the Gaslamp District. By Saturday night, it will be WILD around here. We'll get there, never fear. These are two excellent costumes we saw on the way back to the CC...because I had TWO HOURS to do the exhibits, and a long list of places I wanted to go, and then I wanted to hit the half-price graphic novels booth and spend some time there. Two hours. Not NEARLY enough, I usually spend eight to ten hours in the exhibits...but this is Comic-con Lite for me, so two hours was what I had.
Just loved this.	One of these things is not like the others...	That's better!	Hm...which one do I like better? hard choice...
Big ol' thing from some Nick program.	Legos always does something Star-wars related...this is a life-size Boba Fett.	Cool.	LOVED this, his eyes JIGGLED. LOLOLOLOLOLOL
DOUG SEZ: In the exhibits, Jo Ann bought many comic books. I bought a Snoopy but it isn't for me. This is an understatement. I bought A LOT of graphic novels. Many of which were hardcover. And all of which I had to drag around to HELL AND GONE til AFTER 11 PM THAT NIGHT because it was my only chance to do so. But I didn't have to like it.
		OFFICIAL COMIC-CON DESCRIPTION: Graphic Novels for Non-Teenagers— Libraries have already established graphic novels on their Teen/Young Adult shelves, but what about books for other ages? Merideth Jenson-Benjamin (Glendale Public Library), Kearsten LaBrozzi (Glendale Public Library), Jill Patterson (La Habra Branch Library), and Hillary W. Chang (McCully-Moiliili Public Library) discuss graphic novel titles for adults and children. We went to this to hold up the side, but it was preachin' to the choir. Plus it was more about establishing and maintaining collections than the books themselves. After half an hour, we left.
	On the right, a guy we ran into. Who am I? he said. You're not an oompa-loompa, I said, but I bet everyone thinks you are... Oh my god, yes, he said. I'm an enemy of Superman's. You're that guy with the unpronouncable name! I said. Right! he said. (the name is Mister Mxyzptlk, and I remembered him. While we were walking I was telling Doug about him. Because that's what you do at Comic-con... Steampunk westerns. Can't remember if these people were doing comics or a movie. But cool.
	And again, we went into a room, not knowing what would be there, in order to see the NEXT panel...and found something really good. This is one of a series called Spotlight on <name>, and it's the person's chance to show/read from/talk about whatever it is they do. OFFICIAL COMIC-CON DESCRIPTION: Spotlight on Eric Drooker— Visual artist and Comic-Con special guest Eric Drooker will project hundreds of his magical images and explore how his early years as a street artist in New York City inspired his award-winning graphic novels Flood! and Blood Song. He'll discuss the process of designing the animation for the recent hit film Howl, starring James Franco, and how he adapted it for the new book, Howl: A Graphic Novel. Best known for his numerous cover paintings for The New Yorker, Drooker will tell hilarious-but-true stories of how he wound up getting published. He was articulate and interesting, played the banjo and harmonica and sang with some of his presentation, and we both really liked his artwork. DOUG SEZ: He didn't have his dates quite firm, but the essence of what he had to say was right on. I'm amazed that he was able, apparently, to translate Howl into visual terms so effectively. Some of it reminded me of Blake and some of it reminded me of Lynd Ward and it was made into an animated movie as well, although he said it was heavily censored.
Then it was time for the one we had come to see: OFFICIAL COMIC-CON DESCRIPTION: Old Stories in New Boxes: How Timeless Stories Evolve Through New Media— Marshall Vandruff (marshallart.com) presents over a hundred slides demonstrating how entertainment art has evolved over the past century from Vaudeville and AB Frost, through Winsor McCay and Walt Disney, into modern storytelling, which is actually thousands of years old. He will explain the classic form of story and show how it relates to all creativity. This was so good. Marshall Vandruff teaches a wide range of animation/story related classes, and gave us a sample of all the stuff he does. He spent fifteen minutes tracing the roots of animation through vaudeville, A. B. Frost, Eadweard Muybridge and Winsor McKay; then he spent fifteen minutes talking about story and how one builds one that people will want to read; then he spend fifteen minutes on the wonderfulness that is Winsor McKay and how he did all this stuff before anyone else did. It was amazing and informative. DOUG SEZ: An excellent, very interesting history of animation narrative. How A.B. Frost, of whom I had never heard, could never have created his illustrations without Eadweard Muybridge's groundbreaking studies of motion and how that all related to vaudeville, Winsor McKay and Walt Disney.
Now it's time to leave the CC (behind the bounty hunters...) and catch a trolley and a bus to Balboa Park.	Doug saw this as he walked by and we laughed, then I made it say the same thing in this picture.	The shirt Doug is wearing is amusing, and this is not a bad picture of him.	Here we are in the Prado restaurant in Balboa Park, a place we have been many many times in the past. This is the restaurant where The Ride of the Rabid Wombat was first sung. Ah, memories, memories...
			We had come to see Amadeus, which neither of us had seen before (we had both seen the movie, when it was new, while we were dating...we're so old.) We got to the theater about twenty minutes before the show started, and found out that we were the perfect demographic- everyone there was our age or older, and they all admired Doug's shirt. We started up a couple of interesting conversations with women who told Doug that their husbands should get that shirt, LOL.
Doug: 'I use antlers in all of my decorating...'	The Museum of Man from the plaza in front of the Old Globe complex of theaters.	Two old bards...
	On the left is the stage, on the right is the audience reflected in the windows on stage. The play was well done; I thought Salieri and Mozart were both excellent. But I was disappointed that there was not more music; in the movie, the music is like another character, and commands attention. Here, it seemed more like an afterthought. (Otter's review of Amadeus) DOUG SEZ: First of all, the theater is a gem. I'd never realized, when I read the play many years ago, what a weight it is for the actor who plays Salieri. He is on stage almost every minute and speaking almost every minute he is on. The only other real character in the play is Mozart; the rest are simply mechanical dolls with lines. That being said, the actor who had the job of being Salieri missed some important chances to add nuances to his character- and it needed nuances. Shaffer wrote them; I guess the actor couldn't find them.
Saturday Again, Friday night we stayed up late with Mark...but Saturday morning WE SLEPT IN. Til 8 am, woo frickin' hoo! comic-con: Land of No Sleep. No wonder I take the Monday off after I get back! So anyway. We slept til 8, then had breakfast at Denny's (I love their hash browns covered in cheese...) DOUG SEZ: I like the new Denny's Build a Grand Slam breakfast! Then we took the trolley and a bus to the San Diego Zoo. Remember, this was Saturday, the day I couldn't get a badge for Comic-con, so we found other fun stuff to do.
Look, honey, it's the zoo, those are our first animals, I said. See, it's funny because they're fake. No, said Doug, all animals leave tracks...	Meerkats from the top.	I couldn't get a good pic of this, the sun was at the wrong angle. It's a Naked Mole-Rat habitrail, and srsly? they're awfully cute, about three inches long. Did I catch JUST ONE in the tubes? oh no.	Otters!
I'm not going to be cute and slide down the waterslide, I"m going to walk down beside it. So there.	Cool mural.	This is the same sign they use when the animals are out of their cages, LOL.	As we stood in line (a short one) for the Sky Buckets we saw a flock of wild parrots.
The Cabrillo Bridge from the sky buckets	and MEEEEE!	Chacoan Peccary	Two Lesser Kudu (or is it Kudus?)
A sleeping Andean Condor	And one of its feathers, which is as long as my forearm out to my fingertips...	I don't like taking pics of animals where you can actually see the cages (most of the pics today are through glass or over the top of low fences) but the harpy eagle was SO COOL that I had to take a couple.
Red River Hog, note the ears.	African Spot-Necked Otter	A Domestic Ice-Cream-Eating Hippopotamus-Sitter...be careful, he might savage you...	Snake skeleton! way cool!
This was amazing. There is only one hippo (Otis) in the tank. The refraction in the water makes it look like his lower body is three feet closer than his back and ears.		BABY TIGER! <SPLOOSH!> Jo's head goes 'splodie from CUTENESS!
OMG, so adorable. Third pic: spot the baby tiger all settled down for a nap. Fourth pic shows you where, right up by the fence.
Noon. Tapir: I'm on my lunch break, not getting up for nobody, no way.	Man and Bamboo	We were deliberately looking for silly things to do. We were also talking for the animals and making a LOT of really bad puns. All day long.
This is a mahogany tree. It is so not anything like what I would have expected a mahogany tree to look like.	Wolf's Guenon: I'm just chillin, bro.	So then I said to her...	Hey! Do you mind???
Wildlife! and BABIES!!!	Over by the elephant enclosure, they had these sculptures. Doug figured it out: they are elephants represented in the art of whatever the date is.
More elephant art. Pretty cool!		A representation of a fossil dig.	This poor guy had gone into his little den to find the ONLY shade in his enclosure, and it had a glass wall with thirty people looking at him. I think his expression says it all...
Doug speaks sternly to the kitty-cat...	Elephant!	And Capyboppy! we loved Capyboppy.	This fence was inside the one that keeps the tourists out; I'm assuming it's electric, but how pretty.
Elephant!	Two pics of Madagascar Ocotillo, which was very cool.		During Comic-con, these'll run you 300 bucks a night...no, they're in the Elephant Care center, actually.
The Elephant Jail...no, just a divider between areas.	These were pretty! there was a pond biome, and there were 12 or 14 of these bronze animals and plants you were supposed to find, among the real stuff. We couldn't see any of them. Except these two, these were easy.	Turtle, flower, red dragonfly...	and a closeup of the dragonfly, who lighted for a few minutes.
California Condor!	Jo mugs for the camera...	Doug and the Origami Elephant	Who could not love a bird with this name?
Another meerkat	These are Springboks. They were dashing and bouncing all over their enclosure for about 15 minutes, playing tag with their buddy the Rock Hyrax (who did not come close enough for a picture.) It was just like the cats chasing each other all over the house, but wilder.		The Southern Hairy-Nosed Wombat in the belly-up sleeping position...
Some of the animals were hard to spot...I looked and looked for this Snow Lynx, until Doug said, well, of course you can't see it, it's the Missing Lynx...	Doug with tree.	Jo with performers from some show that had just let out.	And a spectacled bear, like Paddington.
And at that point we looked at each other and said, enough. It's hot, the animals are hiding or sleeping, and when you get right down to it, it's just animals in boxes. DOUG SEZ: I'm glad it's there but I think I was almost as bored as the animals. So we left, took the bus to the trolley to our motel, changed and napped and had some water, and went back downtown at 6 to meet Mark et cie. at Dick's Last Resort at 7.
And there are brightly dressed zombies dancing in unison...Kasia figured out that they're doing the Thriller dance. Then they attacked the audience and ate them. Way fun.
Guys at dinner. Mark, Mark's son Asher, Mark's first cousin Michael, Andrew the tutor, and Doug.	Mark and Asher. About Dick's Last Resort: DOUG SEZ: Not as awful as I thought it would be.	Then Doug and I left to take the trolley to Old Town for a ghost/history walking tour at 9:30 pm. This is what we ran into going back to the trolley- these two VERY HEALTHY women dancing...
with their own marching rhythm band following.	Our tour guide walked us around Old Town some, then took us here to the Whaley House ('America's Most Haunted House') and turned us over to the docent there for a tour of the house.	Info on the Whaleys and period detail.	Channeling Dennis: Cool light fixture.
Our docent. She was really good. After the tour, we rejoined our guide, Michael, and he walked us around the area telling us about history, with lots of lurid details about murders, executions and hauntings. It was great.	We ended up by the old Catholic cemetery. This is in the street out front; they didn't realize that the cemetery extended that far until they regraded the street, so they now have these markers: Grave Site.	The info about the cemetery. I must say, it's cool getting a tour of a cemetery at 10:30 pm...
More graves and headstones and 'grave site' markers.And the nice young man who gave us our tour got us back to the trolley station just as our trolley was pulling in. Whew! DOUG SEZ: The young man who conducted out tour was charming and Old Town was quite a discovery. I enjoyed the tour of the Whaley House with what must have been California's first home theater. The docent there was funny and full of good ghost lore but I got no chills and I saw no spooks.
	Doug noticed this misspelling on a trolley poster for getting financial aid for college...does not instill a lot of confidence in the organization who put these in all the trolleys... Got back to the motel, called Mark, we stayed up past 1 am.
Sunday Sunday morning came far too soon. Got up and got out the door. We wanted to see the Axe Cop panel at 10 am, both of us being big fans.
			And I FINALLY get a chance to take pics of all the signs at the Gaslamp District stop; last year they were in Klingon, this year they look like comic book stuff. Personally, I preferred Klingon, but whatevs...pretty cool.
I think this was my favorite costume of all the ones I saw. How cool!	One last group of superheroes...	And we're in the line for the panel. Not a long line, we got into it around 8:30 am. And here's Axe Cop!	Baby Man and some other characters from the webcomic.
And what, you might ask, is Axe Cop? It's a webcomic, written by Malachai (five when this started, seven now) and illustrated by his older brother Ethan. And it is freakin' HILARIOUS. Because Ethan totally lets Malachai script the thing, and illustrated it completely deadpan. Check it out online, you won't be sorry you did. OFFICIAL COMIC-CON DESCRIPTION: Axe Cop— Meet Comic-Con special guests Ethan and Malachai Nicolle, the 30- and 7-year-old brothers behind the award-winning web comic and print series Axe Cop (Dark Horse Comics). With moderator Kevin Murphy (Mystery Science Theater 3000, Riff Trax) and other guests Ethan and Malachai discuss Axe Cop and give you an exclusive look at what's coming up in the world of the head-chopping policeman. At age 7, Malachai is Comic-Con's youngest special guest ever!
OMG what a cutie pie! her dad was great, we talked a lot in line.	And we're in! This is Kevin 'Crow' Murphy of MST3K fame...	and here are Ethan (older brother) and Malachai (younger) Nicholle.	Malachai, like any other seven year old with a microphone and several hundred audience members, had a FIELD DAY. Here he's playing with an Axe Cop figurine that one of the audience gave him.
He was giving away Hershey kisses and making audience members do stuff for them. He told these two guys they had to thumb wrestle...when the winner went forward to claim the prize, he said, no, you BOTH have to thumb wrestle ME.	So they did...and of course he beat them, LOL!	They had everyone who was dressed as characters come up. Two axe cops...	a bunch of other characters...
			DOUG SEZ: I'd go back.
and the Best Fairy Ever looks on.	A quick pic of the group gathered behind the Nicholle brothers...and we had to go.	Here is Doug, sad to leave Comic-con..