Comic-Con 2006: In Brief

Due to poor planning and ridiculous crowds, we weren’t able to get into Comic-Con on Saturday. We didn’t think to pre-register online, a mammoth mistake. When Rick, Sally and I arrived at the San Diego Convention Center at noon, it took us 15 minutes to walk to the end of the line -- just to walk! After waiting awhile in the 100 degree heat and barely moving forward, we decided to try again on Sunday.

Of course, this was an incredible disappointment, but we made the best of it. After lunch, we decided to relax by the pool. One woman soon started blaring the Black Eyed Peas from her iPod speaker system. No one seemed to mind too much, but soon the unedited version of “Let’s Get Retarded” began to play. Around the same time, we discovered AHEAD (Association on Higher Education and Disability) was hosting seminars all weekend at the hotel. Awsome.

We explored San Diego’s Old Town area that night. It’s this great concentration of old Spanish mission architecture, Mexican restaurants and drunk tourists. I really dug this place called The Alamo, a divey walk-up Mexican place with a full bar and a huge patio. O’Hungry’s seemed awesome just because it was called O’Hungry’s. Despite our simmering rage from the day’s disappointments, we had a very cool night overall.

I pre-registered us online the next morning, and Rick and I finally got into Comic-Con. And wow, it was huge and completely overwhelming! The hall hosted everything from gargantuan movie displays to humble artist tables and all the nerds in between. The crowds weren’t too bad for the first half of the day, and we covered a lot of ground fairly quickly. Booth babes and costumed geeks roamed the aisles. Everyone had something to sell, and good swag was hard to come by. I didn’t spend much, surprisingly. I was more focused on keeping my head from exploding due to sensory overload. Highlights included meeting Brian Posehn and Matt Fraction, both there signing for Image.

More details still to come…