San Diego Comic-Con 2010: Mixing and Simmering

On Wednesday we welcomed our friend Matt* arrived and we took him on a little mini-tour of the convention and Gaslamp area. This was his first time at Comic-Con, nee west of Kansas, so I tried to tell him all the things that I wished someone had told me on my first visit.

The Threadless Pop-Up Shop was open so we popped over for a visit. They were releasing 4 new shirts designed my comic book artists and I wanted to get my mitts on them.

Jill Thompson

Cliff Chiang

Tony Moore

Art Baltazar

I picked out the Art Baltazar shirt for myself and Superfro picked out the Cliff Chiang one. In hindsight I probably should have gotten all of them!

As luck would have it (a theme that will continue over the next few days) Jill and Cliff were both at the store and Art and Franco (his long time collaborator) were in the Airstream trailer. Superfro and I have met Art and Franco many times in the past 5 or 6 years. They always act like they remember us and I like to believe that they do. They are incredibly nice, dapper dressers and deeply talented. Anyone I know who has met Art and Franco has instantly fell in love with them.

Me & Art (and I'm even wearing a Threadless shirt!)

Me & Franco (see what I mean about dapper?)

This is inside the Airstream trailer, which had become a mobile art gallery!

Wednesday of Comic-Con is "Preview Night." The convention center opens up at 3:00 pm for attendees to pick up their badges and the exhibit floor opens up at 6:00 pm for a few hours so they (we) can get a head start on our shopping, swagging** and star gazing.

In years past Preview Night was open to all those who purchased a 4-day pass. After max-capacity crowds in 2009 and 2008 the powers that be decided to limit the number of 4-day passes that would include access to Preview Night. These were the first passes that sold out and the most coveted.

Superfro and I both had access to Preview Night, me because of my status as a retailer and Superfro as my guest. In addition, Superfro had also gotten Press status because of his podcast and webiste, Signed In Podcast.

Here are some choice pics from Preview Night:

Me and Blair Butler, the host of Fresh Ink on G4's Attack of the Show. She really knows her comics!

 These are Beastlies. They are sculped by Leslie Levings. If you can believe it, she's even cutier than the Beastlies!
 Part of AMC's walk-through booth for their upcoming show, The Walking Dead, based on the comic book by the same name written by Robert Kirkman.
 This booth was incredibly detailed, right down to the dead people that you coul pose with. The windows were screens that projected wandering zombies outside.
 This incredible banner has the comic characters on the left and their television counterparts on the right. This whole thing is a pretty big deal as AMC is really being as faithful as they can and has hired Frank Darabont to helm the project. Perhaps you remember another little adaptation he brilliantly did called The Shawshank Redemption? If you're thinking it's just a typcal zombie/horror/slasher story then you could not be more wrong.
 Legendary Pictures brought a great display of props, including this Baby "Carlos" as worn by Zach Galifinackis in The Hangover.
 A (fake) French Bulldog in a carrying case, as carried by Zach Galifinakis in the forthcoming movie, Due Date, with Robert Downey Jr.
  This is a Dream Case from the movie Inception. I have no idea why it posted the picture sideways and I can't figure out how to fix it, so if you could tilt your head to the right...a little more...yeah, that's it, see it now?
After we had out fill of Preview Night we scooted over to a place called Stingaree. Superfo had been invited to a party put on by the video-game company Activision. They were showing off their new games; Transformers War For Cybertron, Spider-Man and an original James Bond game featuring the likeness of Daniel Craig. Drinks were FREE, so I had uh..I think 4 Diet Cokes. I did not partake in the finger foods, you  never know where gamers' fingers have been. At the end of the night we got a swell Activision satchel stuffed with shirts and toys!  My eagle-eye spotted Charlie Saxton, who I love love love on the show Hung. What a cutie!
 

Up next: Out of this world parties! More famous people! Me!

*Not the Matt from last years Comic-Con, but Matt Martin, a customer who we were sharing a room with.

**The act of collecting free items, or "swag."

Related posts: Comic-Con Preamble Ramble