Comic book fans will argue about the stupidest things sometimes. From which universe of Spider-Man is the TRUE Spider-Man universe, to whether or not the removal of a male gentile takes away the artistic integrity of a story, comic book fans are known for their strange debates and disagreements. However if there's one thing all comic book fans DO agree on, it is that San Diego's International Comic Con is the place to be. From the artists, to the shows, to the freaks wondering around in the strangest costumes you'll ever see, Comic Con is seen as the true place to be a total geek in front of large crowds and be proud of it. This is my first year attending Comic Con, after hearing how great it was, and also now having saved enough money to go. I went with my mom, we took some pictures, and I took some notes. I am now here to comment on the whole experience, and I warn you now that this will most likely be the longest report on the Comic Con that you are most likely EVER going to read! I just have so many things to say, so many stories to tell, that I feel unhappy if I did little more then report the news and announcements to you guys. So here we go.

My mom and I arrive in San Diego around 1:25pm, Wednesday July 13th. We get our bags and go outside to get in charter shuttle. The shuttle arrives twenty minutes later, we climb in, and for some strange reason it takes us another fifteen minutes to leave. We get to the hotel we'll be staying in, and the guy charges us $14 dollars for the trip. My mom gives him a $1 tip. I hope I never have to make a delivery to her house. We check into the hotel, drop off our stuff in the room (man, room was nice enough I could have locked myself in THAT room for a whole week and done nothing but write), and we head to the con. There is already a huge line outside. I start to panic before my mom explains that we pre-registered, so we could just walk in. I start to wonder whether or not I made a mistake coming here, as I HATE large crowds of people! We get inside the building to pick up our badges and are given a bag of "goodies." Of course, the term "goodies" to these people means "just a bunch of ads for useless junk that nobody cares about." But hey, it's free, right? So then we enter the hall, where there are a LOT of people waiting in line to get inside the building and throw away their money. I should know, I was one of those people. While I was in the line I ended up in a conversation with some guy who had been at Comic Con for several years in a row now.

We chatted, he gave me some advice on what to do (First Rule of Comic Con: Don't you DARE buy their horrible, overpriced food), and then the doors opened. I was half expecting to be run over, but to my surprise everyone was very dignified when walking into the building. When we get inside I am in awe over how big the convention center is. My mom asks me where I would like to go first. I think for a minute about this, and then I tell her "Let's go to the 'Penny Arcade' booth and buy some of their purdy lithographs they make." So we head off to see the Penny Arcade guys. When we get to the booth there is almost no line. There are a couple guys in front of us, but otherwise nothing. I get cold feet and stumble off to the side of the booth to fiddle with the merchandise. I have a hard time looking at the Penny Arcade guys. I don't know why, maybe it's because I'm shy in real life, and I honestly didn't want to say or do anything stupid (course, Gabe is always saying and doing stupid things in the comic strip). Kara (Gabes wife) asks me if I need something. I ask her if she has any of the lithographs on sale. After I tell her how many lithographs I want, I ask to her if I can look at the posters and t-shirts, and I start asking her what every single thing on the table costs. At this point I realize I'm simply stalling having to talk to two of my favorite cartoonists, and that I'll have to make eye contact with them when they sign my stuff, because there is no way I'm going to spend the kind of money I spent at their booth and not get this stuff signed.

So I walk up to Gabe and I look at him. I look at him for several seconds. He looks at me and I figure he's wondering whether or not he should call security, so I hand him the posters I just bought. He starts to sign them and I blurt out rather quickly "I know you hear this all the time, but I think your comic strip is really funny." He looked at me and I was half expecting him to say "Yeah, I've heard THAT one too many times by now," but instead he says "You know what, I never get tired of hearing it." I chat a little bit with him, and then I move on to Tycho, who also signs the poster. Since he is the writer for "Penny Arcade" I make it a point to mention how much I'm enjoying the Annarchy Arc. He looks at me and gives me two thumbs up, thanks me for enjoying the current storyline, and we talk about the character development, how much this character can contribute to the storyline, and then I decide now would be a good time to request a picture with them, seeing as how there is a line forming, and I want to get one before the line gets too long. They agree to take a picture with me, and I am COMPLETELY nervous! Not only because I'm getting a picture taken with two very good cartoonists, but because I hate cameras. And I mean I HATE cameras! I don't take very good pictures, and one of the reasons is because I'm not ever exactly sure what it is I'm supposed to actually do when a picture of me is taken.

Finally my mom says cheese, and Gabe and Tycho do this strange thing, which, I'm not completely sure what it is they're doing, but this is the end result.

Just for the record, the person on the far right is me, and as you can see I look baffled and confused. I look this way in all pictures that get taken of me, which is why I don't like having pictures taken of me in the first place. But look at that pose. I'm not sure what that is even supposed to be. I mean, maybe it's my imagination, but doesn't Tycho (middle) look kind of angry to you? Maybe it is just me. By the way, see my "Midori's Days" t-shirt? Make note of that name, as that is one of the best new anime you might not be watching right not. Now where was I? Oh yes, the pose. So as you can see, that was one of the more interesting pictures I'm likely to be seen in, in my entire life (considering I have, like, five pictures of me taken every seven years). Next up we went to the Tokyopop booth. Which, to be completely honest, didn't have as much stuff to check out as I would have hoped. The only thing to note was that they were giving out free carrying bags that had Robo Fish on them (for those unaware, that red fish logo has a name, his name is Robo Fish. Yes, it's pathetic that I know that, so shut up), and that there were several manga editors standing around trying to push their Takuhai magazine (sign up for it here. Don't worry, it's free). Me and my mom pick up a couple of the bags and head off to the Viz Media panel, where they have a lot more activity going on.

There are "Full Metal Alchemist" video games on display, a place to buy certain Viz Media DVD's and manga, free bookmarks, t-shirt iron on's, a money booth (you know, one of those booths you go in where you try to grab as much money as you can), and an announcer reminding you that you can subscribe to "Shonen Jump" and "Shoujo Beat" over the speaker every five minutes. After all this we look at various shopping booths. And we buy stuff. I start feeling nautious handing over any more money, seeing as how I just spent more then $300 bucks at "Penny Arcades's" booth, and I realize I didn't buy one single t-shirt from them. I slap myself in the head for being so dumb, and I continue walking around the convention. After while I notice there are tons of people walking around with sketch books, some of which have sketches from artists. My mom recommends we look for a sketchbook so that we can start collecting some sketches of our own. I laugh and say "Yeah, riiiiiiggghhhhttt. As if asking for autographs wasn't hard enough already." My mom reminds me if I'm going to be a good journalist I'm going to have to stop being so shy around people. I hate it when she's right. Ten minutes later, we finally find someone who's selling sketch books.

We buy a hard-cover, spiral bound copy. We tear to the price tag off the cover, just so we don't have think about how much of a rip-off the book was all day. We wonder who we should get a sketch from first, when my mom realizes that "Penny Arcades" booth is right across from us, and that we should get a sketch from Gabe. We get in line, and when we get to Gabe he says "Oh. You're back?" I hand him the sketchbook and ask if I can get a sketch, and Gabe says sure. Tycho, however, seems to want $10 dollars for the sketch, which Gabe laughs off and assures me it's free. As he's sketching I chat a bit more with Tycho, mention that I run this website, that I will review their book once Dark Horse gets around to publishing it, and I mention that I have tried e-mailing them about an interview and never got a response (not that I blame them, they must get TONS of e-mail a day). Tycho sympathizes with me, and he gives me an alternate e-mail address with which to contact him with. I feel like a fanboy as I accept the e-mail address, feeling so shocked I almost laugh a stupid laugh that only stupid sidekicks to stupid villains in stupid movies laugh. Just for the record though, I held my laugh in and just said a simple "Thanks" to Tycho. At about this time Gabe is done with the sketch, and we thank them again and head off.

We browse through DC and Marvels booth, get some free goodies, and get a few sketches. I'm starting to really enjoy the sketch book I bought, and am glad my mom convinced me to buy it, even though it cost...sorry, but I'd rather not speak of that (unpleasant memory you know). We then notice Nintendo has a booth up. What's more, they have tons of games to try out and hardly any lines. First I head to the Nintendo DS games, just to see if Nintendo has finally justified creating the DS. Turns out the answer is no, they haven't. I stand in line to play Nintendo's ace card for the Gamecube this year, "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess." I play the game for about ten minutes, and I wonder whether it was just me, but it feels like I played four games that were EXACTLY like this game! What were they called again...oh yeah, they were "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time," "The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask," "Star Fox Adventures," and "The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker." All of these games were made by Nintendo. I was slightly more impressed with "Pokemon XD: Decedents of Darkness," until I realize that it was basically the Game Boy game in 3D. The most interesting thing in Nintendo's booth was the Pikachu bug they were selling, which I signed up to win four times, as I want to experience what it's like to deliver pizza in that thing just ONCE!

Destined to go to the "Nerd Hall of Fame."

I mean, I'm sorry, but who wouldn't want to deliver pizza in this car. It might actually make the job more fun then it really is. We shop some more and get more sketches. I start to realize our bags are getting quite heavy, and I'm starting to be glad that the day is almost done. However I soon realize that there is someone I wanted to see that I haven't gotten around to yet: Scott Kurtz. I know, I know, I didn't give a positive review to "PVP: The Dork Ages" (even making a cheap shot about his ego...something I regret saying now, as he really doesn't have one), but I still wanted to meet him darn it. I just love "PVP," and so does one of my best friends (who, ironically, is into sports). We head on over to the "PVP" booth, we see no line, but I realize I left all my "PVP" books at the hotel. D'oh! Oh well, we do have a sketch book right? I walk up to him and ask him if he could do a sketch for me. He tells me that it will be crap because it's been a long day. I ask him if I should come back tomorrow and get a sketch instead (wouldn't bother me, really). He says he could do it now, it's just that it will be crap. I hand him the sketch book and notices the first sketch and goes wide eyed. "Is this sketch from 'Penny Arcade?'" he asks, and I tell him that it is. He quickly turns to a blank page and says "Oh I can do a better sketch then that."

I guess we all have our own motivations in life. He does a quick doodle of Skull. I like the sketch, I really do, and I make sure to tell him that, but after I comment on the sketch he says "It's crap." I thank him once again for doing the sketch, and I tell him I'll be back the next day to get my books signed, as well as buy some stuff for all the trouble. We are about to leave the convention when I notice a crowd gathering in front of the 20th Century Fox booth. We go over to see what's going on, and discover that Stewie from "Family Guy" is there. Well, you can't very well leave the Comic Con without getting a picture of Stewie now can you? I get in line, and five minutes later I have a picture with Stewie, who looks like he'd rather be somewhere else (again, make note of "Midori's Days," it's REALLY good).

I think the success of "Family Guy" is going to someone's head.

Finally it's time to head back to the hotel. We get on the overcrowded bus and admire the lights of the city. Or at least that what I was supposed to be doing. Instead, I was anticipating getting to the hotel and reading some of the sample books I got at the preview night. We get home, and after admiring some of the stuff I got, I realize that something is missing: The sketch book. I become frustrated beyond words, because not only did I get a few cool sketches in that book, but that book also cost me...I'm sorry, I would prefer not to talk about that. *sniff* My mom tells me that someone might turn it in, but I don't really believe her. Instead I go to bed, feeling bad about the lost sketch book, but also looking forward to the next day. After all, the CMX panel was the next day, and if there was going to be a Q & A session at the panel, then I knew it would be a VERY interesting panel! Very interesting indeed.

Continue To Day One