I live about 2 hours away from the con (and I drove each day!) so I got to the con around 2:30pm on Friday. I just had a late start and planned to be there around noon. As soon as I got there, I went right to the press room got my badge (Thanks Lance!) and headed into the con. They did say that the show was to be bigger, but to me it felt somehow smaller (I didn't realize that there was a third floor till around 4:30pm on Sunday). I made sure to hit up my buddies Sam Vera from Crazee Comics, Rich Bernatovech from Sentinels, Brian Kong, Brian and Jess Ferrera from Terminal Press (who also have been co-hosts to my radio show), Christian and Antonio Montalvo from Alpha Godz, the Lazerman guys, and all my buddies from The Comic Artists Guild (C.A.G.) as well as James Seetal and Mark Mazz (more on him later).
Once that was done, I walked around the con and tried to take it all in. After all these years (and finally making it to the SDCC), I feel it's just more of the same (not that that is a bad thing). I attended a C.A.G. panel (if you are into comics as a craft, you should join them!) and then the C.A.G. awards (hosted by Samuel Vera.)
The Categories and winners are:
(I'll try to upload the images as time goes on)
Best Story Writing: Shawnti Therrien for Meth: A Reason to live
Best Story Art: Hector Rodriguez for Hell's Blood
Best Single Story created by a team: Hector Rodriguez, Keith Murphey and Scott
Murphey for Hell's Blood
Best Writer: Everett Soares
Best Penciler: Hector Rodriguez
Best Inker: Alex Rivera
Best Colorist: Liz Ortiz
Best Letterer: Ed Traquino
Best Cartoonist: Matt Ryan
Best New Talent: James Rodriguez
Production Excellence: Ed Traquino
Best Workshop/Panel: Matt Ryan for "Sales Techniques"
Best Web Comic Creator: ZMAN
and C.A.G. MVP: Keith Murphey
Afterwards, I hung out with Arlen Schumer (after his fine lecture on "The Twilight Zone" original TV series). He was kind enough to treat me to dinner at The Empire Diner. Never been there before, and as promised it had one of the best burgers I have ever had. Special shout out to Brigador Stamback
Saturday:
I had a plan for Saturday. 1) meet Seth Green. Now the thought had occurred to me during the SDCC as Seth had walked right past me (I originally thought that he was a guy who looked like Seth, and then realized that it was him!). I thought, "Hey maybe If I gave him some copies of our best of CD, it might lead somewhere.". Alas, I wasn't ready back then. So today was the day. I went to the Robot Chicken panel, and it was a blast! I managed to get a good seat b/c I actually went into the earlier Cup O' Joe panel. it was basically a "what is coming up in Marvel Comics" panel with an interesting Q&A. I say interesting, because some fans questions were more like complaints. The Marvel guys took a page from the Obama book and was like "I'm sorry" and "it won't happen again". I was impressed with that. Getting back to the Robot Chicken panel...They brought a couple guys from the show most notably Seth Green and Breckin Meyer. All of them were funny and I had a feel that they really wanted to be there and generally are fans of comics and the like. During the panel it was announced that they all would be signing stuff for free on a first com first serve basis but only for an hour right after the panel in a completely different room. So with about 5 minutes to go I took off left the panel to get in line for the signing. Met them (asked Breckin about Rat Race 2, "Never gonna happen he replied."), and gave Seth all of the Cd's.
I honestly believe that he'll listen to them. He also liked the artwork so Kudos to Brian Kong! Once my mission was over, I went around the show floor s'more and then headed out to the Indy After party. It was a great party. Free (great Mark friendly) food, (cash bar tho, but since I don't drink, it's all good) great company, and a performance by a Tool Fist cover band (well, the band didn't actually show, but the Lead singer rocked on, so Kudos to him!).
Sunday:
Sunday I got a super late start. Got to the con around 12:30pm. today was all about Fringe. I had always planned to see the Fringe panel, but because of the special signing area for Seth the day before, I decided to check that area first to gauge the line. At 1pm (the panel was at 2pm) there were about 5 people on the signing line. I was informed that there was going to be a (non-ticket) signing at 3pm. First come, first serve, and they were only signing for an hour. Which was fine. I decided to go to the panel and leave early as I had done the day before. First off, I have to say how impressed I was to see the entire cast from the show. Best thing was that it wasn't announced, so it was a pleasant surprise. Around 2:50pm, I ran out of the room to the signing area. When I got there, the line was longer (about 25-30 people, which wasn't so bad). While on line I met a group of people that were waiting on the line since 1:30 and they were just in front of me. They had no idea there was a fringe panel and had just read the autograph sign upstairs and headed down to the signing area. we talked for a while and then a staffer came along and said (this was a little after 3pm) "there are already 150 people inside the waiting area for signatures there is no guarantee that you will get an autograph." Seems that the original group of and anyone who got there before 1:30 got to go inside while everyone else was waiting outside. So the panel ends late (I know this b/c a huge rush of people came out and get on line (around 3:20pm)) and another announcement was made, "there are 150 people inside already and you may not get an autograph.". Once again fine, I was near the front of the line so I'll take my chances. 4:10pm rolls around and there are now about 10-15 people in front of me (and this is just to the door). Seems alot of people gave up and left the line. During this time information was very light. they should have had someone go to the back of the line and tell them there was no way they would get anything signed, or at very least tell everyone on the line that the chances were slim, or even that we were on the "stand by line". I even tried to use the power of the press pass to just get a photo of them signing other people's stuff (which wouldn't hold up the line or anything) and I was told that FOX said "no press." Now that sucked (but I know it had nothing to do with the NYCC). So at 4:20pm, (keep in mind that no one on the line had been let in the door which led to the actual signing area since I got there, nor the group who was there since 1:30) the guy came out and said, "Not gonna happen." A lot of people were upset. My thoughts is this: once the 150 people were inside, there should have been better communication with the people outside, or just make it a ticketed event (since the entire cast was there).
Oh, Special shout out to Lindsay from C.A.G.!
No comments:
Post a Comment