Comic Con was a little different this year. Okay, it’s a little different every year. Sometimes a lot different. But what made this year special, and we say that with all its full implications, was that we decided it was worth our while to leave in the middle of booth set up Tuesday evening to race over to Mysterious Galaxy to meet Neil Gaiman.
Our friend Patrick, the store manager, sped around efficiently herding the rapidly accumulating masses of Gaiman fans. Patrick and staff were successful in that we all managed to pick up our pre-purchased books, wait comfortably in a swiftly moving, organized line, and actually meet Neil Gaiman (wow!) while getting 2 more of our books signed (each!). As usual, we ran into some of our fellow book buddies who join us in the hunt for cool books and signatures. This time, we ran into Mark, Vlad, and Jeramie & Naomi. Neil Gaiman was great. He signed quickly which kept the line moving, but not so quickly as to not take a moment to say hi and chat about Comic Con, which he sadly did not think he would be able to attend due to his obligations with Clarion at UCSD.
Neil Gaiman signing at Mysterious Galaxy
So we got stuff signed. Cool. But we were way behind in setting up our booth. YIKES. And, this year we had brought too much stuff, so Bill had a hell of a time sorting out what he did and didn’t want in the booth while our faithful caretakers, butt-kicker and top supporter Dan, his wife Amy, and this year our buddy JT, filled boxes with over stock all day Wednesday and carted them away. They alphabetized on their knees for hours, moving books around, zip tying bookshelves together, and somehow, by 5 pm on Wednesday, we had a somewhat presentable booth for the Comic Con Preview night crowd. Okay, not quite presentable, but ready or not, the doors opened to 1000’s of fans.
2nd picture of booth during set up
Preview night was also special for Bill in that his mom Ayako came to Comic Con for her first time ever. Of course, Bill was still madly setting up the booth, but I was happy to walk my new mother-in-law around before the doors opened. I think she was pretty blown away by the shear size of the convention center and the fabulous huge booths. She figured out quickly (a little too quickly) the concept of giveaways, procured a bag and began her fill. However, when she saw the mass of humanity (okay, fans, whatever) pressing at the glass doors, longing to gain entry, she decided it was time to bail. Like NOW, before that soon to be stampede actually hull breached to come anywhere near her. So she hugged us good-bye and disappeared into the, well, broad daylight. She had no idea Bill had been working this con for close to 30 years. Before she left, she slipped me a little package and told me to keep it safe. I opened it to find Bill’s tiny tiny little baby bracelet he wore when he was new born. Now THAT was a tear jerker.
Being the dealers that we are, we did not see much of the con except for our booth, the bathrooms, and our booth, but lots of friends stopped by. Craig Miller, Greg Bear, Brent Anderson, David Gerrold, Terry & Betty, Nancy Holder, Kevin Eastman, Nathan “Toucan Slayer” Long, Soulgeek’s Dino Andrade & Casey, Susie from Nestle, Cliff from the One Ring.
My zoo friend Corinna came by for a few minutes since her husband Gabriel was busy doing a signing of his own. Artist and fellow magician James Burks, Ken Estes, and magician Dave (Spino) & Colleen, and many more. If we forgot you, we’re sorry, we’re lame, send us an email with your website and we’ll put you in too! Holy cow, we have so many kick ass talented friends!
Stephenie Meyer was the big craze this year (last year it was the final Potter book and the latest movie) so we were bombarded by 100’s of girls ages 10-22 who drooled over Bill’s signed 1st edition 1st printing Twilight Trilogy. Which is still for sale, by the way. Most Meyers fans are not yet employed….
Our booth neighbors were great again this year. Things From Another World has been our neighbor for the past 4 years now and we’ve got each other’s backs in that hectic environment. On the other side, we had new neighbors who we are told will be there again next year. They were delightful…. Girls Drawing Girls. Way cute costumes. We had manga chicks, a mermaid and even a fembot, complete with little silver guns pointing out from her, well, guns. I found out later, and nearly hurt myself laughing, that her little guns looked oddly familiar because they were made from tampons. I am not kidding.
100,000 plus people later, Sunday finally rolled around, and therefore so did Dan, Amy and JT who helped pack us up and load the cargo van. We were out of there in record time and found delightful dinner digs deep in downtown San Diego. It was really hard to leave the next day, but we had to have the van back by 3 pm in West LA, and alas, we were out of vacation time. We’ll spend some quality time with Dan & Amy when we’re not in convention mode… we’re thinking Sea World, or San Diego Zoo…
Until our next adventure….
P~
Tags: , Comic Con
