Thursday, July 14, 2005

Comic Con - Day One

I take back my previously positive comments about JetBlue. We got stuck there for three and a half hours due to mechanical trouble, gate changes and weather. Then when we were on the plane and in the air, the always ominous "Is there a doctor on onboard?" question came over the intercom. Seems some guy got sick in the bathroom and couldn't get up or get out. So they closed the bathrooms in the back of the plane for the rest of the flight! We couldn't get off the plane when we landed either as paramedics had to get on to help this guy out. Oh, well... at least we made it safely.

Check in was smooth, which was good. Yasuhiro Nightow, creator of Trigun, was checking in at the same time so I got to catch up with him, which was cool. Trigun slowly crawls to its end in Japan still. The room is nice, TS3 and I have a nice view of the pool. We walked over to the show to get our badges which was a mess. We got in the Professional Badge Pick-Up line, which was long and slow as hell. But right next door, the On-Site Pro Registration was quick and speedy. So basically, those of us who took the time and pre-regged were getting screwed with a huge wait. After waiting an hour, I switched lines and got my badge in less than 5 minutes. The con really has to do something to fix that.

The show itself is bigger than ever. One thing I did notice though is the Hollywood presence seems to be toned down this year, and there appears to be a larger focus on comics again, as it should be. Boatloads of creators here already. Lots of hand shaking and catching up with people. As everyone wants to know "What are you doing these days now that you left Marvel?", I think I'll just print up an explanation to save time. I think I must gave been asked that question at least 100 times yesterday.

Oops, look at the time. Lots more to talk about but I gotta run...

1 comment:

Scott Sackett said...

Hey C.B.
It was great to talk to you at San Diego, though I took up more of your time then I had a right to!

I agree San Diego was VERY disorganized this year. I'm thinking the con is outgrowing the staff's ability to manage it. I've heard good things about WonderCon...