It’s the obligatory Comic Con post! Woo! Epically long post apparently. Sorry about that.

For those who have never been, San Diego Comic Con is this giant, nerdy thing that invades downtown San Diego every July. It has spilled out from the Convention Center to now encompass what is effectively the entire Gaslamp area of town. There are sweaty nerds, celebrities, all sorts of costumes. There are industry folks there for work and fanboys there to squee. It’s hot and kinda smells funny.

ANYWAY. This year. Recap thing.

I once again failed at planning and my friend who I owe forever good friend came through with a last minute extra pass. One of these years I will actually register myself. I swear. Until then, Mr. You-Know-Who-You-Are, I will do my best to hook you up with free comics. And maybe beers.

Sadly I couldn’t take off work so I missed Thursday and Friday. Which means I missed pretty much every panel I had any interest in going to. I’m not huge into the panels. To Hall H I say: F’ that noise. It seems pointless to me to spend your entire day waiting in line so you can then sit in a chair for more hours, listen to stuff that will soon make its way to the internet or be released in theaters or air on TV or whatever, and in the meantime miss EVERYTHING ELSE that’s going on. Sure, I love Doctor Who. I don’t love Doctor Who enough to start waiting in line at 9 AM for a panel that doesn’t happen until 3 PM. Just sayin. (Plus, I already got to see Matt Smith and Karen Gillan at the Nerdist Podcast the night before. Take that bitches!)

I made it to SD around 7 Friday night, had dinner with my family, and then wandered off to find friends.

Friday night was really just catching up with friends, meeting other industry folks, spying George R.R. Martin and somehow resisting the urge to squee at him, avoiding a guy dressed as the Joker who seemed crazy in a not fun way, meeting other friends, and yeah. Eventually sleep happened?

Sleep isn’t really a part of the whole Comic Con thing.

Saturday I dragged myself over to the convention center relatively early to pick up my badge. Ran into another friend. Wandered the floor, and then ran away from the insane crowd for food. Tip: Don’t eat at the convention center. There are so many awesome and delicious places in downtown to eat, in all price ranges, that it’s much better to take a break and get some real food. The people watching is just as good and it’s nice to get to see and support other spots in the city. San Diego is beautiful. It should be enjoyed.

Looking out behind the Convention Center.

Saturday afternoon I returned to the floor, successfully stalked Ben Templesmith, Peter S. Beagle, and my friends at Mile High Comics. I didn’t buy anything (the one thing I was looking for was already sold out) but half of the fun is just browsing around. I like to do more buying on Sunday. Better deals if you have the time to stick around. Unless you are looking for something specific, then you should buy it early. Lots of popular stuff sells out.

Saturday night I went to the Nerdist Podcast at Fourth & B. Which, hi, was amazing. Chris Hardwick, you are hilarious. I really do love the podcast. It’s one of the things I listened to a lot while I was driving across the country all fall. So Saturday’s guests were, as I mentioned, Matt Smith and Karen Gillan. And then special secret surprise guest Wil Wheaton (Wil, I love you too!). Plus of course the always awesome Matt Mira and Jonah Ray. And here it is! Seriously, check out Nerdist and listen to this ASAP!

Terrible pic of the Nerdist Podcast. I promise, Wil Wheaton is there.

The two other highlights of Saturday night were spazzing out at Nathan Fillion (um, sorry about that) and meeting George R.R. Martin. I saw Martin again and this time it was in a much more appropriate setting to approach and say Hi. He was lovely and wonderful and it was such a pleasure to be able to say how much I appreciate his work. Cause I do. And then I almost spazzed out again when he asked if I wanted to meet one of the cast members from the HBO show. Who happened to be standing right behind me (there was a tall person in my way, or I may have noticed). So George R.R. Martin introduced me to Kit Harington otherwise known as Jon Snow, the Bastard. Ummmmmmmmm. What do I say to that? One of the best moments ever? Yes! Kit is also lovely and was brilliant to talk to. Really. One of the best moments ever.

Back to Nathan Fillion for just a second. Normally, I really don’t approach actors for pictures and things. Cause it feels so weird. I work with these people. And they really are just people. Can you imagine having your conversations, meals, trips to the grocery, any moment you are out in public, constantly being interrupted as people ask you for pictures or autographs or whatever? I know that’s part of the deal, especially somewhere like Comic Con when you’re surrounded by fans, but still. It’s one thing for me to go to a signing and grab an autograph, it’s another to just go up to someone at a social event and squee. I would probably not get hired for jobs if I made a habit of doing that.

I made an exception for Nathan Fillion cause dude. He’s freakin’ Captain Malcom Reynolds. And Castle. And Capt. Hammer. Naturally the second I said “Excuse me” and got his attention my brain completely stopped working and I had no idea how to behave like a rational human being anymore. I rambled something incoherent about “sorry for bothering you I’m a crazy fangirl.” And then I literally froze. Thank you, Nathan Fillion, for being so sweet and patient with my spazz out. And reminding me that I was holding a camera and that yes, I would love a picture.

It’s sort of funny, but I think we all have these fanboy moments. At the podcast earlier in the night, they were talking about meeting their heroes (the guys from MST3K! I would spazz out there too!) and how even they spazzed. So, I mean, if Chris Hardwick and Jonah Ray can make asses of themselves, it’s okay if I do too? It was bound to happen sooner or later.

And man, this picture is so worth it.

So Saturday was pretty good.

Sunday was more of wandering the floor, actually buying stuff this time, almost running into (literally, I almost stepped on her) Felicia Day, saying hi to other people I know/have met before, going to the one panel I made it to all Con – Axe Cop. Adorable. Escaping for food with people. And then escaping San Diego all together.

Highlights of Sunday would be saying hi Malachai & Ethan Nicolle, the guys behind Axe Cop; being reintroduced to Eric Powell, creator of The Goon (we met briefly two years ago but you meet a lot of people briefly at these things); buying this adorable print of a skeleton boy with a bunch of balloons; and getting to hang out with friends who I mostly only get to hang out with at Comic Con.

Does it work to say “And that was it?” Cause I feel like that’s kinda an understatement. It was a lot. I saw a lot of people, missed even more, spent a lot of time nerding out, and had an amazing weekend.

Comic Con for me really is all about meeting up with friends, sharing these nerdy moments, and discovering new things to love. It’s wonderful to get to interact with the creators. The movies and the video games and the free stuff are cool and all. But it’s still, at its heart, about the comics. I walked away with several new books to read, dozens more added to my “to read” list, and a few good pictures. Will I keep going to Comic Con as it continues to be more and more over run by Hollywood and whatever else has nothing to do with comics (Glee, I’m looking at you)? Sure. As long as I can go, meet other people who share my love for things nerd, and find new things to geek out about. It’s insane but so far the insanity has been worth it.

And now I’m going to get back to real life. Until next year. Or, at least, I’m going to get some sleep. It’s a start.

Soon to come – pictures! I managed to take a few. At least, I did better than past years…