Another year, another Comic-Con. This was my 6th year at the Comic-Con and yet again, it did not disappoint. For those not in the know, the Comic-Con started as a small gathering of comic book nerds 40 years ago. Since then it has expanded to somewhere around 150,000 people and has changed from just comic books to encompass all things nerdy (they call it “pop culture”, but it’s really the nerdy side of pop).

This year we tried to get ahead of the game and reserve our hotel in February. After a misplaced reservation (on the travel agent’s fault), everything worked out and we got a reservation at the Westin San Diego. A nice hotel within walking distance of the San Diego Convention Center. This was our first year withing walking distance and I think I’m in love. We offset the cost of the room by sardining (SAR-DEEN-ING: to pack like sardines) between 6 to 9 dudes in the room (depending on the night).

On Wednesday night, the Con has “Preview night”, only allowing those with full four day passes and professionals in to see the exhibit hall. We didn’t get to San Diego early enough to check it out, but with a little sweet talking by Kohl, we were able to get our badges that night, allowing us to bypass the line Thursday morning. We also grabbed the schedule and headed back to strategize our attack for the next three days.

There’s wasn’t a panel I was dying to see Thursday morning, so I hit the exhibit floor. This is the crown jewel of the Comic-Con. Thousands of square feet of booths and tables of people showing comic books, art, movies, games, clothing, etc. You could spend the entire 4 days here and not see everything, so when you come across a really impressive artist sketchbook, it’s a similar feeling to finding buried treasure. How do I know? Three words: One Eyed Willie.

In the afternoon, Francisco and I got in line to enter Hall H. Hall H is the largest room at the convention center that Comic-con uses to allow thousands of people (I think around 6000?) to see the biggest (aka most popular) panels at the Con (It’s always about movies). Now is as good a time as any to talk about complaints at the Con. The Comic Convention turned 40 years old this year and has changed significantly over the last 10 years. Films use to be a sidenote to the Con and now define it. There are a number of comic book fans that moan about this, even donning shirts saying “Turn off the TV and read a comic” and stuff like that. But, the Con is selling out, largely in part to the invasion of Hollywood, so I doubt anything is going to change (and to be honest I look forward to some of the panels myself). The newest complaints (namely showing up this year) were specifically aimed at Twilight. Some kids walked around with cardboard signs saying “Twilight ruined Comic-Con”. And here’s the thing: I disagree…for the most part. Comic-Con should be an judge-less outlet for all nerds, regardless of what they are geeking out on. That being said, there is no other property at the Con that had so many fans there solely for the purpose of seeing it. Very few, if any, were there JUST to sneak a peek at some James Cameron’s Avatar footage, or to pick up the new Image United comic, etc. A large number of Twilighters were there SOLELY to go to Hall H to see the Twilight panel. Again, I have no problem with this; as Bobby Brown said, it’s their prerogative. My problem was with the schedule. Last year, a number of Twilight fans camped out all night to get into the room to see last year’s presentation. This year, knowing the obsession, Comic-Con should have scheduled the Twilight panel first thing in the morning, so they could all see what they came to see and those that want to leave after (a large percentage of them) could leave, allowing the rest of the Comic-Con nerds in to see the other panels. Instead, the Twilighters camped out and filled the Hall, blocking the rest of us from seeing the Disney Panel. Were there people people that wanted to see both the Disney panel AND the Twilight panel? Undoubtedly. But were there a large group of people sitting through the Disney panel JUST to see the Twilight panel? You bet. Anyway, sorry about the sidetrack, so we went to Hall H after the Twilight panel and saw 24 minutes of Avatar footage. It’s really heavy on the effects, with entire scenes created with computer graphics. It looks really cool. Not quite “real” but something unique and beautiful. Afterward, we went and ate dinner (Chicken Tikka Masala!) and stood in line for District 9. Not a panel, but for a full length screening of the film with the director and producer in the room. Cisco and I were the last two let into the theater (sorry John ). To read the full review, go to FoxholeFilm.com.

On Friday, the plan was to go into Hall H for most of the day and watch Miyazaki talk abut Ponyo, and panels on 9, District 9, etc., but the line was too long. So we figured out a way to sneak in (for future reference), and headed upstairs to the Image comics panel. Jim Lee, Frank Cho, the writer of ‘Walking Dead’, Todd McFarlane, etc. Then we saw the G4 Attack of the Show panel. It was fun, but nothing really happened. Then we stood in yet another line for the Dollhouse screening of an unaired episode and Q&A with Joss Whedon.  Afterwards we walked the floor for a while, and then headed to dinner (Chicken Tikka Masala!) and back to the Con to watch the Worst Cartoons Ever and Spike and Mike’s Animation Show. A bunch of animation shorts, some bad, some good, and some so bad they’re good.

On Saturday, we walked the floor some more, and then headed to Hall H to see the Ironman 2 panel, expecting to stand in line for a couple hours to get in. The line was really short and as we were standing there, a certain Jimmy Fallon came and shot a segment for his show. Inside, we caught the tail end of the Solomon Kane panel, and the trailer actually looked pretty cool. Then came the Extract panel, the new movie from the writer/director of Office Space.  Then 2012 (looks lame), then Zombieland (looks fun) and finally Ironman 2. The footage was really cool, we saw a scene with Tony Stark defending his Ironman suit from the US Congress and then a few quick cuts of all the stars, including Don Cheadle as Warmachine. I can’t wait to see this film (a year away). Then we went to eat (Chicken Tikka Masala!) and headed back to watch the extended version of the Watchmen with Zack Snyder doing a live commentary over it. but the line was too long, so we slowly made our way back to the hotel. We ended playing a few games of Mafia.

On Sunday, we checked out of the hotel, tied up a few loose ends at the Con and headed home. It was another great trip and I’m already looking forward to next year I didn’t take enough video or pictures to do a full vacation video, so here’s a mishmash of this year’s Con:

Comic Con 2009 from Todd Hamilton on Vimeo.