Now that San Diego Comic-Con 2013 is over it is time for me to start going through the 3000+ photos I took and process my feelings, impressions and memories of an amazing Con. Normally I have the time and energy to do more of these updates during SDCC but this year was such a wildly busy time that by the time I would get back to the hotel each night I would manage to turn on the Mac and doze off shortly afterwards. Now to hope I can remember all the magic, all the insanity and all the OMG moments. But to make it easier I will do it by day so here is Preview Night.
For many this is a night to run around and purchase exclusives that might not be available later, and considering the lines at some of the booths I can believe that even by the next day some might no longer be available. For me, Preview Night is about seeing friends often not seen since the previous SDCC. This year it was also, about meeting in person many of the professionals that I have been connecting with through Twitter or Facebook this past year. Somehow that also means fewer photos than from most preview nights.
This year after picking up my badge I headed up to the Sails Pavilion to hang out with Terry of Metal Life Magazine. Time to catch up as well as plan a little for our coverage of SDCC. Discussion of what each of us has in mind for coverage as well as when/where to meet the next day for a shoot that was on the scheduled for the first thing in the morning. Once the doors opened we headed down to our traditional first stop, Broadsword Comics to see Holly Golightly and Jim Balent, this year we only caught Holly there when we hit the floor but that to me meant that SDCC really had started.
From there we split up to start our con coverage and exploration. My next stop has also become a tradition for me, time to stop by Billy Tucci’s booth. Not only did h make me feel good by noticing and commenting on my hair (hey it might be a little thing but it still can make a girl feel good :P) We chatted for a bit as I was curious about some news he had shared last year. Though I would have loved to have heard that Shi was closer to seeing the big screen, seeing and hearing him so happy about where he is with himself and his art was worth the disappointment in the status of a movie. But then again, by now I’ve come to understand from the various pros that are looking to get their properties to the big (or small) screen that these deals don’t always come together the way they wish (or that their fans hope for) Stay happy Billy, it looks good on you.
From there it was on to Top Cow, Archaia, IDW and even Marvel Live to say hi to or wave at the people I know there. As I mentioned before some of the booths were madhouses as people were there to pick up exclusives and this definitely described the IDW booth. Sadly that meant that I was also unable to pick an item up for a friend of mine (which I didn’t know how I was going to hide while walking around because… My Little Pony just is not me LOL).
I did however manage to meet Mel Caylo at Archaia which was on my list to make sure I accomplished. Helps to meet the people you are dealing with online in person when possible so I was very happy to have a face to put with the name. As the booth was busy and so was Mel it was a quick meet before moving on to see the folks at Top Cow.
Elena at Top Cow was nice enough to help me find Ryan (AgentM) Penagos at the Marvel Live area so that I could nee him in person as I had only tweeted with him before. So now I have met the man of many seeekrits in person. As he was always busy when I was over there I never had the chance to try to get any of those seeekrits revealed. The proximity of the Marvel booth to the Top Cow booth meant that I was around Marvel much more than in most years.
After meeting AgentM, Elena and I fought the crowds to make our way across the convention hall to a booth she needed to get to as she had to pick up her wristband or ticket or something for the David Duchovny signing while at the booth spotted Brent Spiner at that booth. Sadly he was to busy for me to sneak in so that I could say that I had shaken the hand of Data. Maybe next year.
While Elena took care of getting what she needed done at that booth I took off for yet another SDCC tradition for me, saying hi to Monte M Moore, (the artist that created Vixenation for me and thus gave birth to my logo art). Was looking forward to giving him one of the business cards, as he hadn’t seen how she came out printed on the cards. Loved his reaction to how she printed with the colors inverted from the original art. He had originally drawn her as a black on white not a white on black piece.
Then it was back to Top Cow to see more people including meeting Stjepan Sejic and his wife Linda. After waiting patiently while Stjepan finished a sketch for somebody else, before I could step in to say hi, Matt Hawkins starts chatting with him. After letting him do this for a few moments it was time to give Matt a hard time about jumping in like that after I had been waiting so patiently. LOL Luckily we get along so we got a bit of a laugh as he turns to introduce me. Love Stjepan and Linda, nothing like meeting a couple with a wacky sense of humor that you just instantly end up liking. Knowing that Stjepan had 4 1/2 days of sketching and signing ahead of him I wasn’t going to ask for a sketch but Stjepan reminded me that he had said he wouldn’t leave me hanging so my first sketch from this year’s SDCC was a Wolverine by him. Very happy with this sketch 🙂 Thank you Stjepan!
Hung out for awhile longer but then it hit me, the mad prep to get to Preview Night, even though I made a point of remembering to eat earlier in the day, suddenly was drained and light headed so headed out looking for a spot to sit down and just chill and rehydrate until the lightheadedness passed. Fortunately this was close to the end of the night as when I went to go back in I was told the floor was closing so instead it was off to find the shuttle back to the hotel. First time I have had to wait over 30 minutes to catch a shuttle at SDCC. The lines were insane. But it worked out to sitting and chatting with a girl that flew up from Brazil for SDCC.
