Here is a reply to a post made on reddit (http://www.reddit.com/r/comiccon/comments/okvuj/first_time_going_to_sdcc/) A kid was asking for advice for their first con. This is probably all said elswhere and there is other advice on that reddit page. But here are some additional ideas from us:

Comic-con can be overwhelming your first time in. Don’t let it get to you. If you get sensory overload, just go for a walk and come back. Or sit down for a minute. Just catch your breath.

If you dont get into a panel that you really want to see, try checking out one you wouldn’t normally consider. You might be surprised by what you learn. 

If you dont have a specific thing on your agenda and free time, just walk around. There are tons of things to see that you might miss. Especially in the indie area. Also, at some small press booths, big names will do signings for some of their lesser known books. Great way to get stuff signed or sketches. 

Def watch twitter and other sites like cinemamacula said. 

When in line for a long time, if the opportunity is there, get to know the people around you. It never hurts to make a new friend. 

Another good food spot to check is gaslamp pizza. A few blocks away, they always do a comic-con special where you get a huge slice of (really good) pizza and a soda for $6 or so. 

Your first time at comic-con is always awesome and a little disappointing because you cant do everything you want. But there will always be detailed reviews of everything. 

look for stuff on bleedingcool.com or wherethepartyat.co (which i have contributed to. not advertising, just saying we try to have fun and cover a lot)

Check the stuff around town. Some pushy jerk is at every corner handing out a flier for something. Some of it turns out to be cool. 

If you are flying in to the event, consider giving yourself time on your departing day to mail some stuff back to yourself. That way you arent adding a lot of weight to your luggage or paying for a second bag or whatever. 

Take some water but careful not to put it where it will get your stuff wet in a backpack or bag. i have had that problem. 

If you have the cash and really want an awesome sketch from someone consider buying a commission piece. You can usually do that a few weeks before the convention and then pick it up there. 

Some artists and writers charge for sketches or signings. DON’T get put off by this. This is how these people make a living. They usually have to pay their own insurance and the like. 

If you want an exclusive toy or something like that, check websites before the convention. Some places, like mattycollector.com, will presale and then you can pick up your item at the con. That way you aren’t in line for 2 hours for something that might sell out for the day. 

If you have a hole in a run of books that you want filled make a list. 

If what you want is too much, but the seller has multiples,and you aren’t afraid to miss out, wait till sunday to buy. A lot of people start marking things way down. 

lastly (for now) don’t forget why you are there. Some people think its ok to make fun of others while you are there. There are some goofy people and odd looking folks. But you are all there for the same reason. You are all there to have fun. This is a safe environment for fans of all sorts of things. Dont make fun of the trekkers, or furries, or gamers, or fat wolverines, or kids with the “free hugs” signs, or the half naked ladies that shouldnt be showing anything. They are all there having a good time and dont need to be laughed at. 

Here is a shot from the stands of a Gotham City Rogues football game. Being filmed for Dark Knight Rises right now.

More cosplay photos!!!!!

Cosplay photos from Comic-Con 2011. More to come soon.

Jeff Lemire is an award-winning Canadian cartoonist, and the author of the Essex County, Sweet Tooth and The Nobody. Lemire is known for his moody, humanistic stories and sketchy, cinematic, art style.

Briefs from the panel:

Lemire had a lonely childhood that allowed him lots of time to think, imagine and craft ideas out of the desolate landscape he was immersed in. The isolation Lemire experienced growing up came through strong in his debut comic book – Essex County (originally three volumes, now available as an omnibus). The geographical – and by correlation, emotional - solitude communicated in Essex County  was relevant enough to get it voted into the top five essential Canadian reads of the decade, only to be voted off in the final round due to the fact that it had pictures in it -watch the video here. John Dykstra is slated to make his directorial debut in adapting the comic for the big screen.

Lemire has been enjoying writing Sweet Tooth in part due to its apocalyptic setting. According to the author, end of the world scenarios bring out the core of the characters like no other stories do. Sweet Tooth in particular has been interesting due to the juxposition of its two main characters – Gus, a complete innocent and Jepperd, a ruined, scared drifter.Throughout the story Jepperd and Gus are slated to move in opposite directions emotionally, and eventually switch places mentally.

Due to the success of the series Jeff has been able to develop threads of the story he hadn’t planned on delving into initially – IE Project Ever Green, the plague’s ties to Inuit culture and various other super natural elements.

Too keep things fresh Lemire is going to bring on Rafael Albuquerque to handle the art for part of the series. Jeff has been surprised with the prosperity of Sweet Tooth; he only expected it to run nine issues. He said to expect a conclusion around issue fifty.

Jeff’s new Frankenstein series will place the monster at various spots in time, showing us how he adapts to various environments such as 1920’s America and the Vietnam War. Each piece of Frank’s body will possess a specific usable trait left over from its former owner.

Despite the dark subject matter in his work, Jeff insists that he’s had a good life – no trauma has contributed to his creative process.

Our fancy pants plaid shirt wearing (he has 72 of them!) pal, Ryan, took some awesome photos at SDCC ‘11 this year! Here’s a slideshow. Take a look.

Wrecked and still partying. What a champ.

We had another great time at the Hard Rock last night. More free booze was had via Entertainment Weekly. They had demos running of Batman: Arkham City. Some of the developers sat down with us and walked me through it. It looks like it’s going to be a hell of a game. Here are some shitty photos.

Crime fightin’

Aaron and Keith in our Bungalow

Hooch

Grant Morrison and Deepak Chopra got together this morning to talk about the philosophy of superheroes and their relevancy and impact on society. I’m really hung over and I’m not smart enough to peace interpret their bat shit insanity so you just get bullet points to interpret however you please.

Deepak Chopra

• Myth is the womb of creation
• We can’t imagine the infinite
• Gods are not external beings - they are expressions of ourselves
• We all have a passion that dreams of the impossible
• Impossibility is our longing and desire
• Impossible is a word for what hasn’t happened yet
• Creating mental images is the first thing an infant is able to
• Superheroes represent the capacity for the extraordinary
• Non local correlation is a theory that states everything is connected instantaneously. It exists outside space time - this plane is where our dormant super powers exist
• Our collective mind is becoming more entangled
• Our tribal nature is the cause of war

Grant Morrison

• Superheroes are a response to the atom bomb
• Imagination transcends the atom bomb
• Human beings are driven by the stories they tell
• Superman is an enemy of Industrialization - he is a manifestation of the inner self – IE the bright colors, capes, futurist individuality
• Lightning flashes are everywhere in comics – they symbolize a connection between the material and spiritual world
• Comics capture a primal element like no other literature does
• You can embody fear and potential as characters
• Creating a visualization of a personal issue as a comic villain then pitting it against a superhero will conquer a problem
• Comics engage both sides of brain – unlike film or traditional literature
• Superheroes are the alternative to the apocalypse
• The cell phone is a god device – it allows access to the planetary database
• Radio telepathic implants will manifest in our lifetime
• We are all the one - the individual is the singular consciousness

Gotham Chopra

• In the absence of heroes madness insures
• Superheroes are metaphors for our own personal stories

It sounded like Deepak Chopra was just making up everything he said on the fly. At the panel’s conclusion he lead a three minute meditation where he taught us how to be super heroes. I don’t feel particularly super though.

I wrote this yesterday but Tumblr was down, so I couldn’t post it. I’m still hungover.

Batman Year One – the animated adaptation of Millar and Mazzucchelli’s seminal comic of the same name - is slated to come out in October. Hopefully that will give creative team behind the film time to clean up the mess of a movie the slapped together. It seems like it’d be hard to fuck up such a water tight story but somehow the crew behind Year One managed to do just that.

I think it will be a long time before DC’s animated output will be able to remove itself from beneath the shadow of Bruce Timm and Paul Dini. In this instance it was hard not to think about what their approach would have been when considering how shitty this movie was.

Year One was very faithful to the source material. Excusing a few small changes it looks like they used Mazzucchelli’s art as a story board for the movie. The problem resulting from that is that they didn’t add anything substantial to the story. Consequently the flow between scenes was strained which contributed to a rickety narrative.

 Periphery characters received insufficient development leaving those unfamiliar with Batman lore little to no information about the motivations and drive of Catwoman, Harvey Dent and etc.

The voice acting was stale and emotionless. The animation was stiff, unorganic and unimaginative.

2/5