2002 Comic Con Report:

July 31 -

    Got on the highway going south at about 10, since I had to stop and the bank, got something from the store and fill up the gas tank. It took me 8 hours to cover the 514 mile trip to the hotel. I stopped once for gas and two small rest stops. Of course when I got into L.A., I hit a major traffic jam. Took me one hour to go maybe 9 miles. After I got to San Diego, I found the hotel by dumb luck since the map quest directions were giving me bad street names (like adding west into the street name and the street doesn't have West in the title). A few minutes after I arrived at the hotel, the roomies showed up. After that, went to the convention center and got the badges. I'll say one thing: that place was huge!

Aug. 1 -

    I got up around 7 and they crawled out of bed around 8 or so. After everybody taking their showers, we went downstairs and got breakfast. Then we took the shuttle to the Convention center. We got to be on the Pink route (why pink damn it?!?). Saw the huge line of people who were waiting to get their badges or register for the con. I would say the line had about 2000 or so people in it.

    After we went inside, we started at one end and worked our way up and down each row. After a bit, we ran into the booth being run by Aimee Major, Steph, Jen Anderson, and another artist. They had put together their own little preview comic book. And they even did little sketches in it. I picked up a pair of pins. One of Kenshin and one of Filia. I put them on the bottom of my badge, next to a Gargoyles pin. Also got a button, that says, "Whole World's Insane."

    After that, got lunch with the roomies, then they got massages. Since I didn't go for one, they told me to be back in 30 minutes. I wandered over and talked to Steph for a bit. Went back and found them gone. I circled the area for 10 minutes and never saw them again until later that night.

Aug. 2 -

    The morning went the same as the previous morning. Went to see a panel about how they did the make-up for the Orc's in the LOTR movies. The roomies had to take care of business. So I waited outside the bathrooms for over 20 minutes and never saw them again until later that night. Anybody see a pattern yet?

    Went back to the booth and started to pay Steph off for a Princess Mononoke cel I was buying from her. Also had her do a sketch of my garg character, Chaos. I love the 'bad-ass' expression she gave him.

    Went to hunt for the group some more, but had no luck. Picked up another Gargoyles cel for my collection. Oh, got a pair of t-shirts made by Jen, since she brought her shirt press with her. On one was the Chaos image done by Karine. The other had my Puppy Pack character, Shaun Pup on it. The Puppy Pack one is the one with the "You know it's possible to be too much of a geek" comment. Wandered around for a bit and went back to the hotel. Ran into the roomies once again and we got dinner.

Aug. 3 -

    Got to have breakfast with the guy who played Merry in LOTR. Went back to the hotel before hitting the Con again. Got there and met up with Cindy (Eden). We walked and talked for a bit, then met up with Patrick. From there, got lunch, then wandered around some more. Oh, while we were getting lunch, the employee behind the counter looked at me and said, "You look familiar."

    I blinked and probably formed a stunned look. I know I was stunned. "I do? This is my first time here."

    "You sure?"

    "Yeah. I must have one of those faces."

    Cindy looked at me. "Yeah, you must have." Or something along that line. Neither one of us can remember.

    We got some pizza for lunch. We didn't finish it off, so we took the left over to Aimee, Steph, and Jen booth and gave it to them. Cindy went to meet up with a few other friends and I took to walking around. I picked up a Scooby Doo cel, along with one from 3 x 3 Eyes. Also got Aimee to do a sketch of Chaos. Patrick, Cindy, Jen and I were supposed to get together and dress up as some Indiana Jones characters for the masquerade, but we were too tired. So, I went back to the hotel and worked on some writing, while watching the tube.

Aug. 4 -

    Last day. Checked out and had breakfast once again. They were headed home, while I was staying for another couple nights. I was glad when we parted ways. Walked around for a bit, before wandering back to the booth. Ended up taking it over so Aimee could walk around. I helped them sell three comics and a pair of prints, which made them happy. Got to run into Greg Weisman, who signed my 3 x 3 Eyes cel. Also got to run into Cripsin Freeman and his girlfriend, Izobel (sp?). Both of them remembered me from the 2001 Gathering. Wow.

    Ran into somebody else from the Gargoyles fandom, but I can't remember the name. He lives down in San Diego and works on video games, which is neat. And for a few hours, Greg, Steph, Jen and I talked about different things. Once 7 rolled around I had to part with them and checked into to my hotel room.

Aug. 5 -

    Recovery day. I stayed at the hotel all day and worked on writing. I did want to see the San Diego Zoo, but I was way too tired to do so. Maybe next year I will. Of course, next year I'll try to hit Sea World San Diego as well. It's the only one I haven't been to.

Aug. 6 -

    Started my trip home. Took me 7 and half hours to get home. There was a lot less traffic. Stopped for gas twice and once for bathroom break. I'm just glad I got the New Beetle, it handled the Grapevine better than my older car.

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The pictures.

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