Hello, I’m Ben Morse…
…and I’m Tim Stevens…
…and we’re in SAN DIEGO!! And you’re not!!! Unless…you are…in which case we should hang out…because, you know…we’re all here. Anyhow, we’re here in the city of angels for our very first Comic Con International and for the first time 411 will be bringing you semi-live coverage as stuff happens just like the big boys do! And if we see the people from Newsarama…it’s on like neckbone! But every tale has a beginning…
And mine begins in Boston, home of the World champion New England Patriots and the Red Sox, who beat the Mariners…once. I took to the skies from friendly Logan Airport and had a brief layover in Dallas, during which I managed to not be shot and killed (which means Morse-1, Kennedys-0!!! Haha! Oh man…even I’m sorry for that one). After that, I landed in San Diego, sporting a Red Sox hat and sunglasses which, coupled with my movie star good looks made me look like a celebrity trying to lay low. It was at this point that I linked up with my partner in crime…
As for me, my rather unremarkable journey to San Diego began at the ripe early hour of 4:30 AM. Why? Because I care so much for all of you that I would give of myself those precious hours of sleep.
The one (possible) highlight of my early morning jaunt is that on the last leg of the flight, from Atlanta to San Diego, I briefly engaged in conversation (and even more briefly stole the seat) of a man I now believe to be Ex Machina’s artist extraordinaire Tony Harris.
Sadly my sleep deprived mind only put it together after the flight was over so nothing more than idle chit chat passed between us. Mr. Harris, if you are reading this, I am truly sorry for my ignorance. I will be more than happy to accept an autograph or a sketch of some sort as a sign of my contrition.
Thankfully, I was not all fumbles as my bargain hotel shopping yielded Ben and I a rather palatial estate. Go ahead Ben, tell the people all about it. Sing my praises!
Tim may not be an ace reporter when it comes to spotting former Starman artists, but if there’s one thing he’s always on the lookout for, its living arrangements fit for royalty at prices peasants could afford. We checked into the Mission Valley Resort, a charming and sprawling kingdom with three (three!) pools, a 24 hour restaurant (key in our line of work…um, yeah) and a full fitness center (that we probably won’t use).
The only hitch occurred when we realized the computer we brought didn’t have AOL, which we needed in order to bring this to you as I type. So began an epic quest to find an AOL installation disc; tell them all about it, Tim!
After traveling across the country, Ben and I ended up in exactly the place you’d expect: the women’s department at J C Penney’s. And then, the Apple Computer store, and then a trek around the whole of the Fashion Valley Mall. And came up empty handed. Well, not entirely empty handed. We did hit upon a pretty sweet plan that DC should definitely follow. Three short words: New Blood Hardcover. All the characters you loved: Gunfire, Anima, Argus, Loose Cannon, the Blood Pack, etc. gathered together in one gorgeous hardbound volume. No true comic fan would be complete without it.
Then, as is often the case, a crazy old man on a bicycle showed us the way to Best Buy, where we emerged triumphant, AOL disc in hand.
It was now time to face the most daunting task of our lives: the Convention lines!
Even with our recent training for the 2004 Summer Games (which we skipped out on to bring you this coverage) there is no denying we were tired and our legs were sore after walking approximately 20 miles around San Diego looks for that damn disc. So when we saw the daunting multi-block line leading into the massive San Diego Convention Center, Tim of course cried like a little girl.
But Tim stopped blubbering when we realized that as members of the press, we only had a tiny little line to wait in and then the world was our oyster. Despite the nefarious attempts of those Newsarama hooligans to sabotage us with that AOL disc debacle, everything was coming up 411!
It was at this point that we rendezvoused with fellow Team 411 member James “Jamie†Hatton, as well as his lovely girlfriend and some guy he made a documentary on 24 Hour Comic Day with. In fact, the documentary was the reason he was getting press passes, not 411. Since when did Jamie do a documentary? Did he tell anybody he made a documentary? Why didn’t you tell me you made a documentary, Jamie?! Did you know, Tim?
No, I didn’t. I don’t know how to deal with…how to process this. Am I supposed to be hurt, disgusted or both?
Aww, hell, San Diego warms even the cuckolds of my too cold heart. I’ll just be proud.
And my crying was hardly little girl esque. It was a powerful man cry. The cry of a soul struggling to break free of its tormented joints. As a bear cries after awaking from its winter slumber, that was my cry. Just wanted to make that clear.
The lines, while brief, did grant us a chance to scope out our first costumed folks of the Convention. One pleasant young lady choose to emulate Sara Peizzini and rock the Witchblade look while another troop went more traditional with several storm troopers, a Jawa, and an impressive looking Boba Fett.
Ahh, but as we jumped short line to even shorter line, wielded our press pass like a magic talisman against time wasting, costumed fans were not the only ones we encounter. No, we also ran into several creators just itching to hitch their wagon to the 411 express (and a few jealous Pulse rivals looking to engage in fisticuffs. I was willing, Ben rolled into the fetal position and babbled about his “happy placeâ€).
Care to handle the creator cavalcade we encounter, Ben?
No.
Please?
Very well…but before I do, I should note that San Diego is like the nicest city on Earth. I went into some swanky looking restaurant and asked to use the bathroom despite not being a paying customer and was politely shown the location; in New York I would have been shot.
Nonetheless, perhaps the coolest aspect of Comic Con is the sheer number of creators just milling about like average joes, particularly for the likes of Timothy and myself, who have never had the pleasure of meeting any of them. So it was pretty extraordinary when we saw Max Collins of Road to Peridition fame arguing with a security guard who wouldn’t let him into the hall early or turned around in line to spot Mike McKone waiting with his kid. Admittedly we were just totally awestruck at first and couldn’t even manage a “I love your work,†but we got better as the day went on and, I assure you, will overcome our fanboyish glee to bring you the type of coverage Comics Continuum would sell their soul for.
Another reason we didn’t get much time to make small talk with Mr. McKone was that a security guard spotted our press badges and said “you two don’t want to wait in this line†and ushered us to a far shorter one…he also dissed my Red Sox hat, which makes no logical sense seeing as how a)the Padres are in the National League and b)their sucking is no fault of the Sox.
As we entered the great hall, our minds went into a sort of comic book merchandise shock. It was vast and filled with all manner of four color trappings be they creators, comics, posters, DVDs, t-shirts, video games, or toys. It was the world’s biggest toy store meeting a circus all as directed by Tim Burton. Whirring colors, random sound effects, and a steady stream of almost familiar faces danced in and out of our field of vision, long enough to be recognized, but never long enough to be processed. Even now, recalling the first stunned moments of taking it all in, my head aches from it.
It was total sensory overload, that’s for sure. And things didn’t get any less surreal when the first booth we happened upon was none other than the legendary Neal Adams himself. Once we got over the fact that we were standing mere feet from a comic book god, we settled down and listened to the man addressing his onlookers, and boy can Neal weave a good yarn. He was talking about some cover he was working on for Marvel where he had Ant-Man, Hawkeye and Giant Man all in some sort of angle so that they were at different heights but appeared the same size…truth be told it sounded so cool it was really kind of beyond me, but I wish I could have seen it. We’ll never get to though because apparently Marvel thought it was too clever or something…Adams went on to use some colorful language to rip into Marvel’s current trend of splash page-like covers that say nothing about the story inside, which was pretty cool since I know many fans can’t stand that either. He also said in a sarcastic tone “but I guess it’s only fair they don’t trust me, I mean, I’m only Neal Adams.†Neal Adams rocks.
Besides the legendary (and still amazing) Adams, we encountered Todd Nauck, drawing in a way I could only describe as faster than light, Damion Scott setting up in Artist’s Row, Jim Lee snapping photos of fans, and the hot up and comers behind the horror comic The Drowned enjoying their newly published OGN and talking about curious passerbys, their own excitement at being on the Con equal to Ben and I’s. (Well, maybe not mine. Definitely Ben’s though. I always was the more fiery passionate one of our duo). I made sure to drop my business card on the Drowned creators so hopefully an interview with the talented two will be debuting on the site soon as can be.
Over at the Wizard booth, Ben and I were taking home free swag for our vast comic knowledge. Plus, as it turns out, I play a mean air guitar. Or sick. Or maybe just tight. In any case, I assure you, it was most rocking and left Andy Serwin VERY impressed.
But the site of the sweetest action to be had was the DC booth. But I won’t hog the glory on that. Take it away, Bennie good sir.
My passion is flaming…ahem. The DC booth was definitely the most impressive setup we encountered in our travels. Great Michael Turner/Jim Lee/Mike McKone art surrounding a huge circular area containing multiple televisions showing various DC promos as well as which creators are currently on hand to meet, greet and autograph; and kudos to DC for having an all-star creator lineup on hand the first night out that included Brian Azzarello, Jim Lee, Chuck Austen, Howard Porter, Geoff Johns, Rags Morales, Judd Winick and many more. I’m waiting to be impressed by Marvel since they more or less no-showed Preview Night and should be arriving tomorrow.
On our first attempt to hit up the DC creators for some love, we were denied as the shift change was imminent, but we fared better our second go-around. First and foremost, I can say in all heterosexuality and secure in my masculinity that Rags Morales is an extremely good-looking man; he’s like a way more attractive Derek Jeter. Tim feels the same way.
Word, Morales is my boy…or will be.
But Preview Night was coming to a close as we finally got into the DC booth, so we were basically told we got to meet one DC creator and then got the boot. Given Tim & I’s similar taste in favorite comics, we chose our hero, the man who made me a zombie, the great Geoff Johns. Not only did Mr. Johns know who we were and immediately express excitement to see us, he also said that as soon as his final panel gets finished tomorrow, he wants to go out for those beers we proposed as a pipe dream lo those many months ago. Seriously, we could have spent the rest of the day at the San Diego Zoo and this still would have been enough to make it a perfect day.
Is there any better way to end our tale? I think not.
We’ll be back tomorrow with a lot more news, some more inside scoops and stories and, most importantly, Q&A with a drunken Geoff Johns (or at least an account of how our nice chat with Mr. Johns went).
Until then…we have no tagline because we need no tagline!
