SDCC: Day Four and The Return

Day four. The end.

This was, I think, the first year that I actually figured out how to enjoy the con for what it is. In the past, I was obsessed with getting things autographed. Beyond that, I worked as a drone for Khepri Comics. What I had never really done is just go, and go with the flow. This year, I was just me: Marc Mason, comics lover, and comics reviewer.

Sunday was actually sort of a weird parallel to Thursday, in that I spent a great deal of time walking through the small press areas and meeting folks who don’t exactly have an exalted space in the Diamond Previews catalogue. Some don’t really deserve that space; some will get it because they do. But to a fault, they are all looking for someone to take notice and look at their book. They are legion.

I also wandered around and spoke to a few creative types like hot Xeric Award winner Sam Hiti (“End Times”) and picked up their books as well.

Bumped into Joss Whedon again on the floor, shortly before we were both headed upstairs to his panel, which was heavily packed. He showed an early trailer for the Firefly movie “Serenity” and then brought out his nine cast members for a lively and amusing Q&A. Whedon once again showed that the real reason the un-powered Xander was such an integral part of the Buffy cast was that it allowed Joss to be a character on the show.

After that, it was downstairs to say goodbye to friends like Chris Ryall, Dirk Deppey and Steven Grant and I was out. While the con closed at 5pm, I vanished by 3:45. My bag was packed again, digging into my shoulder, and I was starving. So it was food and hotel to rest, ending my adventure.

Well, that’s not quite true.

22 trades/graphic novels
28 pamphlets
29 mini-comics
3 magazines
2 prose books
1 DVD

Plus: 10 manga samplers, assorted PR and other freebies, and a package of stuff from Fantagraphics that was waiting for me when I got back today. Not to mention the load of stuff that was still sitting here from before leaving. The real adventure is going to be reading and reviewing all that stuff over the next four months. Stay tuned here and at MoviePoopShoot to see how it turns out.

Mason