SDCC: Day One

Breaking News: it's still bloody huge.

I packed a lot into yesterday, and suffered quite a bit of pain for it. First, I met a lot of small press publishers. Now, many small press efforts are amateur hour at best, to be charitable. But I give them credit for at least trying. They are, to a fault, deeply enthusiastic about their comics, and are dying to get them in front of people. For my part, I came back to my room last night with a good dozen small press pamphlets, plus a trade or two. And that doesn't count the trades/graphic novels I got from them, not to mention the serious publishers who passed stuff on to me. After one and a bit of days, I'm already another month down in regards to my review schedule. Woof.

Got to see and talk to some friends/faves yesterday as well. Had the chance to talk to Steve Lieber for a while, and watch him draw an absolutely stunning commission of an archer firing on horseback. The commission was just for an "archer," and as usual, Steve went the extra mile. Awesome. I also hooked up friends Matt and Joe with Steve's recent minis. Matt, Joe and I also spent a short time with friend and fine scribe Tom Spurgeon. Tom has likely forgotten more about comics and their history than most people will ever know. He's also up for an Eisner tonight for his excellent book about Stan Lee. Good luck, Tom!

Also got the chance to chat up Brett Warnock of Top Shelf, the crew at Devil's Due Publishing, and the swell guys at Viper Comics. Old pal Brian Joines was sharing a table with guys like Dan Wickline and Tone Rodriguez, and he was in his usual amusing form. Joines is a guy who is just waiting to bust out, and his story in the recent NOBLE CAUSES: EXTENDED FAMILY #2 was really quite good.

Sat in on the Godzilla panel, and it was a lot of fun. Chris Gore was on the panel, and as usual, he really livened it up. Gore has personality to spare, and he's not a dick about it, which is nice. I was going to stay for Richard Kelly of DONNIE DARKO fame, but I decided to roll through the floor one last time and call it an early day. Hunger and soreness were killing me, and Friday night is always a long one here in SD. Dinner at the Old Spaghetti Company probably tasted better than it actually was, but that's what hunger will do for you...

More tomorrow...

Marc