Comic Con 2010!

Having found a safe haven in San Diego, I gathered up my number 1 gal and together we strolled over to the convention center.  It wasn't hard to find.  You just follow the walking dead:

I wasn't sure what to expect going into our first Comic Con.  I had heard the stories and I was excited to be sure, but I was also a bit intimidated.  I knew there would be countless tables to navigate while fighting a current of fellow nerds, geeks, dorks and encountering the occasional Booth Babe:

 Luckily I had a wily veteran in Kid Shay to lead the way:

And we brought along a couple of our own babes to escort us through pop culture paradise...

The ladies conceded a few photographs and then ditched us in rapid fashion. That left the two of us to wander the convention floor and slaver over piles and piles of comics.  It was awesome watching Josh work the room, handing out copies of his latest book and rubbing elbows with the likes of Bill Amend, Keith Knight, Stephen Notley and Kevin McShane.  

And there were certainly way more hightlights...

-Hilarious panels by cartoonists Jeff Smith, Keith Knight, Berkeley Breathed, Nicholas Gurewitch and zombie writer Max Brooks.

-Berkeley Breathed sharing letters with never before seen drawings by Bill Watterson.

-Josh handing a book to Nicholas Gurewitch, who responded by saying that he kept the previous Falling Rock book in his desk and used it as a reference for drawing desertscapes.  How cool is that?  Totally effing cool!

-Max Brooks, author of World War Z, explaining that he liked his zombies 'relentless and dumb, just like the Tea Party.' 

-Picking up my very own copy of Incredible Change-Bots! and getting it signed by creator Jeffrey Brown.

-Having a chat with artist Nate Powell and getting a signed copy of his beautiful comic book, Swallow me Whole.

-David Hasselhoff on top of a bus singing 'Hooked on a Feeling.'  Bad photo, but yes, that is him:

-Our waitress going absolutely apeshit over seeing Eric Estrada walk by.

-Getting caught up in Green Lantern hype.  Seriously was that staged?

-Ray Bradbury's hard-on for Bo Derek.

-Meeting up with old Ohio U friend, Anne, who wrote for Battlestar Galactica and 24 and produces Smallville:

-Chatting with Anne's husband, Phil, who only designed Iron Man's suit:

-Carla Gugino!

...than there were lowlights:

-Ray Bradbury's hard-on for Ronald Reagan.

-Having an extremely lucid dream at 4 AM about having my flesh chewed off by zombies and not being able to fall back asleep.

-The sorriest gathering of Jesus freaks I've ever seen:

-Accidentally booking our return flight on Saturday instead of Sunday and having to cough up $150 for the switch.

More Comic Con 2010 in pictures

I have no idea what these things are, but I like them

Audrey Hepburn, totally stacked and in a catsuit

Hit-Girl about to kick some douchebag ass

Um, damn

Helen Mirren, by any measure the smartest, sexiest woman at the Con and who I did not actually see, dammit

Yes, I said Helen Mirren was the sexiest

Barf!

Yarr!  Blarrr!  Zombie pirates!

By the Power of Grayskull!

Friends reunited

A nerd rejected

This post is dedicated to the one of the great Clevelanders and comic writers, the late Harvey Pekar.

nwb

Photos by Alex