Related to that, I was pleased to see in the final information booklet the Comic-Con organization mailed out for this year's convention that as a direct result of the many complaints they had received about conditions during Saturday sessions they had created a new registration choice: A three-day registration option for the Thursday, Friday, and Sunday sessions. This new option includes eligibility for entry to the Wednesday preview night in the exhibits hall, which previously was only available to those who registered for all four days.
Assuming I do have the time available next year, I will definitely use the three-day registration option.
Now, getting to what occurred July 29. The one panel I definitely wanted to go to was one in the morning that was going to discuss the life and work of the late comics artist Jack Kirby. I was especially attracted to this panel because it was going to include Neil Gaiman, who has become one of my favorite writers, both of graphic novels and prose novels and stories. I have recently read his graphic novel Eternals, which is based on ideas and art by Jack Kirby.
I must admit to not having experienced (to my knowledge) Kirby's art, but the Gaiman tie-in was enough of an attraction to make me interested in this panel.
The panel was composed of writer Mark Evanier (who moderated), Gaiman, artist Erik Larsen , writer and artist Darwyn Cooke, and the attorney for Kirby's estate, Paul Levine. Gaiman has a reputation for normally dressing entirely in black, and that held true here. Here is a photo I took of Evanier, Gaiman, and Larsen:
(Apologies about the bad photo - turned out I had my camera incorrectly set for the lighting in the room.)
Before starting the panel discussion Evanier went into the audience to introduce a few people who knew Kirby in person, including his daughter Lisa, who is executer of his estate.
The discussion was very interesting for the fondness and enthusiasm the participants very clearly have for Kirby and his work. Gaiman talked about his working from concepts and characters Kirby had created to write the script for Eternals.
I was interested to note before and after this panel that the area that most of the rooms that panel discussions are held in had been set-up with an eye to improving the flow of foot traffic - this was new for 2007. This area has four corridors that run it's length; they were set-up to alternate as entry and exit corridors, and convention center and security personnel were enforcing their being used as such. I saw there was still a tendency (which I had seen in previous years) for groups to stop and congregate in the corridors for discussions, which can be somewhat disruptive to foot traffic, but I think the basic idea of alternating entry and exit corridors was working.
After completion of the panel about Jack Kirby I went to the Convention Center's Sails Pavilion to sit down at the large number of tables and chairs that are always set up in one area for Comic-Con and ate the lunch I had brought with me.
My plan was to then venture down to the exhibit hall floor and browse the large booths a couple book stores set up each year. One of those booths, for Mile High Comics (which has the same prime location in the exhibit hall every year, right inside some of the main entrance doors) was full with a solid wall of people. The other one, for Comic Relief, was much less jammed so I entered it to look for titles I was interested in, and found nothing. I had thought it likely that was going to be the case, what with all the previous days people would have had to go through the stock these stores had brought, but had thought I might as well try. After that I decided to do some wandering of the hall to see what might catch my eye for photo taking.
The crowds seemed to be just about as heavy as I've experienced in the exhibit hall in previous years.
Full-size statue of Jabba the Hutt, with a model posing as captive Princess Leia.
It's Batman. Made entirely of Legos.
I guess some people just had to touch it to prove to themselves those were Legos!
A Legos Transformer.
One resolution I made after this visit to the exhibit hall is that if I do indeed use the three-day registration next year, I'll probably get the bulk of my shopping and looking around the hall done during the preview night!
After that the only other plan I had was to go to the playing of a video record of the convention's annual masquerade, which occurs Saturday night each year. The manager of the masquerade and some people who work for him took a few questions and complaints (and responded to them) from people who had participated in it the night before, then ran the recording. This was fun, but during it I developed a really nasty headache for some reason, and decided to leave before it ended.
That wraps up this report!
