What an adventure! = Comic Con 2013

What a day! Every summer, I've been trotting down to San Diego for the ComicCon. It's really changed over the last ten years. When I first started going there was hardly a female person in sight. Now about half the folks are girls and not just girlfriends dragged along.

"Women 18 or older represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (31%) than boys age 17 or younger (19%)" ~ These statistics are pulled from the ESA report Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry.

So it is exciting to me to see women dressing up, playing games, buying comics, writing comics and books, and generally having a good time. For one thing it helps me blend in.

I took the train down with The Legends of Animation... that's Bob Singer, Art Leonardi, Iraj Paran, and Wille Ito.

The Legendary Animators of Classic '60s Cartoons
Legendary and award-winning animators Bob Singer (character and background designer, Bugs Bunny/Scooby Doo), Art Leonardi (designer/director, Pink Panther),Willie Ito (layout artist/Bugs Bunny, Flintstones), and Iraj Paran (character and title designer, Super Friends, Josie and the Pussycats), share their vast experience shaping animation history and creating hundreds of classic characters and cartoons we love from Disney, Warner Brothers, and Hanna Barbera, with over 100 years of experience among them.

 The lovely lady in this photo is Hiva Paran, who is one of the nicest people on the planet.

After taking the Orange line instead of the Green line and getting lost, we finally got to the Convention Center. This is Art doing his best "where the heck are we?" face. He had everyone on the trolley in stitches. Many thanks to all the kind folks who helped us get turned around and back in the right direction. 

 One of my favorite things is the people who cosplay and dress up as their favorite characters. This group of Classic X-Men was awesome.

Brienne of Tarth from Game of Thrones was epic, complete with wooden sword and neck wound.

I"m not sure who this Superhero is... any ideas?

 I checked out the Warhammer booth for limited edition show specials for the Boy.... because I'm THE BEST MOM EVER! Why, might you ask? Because I fought my way to the Hasbro booth to ask about Magic the Gathering cards and these words actually came out of my mouth...

"Uh, hi, do you have any Alternate Art cards of Garruk Caller of Beasts?"

Nope, they were sold out. 

This panel of the Big Bang Theory as Keane paintings was cool.

As was "Geek Chic" truly droolworthy custom made furniture for gamers. www.geekchichq.com

I had a pleasant chat with artist and weapon designer John Chalfant. www.jchalfant.com

It's the 20th Anniversary of The Sandman this year. I love Neil Gaiman's stuff, he's the hardest working writer in town.

 I also got to meet Jeanne C Stein and Samantha Sommersky who make up the writing team of S. J. Harper. Here they are with their new book, Cursed.

 The highlight of course was the Legends of Animation Panel. The room was packed and the guys were so funny. An hour was way too short to hear these wonderful artists talk about their experiences as animators for Hanna Barbara, Disney, Warner Brothers and UPA.

Leslie Combemale of the ARTINSIGHTS Animation and Film gallery did a wonderful job of moderating the panel.

Afterwards we had a delicious dinner at the Marriot Hotel in our own private room. Swanky! That's Michael H. Payne on the far right, author of "The Blood Jaguar"

Bob had the tallest hamburger in the history of food.

Then like Cinderella, the ball was over and we took the long train ride back home. Willie said that he had a long list of chores and gardening waiting for him, but that it was nice to be a star for a day. I agree. I had fun. Thank you ComicCon, see you next year!


"The Brigadoon-ish village of Comic-Con becomes more tangible each hour as it slips out of its long sleep to emerge into the sunlight." ~ Larry Marder