by Chris Eaton-
Saturday started out with the Realm gang sans myself heading to a screening of some Boondock Saints 2 footage, and after party.
I enter the floor and being my day at roughly 11 am.
Saturday at Con was actually not as bad as the other two days, much like last years Con. It seems that people get the hint that Saturday is hell bound and mostly stay away.
I get a chance to get some nice pictures of the booths and costumes. I come across a booth that was manned by a couple in a wheel chair and a rascal, selling graphic novels for $5 bucks a pop! I scower through the endless boxes and find some gems. I pick up WAR OF THE UNDEAD, written by Kevin Smith Alumni Bryan Johnson and drawn by fellow Smith friend Walt Flannagan. I also find the Top Cow Lara Croft Tomb Raider compendium that’s out of print and has a asking price online of $150 bucks! Only at Comic Con.
I find that Brian Lee O’Malley is signing again, and get volume 2 and 3 signed. O’Malley takes a gander at me, blinks and remembers me from the day before. I’m kinda honored, as in a sea of large men, I stand out!
1 30 pm rolls around, and I decide to attempt Hall H for Iron Man 2. The line isn’t that bad, and I jump in.
Unfortunately, and to an extent, happy to hear, from the line guard that the Hall is packed to the limit, and that there’s only room for about 400 people. I’m too far back to get in, and I miss the Solomon Kane panel, and decide to cut my losses and head upstairs to the sails pavilion.
I’ve been at Con since Wednesday night, and have yet to hit the autograph area. I was kind of avoiding it as I missed out on getting my picture with Adam West, but figured I’d give it a look. I wander past a line that says AVATAR, and figure its for the TV show. But, I got a surprise instead!
There was a small line to the table that the AVATAR line was behind. The line boss was yelling something about a Soloman Kane signing. Turns out the director was signing, and star Jame Purefoy! (of ROME fame) I ask the line boss if I need a ticket, he’s simply says No. To me, too good to be true. I ask if the line starts somewhere else? No. Last question, is it too late to get in? Nope! I hop in and approach the table. It occurs to me that I really don’t care that much for Jame Purefoy, not because I hate the guy, but because I’m not fully familiar with this work. But I know some one who is! I walk up to the table, I say hi, Purefoy says hi back, and takes a look at my tag to start signing the poster. I stop him, and tell him thanks, but it would mean the world to my friend, who’s stuck in the press room, if he could sign it to her. I give him the run down of the situation, he smiles and gladly signs the poster for my friend. I move over to a guy that looks younger than me. He ganders at my badge and asks what THE REALM TOYS is. I shamelessly pimp the site, and he proceeds to tell me he’s the director of the movie. I’m sucker punched by that comment because this dude cant be older than 26! I’m handed my poster head off, giving great thought to my life.
I head back downstairs to do some browsing. I come across the Heavy Metal booth and spy the first footage I’ve seen of WAR OF THE WORLDS: GOLIATH, an animated steampunk sequel to the War of the World story that looks awesome. I get an interview with the creator and director Joe Pearson. I’ll have the full interview and some info on the film in the next few days. As I leave, Joe introduces me to Kevin Eastman, who was standing in front of me the whole time. Eastman, for the uninformed, co created the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I got only and “Hi, and Thank you” in and took off, as Eastman was knee deep in a signing.
6 pm hits, I make a few more buys, then head up to the sails pavilion to rest my wearily legs. I meet some old board friends and chat as the rest of the Realm Crew rendezvous with me. We decide that the night is young, and head back to the room to shower off the nerd sweat and lighten our load!
Around 9 pm, while everyone else eats, I head to the Masquerade, and watch some impressive, and not so impressive outfits strut their stuff from the remote out door viewing. I nash some nachos and take some more pics. I meet up with my friend in the downstairs lobby. She’s hungry and downtrodden. I recommend blowing off the Con Rave this year to go unwind. We walk Gaslamp and end up at DICKS LAST RESORT with the rest of the Internet community for beer and cake. I make it back to the room around 4 am after wandering the deserted streets of San Diego for an hour.
A long, long day, but in many ways, more satisfying than the rest.
