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SDCC 2008 was a blast!!!

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surfer99

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Comic-Con is a must for any fan.

My family and I just drove back home to Arizona after spending five amazing days at the San Diego Comic-Con. Everyone had a great time and the weather was nice. If you go next year though, be prepared to spend a lot of money because hotel ($120/night), gas ($75/tank) and food ($12-25/person/meal) are expensive. Taking the trolley from the hotel (we stayed in Hotel Circle) to the Con helps because it?s only $15/person for a four day pass and you don?t have to pay for parking ($10/day) or fight for a parking spot (most lots are FULL anyway).

Let me tell you, preview night was in-sane. A local TV station reported ?a select group of fans who purchased four day passes were lucky enough to attend preview night on Wednesday?. ?Select group? my butt; dude, there were SO many people there on Wednesday (had to be 100,000) that the Convention Center staff was completely lost, lines were crossing over into one another, people were cutting in, it was just mass pandemonium (and that was just to pick up your badges!). Once you got inside it felt like riding the subway during rush hour with people packed in every aisle. The only reason I would recommend doing this is to snag any books you want before someone else does. If there?s not something you?re looking for in particular, skip it and wait til Thursday or just go for the weekend.

The rest of the week was great. Much less crowded and you were able to take it all in one row at a time. The place is HUGE so you?ll need a couple days just to get through it all (and be sure to bring your walking shoes). I haven?t been to the Con in 8 years so it felt like everything was a new experience. The booths were all tricked out and there was definitely a Hollywood influence (Paramount, Sony, NBC, ABC, Nickelodeon and Fox to name a few). There are some cool photos on http://www.comicspriceguide.com/ to give you a feel for what it was like.

This year we decided to check out some of the panels for the first time- highly recommended. We didn?t make it to the Heroes panel, but we did get to see the LOST panel, the Chuck panel and the Nickelodeon panel. It?s a great chance to listen to the actors and creators talk about what?s happening on your favorite shows and watch exclusive footage for the upcoming season. On the last day of the Con we attended the Michael Turner tribute panel. It was cool to hear Mike?s family and friends talk about the good times they shared with Mike and at the same time watch a slide show of personal experiences Mike shared with them (while working, on vacation, at the bar, etc). There was laughing and there was crying. I was doing great until Mike?s best friend, Frank Mastromauro (who has been a very close friend of mine for many years), spoke at the end then I just lost it (there was not a dry eye in the house). Mike was such an extraordinary talent, but a lot people don?t realize what a great person and friend he really was also.

Anyone that goes to the Con is also encouraged to take full advantage of all that San Diego has to offer rather than spending every minute inside. We spent a couple of hours one afternoon taking a seal tour http://www.sealtours.com/ which is an amphibious (land/sea) vehicle and we spent Friday going deep sea fishing http://www.pointlomasportfishing.com/ (caught 4 Kelp Bass and 1 Barracuda, packed ?em in dry ice and ate ?em when we got home- SO good!). There are also several fantastic seafood restaurants in the area and Seaport Village is a great place to pick up some souvenirs.

All in all we had one of the best vacations ever. As far as comics go, I found some nice hard to find reader copies I was looking for, but I struck out on finding any of the CGC books I really wanted. While there were several booths that carried CGC books, I was surprised there were not more CGC books there. There were plenty of high grade raw copies I could have snagged, but I?d rather not risk it (because they may grade lower than what I?m paying for or they may have restoration). Guess I?ll have to go back to searching eBay for those. Well, that?s it for now. Hope to see you at next year?s Con!!!

 

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