Comic Con, Day 3: Dance of the Giveaway

Rick got in line for Hall H, our usual dance, by 6:50 this morning. He was about 700 or so down the line. I got our sandwiches -- in a huge line at the corner liquor store -- and joined him at about 8:15. They started to let us in about an hour later. They handed us a freebie Heroes comic book, directly tied to the Comic Con presentation, some 100 yards from the entrance to Hall H.

We didn't have long to wait this time. The Heroes panel started at 10:30.

I have watched three episodes of Heroes. I was lost then and I was lost when I watched the full 3rd Season episode 1. I, we all, thought it was nice of the producers to show it to us. Some really exciting things happen, of course, and while I didn't understand much of it, I think it's important to say that I think they righted the course on this show by entitling the new season, Heroes and Villains. Bring back the edge. And the comedy of George Takei and Masi Oka in what is ordinarily a grim show.

Next came Lost. It's an easy joke to make, but I'll say it again: I don't watch the show, so I was definitely lost. The co-creators took an hour and a half to show a lot of jokes and inside puns to us and yet never reveal a bloody thing. Apparently there are two years to go in this very successful series. Matthew Fox came out, sat at the panel, and said very little. He doesn't know where they're headed, either.

Finally, we came to what I had waited for! Terminator Salvation. They introduced some of the minor cast members (Christian Bale, as John Connor, is in Japan promoting The Dark Knight), and then showed some footage. I wasn't terribly impressed -- it's hard to one-up (or change) James Cameron's images from T1 and T2, and those images weren't matched. But, as one of the cast members said, an Australian (Sam Worthington) with a bad-ass face and language to match, you gotta be on your game to face down Christian Bale. He brings every project to a higher level with his intensity and fine acting. So, the jury is out.

However... right after they started, and a few minutes before I was scheduled to leave the room and look for those Watchmen shirts (they ran out yesterday and said they "may" have some on Saturday), they handed out another card for a freebie: this time a Terminator freebie! Rick handed his automatically to me so that I could pick it up today at 2:30. 2 pm for Watchmen t-shirt, 2:30 for the Terminator whatever-it-was.

And on the way out of Hall H, I found another T-Freebie card on the floor!


I dove in to the exhibit room. It wasn't too bad until I swam into the midsection where all the major studios had their massive sets. Madhouse time. I somehow feed off other people's stupidity, and so I didn't tire easily as I jostled around with the masses. I mean, if someone stands in the middle of one of the intersections, they're kind of asking for jostling, you know what I mean?

I got to the Warner Bros booth, and it had a very long line wrapped around it. Experience told me that that was probably some other signing that was taking place (indeed, it was for the Heroes' cast), so I found a counter and asked. She handed over two Watchmen shirts right then! Whew. Only took 24 hours.


I had to walk around for half an hour, and picked up some more free posters in spite of a little v voice nagging me, No more stupid posters! And came back to Warners at 2:30. Nope, they couldn't give anything out. Come back at 4 pm.

I went back to the room at this point to get rid of bags and posters, and found Rick already in the room. Something was wrong, as his plan was to stay in Hall H until about 7 pm. He had food poisoning, and was having a difficult time. I left him after relaxing a bit, and headed back to the convention center, happy that I had lightened my load.

I arrived back at an even more crowded Warner Bros. booth and was told by the Warners person that they had another signing taking place (the cast of Pushing Daisies), and another one scheduled after that, so they couldn't possibly give anything away. The Fire Marshal had threatened them. Check back later, but she didn't know what "later" might mean. "Fire Marshal" are logical words you don't fight against, so I wandered off, going around the other corner of Warner's when I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, that they were giving out t-shirts! I stuck out my 3 passes and got 3 t-shirts back. These were neat ones, too -- the endoskeleton on the front, and the name of the movie and some sort of bloody infinity symbol on the back.

Mission accomplished. However, I had another one: I had brought a Silver Surfer book for J. Michael Straczynski to sign if he appeared. He wasn't listed on any of the pre-autograph annoucements before we came, but I had noticed that morning that he was, all of a sudden, listed.

JMS has always been a generous signer, and normally gives great access to the fans. I was thrilled.


So I waited in the Sails Pavilion for about an hour, watching the people and taking photographs of some of the wilder costumed ones, and then got in line. The JMS line wasn't too bad, about 20 people ahead of me at 50 minutes to go. I stood and waited.

When he arrived after his talk, the line moved fairly quickly, at least until the dealers got to him. Each one had no less than 20 comics each for him to sign. But he's a fast signer. There were two more people ahead of me when he whispered something to his con person, and the guy announced that the limit for signing was 10. I walked up with my one piece, and had him sign the graphic novel book. He made it out to "Linda," and I told him that I loved the story of the Silver Surfer that he had written, that there were many surprises. He thanked me.

The last time I asked him to sign something at Comic Con, about 4 years ago, he never said a word. How cool.

I came back, noted that Rick was still feeling lousy, but kept the dinner reservation I had made at Lou and Mickey's. I had a nice leisurely dinner of the filet mignon while watching the crowds go by. I knew I wasn't going back tomorrow, and I knew that next year's experience wouldn't be as leisurely or nice. So I enjoyed my evening. I just wish Rick was feeling better. He's the real reason I had such a wonderful time, after all.