Tomorrow night is Preview Night and then the full Comic-Con International erupts Thursday morning. If you won't be there, I hope you won't resent those of us who are. I look forward to this event every year and in four decades of so doing, I've yet to be disappointed.
Speaking of looking forward to it: If you're thinking of attending next year, take the following advice. Plan to go and don't start planning in the last few weeks before the show when you start hearing how wonderful it'll be. This is not something you can effectively decide to do next May. For one thing, memberships will sell out long before then. For another, your best shot at getting the hotel room you want will come from trying to book when they first become available. This year, as usually happens, I hear from people who've suddenly had the notion of attending and they want to know now about passes and lodging and transportation. Someone actually wrote me over the weekend to ask how they might go about adding a panel to the schedule. They're talking about the schedule that was finalized and sent to press weeks ago.
Those calls are one (small) thing that annoys me about the convention. Another is all the articles and TV stories that will talk about "geeks" and "nerds" getting together. When I see headlines that head in that direction, I instantly wonder what else they're not understanding about our annual gathering. You get a double-whammy when the title of the piece included "Pow!" and "Zap!", and a triple when it makes it look like everyone at the con is in costume instead of, oh, about 2%, many of whom are being paid to dress that way.
If you're at the con on Thursday morn, I would like to highly recommend you take in the Spotlight on Stan and Hunter Freberg that will be held at 11:45 in Room 6BCF. I'll be introducing them and I will say, because it's true, that it's a rare opportunity to see and hear two wonderful people, one of whom is well past the stage where "Living Legend" became applicable. Stan Freberg was a voice guy for cartoons in what they call the Golden Age of Animation. He was one of America's top recording artists with his brilliant comedy records. He later became the Michelangelo of the funny commercial, creating some of the wittiest, most memorable ad spots of all time. He's going to show some of them at the convention and I also have it on good authority that he's going to sing a number or two for those who have the smarts to attend the Freberg Spotlight.
For most of the con, he and Hunter will later be in the hall at Table II-15 and he'll have some great books, CDs and photos for sale. Drop by and say hello. This is one of the aspects of the convention that I really love…when people get to meet their heroes. I got Stan and Hunter to come to the con last year and to WonderCon in San Francisco earlier this year. You'd be amazed — or if you know Stan's history, maybe you wouldn't be amazed — how many people have since said to me or e-mailed, "Thank you for giving me the opportunity to meet one of my heroes and to tell him how much his work has meant to me." Don't miss your chance to hear them and meet them. Hunter is also a delight…