Sorry I disappeared on you folks…and no, as a couple of e-mails surmised, I did not come down with COVID. There have been reports of many cases emerging from Comic-Con but so far, I'm not one of them, at least according to my home tests. What I did come down with was food poisoning — something I ate Monday evening — perhaps exacerbated by my many food allergies. It came upon me in the wee small hours of Tuesday morning and, yes, my first thought was "Is this COVID?" But I soon recognized the symptoms and I did a test and I'm sure it was food poisoning.
Due to some combination of that and convention fatigue, I slept most of yesterday and now I'm back. I think. I'll continue to rest for a while and to test for a while.
Overall, I had a very good time in San Diego and I'm enormously grateful to those who helped me out and around, particularly the Guest Relations Team at Comic-Con and particularly a wonderful human being named Brendan Goggins who pushed me around in a wheelchair for four days, aided by other G.R.T. members. I could walk at times but with Brendan and his team members, I got to all my panels on time and with a minimum of stress on my left foot.
My favorite panels? Hard to say. I enjoyed the ones — like the 70's panel (above) with Gerry Conway, Jo Duffy, Marv Wolfman, Al Milgrom and Mike Friedrich about working in comics during that decade. As I explained here, I'm f'ing sick of people complaining that Comic-Con doesn't have programming that's about comic books.
Quick Draw! was great with Scott Shaw!, Lalo Alcaraz, Floyd Norman and guest cartoonists Tom Richmond, Emma Steinkellner and Bill Morrison — with a special appearance (via telephone) by Sergio Aragonés. Both Cartoon Voices panels were sensational, not because of the moderator but because of the extremely talented people on those panels. I'll tell you a fun story about the Saturday Cartoon Voices panel soon.
Really, I enjoyed every minute of the con except when my foot was hurting — and even that did not make me regret attending. That was the 53rd Comic-Con International and my 53rd. I've never regretted going to any of them. More on the con when I'm more awake.