It's five weeks until this year's Comic-Con International in San Diego. Remember how jammed everything was last year with 87,000+ people in attendance? Well, every year has had a bigger turnout than the year before…so what does that tell you?
I don't want to scare anyone but last year, the streets and parking lots and restaurants were jammed…and that was with nearby Petco Park standing empty. This year, the San Diego Padres are playing the Arizona Diamondbacks there Thursday evening, Friday evening, Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon, and I wouldn't count on a low turnout. Those two teams are currently neck-and-neck for the championship in the National League West. So if you're a Padres fan, that's the match-up you want to see.
If you're going to need a parking space at the con, I'd start looking now.
You're going to want to get there early so you can see all or most of the fifteen panels I'm moderating. (Fifteen panels? In four days? Is this man crazy?) I'll try to get the schedule up here soon but know that the Golden/Silver Age Panel will focus on DC Comics from 1940 to 1970 and will feature Gene Colan, Arnold Drake, Sy Barry, Ramona Fradon, Nick Cardy and Murphy Anderson. We'll have our annual Cartoon Voice Actor panel, including a number of folks who've never been there before — Charlie Adler and E.G. Daily, f'rinstance. There'll be a game of Quick Draw!, a couple of tributes to the late Will Eisner, a panel on Comic Book Weblogs, one-on-one interviews with a number of veteran comic creators, a 40th Anniversary look at A Charlie Brown Christmas, a Jack Kirby Tribute Panel that will make news, a spotlight on Gary Owens, and a number of other fun events. If you want to have the best possible time at the San Diego Con, just follow me around.
Do not ask me about procuring a hotel room in town during the convention. There may still be some but I don't know where.
I'll post some tips in the next few weeks. It's going to be terrific. Crowded but terrific.