Tuesday Morning

I am hereby updating my fearless weather forecast for San Diego during Comic-Con. I still say it'll be clear and sunny with nighttime temps between 68° and 70° but I'm upping my prediction of daytime temperatures five degrees to between 75° and 80°. This applies to the convention area near the water. It'll be slightly higher in other parts of the town.

I will be spending those days scurrying about to host panels and attend meetings. At 10 AM on Friday, Sergio and I will be signing copies of the first issue of the newly-released Groo Vs. Conan mini-series for an hour at the Dark Horse booth. At other times, you'll find him at Table I-7 and when I'm not off doing something else, I'll be at I-8 between him and Scott Shaw!

If you're attending the con — or if you aren't and want to pretend you're there — you might want to install the con's new app for iOS or Android. It's very nicely designed and it looks like it'll be quite useful.

I haven't posted a lot of Tips About Attending Comic-Con because everyone else seems to be doing that these days. The main thing I suggest is that you simply accept the fact that you're not going to be able to see and do everything you want; that you avoid crowded aisles instead of complaining about them; that you consult the Programming Guide (and most of the convention website) before you go and do some planning; that you hydrate often and shun the convention center snack bars; that you attend all my panels; that you wear the most comfortable shoes you have, regardless of how they look on you; that you bring more money than you expect to need; that you make it over to Artists' Alley at some point; that you be wary of cosplayers with pointy sticks or other weaponry; and that you just plain Take It Easy.

Oh — and one other suggestion: Out back behind the convention center, easily accessible from doors on the second and third levels, there's a wonderful marina with a real, live ocean. It is not, as you might assume, some kind of IMAX® C.G.I. effect. It is actually there.

Take a moment now and then to wander out there and inhale actual air and to get away from all the dealers and attendees and people dressed like Robotic Zombie Smurfs or whatever the hell they're supposed to be. Go out and look at boats for five minutes now and then. You appreciate everything inside that convention center so much more when you don't allow it to make you utterly forget about Reality.

Gotta go start packing. I don't think I'll be taking my Robotic Zombie Smurf costume this year…