This year in San Diego, I decided to make my trip a little different. I wanted to attend some panels but also maximize each day. You see, San Diego will make your feet hurt so bad. But if it doesn't hurt, it means you're not having fun. At times, 3 hours before the convention day ends, you'd want to rest as much as possible. But year, I woke up earlier. Last year I was at the 9th-11th lines in the Sails Pavillion in the morning. This time, I was in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. It wasn't bad at all. I got all the stuff I wanted because of the early bird mentality.
So probably the highlight of the different things I did were attending the panels. I wasn't able to attend the Marvel's Cup 'O Joe panel last year because the premiere of "The Legend of Korra" was right after that panel. The non-comic fans were in Cup 'O Joe which sucked.
My goal was to attend that Marvel Panel! So I had to be there 2 hours earlier. I saw a TV pilot of the scary Park Avenue show and the Gears of War panel. Luckily the Gears of War panel wasn't so bad since Morgan Webb hosted that panel. OK, so I was able to get in Cup 'O Joe and it was well attended. CCO Joe Quesada was there, MARVEL TV Head Jeph Loeb, SVP for Creative and Content Development CB Cebulski, and EIC Axel Alonso.
JOE QUESADA ENTERS AND WELCOMES EVERYONE
Asks the crowd who the Cup O Joe virgins are
Jeph Loeb
CB Cebulski
Axel Alonso
The panel was all about MARVEL NOW! The relaunch will happen in October and I'm excited for it. I think the writer-artist roster shake up is healthy. Uncanny Avengers should be interesting. The memorable part of the panel was the question if Scott Summers aka Cyclops should die in AVX. There was this group of Cyclops haters and the room went wild. But it was explained that Axel Alonso's favorite character is Cyclops so Scott dying maybe out of the question.
Sunday had an interesting panel. I went to mass at 730 to catch the 12nn panel of Image. It was Image's 20th Anniversary Panel and I wanted to witness that occasion.
In attendance were 5 of the 7 Co-Founders. Rob Liefeld, Erik Larsen, Jim Valentino, Marc Silvestri, and Whilce Portacio. They were also joined by Mr. Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman. Not in attendance were Jim Lee and Todd McFarlane.
They were 7 superstar artists who left MARVEL to form their own. Image Comics still stands today being a venue for creators to share their voice and express their creativity.
The comics under Image can be anything! Now, you have The Walking Dead, SAGA, Chew, Manhattan Projects, and Invincible just making wonders.
It was an interesting panel with the guys telling their stories. But the surprise was Comic-Con International was they gave the panel the Inkpot award! They all got 1!
The Panel
Old School
My take is that you attend the panels you really want. You can't do everything in Comic-Con. Panels are a good way to rest your feet and have fun. At the end of the day, the exhibit hall is the place to be!