#YayLife: T-minus 1 week til #SDCC

a hoi hoi nerdlings,

DUDES!!! I'm so effin stoked!! I just confirmed my plans for Comic Con!!!!!!! YAYYYYYY!!!

I'm leaving next Thursday morning, and I will be there until Sunday - I think. Hahaha, not sure when I'm coming back, but I'll for sure be down there starting Thursday night.

If you guys have any cool parties or anything I should check out, drop me a line! @JenFriel on Twitter, or Facebook.com/JenFriel

I can't WAIIITTTTTTTTT to hang out with some of you!!! Totes tweet me if you're gonna be there. We HAVE TO HAVE TO HAVE TO do a meet up!!

Yayerssssssss!! Now, it's Peanut butta jelly time!!

#nerdsunite

Countdown to @Comic_Con: 34 Days

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @AdamReisinger

Note: This is part of an ongoing series looking ahead to San Diego Comic-Con 2011, as contributor Adam Reisinger prepares to attend the convention for the first time.

Holy crap, we're basically a month away from San Diego Comic-Con. That's insane. Somehow it seems too close and too far away simultaneously. I didn't really realize quite how imminent the show was until I started getting multiple "pre-order SDCC exclusives" e-mails this week.

Now, when I'd originaly planned my SDCC trip, I wasn't too focused on show exclusives for a few reasons:

1. The cost quickly starts adding up, especially when dealing with stuff like statues and busts

2. When you buy them at the show, you have to deal with transporting them back across the country

3. Many of them aren't really "exclusive" anyway; some can be pre-ordered for non-attendees while others don't sell out in San Diego and are available for weeks after

But eventually the reality of "I'm going to Comic-Con and I can easily buy all this stuff" sinks in. That happened for me a couple days ago, when I finally put in a pre-order for the SDCC exclusive issues of the "Dollhouse" comic from Dark Horse and the "Charmed" comic from Zenescope, along with the Emma Frost statue pictured up top.

As for what else I'm going to get, well that's going to take some planning -- and even with that planning I probably won't know for sure until I'm walking the show floor. Bleeding Cool has a nice list of Previews exclusives, and AwesomeToyBlog is keeping an updated list of action figures, statues and the like that is regularly updated as new exclusives are announced.

Perhaps the most impressive list I've seen so far comes from the SDCC Blog, which has an ongoing list of exclusives along with pretty good pictures of each. Among the ones I haven't ordered yet, here are the top 5 items I want to get (in no particular order):

- Ultimate Fallout #1, White Cover Edition

- "The Simpsons" Comic Book Guy Ornament

- Gremlins Gizmo Comic Con Edition

- Ghostbusters Stay Puft Marshmallow Man - Carol Ferris Barbie Doll (for my niece, I swear!)

Be sure to follow Adam on Twitter @AdamReisinger or visit his website, www.adamreisinger.com

#nerdsunite

Countdown to @Comic_Con: 63 Days!

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @AdamReisinger

Note: This is part of an ongoing series looking ahead to San Diego Comic-Con 2011, as contributor Adam Reisinger prepares to attend the convention for the first time.

I generally don't go to "The Cleveland Show" for pointed social commentary (or, really, anything for that matter), but this past Sunday's episode was particularly relevant, as it was set at San Diego Comic-Con. One of the main stories of the episode centered around Cleveland's son, Cleveland Jr., leading an uprising of the traditional "geeks" at Comic-Con against the new media "invaders", who had taken over the show space but really had nothing to do with comics.

Though I've never been to the show, I'm well aware about how big of an issue this has become. In fact, almost every I've talked to who has been to the show has generally expressed two sentiments to me when I tell them I'm going for the first time this summer:

- You're going to have so much fun

- It's too bad you couldn't have gone before it got so big

In this case "before it got so big" is really code for "before Hollywood decided Comic-Con was the perfect venue to show off everything, regardless of its connections to the worlds of comic books, fantasy or science fiction." On "The Cleveland Show", that was represented by the fictional NBC sitcom "Schwim Team", starring David Schwimmer, but in the real world, things got out of control -- based on the reaction I could see around the blogosphere -- with last year's "Glee" panel. It seemed the only connection between the show and the convention was that fans of "Glee" call themselves "Gleeks". As much as I enjoy "Glee", when I think "Comic-Con", I think Stan Lee and Adam Hughes and Batman and cosplay and all that stuff. Not Lea Michele and overwrought teen drama.

As it is, that ship has sailed on Comic-Con, and while it might (read: will) result in having a harder time getting a seat for panels, I'm not going to let it get in the way of enjoying the things I want to enjoy at the show. And if it does, I'll just have to do this:

#nerdsunite

Countdown to @Comic_Con: 84 days!

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @AdamReisinger

Note: This is part of an ongoing series looking ahead to San Diego Comic-Con 2011, as contributor Adam Reisinger prepares to attend the convention for the first time.

84 days may be just a blip in the whole of human existence, but when waiting until San Diego Comic-Con arrives, it feels like an eternity.

That's why it's good to have a "holdover" convention. Something that isn't to the scale of SDCC, and doesn't require a massive amount of travel, but has a good enough guest list to keep you interested.

For me, that convention happens to be taking place this weekend: Boston Comic-Con. 

This is my second consecutive year attending this show, though this year it's moved to a larger venue in Boston, the Hynes Convention Center. The show doesn't necessarily have the largest national following, and it's only a two-day affair, but the high-profile names they're able to bring in are impressive nonetheless. This year's show is headlined by Neal Adams (Batman, Uncanny X-Men), Joe Kubert (Hawkman, Flash), J. Scott Campbell (Danger Girl) and Frank Quitely (Batman & Robin, All-Star Superman) among many others. I'm particularly interested in seeing Campbell and popular cover artist Adam Hughes, and hopefully getting original sketches from both of them -- though admittedly the odds of that are exceedingly slim. 

Even if I completely strike out on sketches and don't buy a single back issue from a vendor, just the experience of being at a show will go a long way towards holding me over until July.

Check back next Thursday for the next installment of "Countdown to Comic-Con", and be sure to follow Adam on Twitter @AdamReisinger or visit his website, www.adamreisinger.com

 #nerdsunite

Countdown to @Comic_Con: 18 Weeks!

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @AdamReisinger

Note: This is the first entry in an ongoing series looking ahead to San Diego Comic-Con 2011, as contributor Adam Reisinger prepares to attend the convention for the first time.

18 weeks.

Seems like a long time, but in the grand scheme of things, it's not that long at all.

Even in the less grand scheme of things, San Diego Comic Con is really right around the corner. Badges are already sold out, hotels have already been booked, and many of the people I know who are attending the show have already booked their flights (I have not, but when I do, I'm sure I'll let you know all about it right here).

For those not in the know, SDCC is by far the biggest comic book and related media convention in the nation, attracting more than 100,000 attendees annually It's at the top of just about every nerd bucket list, and I finally get to scratch it off this year.

While I may be getting my SDCC V-card punched for the first time this summer, I'm far from a convention virgin. I popped that cherry "way back" in 2005 -- which may not seem like a long time ago to some SDCC attendees, but to put that in perspective, back then, Mary Jane Watson was still Mary Jane Watson-Parker, Bruce Wayne was still the lone Batman and Twilight was neither a book/film series nor a "Buffy" villain. Still, I've managed to make my way to a few shows since then, so let's run them down.

2005

My first convention was the ill-fated Wizard World Boston 2005, which had a great guest list, but DISMAL attendance, leading Wizard to abandon the New England market for four years.

2006

 

The following year, I attended both Wizard World Philadelphia and Wizard World Chicago. I was at the latter for nearly a full week, helping one of the exhibitors set up their booth, then attending the show as a fan. I was only in Philadelphia for a day, but I did pick up my most desired piece of comic book art, which remains the centerpiece of my living room to this day (and hopefully will until the day I die).

2007

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", I spent three days at New York Comic Con. The show -- run by a different company from SDCC -- has morphed into something of an East Coast version of San Diego, but back in '07 it was still relatively small scale, giving me time to meet and actually converse with Hayden Panettiere, who was promoting the first (and only watchable) season of "Heroes".

2008

Ahh, my lost year... let's move on.

2009

After nearly 20 months away from the convention scene, I returned at Baltimore Comic-Con, where I had a very Buffy-centric time, meeting Dark Horse editor Scott Allie, cover artist Jo Chen and primary interior artist Georges Jeanty. I also picked up a Mary Jane piece by Stephane Roux that remains the centerpiece of the OTHER side of my living room (my living room is something of a nerdvana if you're a fan of female Marvel comic characters).

2010

Hell, where didn't I go?! (Aside from San Diego, that is...). The year started for me in Boston, with the appropriately named Boston Comic-Con, where I got to cross "meet Amber Benson" off my nerd bucket list. That was followed by a return trip to Baltimore Comic-Con, where I spent WAY too much money on original art, including four pages from Buffy #33 (SPOILER ALERT: Angel is Twilight). A couple months later it was time for New York Comic Con again, which was an incredible experience, highlighted by waiting two hours in line to meet Morena Baccarin and Laura Vandervoort (TOTALLY worth it!). Convention season wrapped up for me a week later, at New England Comic Con, where I was a "Buffyfest" VIP, and immersed myself in Sunnydale glory for an entire weekend.

And now here we are in 2011. As of right now, that little show out west in 119 days (technically 118, but I'm not going to Preview Night) is the only one on my calendar, but I'm very excited for it.

And, ya know, if anyone wants to sponsor my trip by paying for my plane ticket, I wouldn't object...

#nerdsunite

Check back next Thursday for the next installment of "Countdown to Comic-Con", and be sure to follow Adam on Twitter @AdamReisinger or visit his website, www.adamreisinger.com