ATR at SDCC Day 1

By Steven G. Saunders

Editor's Note: Steve is in San Diego this weekend for ComicCon, and will be providing SBC with daily updates of his adventures.

Before I start, many thanks goes out to my buddy Tobey Cook over at Cosmic Rants for posting the updates for me while I'm off drinking and charming the rabblerousers on the convention floor.

I wish I had more to report on SDCC, but I don’t. My 9.30 AM (Thursday) flight turned into 10.30 AM and then we sat on the runway for several hours as things on the plane were fixed. After a rough flight (with free drinks, at least), waiting a long time for baggage, and checking in my hotel room here, I arrived to the Convention Center area around 7 PM. Needless to say, I was too late to get in to the Con.

I’d also like to mention that my purty new camera decided to be broken before leaving (but I do have my crappy old one) and I had to give up my Punisher lighter at the airport (it has sentimental value). Anyhow, I guess I’m trying to say that my day pretty much sucked. At first.
After getting to downtown San Diego just after 7 o’clock, I started phoning and then meeting up with people. I was supposed to go to the Digital Webbing dinner, but some other things I was supposed to take care of earlier that day got in the way and pushed me back time-wise. So, sorry to them. I did end up hanging a bit with some Comic Bloc guys for a little bit and had a good time chatting with them. I even managed a picture...



Yes, Keith Dallas from our very own SBC is in there, too. Keith is a picky drinker, just so you know. He’s going to read this and throw things at me, you realize.

From there I wandered over to the Hyatt for the Boom! Studios party, which was just an excuse to get a bunch of people together to drink at one of the bars there. Hey, worked for me. Met some awesome people, as well as seeing and hanging with some of the Dynamite crew (Brandon Jerwa and Joe Rybandt). I got to meet a bunch of people, actually. One stand-out person was artist Arthur Suydam and his lovely wife. I never knew that Arthur is an accomplished musician with some really cool stories about all of that.

At about 11 or so I and my buddies with me wandered over to the Avatar party, which was going on at the Galileo 101. Right off the bat, I bumped into my nemesis, John Layman. After trading some insults with him and making sure to introduce him as “that guy who ruined Thundercats” I went inside*. My evening at that point becomes a blur of drinking and meeting even more people. At some point I finally got to meet the incorrigible Tony Lee, as well as passing time talking to Jacen Burrows, Brian Pulido and various others. There were others. And we drank. A lot. I also briefly met Warren Ellis and he seems pleasant enough... I’ll be doing a short interview with him on Saturday, so stay tuned for that.

At some point me, Daniel (with SupaNova in Australia, I believe; great guy) and my buddy Chuck thought we would hop into one of those “pedal-cabs” (you know, where a guy hauls around a little buggy thing with a bicycle). Keep in mind that Daniel and Chuck are big men and I’m over 6 feet tall and not so small myself. The dude biking managed to haul us back over to the Hilton at record speed which was pretty amazing… especially considered I now have a good idea how much Chuck weighs ‘cause he was sitting in my lap. Anyhow, arrived at the Hilton (again) and bumped into even more people (including Bob Napton, Joshua Ortega, and C.B. Cebulski, who was drinking beer from both fists whilst running around like a mad).

And then Chuck and I headed back to the hotel. And now I’m up and writing this. I need a shower and food and to get down to the Con. You know, so I can get some actual news and bits on comic books. Oh, yeah, one bit I came across while drinking that I found of interest was that Simon Oliver from The Exterminators will be working on Gen 13 as of issue #14.

I’d like to thank William Christensen and David Marks from Avatar Press for being awesome hosts and kicking much ass last night. Big thanks also go out to the Boom! Crew for getting people together for an entertaining drink-up.

There is no way I could account for every single person and action I encounter at SDCC, but I’ll certainly bring you all the highlights and more.

Okay, off to feel less like a small animal crawled into my head and died.

Until next update, dear readers…

*John Layman and I don't really hate each other. Yet.