First off, I have to mention how excited I was to be able to go to the San Diego Comic-Con International again after a two year hiatus (missing one year totally out of my control due to health reasons - we can't chose when heart valve repair surgery is needed, can we?)! It had been too long since I last saw my good friends from the Clobberin' Times, had a chance to soak up some of that California sun, and eat some high priced convention food. Plus, I had not been able to take a vacation of any kind since starting my new job eleven months ago. We had been so busy relocating to a new town in North Carolina, settling in our new home, selling our old ones, etc. - that this was a much needed trip. And, it was made all the better because my wife and son would be coming out to San Diego with me too for Con week (a first) and my son would actually be attending the Con with me (another first - and a freebie bonus as he's still under 12 and didn't cost me for admission).

Flying on the many frequent flyer miles my wife had accrued over the years flying to Europe and such for business (thank you, Siemens) meant we were limited to Tuesday flights to and fro. This was fine by me as it meant getting into San Diego two days before the Con started and heading home two days after the end. Much better than getting into town Wednesday afternoon and having to take the Sunday red-eye home which I've done in the past. Since travel from NC to CA is a full-day affair, having the extra buffer days helped make the trip all the better - especially adjusting from the jet-lag. So, armed with Gameboy SPs (yes, we each have our own - my wife likes to play Tetris, my son likes to play just about anything, and I am currently on a marathon to gather all the cards in Yu-Gi-Oh Ultimate Masters), reading material (I actually read Devin Grayson's novel DCU: Inheritance starring JLA and Titan members on the trip), and a few light snacks, we were prepared for the three-leg flight west (Charlotte to Atlanta to Salt Lake City to Orange County).

The first Tuesday travel day was long. but we arrived at our hotel in San Diego around 6:30pm PST. And who do I spy right there out front of the hotel when we pull up? None other than my good buddy Michael O'Connell, on the phone with Joel Levy no less. We checked in at the front desk, pulled our rental car down to the garage and brought our bags up (man, three people can have a lot of luggage for a week!). And we ran right into another good buddy - Tim Watts - in the hallway on the way to our room. I joked about him being there to help me with the bags. He didn't have any of that. I think there was a drink at the bar with his name on it (since the Quality Inn hotel bar closed at 7pm every night - how lame!). So, we got unpacked and joined the guys out front. Joel arrived by cab from his hotel a few minutes later and then the six of us went down to the Indigo Cafe for a nice late dinner. Naturally we stopped first to pay homage to Mike's new van. It looked very cool to see in person.

Wednesday morning was family time as Terri wanted us to take a walk down to the harbor front area. After an early lunch at the Bay Cafe (the best and largest Black Angus burger I've ever had - and for only $6 - a bargain), we got onboard the San Diego Harbor Excursion for a two-hour tour (both the north side and south side). We saw a lot of great sites of the city from the water as well as many famous Navy ships, Navy seals on maneuvers, and some sea-lions swimming and lounging in the sun. It was a lot of fun (and a lot of sun - I got a little sunburned from the trip). After that, we walked down to Seaport Village so my wife could do some shopping while my son and I picked up our pre-registered badges for the convention.
The two of us explored the very crowded exhibition hall during Preview Night for a few hours and got a ton of freebie items. Between people literally reaching over booths to hand you stuff (a lot worthless flyer type advertising but sometimes useful things - at least for a few minutes reading pleasure) and other booths doing giveaways (got a free DVD from spinning the wheel at the Shout! Factory booth), my backpack was full for the night. About 8pm we met back up with my wife for another late dinner, this time at Busters Beach House - home of the "Typhooooon" (Tim and Mike know what I'm talking about) before catching a cab back to the hotel to call it a night.

Thursday was mostly spent continuing to explore the 54+ rows of the exhibition hall. There was tons of stuff to checkout - from comic booths to video games to movie tie-ins to artists' alley. My son picked up some Yu-Gi-Oh cards and scored some free paperback books. He also dragged me by the Transformers booth a couple times as well as the various videogame demo stations. He was like a kid in a toy store, and the Exhibit Hall makes one hell of a toy store. I got us our official Con T-shirts and got some more autographs from comic pros (Neal Adams, Jim Mooney, Adam Kubert, Rob Liefeld) in the book I've brought to the shows every year.
We met up with the guys (Tim, Mike and Joel) to do lunch at Dick's Last Resort, one of the most fun places to eat in San Diego. Nothing like a place where the waitstaff is allowed to mess with the patrons (by showering the table with napkins, tying buckets to the back of people's bags with fishing line, or just goofing around for the crowd between serving food and drinks). With the Con in effect, the goofing had a clear super-theme to it. Naturally, we play it off like we aren't Con-goers (keeping badges and Con bags away in our backpacks). No sense in giving the waitstaff extra fodder.
After lunch, the one panel we hit that day was for "the Animaniacs / Pinky & the Brain" which was heralding the first volume DVD releases this month. Popular voice talents from the show like Jess Harnell, Maurice La Marche and Rob Paulsen were also on hand to bring some of those characters to stage. Our household enjoys these classic shows from the mid-90's, so we'll be picking up the DVDs soon. Right after the show, we met up with Paul Furst, one of my Wacky Packages message board friends, for a little chit-chat.

Friday was a mix of exhibit hall exploration and panel discussions, with some high priced hotdogs bought at the Con for lunch in between. We hit a panel from Warner Brothers Home Video focusing on Superman Through The Ages. The original Lois Lane from the 50's TV show Noelle Noel was there, looking great after all these years. Marc McClure (Jimmy Olsen) and James O'Halloran (Non) from the Superman movies in the 70's were there also. One of the panel focuses was on the Richard Donner cut of Superman II being released this fall. Richard Donner was there as well. They showed the new 15 minute opening of the director's cut which really ties the first two films together much more tightly. On the flip side, one of the scenes this 'new' opening replaces is one of my favorites from the film. C'est la vie.
Our next panel was a short one for the Cartoon Network show Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends - a relatively new show that our household enjoys a lot (yes, we watch a ton of toons in the Maenza home). A lot of the voice talent was there for the panel, including Tom Kenney who voices Eduardo on the show as well as Sponge-Bob Squarepants.
Next we caught the panel about the Fox show Bones. David Boreanaz (who did a couple other little shows about vampires and vampire slayers...) was there along with the show's head writer. That panel was a lot of fun and helped me realize quickly that at Conventions females generally ask more intelligent and well worded questions. Guy geeks just give geeks a bad name and thus should never be allowed anywhere near microphones.
Our last panel for the day was also TV/animation based - the Bruce Timm Retrospective/Legion of Super-Heroes teasers. Bruce Timm's work on DC animated programs was discussed and he then fielded questions. Bruce even hinted at doing a direct to video version of "the Death of Superman". The LSH show which appears in the Fall on Kids WB Saturday mornings looks to be a fun show with a heavy nod to the silver age line-up.

Saturday morning, we dropped into the panel for the upcoming Marvel/Activision video game called Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Basically, this action/RPG for various platforms will allow the player to use over 20 different Marvel characters through the course of the game. And, as it turns out, there are over 140 different Marvel characters (heroes, villains, etc.) that appear through out. And, in a rather surprise bit of voice casting, Gabrielle Carteris (of 90210 fame) is doing the voice of Electra (she was at the panel and appeared clearly excited about this 'role'). Stan Lee was also at the panel, so naturally every question during the Q&A was for Stan. God, there are such geeks at this Con - truely gushing fanboy geeks. Stan handled them all like the true comic diplomat he is, with his usual wit and charm. The man is a legend in every sense of the word.
I should mention too that we got a chance to play the demo for Justice League Heroes - another video game coming out this fall. This one has some cool playability and lots of DC action. I know what two games are going on our must by list for this holiday season.
We did fit in our annual trip to Hooters for lunch with Tim. Russ and his fiancee joined us midway through our meal. Man, that place was packed. Must be the food...naaaaaaah.
My must-see panel for the day was the spotlight on author Brad Meltzer. Most folks at the Con recognized him as the writer of an arc on Green Arrow, the Identity Crisis mini series and the upcoming Justice League of America relaunch. However, Brad is also a best selling author with five novels under his belt and a sixth coming out this fall. He likes to write comics in between novels. The panel was lightly attended, sadly, but it was a nice hour of stories and Q&A. He is a very big comic fan from decades back - JLofA #150 (wherein the League battled the Key) was one of his first books and that is one comic I too remember fondly. Also, his publisher gave out paperback copies of his novels to everyone in attendance, which then Brad proceeded to sign upstairs right after the panel. Though I have all of his books, I got copies of two of my favorites - Dead Even and The Tenth Justice - for him to sign for me. I have exchanged emails back and forth with him during the past few years and find him to be a very friendly, approachable author. Oh, and my son thought I asked the most intelligent question at that panel (or any other). Yeah, I know - the kid is biased.
The last thing my son wanted to do on Saturday was to see the world premiere of Teen Titans: Trouble In Tokyo. So, we caught an early dinner at the Con and proceeded to head up to get in line. Good thing we did! The line was long - clearly a popular show and presentation. We waited in line a good hour or so (good thing we had Gameboys to keep us busy) before they let us in at 7pm. Before the show, they had a presentation on the upcoming season for The Batman. Then they ran the movie up on the big screen. A lot of fun and a nice capper to the show.

Sunday morning, I managed to catch Mike and Tim before they checked out of the hotel. Turns out they were going to crash at Tony's place after the Con that day so that they would have a quicker start out of town come Monday morning (for that long drive back to Sacramento in Mike's new van).
Once we got over to the Con and after dragging the boy away from the PlayStation booth (what is it with him and video games?), we decided to hit the panel for another Cartoon Network show Ben 10. They were giving away freebie exclusive figures so my son wanted to get one for himself and one for a friend. The panel prior to that in the same room was a Nickelodeon Sneak Peek of some episodes for their shows, so we caught the tale end of that one and snagged goodie bags as well. By the time those let out, I was pretty burned out from four plus days of crowds and such.
Terri was over at the Marriott, using internet access to finish her exam for school (stupid hotel we were at couldn't keep the access up at all). So, we joined her and had a late lunch at Kansas City Barbeque (always have to fit in a meal at KCB). After that, we then relaxed at the hotel by the pool.

Monday morning, we checked out of the hotel and headed back over to the waterfront area. When we bought our harbor tour tickets we also purchased the tickets to tour the USS Midway, the naval carrier museum dry-docked in the San Diego harbor. That was a very fun experience for my son - both in seeing the ships as well as the planes on display on the flight deck. After that, we met Terri's aunt who lives in town for lunch before taking a leisurely afternoon drive back up to Orange County. We stayed at the Radisson hotel nearby the airport before heading back home on Tuesday (another long day of flights).