Batgirl’s Weblog

I’ve noticed that comic book writers and artists automatically put their arms around fangirl shoulders when taking pictures with them. I got to experience that many times in the past 2 days and was very happy.

Today I woke up at 7:15 and surprisingly made it to Javitts Center before 8:30 (even after a Dunkin Donuts stop). I pretty much ended up in the same spot in line, and Lina and Antonia joined me around 8:45. We got in at 10:00 and went to the back of the hall to see if they had tickets available for the Incredible Hulk signing. The line was already extremely long so we decided not to wait. Instead, we roamed around Artists Alley, and the three of us chatted with Peter David, the writer of X-Factor and She-Hulk. His young daughter was at the table with him and drawing pictures and selling them to the fans. She was adorable, and he usually includes blurbs about her in his X-Factor recap pages. Peter was very excited that our passes had a picture of his new book.  I told him that I missed Layla MIller in X-Factor, and he told us that she would be coming back eventually and he was glad that fans liked her after hating her in House of M (I’ve always liked her). Lina complained about the M tattoo on Madrox’s face, and Peter said fans always complained about the lack of reprecutions and this showed that he was still affected. His daughter had a Madrox shirt on, and he said he wished he had twins so it would be perfect.  Peter David was amazing. We then headed to the Chronicles of Narnia Prince Caspian and Wall-E panel downstairs in the IGN Theater. We met Kat in line, and got seats in the 5th row.  Jim Morris, a producer of Wall-E, showed us 4 never before seen clips from the movie. I wasn’t very excited about it beforehand, but it looks extremely cute and funny. And Mo may be my new favorite character. Then William Moseley (Peter), Ben Barnes (Caspian), Peter Dinklage, and Mark Johnson came out to talk about Narnia. They showed us the new trailer that won’t premiere until May 2nd then chatted about the movies. William and Ben are very good looking so we all fangirled. The girl in front of us asked William for a hug and got one then proceeded to freak out back in her seat.

We left at 12 to go to the Countdown to DCU panel in which we listened to the writers and artists at DC not really tell us anything about what’s coming up. And we’ve agreed that Dan Didio has the most annoying laugh in the world and is also not the nicest guy (some of his comments…). But Geoff Johns was making jokes and being awesome so it was ok.  And Gail Simone announced she would be doing an ongoing Secret Six series which was one of my favorite miniseries in the past 4 years. =) At 1PM, we headed back to the floor and went to the Marvel booth. Dan Slott was scheduled to sign at 1PM, but they were running late and it was insane on the other side since Tim Roth and Louis Leterrier were signing posters for people with tickets. I took pictures of them since they hung around the booth for a long time. We waited in line and didn’t get to the front until after 2. Stefano Caselli, Olivier Coipel, Serge LaPonte, and Yannick Paquette were all signing as well, and we listened to them speak French to each other while waiting for Dan. We then chatted with Dan who couldn’t understand all the fan love he was getting at the Con. I complained about Pug and She-Hulk not being together which he explained. And he told us about how his mom called him and told him to fix his Wikipedia page since his picture on it was old and she wanted to set him up with a friend’s daughter but was worried the picture would scare her away. Gotta love hearing about the personal lives of comic book writers.

We then headed back to Artist Alley, and I joined the long line to see Geoff Johns.  He stopped the line a few people after me since he had to go to the DC Booth at 3PM. When I got up to him, I told him that he didn’t have time to sign my books yesterday when I saw him, and I’d appreciate it if he did today. He said it was no problem and asked how I was enjoying myself. Lina sidled up to cut the other people and get her book signed, and then asked if Geoff had gotten my note!!! I was so embarrassed after being so calm, and I turned bright red. He asked “oh, this note?” which was still on the table by him, and I explained (or tried to explain) that we came by to see him yesterday and he wasn’t there but then we saw him right afterwards.  His friend came to talk to him and heard about it all, and said it was “awesome”.  Geoff smiled and was totally cool about the whole thing (and hopefully wasn’t thinking, dear god, this girl is stalking me). He then thanked me for coming by again, and said “have a great rest of the weekend, Christina”. And I nearly fainted right then and there since he remembered my name! And that, ladies and gentlemen, is one of the reasons Geoff Johns is amazing. Best weekend ever!

I decided to check to see how The Incredible Hulk panel line was while everyone ate. The line wrapped around at least 12 times downstairs so I decided to skip it. I kind of wished I had went since they apparently showed a clip that also included Iron Man. That would have been awesome to see. Oh well. I headed back upstairs and joined Cettina in the Marvel line. We chatted with Fred Van Lente and Greg Pak who write Incredible Hercules. (Greg is still as adorable as last year but more scruffy.) Greg was drawing on an Iron Man card, and I told him I was sorry to interrupt his doodling. He signed my book afterwards and John Romita Jr was very entertained by it all. We met John Romita Jr. and Sr. since they were at the table as well. I chatted with Jr. about previous cons and the insane amount of people that come on Saturdays. I then told Sr. that I loved the Daredevil cover he did a few issues back, and he said they suckered him into doing it since he used to draw romance covers, but that he really enjoyed it.  All of us then roamed around until 5:00, and I bought a new Green Lantern shirt. And I was very entertained by a shirt that said “May the F=ma Be With You”. Lina and Antonia were confused, but I thought it was hilarious. And I’m not a big fan of science; but then again, I do love Star Wars and all its nerdiness.

At 5:00, we headed downstairs to go to the Cup O’ Joe panel. Security was insane; there were a ton of people coming in and out of the panel halls so they had to stop all of us and back us up. We then had to wait until they cleared the hall and rooms and then let us in if we were going to the Cup o’ Joe panel. We made our way to the front and security kept skipping us when counting off 10 to let in even though we were in the front for 2 minutes. Finally the female security guard told them to let us in, and I was so mad. I don’t know why they didn’t think we wanted to go, but it shouldn’t have been that insane or long. We ended up getting seats in the 2nd row at the panel, and Dan Slott saw us and waved. Dan Slott is awesome, and it made us feel better after the stupid security. We got to sit behind Richard Isanove who was very entertained by some of the questions and even recorded some of them on his phone. Joe Quesada showed some slides and then answered questions for the rest of the time. He was interrupted by 2 NYCC workers for a minute, and then later, the door by the stage opened and I elbowed Lina because it was STAN LEE!!! The audience freaked out and gave him a standing ovation. He talked about Quesada for a few minutes and then left. Amazing. We had a lot of fun at the panel, and we seem to enjoy the Marvel panels more than the DC ones. The guys are more laid back and fan friendly and actually answer questions. Plus they also seem like fans themselves. A great group of guys at Comic Con. We then headed back upstairs because Lina wanted to see if Rob Liefeld was at his table so she could harrass him. He wasn’t, but Phil Jimenez was so we went to see him. He was working on sketches for people and also chatting with others. And Lina and Antonia kept pushing me to interrupt. But I let him chat with the people in front of me and was nice about it (He’s a cutie as well). He was erasing a sketch, and I asked him if I could take a picture with him. He said sure and shook my hand and asked how I was doing. We took a picture, and then I asked if he would sign my Spider-Man, but told him that “I didn’t want to keep him from his work”. He said “well…” and smiled and signed it “Phil Jimenez” with “Keepin’ Me From My Work! =)” underneath it. He then thanked me for stopping by and I’m sure I was blushing.  And that is the end of Comic Con for me. Again, the artists and writers were all extremely nice and willing to chat. We had a great time at our 3rd NYCC!!!

Today was the first day of the 2008 New York Comic Con.  This is my third year attending (I’ve been attending since it began in 2006), and I always look forward to it. It’s great to hang out with my fellow fans and meet artists/writers and let them know how much you like (or secretly dislike) their work.  I’m also going all day tomorrow, but here’s the recap for Day 1.

Comic Con was open to the public from 3:00-8:00 so we arrived there at 1:45 and waited in line until they let us in. Each year, NYCC learns a little more about how to hold a convention of this size and they expanded again.  So the aisles were bigger, and there was a lot more room to manuever around.  We roamed around for a bit and discovered that Joe Quesada was signing at the Marvel booth (we debated whether to mention Spider-Man Brand New Day or his not as frosted as last year hair tips). So we waited in line for him and saw our friend Martell nearby as well. He worked at the comic book store we went to before it closed and originally wasn’t coming to NYCC. While waiting to meet Quesada, we chatted with Brian Reed, Richard Isanove, and Mark Guggenheim and had them sign our books. All were extremely nice and chatty.  I talked to Guggenheim about how I was happy that he brought Santo into Young X-Men, and he mentioned that he was the character he really wanted to have in the book. Quesada was extremely nice as well, and I told him that I loved Secret Invasion so far, and Lina, Antonia, and I mentioned how we met him last year right before he had to run off to pick up his daughter. He said he doesn’t remember since it’s all a blur but thanked us to coming by again. Cristina and I took a picture with him; he seems to get thinner every year.  He’s also extremely nice to the fans and actually listens to our complaints as well as our praise.

After that, we headed to the 2 Marvel panels: Mondo Marvel and Secret Invasion. We got seats right in the front row in front of the panelists so I got to stare at Greg Pak as much as I wanted.  Great bunch of guys and extremely funny.  Cristina was entertained by the strange questions fans were asking about sales numbers, and Quesada’s statement that the fans pay for the comics with “money and feet” or something strange like that.  Our buddy Dan Slott was given a lot of praise by fans and still an extremely happy guy (we met him last year, and he actually stayed an extra 15 minutes at his booth then just to chat with us). We also got to experience the awesome voice of Kevin Grevoiux who sounds like Satan might. After The Secret Invasion panel (where we all got Skrull masks and wore them), I met Daniel Way and told him I was excited that he was doing a Deadpool book and that I loved the character. He signed my book and took a picture with me as well.  Like I said, a great bunch of guys (and I still REALLY want to work at Marvel with them). And what’s with the cute writers being married already? No fair.

Cristina and I decided to roam around until 8PM afterwards since Lina, Cettina, Dan, Antonia, and Victoria were all at the Neil Gaiman reading. We roamed around the main floor and ventured into Artist Alley where I had Steve Epting sign my Captain America and also chatted with C.B. Cebulski (I’m a big fan of Loners). Peter David was not as his table (nor at the panels) so I’m still hoping to see him tomorrow since I didn’t get to take a picture with him last year.  Geoff Johns was also not at his table (he was at the DC Nation panel) so, on Cristina’s urging, I left him a note that said “Geoff, we came by to see you, but you weren’t here. =(”. I’m sure he’ll be either entertained or creeped out if it’s still there tomorrow. We also watched all the fans line up for Jim Lee (you needed a special band to see him). I decided that we should wait outside the DC Nation door so that I could see Geoff Johns once the panel ended. We got downstairs and the panel had already ended. We went into the room and Geoff was still at the front signing stuff. We went up there and he was getting ready to leave, as in right then and there because the other people were calling him to leave. But we gave him a sad face, and he smiled and asked if I wanted to take a picture. So he came off the stage and introduced himself and asked my name and shook my hand. Then the best part of the day happened: he said I looked really familiar and asked if we had met before. I said that yes, we did, 2 years ago at NYCC (in which I almost didn’t meet him since I was so shy and embarrassed. Lina had to drag me up to him to ask if he would sign my books and take a picture with me. He did and was extremely nice. And he had a fuzzy sweater on that day. I giggled a lot afterwards). He thanked me for coming again and said it was great seeing me again. And we took a picture together and said goodbye, and I nearly melted outside the door. He is such a nice guy and extremely grateful to his fans. He could have left the panel, but he was willing to stay a few more minutes and take a picture with me. Amazing. And that is one of the reasons why Geoff Johns rules. (And yes, he still makes me giggle).