Batgirl’s Weblog

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).