Comic Con Recon

Steve surviving the apocalypse

Two of our favorite booksellers had the opportunity to hit Comic Con this year in San Diego. Both Steve and Vlad are longtime devotees of science fiction, superheroes, fantasy, steampunk...you name it, and one of them has read it, seen it, or owns the DVD of it. Here are Steve's top three from their epic weekend along with some epic snapshots...

1.  Joss Whedon, Master of the Nerd Universe. I love Joss and everything he does--from Buffy The Vampire Slayer to Firefly to Dr Horrible to The Avengers. However, there was no way I was standing in a line overnight just to see the 10th Anniversary Firefly Reunion Friday morning. Luckily, we were able to squeeze into the auditorium later that day for what was ostensibly Joss talking about his various comic projects with Dark Horse Comics. Instead it turned into Joss being Joss with some of the best Q & A ever. Next up for the busiest man in show business? Finding distribution for his already filmed black and white contemporary version of Much Ado About Nothing. Yes, Shakespeare!

Everyone's favorite tribute

2.  Love and Rockets 30th Anniversary Celebration. Hosted by Gary Groth, the publisher of Seattle’s own Fantagraphics Books, this panel featured Los Bros Hernandez (Gilbert, Jaime and Mario) discussing their groundbreaking and now classic independent comic Love and Rockets. I discovered Love & Rockets in college during the late 80’s and still read it today when I can. It was a real treat to see these talented artist/storytellers discussing their work that remains a huge influence today. Case in point: seeing Mike Allred, creator of Madman and iZombie, completely gushing like a giddy fanboy during the Q&A. Adorable!

Lego Gandalf

3.  Hark! A Pleasant Surprise! I’m not sure how I have missed it all these years, but my new favorite-thing-ever from the con is Kate Beaton’s webcomic (and now book) Hark! A Vagrant. Beaton pens erudite and hilarious cartoons of historical figures and literary characters mashed up with modern sensibilities and clever ironies... and the occasional fat pony. I only went to this panel in order to kill time until the next thing on my docket and I was totally blown away. Plus, it was certainly the funniest powerpoint presentation on medieval art ever, or any subject for that matter!