[TMPL page.setTitle=" - Spiels: Comic Con International 2004"]
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Comic-Con Dates : July 21 (Preview Night) through July 25

So here we are, back in good old July, and time again for another Comic-Con International. This will be my fifth time making the annual trip down to San Diego (which feels more and more like a home-away-from-home every year), and I've been aiming to make it the best year yet. Here you'll be able to find all the relevant information for what I'll be up to. I've divided the page into these handy-dandy sections:

Location | Panels | Schedule | Merchandise

Location
It seems my downfall these past few years is that I am entirely unable to secure a decent bit of real estate in the giant San Diego Convention center. Much of this is due to the fact that I am usually unable to raise the needed money early enough. (by early enough, I mean AT the convention center, before leaving the year prior) As such, I wind up at what I like to call the "buttcrack of the convention". It's the end away from DC, Marvel, Image, all the big boys. I do, however, have a booth number to provide to you:

Booth 5113

To give you an idea of approximately where this is in relation to the rest of the convention, here is where Fred and I were last year:

Here is where the Real Life / Starline booth will be this year:

All kidding aside, the Real Life booth is essentially 1 row away from being as FAR to the west end of this hall as is possible, without actually being OUTSIDE the hall. This does, however, pose one distinct benefit: It's very, very easy to find. I will show you.

That is the west end of the convention center. The red square indicates the doors you will be using to get to the Real Life booth. Why, yes! Those ARE the farthest left doors you can possibly take! How astute! :D Seriously though. Take those doors, and then follow the path shown here:

Note the relative ease with which you can now associate getting to the Real Life booth. In fact, you may as well just START at our booth. I mean, you'll want to start the convention somewhere, right?

Panels
This is kind of a trick section. You see, unlike previous years at Comic-Con, I'm pretty much going solo. Ish. No KeenSpot to hang onto, no Fred to hang around with, ergo nobody to host my ass in a panel. I have to take a little bit of blame for this... I keep telling myself Real Life isn't big enough to carry a single panel all by myself, so I didn't even try. Kind of regretting that now, but it's okay. If anyone who does happen to have a panel feels up to letting a schlub like me on, I'd be obliged. Otherwise, I'll just be found over in my corner. :P

Schedule
Haven't really worked on it just yet, but one of the things I regret most about last year was that I didn't get to see the con in the least. This year, I'm scheduling a few hours a day that Liz and I will be out on the con floor seeing the sights, and Cliff and Kris from Dr. Devious will be sitting at the table. I'll post that schedule here when I get it finalized.

Merchandise
This is the field we really concentrated on this year. We have a ton more stuff than last year. (not like it's hard... last year we had, what, ONE shirt?) Allow me to list it off for you:

  • Shirt Ninja T-Shirts (Black)
  • Shirt Ninja Posters
  • REAL LIFE : THE COMPLETE FIRST YEAR COLLECTION BOOK (This will most likely be shipped directly to the con)
  • Individual prints of your favorite comic, on the fly. (This year, we have a color laser printer. No InkJet crap. :D )
  • Custom Laminated ID Badges, either Tony Clone or Shirt Ninja Army. (possibly more)

The ID badge idea we got from Robert DeJesus at Sugoi Con last year. We managed to get our hands on a little laminating machine, so we're going to do up a bunch of these little ID badges and personalize them for you. We even have the slot hole punch and those spiffy little badge clips. These are only going to be about 2 bucks or so, so they're mostly just a fun little trinket for you guys.

The prints will likely be somewhere between 5 and 10 dollars, and will this year be printed out on our new super-spiffy color laser printer. Thusly, they will look better, and they will print faster (those of you who got prints last year will remember well the horror of having to wait 10 minutes for these things to print. Remember if you want a particular comic, I will NEED the date of that comic. Sometimes I can search for one on the fly, but it helps greatly if you prepare ahead of time and get the date before coming by. :)

And yes, the book. I approved the proofs on Friday, so the book is now in major rush-mode to get done in time. There's a good possibility that it will be shipped directly to our hotel in San Diego. If all goes well, it will arrive prior to the 21st, and everyone who comes by will have a chance to get one. If it does not arrive on the 21st, aside from me having a major coronary, I will be constantly checking back with the hotel, and may have to make a mad dash there when they DO arrive. Cross your fingers for me, okay? :)

That's pretty much all for now, but keep checking back. This is one of those pages I'll be updating over time with more info, so until I leave for Comic-Con, none of this is final.