As some of you know, we attend the San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) every year we can. If you’re interested in my 2018 experience, here’s the post. Comic-Con 2019 was a little different since we had Booker with us. I ended up with a 4-day + preview night badge, and Minhan got Saturday and Sunday badges.
For me, Comic-Con 2019 was about enjoying the little things. That meant checking out some off-site events and not attending any big panels. All in all, I only waited in panel lines a total of 30min – not too shabby!
Off-Site Events
Every year I suggest off-site events to people even if they don’t have any SDCC badges. Most of downtown San Diego gets involved in the festivities, and a lot of off-site locations don’t require any sort of badge to attend. My three favorite off-site shops of this year were the FYE popup shop, Peanuts popup shop, and the Museum of Mayhem.
Both the FYE and Peanuts popup shops showcased Astronaut Snoopy, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing mission. Being a huge Woodstock fan, I had to check these places out! Lots of great merch available, and the Peanuts popup shop had some pretty good information on the Apollo 11 mission.
Borderlands is one of my favorite game franchises, and this year the big news was the Borderlands 3 release! In collaboration with The Nerdist, the Museum of Mayhem brought special art, entertainment, and merch for fans. Unfortunately for me, the line was really long and out in the sun, so I didn’t go in. But I took a peek inside and lived vicariously through other fans.
Panels
Comic-Con 2019 definitely had a different vibe. Marvel and WB did not have nearly the presence they normally have. Because of that, a lot of people were not in Hall H, and were instead in smaller panels or walking the exhibit hall. I’ve been to a lot of the bigger panels in the past, and wanted to focus on smaller ones this year. I ended up having a really good time at these panels:
- My Best Comic-Con Story
- Quick Draw
- Cartoon Voices I
- Trailer Park
To give you an idea of the density of people, here’s what one of the panels looked like:
Not too bad! I learned about how Guillermo del Toro turned down Harry Potter and how SDCC used to have banquets (and why they don’t anymore). Quick Draw was awesome – the moderator gave three artists different scenes and they had to draw their interpretation as quickly as possible. Cartoon Voices is always one of my favorites, and I try to go to that panel whenever it’s offered. A lot of voice actors come out and act out often unscripted scenes for the audience. It’s hilarious!
We’ve wanted to go to Trailer Park for the past couple of years. This year, the panel was the last one in Hall H, which meant that it was easy to get in to. It started off with a mashup trailer of some of the most popular trailers in history. After, older trailers were shown, followed by newer trailers. It was great to see how the technology changed over the years. In addition, it was refreshing to watch launch trailers of movies that were released so long ago! For example, the first Alien movie, The Matrix, Iron Man, etc.
The Exhibit Hall
Of course, the exhibit hall was great as well. A life-sized statue of Tiny Tina (from Borderlands) stood at the WETA booth.
At the Hasbro booth, Magic: The Gathering had a pretty big presence. I’ve been playing MTG since I was in middle school (around 1999). When I saw a human-sized cutout of a Chandra card, with a Chandra cosplayer, I had to jump in there!
One of my favorite things about cons is the art. This year was really special because Andy Runton made his first appearance at SDCC in a long time. I absolutely LOVE his Owly books! Minhan actually got him to do a commission for me for my birthday, and the piece remains one of my all-time favorites. I was so happy to meet him in person and support Owly. I even got an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of his latest book (to be released February 2020), and asked him to sketch Owly pushing baby Wormy on a swing under an apple tree. This was part of the Cartoon Art Museum Sketch-a-Thon used to support the museum. Andy is so nice and generous with his time – you should check out his work!
The Swag
This year’s swag consisted of a lot of goodies. Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez are teaming up again for more Locke and Key goodness! I also finally bought David Petersen’s Mouse Guard: The Black Axe Black and White Edition book. I found a Zero (from The Nightmare Before Christmas) plush, and got many enamel pins to add to my collection. This year, I spent a lot of time in Publisher’s Row. Some of the best book swag included The Dragon Republic ARC, The Rise of Kyoshi (personalized by the author!), and There Will Come a Darkness ARC. I missed out on the Sorcery of Thorns author signing (BOO!), but maybe I’ll be able to catch Margaret Rogerson another time.
I’ll scan some of my art later, but here are some photos of the sketches I got from Sara Richard, David Petersen, and Andy Runton, and a commission from Emonic
And that’s a wrap on Comic-Con 2019! As always, comments, questions, and feedback are always welcome in the comments below.