I woke up late, drove down to San Diego, waited in a pretty short line and picked up my complementary Sunday pass.  I would’ve preferred to go on Friday or Saturday, but my now-ex-girlfriend and I picked out our tickets months in advance, leaving me to venture out alone on Sunday this year.  But it’s cool, Comic Con without a ball & chain is a freedom I have not experienced for some time now.  Besides, my new flame (who isn’t into comics) is okay with my strange obsessions. 

Hung out at a friend’s booth and had a brief conversation about nerd culture becoming more and more mainstream, stealing away our epistemic rights.  Blah, blah, blah – I’ve heard this all before: What does Green Lantern and Star Wars mean to some 12 year-old emo kid on a skateboard?  It means the sacred tomes of nerdom are no longer archaic and passed around secretly in catacombs of interlocked parent’s basements.  As I have one foot in the jock pool and the other in a carton of nerds, the mainstreaming of comics, computer games and science fiction means I don’t need to hide these tendencies to get chicks.  Not that I had to in the first place, but for the purpose of arguing against a friend’s nerd rage, it did the trick and ended his rant before he began foaming at the mouth.  Thank you Joss Whedon. 

According to a fanboy with a 3 foot cardboard sign, “Twilight ruined Comic Con.”  Oh, silly young one, the television and film industry moved in long before Twilight was around.  (Again, thanks Joss Whedon.)  Though I still wouldn’t read or watch anything Twilight related even if they resurrected Bela Legosi and blackmailed Christopher Lee into master vampire roles for a sequel. *hides Anita Blake and Anne Rice novels*  Cough, what were those doing on my bookshelf? 

I didn’t go to any programs this year, because all the good ones were on Friday and Saturday, though I kinda wish I had gone to the Buffy the Musical one, because I like musicals.  Meh.  The floor was great, as usual; lots of underappreciated, creative people at quiet booths, while people swarm the Capcom, Star Wars and Twilight booths.  (A portion of the floor felt like an of E3 reprisal.) 

Top Shelf and Fantagraphics are still my favorite publishers, and their booths had some amazing deals on Sunday.  I left with quite a few 50% off books of amazing quality, including a hardcover re-print of Alan Moore’s Lost Girls.  (If you know what that is, props to you.  And maybe a little virginal blushing.) 

They kicked us out at 5 PM, we went to eat at The Field, then drove home north on the 5 in twice the time it took to get down.  All in all, it was fun.  I don’t really care to compare to previous years, because if I did that, it’d make the convention sound like a waste of time, which is ISN’T.  (And that’s my opinion of E3, as well.)