ComicCon San Diego 2006 & 2008

The monitor is from 2006 and before I changed my name. Me and Stephanie are standing in the DC booth in 2008 as I point to the second monitor.

Is it the mild, maritime air?  The fact that San Diego is a "healthful" city?  I don't know.  But for some reason it's the base for this really big convention.  It's a mass-mind experience where you're swimming in the pop and anti-pop and thinking about your allegiances... Yes, being a professional nerd has it's many concerns.  I've been twice.  Once in 2006 and again in 2008.  Both times I had two words on the mind: portfolio review.  It has it's protocol.  The first time I rolled into town it was in our beloved burgundy van and I was late to drop off my Marvel submission.  I raced through the booths, dodging otaku, steampunks, what-have-you, and arrived sweaty and beaming.  I was ready to charm if necessary.  The fellow didn't need to look at the work, he quietly accepted it, no problem, I would get my chance at a meeting.  DC Talent Search too.  My name was on the monitors the next day.  Affirming.  That night we slept in our van for the first time (something we would soon know well) and I visited the local gym before entering the hall.  Not to work out, just shower.  I moved away from LA after three years in and for 2008 I flew to San Diego and stayed at a proper hotel.  In line for a meeting I sat beneath an enormous banner of Samurai Girl and smiled to myself that I'd been in LA long enough to befriend the young woman who played the best friend character, Cheryl.  Then they came around to glance at the portfolios in our laps to make sure we were in fact ready to even ask for a meeting.  The reviews themselves had a tone resonating positive: keep going.  But this year I had it in my head that I was going to give a manuscript to a certain alternative publisher in the impromptu fashion.  Without even a look the offer was refused.  Too hectic.  Slightly crestfallen, I brooded in the hotel hot tub.  The next day another DC monitor bore my name and I had a meeting with a Vertigo/Minx editor.  The critique helped and I left feeling that much closer to the level of participation in the industry I crave.  When I wasn't absorbed by career advancement, killing time, I was testing brush tip markers, getting art prints signed, talking to other creators, and getting photos of minor celebrities and cosplaying folk.  You end up seeing or doing something pretty rad just milling around the convention without a specific goal.  I wish I could've slowed on down and gotten a copy of Twilight signed and seen Tori Amos autographing Comic Book Tattoo... plus seen the Eisner awards.  But all in all, there's simply too much at this nerdsplosion to take in.  I skipped 2007 and I plan on skipping 2009 but beware, I plan to nerd-out again in 2010.