WonderCon 2007
Mar. 3rd, 2007 03:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jon_chaissonHow did fate set up that once again the local comic book convention, WonderCon, would take place on the same day as the Chinese New Year Parade? And how did fate set it up that it would be a BEAUTIFUL day today as well? :p
I have to say that it was a bit more, well, crowded this year, even though it had been moved to Moscone South this time (not much of a difference from where it was before, really...), and the quotient of clueless crowds was rather high (such as groups of five or more standing in the one place that would let foot traffic through the aisle, the highly distracted OCD fans, and the buyers with the Lethal Backpacks), but not all was annoying...there was much fun to be had, much money to be spent (Emm had declared that I could have fun buying, since I let her go hogwild at Stitches the other week...), a few Big Names were seen and conversed with, and much free swag was snagged!
And of course, our local science fiction bookstore, Borderlands (the one with the hairless cat named Ripley), had a booth there. The swag bought:
(actually, the Hellboy book was bought (and signed) from Mike Mignola himself a few tables away...)
...and the extra swag they gave out that we didn't even ask for (2 proofs, many fliers, a pin, and strangely enough, some candy):
Let's take a look at those special Christopher Moore freebies, shall we?
Yes, his new book is called You Suck: A Love Story. It's a sequel of sorts of Bloodsucking Fiends, which I bought and had him sign. He's an extremely silly man who writes extremely silly books, and I highly recommend his stuff. And he lives in the city! I talked with him briefly and told him I'd just finished off a comedic vampire novel myself and hoped I hadn't just stolen from him (which he found amusing) and I gave him the website of where I'd gotten all my vampire information (apparently he'd done the same thing). Perhaps I should check out his website and email him at some point... I love the fact that the freebie was those candy valentine hearts. Brilliant publicity scheme!
ETA: Forgot to add that during Chris Moore's panel, he went on to say he was proud to have created the You Suck goth chick Abby Normal by going onto Vampire Freaks and reading various posts, and merely adding capitalization and punctuation. ;) Emm and I both thought![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
xanti_angelx would appreciate that...)
Also bought at the Comic Relief booth (it's a very impressive comic book store across the Bay in Berkeley which I really should visit at some point), I picked up a few GNs of Invincible, Transmet, and finally picked up Dave Gibbons' 'The Originals', which I've been meaning to pick up since I last year.
And our shopping spree wasn't complete without some anime buying. We bought vols 3 & 4 of Cromartie High School at $10 a piece (we only need vol 2 now). Bonus points to whoever can name the album covers these dvd covers are based on:
And two SWEET deals from Live Action Jackson (goofy name, no?): the complete Samurai Champloo and Tenchi Universe (I'm convinced these are bootlegs and therefore the quality may be suspect, but we shall see...):
And yes, Terry Moore (the Stranger Than Paradise guy) was there...he was selling original art for about $400 a pop (tempting, but a bit out of our budget) but also giving away a very nice signed/numbered print, with his own likeness (sort of) in there as well:
(Sidenote: I was chatting with him about how I was a longtime fan and eagerly awaiting to see how he ends the series (it's coming this May, I think). I got him cracking up by telling him I didn't think he was going to pull a Dave Sim and go all batty after the series is done...)
What else...oh yes! Signage!
From Christopher Moore:
Mike Mignola:
and Michael Jantze, creator of the very funny strip The Norm:
And yeah, I have to agree withemmalyon that the Cartoon Network booth was so pathetic it was sad. It looked like someone stopped by Staples, picked up some Sharpies and some poster board, did a few drawings, and called it done. I really expected more... :(
But hey, not all was lost. We have anime, books and comics! Life is good. ;)
I have to say that it was a bit more, well, crowded this year, even though it had been moved to Moscone South this time (not much of a difference from where it was before, really...), and the quotient of clueless crowds was rather high (such as groups of five or more standing in the one place that would let foot traffic through the aisle, the highly distracted OCD fans, and the buyers with the Lethal Backpacks), but not all was annoying...there was much fun to be had, much money to be spent (Emm had declared that I could have fun buying, since I let her go hogwild at Stitches the other week...), a few Big Names were seen and conversed with, and much free swag was snagged!
And of course, our local science fiction bookstore, Borderlands (the one with the hairless cat named Ripley), had a booth there. The swag bought:
(actually, the Hellboy book was bought (and signed) from Mike Mignola himself a few tables away...)
...and the extra swag they gave out that we didn't even ask for (2 proofs, many fliers, a pin, and strangely enough, some candy):
Let's take a look at those special Christopher Moore freebies, shall we?
Yes, his new book is called You Suck: A Love Story. It's a sequel of sorts of Bloodsucking Fiends, which I bought and had him sign. He's an extremely silly man who writes extremely silly books, and I highly recommend his stuff. And he lives in the city! I talked with him briefly and told him I'd just finished off a comedic vampire novel myself and hoped I hadn't just stolen from him (which he found amusing) and I gave him the website of where I'd gotten all my vampire information (apparently he'd done the same thing). Perhaps I should check out his website and email him at some point... I love the fact that the freebie was those candy valentine hearts. Brilliant publicity scheme!
ETA: Forgot to add that during Chris Moore's panel, he went on to say he was proud to have created the You Suck goth chick Abby Normal by going onto Vampire Freaks and reading various posts, and merely adding capitalization and punctuation. ;) Emm and I both thought
xanti_angelx would appreciate that...)Also bought at the Comic Relief booth (it's a very impressive comic book store across the Bay in Berkeley which I really should visit at some point), I picked up a few GNs of Invincible, Transmet, and finally picked up Dave Gibbons' 'The Originals', which I've been meaning to pick up since I last year.
And our shopping spree wasn't complete without some anime buying. We bought vols 3 & 4 of Cromartie High School at $10 a piece (we only need vol 2 now). Bonus points to whoever can name the album covers these dvd covers are based on:
And two SWEET deals from Live Action Jackson (goofy name, no?): the complete Samurai Champloo and Tenchi Universe (I'm convinced these are bootlegs and therefore the quality may be suspect, but we shall see...):
And yes, Terry Moore (the Stranger Than Paradise guy) was there...he was selling original art for about $400 a pop (tempting, but a bit out of our budget) but also giving away a very nice signed/numbered print, with his own likeness (sort of) in there as well:
(Sidenote: I was chatting with him about how I was a longtime fan and eagerly awaiting to see how he ends the series (it's coming this May, I think). I got him cracking up by telling him I didn't think he was going to pull a Dave Sim and go all batty after the series is done...)
What else...oh yes! Signage!
From Christopher Moore:
Mike Mignola:
and Michael Jantze, creator of the very funny strip The Norm:
And yeah, I have to agree with
emmalyon that the Cartoon Network booth was so pathetic it was sad. It looked like someone stopped by Staples, picked up some Sharpies and some poster board, did a few drawings, and called it done. I really expected more... :(But hey, not all was lost. We have anime, books and comics! Life is good. ;)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-03-04 01:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-04 01:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-04 01:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-04 02:26 am (UTC)I told him that I used The Vampire Church (http://www.vampire-church.com) for all my vampire needs, and he was very excited about it. He said he may end up using that one for a possible future sequel...
no subject
Date: 2007-03-04 02:27 am (UTC)Sad to hear that CN didn't put more effort into their booth than that..as a whole, they've really gone downhill...especially after canceling Megas XLR..but I could be biased on that last part >.>;
no subject
Date: 2007-03-04 05:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-04 05:19 am (UTC)Now..if I could just lay hands on that limited ed. porcelian Megas..I'd be a happy camper..
no subject
Date: 2007-03-04 06:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-04 07:14 pm (UTC)