Welcome to June my CRAZIES!!! And with June comes many fine things! Summer! The Del Mar/San Diego County Fair! And, of course... COMIC CON 2019!!! That's right folks! We are roughly a month and a half away from the biggest show of the year and anticipation is already setting in! To help keep our emotions in check, I will once again be delving deep into the CRAZY archives with a look back at the wonderful world of Comic Con! But first, a little info about something CRAZY happening at another con across the country...
Long time readers will remember that I was a huge fan of the comic strip Cul De Sac by the late Richard Thompson. I never met Mr. Thompson in person but interacted with him on Twitter a few times and found him to be a delightful person. His comic was one of the greatest things to happen to the funny pages in a post-Far Side world and I, like many, were devastated when he was forced to retire in 2012 due to Parkinson's Disease, an ailment that he passed away from in 2016. Even before his untimely passing, Chris Sparks of Team Cul De Sac has helped host a charity auction every year at HeroesCon in Charlotte and this year is no different. For my fourth straight year, I'll be contributing a piece that will hopefully bring in a fair amount to help give this nasty disease the boot once and for all! Parkinson's knows no bounds and does not discriminate. The more research that's done, the better our chances are of finding a cure! Many wonderful pieces of art will be up for bidding, so if you're gonna be in Charlotte, be sure to stop by HeroesCon on the weekend of June 14-16 for your chance to own some framed, original, CRAZY art! For more info, click the Team Cul De Sac link here!
And now, as we do every year, it is time to delve into the past. DEEP into the past! The year is 2011. The city is San Diego and the venue is the San Diego Convention Center. The event, is Comic Con! Let the CRAZY COMIC CON COUNTDOWN commence! Enjoy...
As is tradition, here's another rare look at the show before the show! Comic Con is a massive undertaking to put together. In addition to stagehands like me, there's electricians, riggers, deco-carpenters, truckers, janitors and a whole host of others that all work together to pull this show off every year! I honestly don't recall building any booths that year, as I was pretty low on the ladder back then, but this particular shot is in Hall D where the new side of the Convention Center (Hall D) meets the old side (Hall C). Easiest way to tell the two apart since the signs aren't visible: The support columns are different as you enter the new side from old! It's also worth noting that the old side of the Convention Center is on the north end of the complex.
Oh boy. Now THIS was a moment for me! Weeks earlier, CM Punk had won the WWE World Title and then subsequently "left" the company. During the Mattel/WWE panel, he "Crashed" the question and answer session as I was waiting to ask a question and the rest is history! I've covered this before on the blog, but I'll never get over how badass it all was!
Gee, for being the leader of a global terrorist organization, Cobra Commander sure does get caught a lot!
It's the Borg! He tried to assimilate my mind, but then suddenly slumped to the floor and began crying. Everyone's a critic!
BARF!!! Half dog, half man. He's his own best friend! Well, her own. Barf's being played by a woman here!
You never know which stars you'll run into on the streets during SDCC. Even Professor Snape was chilling in the Gaslamp Quarter!
This R2 unit was kind enough to serve drinks to everyone waiting outside the convention center lobby. He later let us all use him to play an impromptu game of Beer Pong!
I was briefly held captive by Cobra at the Hasbro booth! Luckily, I remembered how horrible they are at succeeding, and I simply slipped away after yelling "Look over there!" and they did!
And now ladies and gentlemen, the REAL hero of Comic Con: The Paletero Man! Depending on where you live, this is probably a novel sight. But here in San Diego, you know your hot day's been saved when you hear that bell and see his cart!
I've been in tighter scraps than this!
The local hotels near the Convention Center make out pretty well from the various studios that pay them to plaster ads for movies, TV shows and video games along the front. Does it always work? Sadly no, as the above pic shows. Cowboys & Aliens was far from a blockbuster, but I've seen more spectacular promotional disasters, as anyone who remembers the Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow bombardment in 2004 can attest to!
Would y'all believe that this is actually considered a low-traffic area?
She's only a good witch on paper. Look at all Dorothy went through only to learn she had magical shoes that could've taken her home in seconds!
We end today's post with a prototype that I really wish WWE would release already: A Gobbledy Gooker action figure! Seriously! They've released a Shockmaster figure, so why not the Gooker?
And that's all she wrote on Comic Con 2011. It's a year I remember well for the wrong reasons as my health had taken a rather dire turn just before the show. Thankfully the main problem is somewhat fixed now, but it was making life pretty damn miserable for me back then. Still, I had some great moments at show despite my health and got many great pics. This is likely the end of the road for 2011 pics. Although I do have more unposted pics, I'm simply starting to run out of interesting ones to post! Who knows? Maybe some day I'll do a mismatch post of all the leftover Comic Con pics! Could be fun.
Week 1 of the CRAZY COMIC CON COUNTDOWN 2019 is in the books! Buckle up and hold tight, as we got eight more weeks of this and next week will be no different! Until then, take care and I'll catch y'all later!
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