Hall H Stabbing: Yeah... really? It actually happened 30 feet from Matt Rorie (Screened.com) and I. We didn't actually see the stabbing take place, but we did see the person who got stabbed taken out of the stretcher right behind us. He didn't look too good. I can't believe someone would shank another human being for a seat. The "H" in Hall H stands for "hardcore: I guess.
Starstruck Moment: I've never been "starstruck" before. I find the idea ridiculous, even though it happened to me over the weekend. After the Scott Pilgrim panel, Matt Rorie, Sora_TheKey, and I got a chance to go see a screening of Scott Pilgrim vs The World. We had to walk from the convention to a theater roughly 1/2 mile away. By the time we made it there, we were standing in line. As we waited, the director of the film, Edgar Wright, who also directed Hot Fuzz and Shawn of the Dead, patted me on the back and said, "thanks for coming out." I scrambled for my camera, when I noticed it was him, but couldn't find it. It was still a truly awesome moment though.
== TEASER ==
Biggest Surprise: There were two HUGE surprises for me at this con: Cowboys and Aliens and Thor. We got to see some footage from the Cowboys and Aliens set and I was amazed. It looks like a really good Western film... with aliens. I was not a fan of the comic at all, so I had little hope for this film, but this all-star cast, including the amazingness of Harrison Ford, is really going to set this film apart from everything else next year. The second biggest surprise was Thor. I am not a Thor fan, although I really try, but the footage they showed us from the film was amazing. I think the only way to describe it is this way: EPIC. The Asgard stuff looked epically over-the-top, like it should, and the Thor costume was so awesome. I wish it was 2011 right now.
Biggest Disappointment: Captain America. Now, they're only a few weeks into shooting and we got some real rough stuff, but the screen tests of the costume just looked bad; however, again, it's only a few weeks in, so I can't be that judgemental.
On The Plus Side: Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull (Before he got Skullcized) was amazing. His accent was so good and he played an awesome Nazi... Which is the first and last time I'll ever write that. Plus, Cosmic Cube action. I'm psyched for most of this film, except the costume, and Chris Evans. I hope it will exceed my low expectations.
San Diego: Holy awesome. What a beautiful city. Perfect weather, so many places to eat, so many weird hippies. I couldn't imagine a nicer place to have the con, except for maybe in my hometown, a block from my house, in the fall. The best way to describe it is "Nerd Mardis Gras." Really cool place.
Sloppy Joey's Comic Vine Meet & Greet: Super-rad awesome time. I chatted it up with CountZero, Icarusflies (She totally gave me a lego man!), and a few others as we giggled the day away. I'm pretty sure the wait-staff hated us, but we'll never see them again, so who cares? It was great meeting so many users from CV, and just talking about our likes and dislikes in comics. Icarusflies recommended I wear some sort of costume for ComicVine, and I may take her up on that... I'm thinking about doing a cowboy look.
Purchases: I only spent an hour or so on the floor at the con, but I did buy a few things...
- Walking Dead Vol. 12
- Walking Dead T-Shirt
- Archaia books...
- Hybrid Bastards HC (signed by the all-knowing Tom Pinchuk)
- Starkweather: Immortal HC (signed by my buddy, writer David Rodriguez)
- Syndrome HC
- Engineer HC
- Um.. and another Archaia book I can't remember....
High Five Count: It's important to high five your friends, and I keep count. Originally, I did this to try and beat the record of times Babs and I high fived at C2E2, but this year, I got out of control...
Babs: 17 times
Riezner: I lost count, but probably around 30
Ana: In the teens
Red LAMP: One, long, wonderful hug.
G-Man: We don't quantify our high-fives because it would make others jealous
All-in-all, it was a great time. I couldn't have had a better weekend, unless it rained money. Even my roomie for the weekend, Tom Pinchuk, was awesome. Quick note: In our hotel room, the beds were in opposite rooms (my bed was a pull-out couch, since I had to be up the earliest and out the door), but there was a giant open doorway between them, and the beds faced each other. So the first night of trying to go to sleep was Tom and I staring awkwardly at each other and giggling... Yes, we giggled. there was a lot of giggling in our room. Lastly, I also kind of kept a short video diary of the whole thing, which I may throw together for the site, so stay tuned for that.
~Mat "InferiorEgo" Elfring is a comedian, teacher, comic book writer, and comic store employee.~