Always enjoy visiting San Diego, and this ComicCon was especially pleasant weather-wise... very cool and comfy. I did my usual investigation of various dealers, though for the first time in years I didn't buy any collectible comics. I did however buy several collections (Golden Age "Phantom Lady" anyone?) which may explain why my appetite for pricey old books has diminished. If I just want to read old comics, many are readily available in multiple forms.
My greatest find was a page of original art from the 1960's "Herbie" comic -- specifically the last page of "Egyptian Conniption" from Herbie #19 (1966), where Herbie brings a bloated Cleopatra to present day to please his father, only to figure out that Dad was actually lusting over the much prettier Elizabeth Taylor version. A Herbie website notes that this particular page features possibly the most optimistic father-son moment in the entire Herbie catalog -- Herbie's straight-laced Dad gives the son he usually calls "a fat little nothing" a wink after Herbie makes Cleo disappear before Mom comes home. If you've never had a chance to check out Herbie, trust me, it's one of the most bizarre and somewhat subversive comics to ever come out. And the entire 60's run is available in glorious hardback reprint from Dark Horse...
My only complaint about the convention this year would be my multiple run-ins with overzealous security. Arriving to participate in a (fun!) Battlestar Galactica panel, I was told that panelists are not allowed to enter through the front door (!). When I asked which door was permitted, there was no answer. When Richard Hatch and the rest of the panel went through the forbidden front door I just bulldozed along with them, but really? Later I grew increasingly more grumpy with long lines of autograph seekers blocking entire central aisles with security approval. I can't count the number of times I was told to detour and/or "keep moving" while wandering the crush of the con. I suppose it's heresy to even suggest this, but maybe those sessions need to be moved off the main convention floor...?
Oh, okay, one more complaint, but this is totally outside convention control: the price gouging by local hotels. I could buy a very nice room in a high end Hawaiian resort for what it cost to stay in S.D. this year, and while I love San Diego, trust me, I love the Kona Coast even more. But oh well. I doubt I'd find too many Herbie pages on the big island...
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