Comic-Con, Day 3

Saturday, July 25

Happy Birthday to me! This was a good day, heck it was my b-day...and boy was it a good one.

This was a pretty good day, with some fun panels, some more free stuff, and many cool people to boot (like the guys from Mythbusters in the picture)

So first things first, we got there in the morning and just enjoyed the exhibition hall. We wandered around to see what we hadn't yet, we played Lego Rockband (yes there is a Lego Rockband coming out this Holiday season!! and yes we got to play it) and got free Lego Rockband lanyards and T-Shirts for playing, and we just had a good time. I had already spent all my money so I didn't have to worry about that little portion of CC, so the free stuff was calling my name.

12-1pm Comic Strip Syndication

This was a fun little panel where we got to see Stephan Pastis, Richard Thompson (Cul De Sac), and Keith Knight (The K Chronicles). They talked about issues in newspapers right now, comic strip syndication, and answered questions from the audience. This one wasn't as packed as Pastis' spotlight, but it was still interesting for me (although I don't think Amanda enjoyed this one).

2:15-3:15pm DC: Green Lantern: Blackest Night

This was a really cool panel. Featuring Geoff Johns (current writer of Green Lantern), Pat Gleason (who's currently working on Green Lantern Corps), and others. For those who don't know, Blackest Night is here is a brief synopsis: "Throughout the decades, death has plagued the DC Universe and taken the lives of heroes and villains alike. But to what end? As the War of Light rages on, the prophecy of the Blackest Night descends upon us, with Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps at the center of it all...The dead rise across the DC Universe, bringing terror and darkness with them. What are the Black Lanterns? What do they want? Will Earth's greatest heroes survive long enough to find out – or will they join the Black Lantern Corps?"

So basically, any dead character in the DC Universe right now can come back as a Black Lantern and the story should be really interesting. Anywho, I'm following the story issue by issue; and

that's the first time I have ever done that (I usually just read the final story after it comes out in HC or TPB form) but this one is worth it.

Oh, one more thing...Whilst in the panel, Geoff Johns had the crowd stand up (mind you this room seats 2,000 and while not 100% full, it was more than 75% full) and he swore us to the Green Lantern Oath!! How awesome! Plus, a room full of some 1,500 people who all knew the oath was pretty cool too, oh my what a nerd I am.

3:30-4:30 Spotlight on Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury, need I say more? The only disappointing thing about this panel was that his assistant guy kept talking and talking, geez, we were there to see Bradbury not that schmuck. His biographer was also there, and he knew that so he kept the focus on Bradbury. Anywho, now that I've vented, the panel was great. It was just fun to hear him speak and hear his passion for life and hear where some of his ideas came from. Oh yeah, earlier in the day when we were wandering around sight-seeing, we saw Bradbury being wheeled through one part of the convention center right next to us!! That's what one of the pictures below is (thanks Amanda for spotting him go right past us).

That was the last panel we went to on Saturday, and we just enjoyed the venue a bit more. While there, we also got a signed picture of George Lazenby (actor who played James Bond for one film) and that was awesome though I didn't think to take a picture of him.

After we left Comic-Con, we went out to eat for my b-day dinner. We chose Outback Steak House (always awesome!) and here are the pics from that, one is of a side that I got which was amazing (it was crab stuffed shrimp and I liked it more than my steak!):